When my personal hero, Brian Kelly, rode in on his white horse to save the Notre Dame Football program and again make my Saturdays worth living, he did something very interesting…

Rather than focus on offensive and defensive playbooks, he made a diagram – of a locker.

Specifically, he provided a detailed diagram to each player on how his personal locker should look at all times, including exact specifications on where pads should go versus helmets versus gloves.

Now, many business pundits have lauded this seemingly simple task as a brilliant move in teaching the young players about responsibility, basic discipline and organization – something that perfectly translates into our own offices.

However, while all of the above is true, this sometimes (always) messy worker bee has a slightly different take.

I think Kelly was seeing who on the team was moldy and who was not.

No – not that kind of MOLD!

You see, by following the specific instructions given by Kelly to the letter, it showed the coach who among his players was the most open to direction, change and other opinions in addition to illustrating discipline in their lives.

In other words – could the players by molded, or were they already stuck in their ways?

And, I think this sort of thinking is something that should be done at the top levels of leadership, not just with entry-level members.

After all, we all need to mold ourselves in business and life one time or another.

Mold or change, people!

What do you think?

PS – GO IRISH!!!