Love Tough - Jon Gordon
I believe in tough love. If you are a leader, manager, coach, teacher or parent, caring about someone often requires you to challenge and push them to improve, grow and reach their full potential. Even the best athletes in the world have a coach to push them. But for tough love to work, love must come first. We must love tough to bring out the best in those we lead! If people know you care about them they will be more receptive to you pushing them. On the other hand if you put tough before love you're more likely to face resistance. As Andy Stanley says, "Rules without relationship leads to rebellion." The old dictator style (tough without love) of leadership no longer works. Having spent time with a number of professional and college sports teams it's clear that even athletes who seem to have it all want to know that their coach cares about them. The best coaches love their players and their players know it and play h...