Nick Saban's Leadership Transformation

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In 1998, Michigan State football was just 4-5, about to face its toughest test of an already-trying season.   

The Spartans’ coach, already on the hot seat, didn’t really believe his team stood a chance against undefeated No. 1 Ohio State — and had little idea what to tell his players leading up.  

So, he sought professional help.

“Forget about the outcome,” a psychiatrist told him. “There are no external factors. There’s no scoreboard. Play one play at a time like it has a history and life of its own.”

Then, he added a final nugget.

“And quit being a transactional leader. Be a transformational leader. Be somebody who somebody can emulate.”

The coach was Nick Saban, and in the ensuing days, his Michigan State team would pull off the biggest upset of the college football season.

Twenty-six years later, Saban still reflects on that conversation with the psychiatrist as sparking a critical transformation from a transactional leader to a transformational one.

“When we won the game, I was happy. I was positive. I gave people positive, self-gratification,” Saban said recently at the Irondale Mayor’s prayer breakfast.

“When we didn’t have success and we lost, I criticized people. I was hard on people.”

It’s an important message with some key takeaways.

Most of us as coaches, executives and leaders are in results-driven professions where our success and capabilities are measured by our win totals, profits and various other key performance indicators.  

As a result, we can become increasingly demanding and critical of our personnel if we’re not getting the outcomes we want.

But often, when our players and team members are struggling, they need direction and to hear something positive. And they need to be reminded that we’re still in the fight with them.

Saban would go on to win seven national titles and is widely regarded as among the greatest coaches of all time.

But had it not been for some early head coaching struggles and a crucial conversation seeking help, he may not have learned a critical lesson that would guide him in the years to come.

“Sometimes, when things don’t go well and you have a negative circumstance and don’t teach people,” he said, “it has a tremendous effect on morale.”  

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