FROM THE BLEACHERS-751

BY DR. JACK WELCH

When Efficient Leadership Feels Uncomfortable

Efficient leadership can feel uncomfortable. It can sound firm. Sometimes it even gets labeled as heavy-handed, especially in organizations that have operated the same way for a long time. When leaders begin realigning systems, expectations, and processes, the shift can feel sudden. Discomfort doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong. Often, it means something important is changing.

Most organizations needing realignment aren’t broken. They’re simply out of sync. Over time, good intentions can be slowed by unclear roles, outdated practices, and layers of process that no longer serve the mission. Efficient leadership steps in not to criticize the past, but to prepare the organization for what’s ahead.

Realignment requires moving away from purely top-down, task-focused leadership and toward a people-centered approach built on clarity, trust, and collaboration. That starts with a clearly defined vision. People want to know where they’re going and why it matters. When leaders communicate that vision consistently and transparently, uncertainty fades and confidence grows.

People-centered leadership also means empathy, listening, acknowledging concerns, and understanding that change affects everyone differently. At the same time, efficiency depends on shared responsibility. Clear expectations help teams work together with purpose, not confusion. When roles are understood and accountability is fair, people are better positioned to succeed.

Agility matters as well. Organizations must be able to adapt, make informed decisions, and adjust without losing momentum. Technology and data, when used well, can simplify work, reduce friction, and give leaders and teams better insight into what’s working and what needs attention.

Personnel changes and process adjustments are often the hardest part of realignment. Leaders must communicate openly, involve people in the transition, and provide training and support. Going slow in these moments, listening carefully and explaining decisions, often allows organizations to move faster and more effectively in the long run.

From the bleachers, structure can look restrictive. In reality, efficient leadership is about alignment, not control. It’s about creating an environment where people understand the mission, trust the direction, and have the tools to do their work well. Realignment isn’t about fault, it’s about focus. Focus is what allows an organization to move forward together.

Thought for the Week, “Change isn’t a judgment on where you’ve been, it’s a commitment to where you’re going.” Jimmy Shuck, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Copperas Cove, Texas.

Dr. Jack Welch serves as President of Fort Scott Community College. With a career spanning professional sports, public education, and rural community development, he brings a servant-leader mindset and a passion for building trust-driven cultures that empower people to thrive in the classroom, on the field, and in life. He is also the author of Foundations of Coaching: The Total Coaching Manual.

Leading with Love

Leading with love isn’t just a slogan or some soft, feel-good idea, it’s an attitude. Like any attitude, it shows up in the choices we make when the heat is on and everyone’s watching. It is hard to know a person’s true feelings until trouble arises.

Love guides the heart of leadership. Wisdom and counsel guide the decisions. When you lead with both, you make choices that serve people well, protect the mission, and stand the test of time.

Love in leadership means you genuinely care about people. It means seeing them as more than a job title, a résumé, or a number on a spreadsheet. Here is where folks get it wrong: they think love and tough decision-making cannot coexist. That’s flat wrong. Real love in leadership often requires making the harder call.

We’ve all seen it happen: someone gets promoted because they are liked, trusted, or a good buddy. The heart was in the right place, but the fit wasn’t. Over time, it’s clear the move didn’t serve the person, or the team. Love that dodges honesty is not love at all; it’s just comfortable. In the end, that job promotion was a detriment to all involved.

True love is considerate, yes, but it’s also truthful. A leader with love in their heart looks at the whole picture: the individual, the team, the mission, and the long-term impact. Sometimes that means saying no. Sometimes it means slowing down. Sometimes it means making the unpopular call.

Other times, a leader has to change someone’s role, or even remove them, not out of anger or ego, but out of genuine care. Those are tough decisions. They weigh heavy on the heart. In time though, people usually see the bigger picture: the decision was made with their best interest in mind, not just the leader’s convenience. That’s love with courage.

Leading with love isn’t soft, it’s high performance. It puts empathy, compassion, and authenticity ahead of fear-based control. It builds trust, loyalty, and a team that feels safe to be honest, take risks, and give their best. Leaders who lead this way listen, communicate clearly, and set expectations, because clarity itself is a form of care.

Look at companies like Southwest Airlines. For decades, they treated employees like family while still demanding excellence. It works. When people know you care, they dig deeper, think smarter, and stick around longer.

So, can leaders make tough calls and still lead with love? You bet. The best leaders do both. Leading with love doesn’t mean avoiding hard choices, it means making the right ones, with a full heart and a steady hand.

Thought for the week, “Let all that you do be done in love.” — 1 Corinthians 16:14

Dr. Jack Welch serves as President of Fort Scott Community College. With a career spanning professional sports, public education, and rural community development, he brings a servant-leader mindset and a passion for building trust-driven cultures that empower people to thrive in the classroom, on the field, and in life. He is also the author of Foundations of Coaching: The Total Coaching Manual.

