Finding the Truth

Kara Lawson GOLD 🥇

“If you’re around what’s real and true, you can spot a fake from a mile away.”

Great teams are built on honesty.

Don’t tell them what they want to hear.

Tell them what they need to hear.

Be a Truth Teller🔥.pic.twitter.com/t9pQRWG1BC

— Greg Berge (@gb1121) March 14, 2025

“You can’t fool children, dogs, and volleyball players.” Players need to know their status, role, and avenues for growth.

What's truth? Here are some examples.

• "The magic is in the work."
• "The game honors toughness." 
• Teamwork matters. 
• Competitive greatness requires belief and time. 
• Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence. 
• Success arrives via character and competence. 

First a digression. As a young doctor in the Navy, I often ate lunch with senior physicians...CAPT Baker (Cardiology) and CAPT Walsh (Pulmonary). Peers asked why I ate with 'old guys' instead of them. "They know stuff and they share that with me." 

CAPT Baker: "The worst thing in cardiology is turning a heart problem into a brain problem (stroke)." 

CAPT Walsh: "Never do that...you're following a lit fuse." 

CAPT Baker: On exotic diagnoses, "You fellas are fishing those waters pretty hard." (Simplify. There was nothing there.)

CAPT Walsh: On expectations. "Handle it." (Do the job and do it right, right now.)

CAPT Baker: On irrelevant training..."If there's a crocodile in the clinic, do we have to know how to dispose of it? Can't we just call the chief and say, "Chief, can you send some guys up to deal with this crocodile?" This did not sit well with the Chief of Medicine.

CAPT Walsh: On irrelevant training..."DATU. Doesn't apply to us." We never went to Fire Safety Training, Mercury Spill Training, Sexual Harassment Training, Equal Opportunity Training. 

CAPT Baker: "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission." 

Becoming a leader as a player has a useful analogy. The Sherpa. The Sherpa is there for climbers to lead, to follow, and sometimes to rescue. The Sherpa is there to help them safely ascend and descend challenging and potentially deadly peaks. Become a Sherpa for your team. 

Lagniappe. Volleyball at 11,000 feet. 

Lagniappe 2. Serve receive training options...