It’s all about the athletes; Coach Justin Kavanaugh

Justin Kavanaugh is a best selling author of the book Man Up. Coach Kav has trained over 50,000 athletes and helped prepare hundreds of College and future NFL players for their combine and pro days. He is regarded as one of the top speed experts in the country. Coach Kav has worked with Olympic Gold Medalist, elite professional boxers and UFC Heavyweight Champions. Coach Kavanaugh knows he’s not a pastor or a preacher. He’s a coach through and through. He believed he would coach someday but never thought he would get into it as young as he did. Once he became a coach full time, he pulled from the lessons he learned from his mentors to shape his own coaching philosophies.In this week’s episode, I sit down with the founder and CEO of The Sport and Speed Institute to discuss what being a coach means to both of us. We discuss how a devastating injury ended Justin’s football playing career and shifted his focus to the coaching side. You’ll hear about Justin’s plan for building a culture in a program, what traits coaches look for in athletes, what it’s like to get players ready for the NFL combine, and how he uses his regrets as a coach to make him better.This discussion gets passionate and personal as we dive deep into the mindset of one of the world’s top speed gurus. Justin even turns the tables and poses me some questions at the tail end of our talk. Authenticity and creating an environment to learn from are two of the big pillars of Justin’s ideals and you’re sure to come away from this talk with better ideas for yourself on how to lead. Hear Justin open up about striving to help athletes keep their drive and flame going, why the messages from movies like A Bronx Tale and Dead Poets Society hold up, how you must believe in what you’re teaching, and why you need to be comfortable with your internal story rather than the one you have to brag about. This episode is a must-listen for people from all walks of life, as it gets down to the root of life’s success: getting the best out of yourself.LESSONS FOR LEADERS1) Coaching is telling somebody something that is unknown and unnatural and getting them to do it. 2) You must fight through pain, especially the pain that makes it harder to think. 3) Communication skills are a vital attribute for any great leader. 4) If you oversee people older than you in age, finding what works to relate to them is a key to the relationship. 5) Take in lessons from the people around you. You never know where a valuable insight might come from. 6) You have to live what you preach to be authentic. You can’t preach what you don’t believe in. 7) Bring the things that could potentially beat you into your building to make you better. 8) Some people will take the directions you give them and go with it, while others need to be pushed to stay motivated. 9) Be accountable for your actions and for the people you work with. 10) Throw your heart and soul into your passion, even though sometimes it’s not going to work. You want to be proud of your effort. 11) Everyone falls back on their training. Make sure yours is worth falling back on. 12) It is necessary to live with your regrets so you can learn from them. 13) Finding what fuels you to be a leader is a must.