Direct answer: Coaching my sons in youth sports taught me three rules that hold up just as well in a sales office: give your best effort, be a great teammate, and have fun doing it. They shape great teammates on a field, and they shape great salespeople in a career.
Parenthood sharpens what you believe about leadership. Sports sharpen what you believe about life. The more time I spend coaching my sons, whether it's on the field, the ice, or the court, the more I see the same principles that help them grow into great teammates showing up in great salespeople.
Rule One: Do Your Best Work, With Your Best Effort
At our house, best effort means knowing the job you're responsible for and doing it right every time, including the small things most people overlook. It means giving everything you've got that day, even if all you have is twenty percent. In sales, it's no different. I've watched people who weren't the most naturally talented take off once they were given the tools and the belief to show up as their real selves. The managers who made the biggest impact on my own career weren't the ones who made it easy. They were the ones who gave the hard truth and cared enough to help me grow through it.
Rule Two: Be a Great Teammate
Being a good teammate means showing up, communicating, and supporting the people next to you. Being a great teammate goes further: lifting others up even when it doesn't directly benefit you, adapting when your role changes, and understanding that the team's success is your success even when your name isn't in the headline. In sales, it's realizing that when someone else wins, everyone wins. The best reps extend a hand down the ladder while they're still climbing it themselves.
Rule Three: Have Fun Doing It All
Fun isn't just laughter or celebration. It's finding joy in the hard work itself, celebrating small wins, and competing with pride. One of my son's hockey coaches put it best: the competition is the fun. That stuck with me. You find joy when you push yourself and show up fully, even when the scoreboard doesn't guarantee you anything. Teams that find joy in the journey don't just perform better. They stay longer and believe deeper.
Leadership Isn't a Title. It's Showing Up.
Your team chooses to work for you. They don't have to. They choose to trust you with their effort and their belief that you're worth following. It's your responsibility to show up for them, not just when things are easy, but especially when they're not.
Effort, teamwork, and joy make up the real scoreboard. Live the three rules, and be the person others want to bet on.
Build a team culture where these three rules are the standard, not the exception.
See Sales LeadershipFrequently Asked Questions
What are the three rules taught in this article?
Do your best work with your best effort, be a great teammate, and have fun doing it all. They come from coaching youth sports, and they apply just as directly to a sales team.
What does best effort mean in a sales context?
Knowing the job you're responsible for and executing the small things most people overlook, giving everything you've got that day even when that's less than usual. It's built through honest conversations about who someone is, not by making the job easy.
What does being a great teammate look like in sales?
Lifting others up even when it doesn't directly benefit you, adapting when your role changes, and understanding that the success of the team is your success even if your name isn't in the headline.
Why does having fun matter for performance?
Fun isn't about celebrations, it's about finding joy in the hard work itself, in competing and pushing past what feels easy. Teams that find joy in the journey perform better and stay together longer.