Sam @DunderSam

“I know he's a good player, but he's hurting our culture.” USMNT legend Landon Donovan coached San Diego Loyal, where he created a conflict on purpose and then cut one of his best players to improve team culture. He was speaking on How Leaders Lead podcast 🗣️ “When I was coaching here in San Diego, things were going a little too well with our team,” Donovan said. “We were playing well, things were going well, but you could see complacency starting to creep into the group. “But when you're doing well, you can't just all of a sudden just blow them up and rip them apart in a locker room when you win 3-0, right? “So someone I really admire as a leader was Nate Miller, who was our assistant coach at the time and became the head coach and has gone on to great things. “And he would always say the same thing like, we need to create some sort of conflict. Like, we need to find some conflict. We need something now to get these guys' attention. “And we got a great gift. One of our best players was playing out of position, and he wasn't happy about it. But the team was doing well and we were winning. “And so I would say to him, ‘Hey, I know you're frustrated by this, but we're winning and we're doing well.’ “So we had a training session, and we watched it back after, and the team this player was on allowed a goal, and he just walked back and wasn't defending, right? “And so I was like, perfect. We have a moment where we can go after one of our best players in front of the team and say, this is unacceptable. “So we're showing the video, and I call him out in the video, and I say, ‘Hey, I don't care if you're playing goalie or right back or striker or whatever. If you defend like this, we're never going to get where we want to get to. So you can be mad about you not playing your best position or whatever, but it doesn't matter where you play if you defend like this.’ “And it got a little intense, but he gave us a great gift because he reacted very negatively in front of the group and came after me a little bit. “But I was prepared for it. So I was able then to go back at him. And after the meeting, he walked up, and this was the best part, and he said, ‘Hey, I don't think this is the right place for me. I want to get traded.’ And I said, ‘Okay, well, we'll try to trade you, but if that can't happen, we're willing also to just cut you, and you can go find a new team too. “And he's like, ‘Fine, I'm done.’ “So I went to my owner. In the second division in American soccer, they're not making huge money, but it might have been like a $50,000 deal to cut his contract. “And I said to my owner, ‘Are we willing to eat this money? It will help the group immensely because he's been a negative impact for a little while here. I know he's a good player, but he's hurting our culture.’ “And the owner said, ‘Do it. If you need to do it, do it.’ So I went back to him and I said, ‘Okay, we're done. We're going to cut your contract, and you can go on your way.’ And he said, fine. “He came back the next morning, and he said, ‘I thought about it, and I really think I made a mistake. I really want to be here.’ And I said, ‘Look, I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen. We already made the decision.’ “And that decision and what it did for the group was massive because if you're willing to cut one of your best players because they're not doing what they should be doing, the rest of the group pays attention, right? “It was the best gift we could have gotten.”

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LeBronzong James.

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