I encountered one of those crazy people when I first started out as a coach. His name was Thomas Leonard and he was the founder of this amazing place called Coachville.
It was the 10 year anniversary of his death this week and Coachville asked the members of the Graduate School to remember Thomas in a Top Ten.Top Tens Were Legendary!
Every day we got a top ten in our inbox. Back then we thought this was mind blowing technology.
Each day the latest thinking from the Coachville Community was beamed into our inbox and each day we were inspired to greatness by Thomas or one of his merry band of followers. I even had some top tens published.
Words can’t go anywhere near explaining how excited and validated I felt when for the first time I opened the top ten of the day and found it was mine.
Thomas taught us stuff that is probably even more valuable today than it was when we learned it.We would sit on crackly teleclass lines for hours listening to his wisdom rolling in. Frequently too scared to ask questions in case we got the “stupid” silence - Thomas didn’t do so well with stupid and let you know! For us downunder it was frequently the middle of the night.
Most of the time we had to dial in a couple of times during the call because the bridgeline technology was pretty shaky in those days. Frequently we’d end up on calls that had been double booked. It really was the wild west.
The technology now is so much more stable and everything is so much easier, but the simplicity of getting your message to world is still made possible by the humble teleclass.
As I sit here ten years on and think about Thomas I know he had to leave us. He had done so much to change the world in a very short space of time. He invented coaching and now its fairly mainstream.
If he had stayed, sure we would have kept listening in and being inspired, but for me his death signalled the time for me to get really serious. To honour him fully was to stay in the game and keep going. I did!
I’m so pleased I was around in those heady days. My big regret is that I didn’t go to see him in Sydney when he came downunder. I let sensible take over and didn’t load the credit card. I reasoned I could see him another time. Part of me knows that happened for a reason. He was a unique character and didn’t suffer fools gladly. I know he upset a few people who did go, and I’ve heard some horror stories from people who worked with him. This way the legend lives on unscathed.
The crazy ones aren’t easy to be around. They set standards well above the norm. They get frustrated when you can’t keep up with their thoughts that run at a thousand miles an hour.
I’ve come to understand they are connected to their higher selves in a much stronger way than “normal” human beings. As I read the biographies of other crazies, there is a constant that runs with them all. They have been through more than most and they carry a passion that will withstand anything that is thrown at it.
So many describe the creativity that flows from them, as God given, or almost like they can’t stop it. Thomas was like that - he couldn’t stop the need to help people connect with the power of coaching.
Love ya T - here’s to the next crazy 10 years.
This is the Top Ten I wrote for the Coachville celebrations:
The Top 10 things I learned from Thomas Leonard
- Never settle today for what was ok yesterday
- Say it like it is and then add value
- Don’t tolerate what’s holding you back
- The shift key, full stops and commas are a waste of time
- Keep your keys in a bowl and your towel on a hook
- If you can’t do it, start doing it anyway
- When in doubt, create a top 10
- Don’t wait until its perfect, get it out anyway
- If you wait until the bureaucrats are ready, the time has passed
- Being #1 is the best and only place to be
