This morning on CanoeFM I had the pleasure of chatting with Bruce Beaton from his home in Kentville, N.S. 
Bruce is the coauthor of The Truth About Success, My Rules, Enduring Principles of Leadership and 38 Lessons Learned in Professional Football, and most recently, Little Athletes Big Leaders – Effective Sport Parenting
Bruce Beaton played his first ever football game at the age of twenty and went on to an outstanding academic and athletic experience at Acadia University (BA (hon) MA) and a 13 year professional football career in the CFL.
Bruce was a struggling player then an all star player and a team leader at every level of football. He played on teams that didn’t win a game for months and he won three league championships late in his career. Bruce is truly an expert on the subject of leadership and competitive greatness.
Bruce has been influenced by over 40 coaches at the professional level and by countless terrific teammates. A voracious reader, Bruce has also been influenced by the hundreds of leadership books, sports and leadership biographies, and personal and business development books he has read over the past two decades. .
Bruce’s core belief is that the skills associated with leadership are the most important you will ever learn. As a leader, you must create a vision or goal you are passionate about, and if you develop the strategic and relationship skills necessary to leverage the engagement and productivity required to bring that dream into reality, you will succeed.
Bruce believes the most effective social and community institution we have to create leaders is youth sport. Sport’s emphasis on collective goal setting, vision, teamwork, interpersonal skills, mentoring, daily action, personal excellence and mastery, perseverance and resolve, and self discipline provide the environment for a tremendous leadership education. The key is effective mentoring from parents and effective transferable skill reinforcement from coaches. We spent a good deal of time chatting about that this morning.
If you’d like to know more about Bruce, his philosophy and follow his blog, you can do so at http://www.littleathletesbigleaders.ca.
Mike Jaycock 