Great Teammates Vote (Article by Eric Reveno Published in Forbes)
When you discuss leadership, networking for success, building a championship culture, and fostering strong citizens, you are talking about becoming a great teammate. For us in college athletics, we know that great teammates win games and build championship teams. It is understood that to have the future you want, you need to work well with others — both on and off the court. So, it logically follows that the skills you learn in college athletics are the foundation for a lifetime of success and happiness. And the research backs it up:
Project Aristotle found the most important factor in successful teams was psychological safety, which hinges entirely on interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with others. The Grant and Glueck Studies further affirms these factors, concluding that good relationships and interpersonal skills are the strongest predictors of lifetime happiness and professional success. Therefore, it’s no surprise that happy people are great colleagues, community members, and teammates. That is exactly why college athletics is an effective route to lifetime happiness — it effectively teaches the ability to work with others.
Outside of the military, college athletics may indeed be the most effective training ground for teaching 18–24-year-olds how to be great teammates and community members. As educators within college athletics, us coaches all tweak our approach to fit our sport, and our team, but when it is all said and done, we check the same boxes.
For example, we all talk about “showing up”, or “doing your job,” 0r maybe, one off-season, the emphasis is on building the skills and strategy to “make others better.” We love communication exercises that help us get to know each other away from the court, field, or pool. We make sure to check all these boxes to develop good athletes, and good people. These boxes are concisely covered in the acronym S.T.O.R.M:
Show Up: Bring energy, focus, and presence every day.
Take Care of Relationships: Invest in teammates consistently.
Own Your Power: Be aware of your impact in actions big and small.
Raise Others Up: Help your teammates grow.
Maintain Mission Focus: When the team wins, we all win. Prioritize team goals over personal ones.
Someone who embodies these five attributes will undoubtedly become an exceptional teammate and, consequently, member of their community. That’s why myself and other collegiate athletic coaches need to take care in helping our student-athletes be GREAT teammates.
Just imagine a person who shows up to every meeting, outing, or call prepared and brimming with positive energy to make it a success. Or a person who slows down and listens after asking “how are you doing?” Someone who remembers their coworker has two kids and their boss has lots of family back in Chicago. A future leader who explains to new colleagues the pitfalls they went through when onboarding, not leaving it to others to figure it out on their own? What if everyone on our teams were thoughtful in their comments, jokes, and social media posts, always being careful to consider their influence? As coaches, we develop not only athletic ability, but the person beyond that physical skillset.
The example student-athlete graduates with habits that demonstrate the essential skills of being a great teammate, which mirror those of contributing community members. But will that person vote? Will that person be inclined to want to participate in elections?
100% they will — they will engage in community efforts, vote, and be neighborly because they have learned that to have the life they want, and to live in the communities they want, they need to show up and get involved. If they don’t, their silence will leave a void for someone else to fill, someone who might advocate for a future different from what they envision. By engaging actively, they become architects of their own futures. To that end, I encourage everyone in and outside of college athletics to embody and transform the S.T.O.R.M philosophy to support our communities through voting:
Show up for your neighbors as a teammate. Bring energy, focus, and presence every day to the places you reside and the communities you’re a part of.
Take care of relationships by investing in teammates consistently and getting to know your community.
Own your power and be aware of how you use your voice and your vote as you engage in community.
Raise Others Up Help your neighbors, colleagues, and teammates be the best versions of themselves.
Maintain Mission Focus and live in your values. When your community is engaged, everyone wins.
Great teammates engage fully in our democracy, choosing to be authors of their own story, not passive characters in someone else’s. Great teammates vote.
More than 1,000 colleges and universities currently participate in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, including Stanford University. Learn more about ALL IN and support our work here.
By Eric Reveno
Eric Reveno is the James C. Gaither Associate Head Coach and General Manager for Stanford Men’s Basketball. With more than 25 years of experience coaching at the Division I level, including head coaching stops and stints at elite academic institutions, Reveno has built a national reputation not only for developing athletes but for developing people. A former college and professional basketball player himself, Reveno holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University where he was a two-time team captain.
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