3 Words We Should Say More Often

On March 11, 2020, passion and excitement gave way to confusion and chaos.

COVID-19 was abruptly changing the landscape of college basketball during the sport’s busiest time of year, and it was becoming increasingly clear life as we knew it was being transformed.

As he attempted to guide the Southeastern Conference through the tumult, Commissioner Greg Sankey quickly scrawled several notes about athletic directors, recruiting and a potential return to play. But it was three words he etched at the bottom of a page that provide an invaluable leadership lesson: “I need help.”

Sankey was in a major bind at that point and likely had far more questions than answers.

Would this be just a brief suspension? What if some schools were willing to resume play sooner than others? How much would this cost the conference? What if SEC student-athletes came down with the virus that we knew so little about? How were fans going to react?

The reality was that the answers to so many of these were entirely out of his control — and that’s often a maddening scenario for us as leaders.

But Sankey had already come to terms with the fact that he alone could not navigate the SEC through the tempest of COVID-19, despite his esteemed reputation.

We’re often passionate about our opinions and believe we best know how to guide our teams through turmoil. But Sankey showed us that when the din of uncertainty is loudest, there is no shame in admitting we don’t have nearly all of the answers and that we could desperately use some assistance.

The SEC successfully completed a college football season this fall — producing national champion Alabama — and wrapped up its men’s and women’s basketball conference tournaments over the past eight days. These are major accomplishments considering the unenviable position Sankey found himself in a year ago.

Deferring to others is not a sign of weakness. In fact, it actually shows tremendous strength and humility. Most members of our teams will typically appreciate our willingness to acknowledge what we cannot do on our own. The leaders who frequently run into trouble are the ones who don’t know but refuse to admit it and remain adamant about operating independently.

The next time we encounter a leadership scenario in which the walls are pushing in faster than we could’ve ever imagined, let’s think back to Sankey in Nashville, Tenn., that March morning and remember his candidness and humility.

Then let’s remind ourselves that finding a solution to our problem so often begins with acknowledging “I need help.”