Chasing Greatness Blog

Discipline May Be All That’s Standing In The Way Of LA And The Title And There’s Much We Can Learn

Don Yaeger May 9, 2023

Every team and every member of a team has their ups and downs, but a leader’s responsibility is to keep his or her downs to a minimum and, more often…

As He Watched The NFL Draft Warren Moon’s Chest Swelled With Pride

Don Yaeger May 2, 2023

History was made last weekend, and one person watched it with a different perspective than most of the millions worldwide who followed the NFL Draft. That person was Warren Moon,…

Dillon Brooks Got In The Wrong Head When He Taunted LeBron James

Don Yaeger April 25, 2023

Memphis Grizzlies player Dillon Brooks wants badly to be a bad man but doesn’t realize that before you can be bad, you have to be very, very good—otherwise, you risk…

How Russell Westbrook And Chris Paul Put Points On The Board Without Scoring

Don Yaeger April 18, 2023

The Los Angeles Clippers’ Russell Westbrook and Phoenix Suns’ Chris Paul played against one another in the opening game of the NBA playoffs Sunday night. Both of these veteran point…

Jon Rahm Brown Bagged His Way To A Green Jacket

Don Yaeger April 10, 2023

If you watched the marathon that was the 2023 Masters Tournament on Sunday, you may have noticed that as the camera followed leaders Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm, who were…

Iowa’s Loss To LSU Began With Their Win Over South Carolina

Don Yaeger April 4, 2023

The next time your account team gets surprisingly chosen to make the pitch to the Big Account and the CEO tells you, “Well done!” or the next time the CEO…

NCAA Coaches McDermott And Tang Lose A Game Of Basketball But Win The Game Of Life

Don Yaeger March 29, 2023

In the NCAA Men’s National Basketball Tournament, March 2023 has been all about upsets. As the tournament heads into its final weekend, the four teams left standing includes perhaps one…

Fairleigh Dickinson Coach Tobin Anderson Played Mind Games To Beat Purdue

Don Yaeger March 21, 2023

Imagine you’re an accounting firm trying to land a local client and find yourself going head-to-head with PwC, which is also vying for their business. What would your response be?

“An Embarrassing Moment In Cricket Taught Me How To Lead,” Says WD-40 CEO Steve Brass

Don Yaeger March 15, 2023

The memory still makes Steve Brass squirm. Growing up in Yorkshire, England, where Brass says, “the humans were outnumbered by the sheep 2-to-1,” Brass was made captain of his school…

We Excuse This Disruption To Bring You LIV Golf, The XFL And Banana Ball

Don Yaeger March 8, 2023

The next time you’re sitting in a meeting, and one of your ambitious colleagues throws out an idea that seems “out there”/unconventional/grandstanding, try to resist the temptation to roll your…

This Weekend, The Sixth Man Was Named “Big Mo”

Don Yaeger February 27, 2023

One team’s epic collapse is another team’s come-from-behind victory. Or, to state the matter differently, the most underrated player on your team just might the sixth man or woman commonly…

SiriusXM CMO Denise Karkos Always Has 10 More Minutes Left In Her

Don Yaeger February 22, 2023

If playing soccer at Notre Dame taught Denise Karkos anything, it was that she always, always could find 10 more minutes to push herself further. After two hours of practice—and…

Rihanna Rocked Super Bowl LVII, But We Missed The Real Halftime Show

Don Yaeger February 15, 2023

The world was focused on pop star Rihanna, and without question she offered one of the more extraordinary performances ever, one that was watched by millions around the world. But…

LeBron James Makes A Real Point When He Says Records Matter Less In A Losing Effort

Don Yaeger February 7, 2023

On Saturday, LeBron James moved within 36 points of breaking the NBA career scoring record in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 131-126 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. He has every…

Patrick Mahomes To Cincinnati Mayor Pureval, “Thanks For Giving Me My Jabroni!”

