Sidney Crosby Leadership Alchemy
A concept for changing energy
If you haven’t seen the viral leadership clip of Sidney Crosby, click the tweet to watch the video, the rest of this piece is going to teach based on what you see:
In the 101 course, a concept is shared. Sid demonstrates it perfectly here. I’ll tell you what Bleacher Report won’t… You can teach this to players. What a limited mindset they have…
Everyone can learn this. If you think it’s only for the untouchable greats like Crosby, then it will be. If you think it will be easy to learn, then it will be.
You can learn this, it’s easy enough.
The concept is called, ‘Anger Up’.
Here’s how it works…
One of the most common frustration emotions displayed by players in the heat of battle is anger.
Anger is pretty low on the map, you can find it in the orange section. Calibration 150:
Crosby’s teammates who scorn Malkin for missing the empty net probably calibrate even lower than anger, without calibrating his quote before writing this, “He has a wide open net”, sounds shame-based.
Regardless, every interaction, communication, or utterance on the bench starts with an energy to it. For this example, let’s say it is Shame. Crosby catches energy that is well below 200 and like any great leader, attempts to alchemize it. To transform it from negative to positive. From destructive to constructive.
He tells the player who uttered the shameful comment and the rest of the team a simple truth:
“Hey, guys, I think he knows, go give him a tap, it’s okay… We’ll get another chance.”
The shameful energy is destructive, calibrating at 20. Crosby with his leadership alchemy, is served negative energy into his ears that he can’t control, the energy goes to his mind to be transformed, and when he has a constructive message, out of his mouth comes new energy that is above 200.
He raises his whole team up.
How to Pull a Crosby
In a word, you must ‘recontextualize’. This is what A Course in Miracles teaches the student. Where you used to see one thing, now you see something else. Click the small link to watch Hawkins speak on YouTube, and then come back here.
Crosby Clicks, then Chooses
To teach this to players, consider framing up the special power in the Adam Sandler movie, Click. His character can pause time and make more constructive selections if he chooses.
Crosby can stop time, read where the energy on the map is, and then raise it up through choice:
He has the ability to catch any orange and red energy from his teammates and transform it into blue energy. Maybe a reason why the All Blacks say, ‘Keep a Blue Head’.
The difference between Power and Force is easy to see in the Crosby clip.
A Force captain or coach would return the shame for shame. Maybe he would level it up to anger, but that is still destructive.
An In-Powered leader like Crosby knows the energy has to be raised above 200, and simply chooses a better perception to view his teammates ‘mistake’ from.
He instructs the boys to forgive and encourage Geno, that will get them back to 200.
P.S. For more on the concepts and principles behind Crosby’esqe leadership, click here