Don Yaeger February 1, 2023

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs did far, far more than win a conference championship and the right to go to the Super Bowl in two weeks. No, by beating…

Destiny Favored The Buffalo Bills, But Belief Delivered The Cincinnati Bengals

Don Yaeger January 24, 2023

Sunday’s game pitting the Buffalo Bills against the Cincinnati Bengals was supposed to be the game that banished all of the Bills’ ghosts past, present and future. It was going…

Jacksonville Jaguars Show That No Lead Is Safe, No Defeat Assured Until The Final Whistle

Don Yaeger January 18, 2023

In a Tale of Two Cities, the great English novelist Charles Dickens wrote that “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” and his description of…

Lack Of Entitlement Keys Georgia’s National Championship

Don Yaeger January 10, 2023

Okay, so maybe this year’s College Football National Championship game wasn’t one for the ages. It certainly wasn’t if you felt no particular rooting interest for either the University of…

Never Bet Against David: TCU Faces Georgia In National Championship Game

Don Yaeger January 3, 2023

We don’t normally like to make predictions in this space, but here’s a prediction ahead of next Monday evening’s NCAA National Championship Football game between the defending National Champion Bulldogs…

Avnet’s Superstar CEO Phil Gallagher Believes EQ Trumps IQ Every Day

Don Yaeger December 28, 2022

Phil Gallagher came to believe at a relatively early age that emotional intelligence is a better guide for leadership than IQ and he has made it the hallmark of his…

Whether Or Not He’s The Next Tom Brady, Brock Purdy Is Taking His Chance

Don Yaeger December 13, 2022

San Francisco 49ers third-string quarterback Brock Purdy is living proof that irrelevancy lies in the eyes of the beholder. After both the 49ers’ starting and backup quarterbacks went down with…

Japan Leaves A Legacy Of Leadership On And Off The Pitch

Don Yaeger December 7, 2022

When team USA was beaten 3-1 by the Netherlands in Saturday morning’s knockout round, my favorite team was out of the World Cup. Immediately, I adopted a new favorite team—a…

Great Rivalries Cast The Usual Calculus Of Competition To The Wind

Don Yaeger November 30, 2022

I live in Tallahassee and, admittedly, am a fan of the local university team, Florida State. But covering sports professionally for 30 years has made me cautious when it comes…

Early Duke And Villanova Hoops Progress Show Why We Call It Succession

Don Yaeger November 16, 2022

When Jon Scheyer and Kyle Neptune took over, respectively, the head coaching jobs of men’s basketball programs at Duke and Villanova, they replaced two long-time coaches who had together amassed…

Chasing Greatness Blog

Weekly leadership lessons learned from the world of sports.

Discipline May Be All That’s Standing In The Way Of LA And The Title And There’s Much We Can Learn

As He Watched The NFL Draft Warren Moon’s Chest Swelled With Pride

Dillon Brooks Got In The Wrong Head When He Taunted LeBron James

How Russell Westbrook And Chris Paul Put Points On The Board Without Scoring

Jon Rahm Brown Bagged His Way To A Green Jacket

Iowa’s Loss To LSU Began With Their Win Over South Carolina

NCAA Coaches McDermott And Tang Lose A Game Of Basketball But Win The Game Of Life

Fairleigh Dickinson Coach Tobin Anderson Played Mind Games To Beat Purdue

“An Embarrassing Moment In Cricket Taught Me How To Lead,” Says WD-40 CEO Steve Brass

We Excuse This Disruption To Bring You LIV Golf, The XFL And Banana Ball

This Weekend, The Sixth Man Was Named “Big Mo”

SiriusXM CMO Denise Karkos Always Has 10 More Minutes Left In Her

Rihanna Rocked Super Bowl LVII, But We Missed The Real Halftime Show

LeBron James Makes A Real Point When He Says Records Matter Less In A Losing Effort

Patrick Mahomes To Cincinnati Mayor Pureval, “Thanks For Giving Me My Jabroni!”

Destiny Favored The Buffalo Bills, But Belief Delivered The Cincinnati Bengals

Jacksonville Jaguars Show That No Lead Is Safe, No Defeat Assured Until The Final Whistle

Lack Of Entitlement Keys Georgia’s National Championship

Never Bet Against David: TCU Faces Georgia In National Championship Game

Avnet’s Superstar CEO Phil Gallagher Believes EQ Trumps IQ Every Day

Whether Or Not He’s The Next Tom Brady, Brock Purdy Is Taking His Chance

Japan Leaves A Legacy Of Leadership On And Off The Pitch

Great Rivalries Cast The Usual Calculus Of Competition To The Wind

Early Duke And Villanova Hoops Progress Show Why We Call It Succession

Contact Don Yaeger