FROM THE BLEACHERS-748

BY DR. JACK WELCH-

Public Education Under Attack

Public education is under attack, even though states are legally required to provide an equitable and adequate education for every child. As an educator, I’ve learned to listen to older people. Seasoned adults have an uncanny ability to sense who can be trusted and who can’t. Most of the time, I agree with them. In just about every job I’ve ever had, there have been a few older educators who became trusted comrades, people who had seen enough to know the difference between noise and truth.

People have instincts like that. Sometimes it’s just a gut feeling. Sometimes it shows up in how someone treats employees or even their own friends. For me, my radar immediately goes up when anyone starts disparaging the teaching profession.

Like any profession, there are bad actors who should be removed, and public and state education can and should improve with the right support. A few bad apples never justify bullying an entire profession though.

Bullying is increasingly coming from social media. Online harassment, threats, and insults aimed at teachers have become the most common form of aggression educators face today. These attacks cause real emotional and psychological harm and are driving good teachers out of the classroom. Left unchecked, this kind of rhetoric can spill over into real-world violence.

Much of it is politically motivated. Well-funded organizations have repeatedly targeted public and state education with false or misleading claims. In June 2023, as reported by author Glenn Rogers, Gordon ISD, a small, high-performing rural district in north central Texas, was viciously attacked online after being falsely accused of grooming students for transgenderism. The claim centered on a book available statewide through TexQuest, an online library coordinated with the Texas Education Agency. The book had never been accessed in Gordon ISD and had already been suppressed by school officials. None of that mattered. The attack rattled teachers, parents, and administrators. Educators who had done nothing wrong were subjected to fear, stress, and public shaming.

Let’s just call it what it is, public education is taking some hard shots right now. Across the country, more teachers are being verbally abused and, in some cases, physically attacked by students and even parents. Some reports say as many as 10 to 14 percent of educators have been assaulted on the job. A lot of folks point to the post-pandemic years as the turning point, but regardless of the cause, the results are clear: teachers are worn down, morale is taking a hit, and too many good educators are deciding it’s not worth the risk anymore. That’s why school safety isn’t just a talking point, it’s something we’ve got to take seriously. Older, experienced educators seem to know who to trust. Maybe it’s time the rest of us trusted our seasoned teachers again.

Thought for the Week, “A community’s true values are revealed not by its slogans, but by how it treats the people entrusted with educating its children. When we choose education over outrage, we choose a stronger future.” Blake Powell, a leading Texas educational attorney.

Dr. Jack Welch serves as President of Fort Scott Community College. With a career spanning professional sports, public education, and rural community development, he brings a servant-leader mindset and a passion for building trust-driven cultures that empower people to thrive in the classroom, on the field, and in life. He is also the author of Foundations of Coaching: The Total Coaching Manual.

FROM THE BLEACHERS-747

BY DR. JACK WELCH

 When College Football Became Professional

The national title game between Miami and Indiana will be remembered not just for the final score, but for what it represents. Indiana, a program long respected for basketball stands as the national champion for the first time in history. This would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. In today’s college football landscape, it makes perfect sense.

Indiana didn’t stumble into a national championship. They built it the modern way, through the transfer portal and NIL. This was not a slow build; multi-year plan defined by redshirts and recruiting classes growing together. This was a rapid transformation fueled by money, movement, and immediate results.

College football has abandoned tradition, it has become professional sports. The programs willing to change and invest accordingly have a chance to win. That is what Indiana did.

College football is no longer amateur athletics. Indiana’s football roster reportedly carried roughly $21.1 million in NIL spending, with marquee players like quarterback Fernando Mendoza earning more than $2 million. When you factor in total football operations expenses surpassing $61 million, the scale begins to resemble professional franchises more than traditional college programs.

Miami was in the same boat. Both teams took the field with rosters assembled less like college depth charts and more like professional free-agent lists. These weren’t freshmen growing into men within a system. These were proven players, recruited nationally and internationally, placed into schemes designed to win now.

History will judge today’s college coaches differently than those of the past. Yesterday’s great coaches were measured by how they built programs, developed players, and mastered the game itself. Today’s coaches are increasingly evaluated by how well they build rosters, manage NIL, navigate the portal, and assemble talent. The question for the future won’t be whether one era was better than the other, but whether coaching greatness can still be defined by teaching and leadership in a game now driven by acquisition and economics.

Indiana’s national championship is not an anomaly. It’s a blueprint. Spend wisely. Win the portal and raise the necessary funding. If done correctly, history can be rewritten in a single offseason.

College football didn’t die, it evolved into the professional ranks. Make no mistake, what we watched between Miami and Indiana wasn’t amateur athletics. It was professional football wearing college uniforms.

Thought for the week, “Change is inevitable. Those who adapt thrive, those who resist get left behind.”  Jack Welch

Dr. Jack Welch serves as President of Fort Scott Community College. With a career spanning professional sports, public education, and rural community development, he brings a servant-leader mindset and a passion for building trust-driven cultures that empower people to thrive in the classroom, on the field, and in life. He is also the author of Foundations of Coaching: The Total Coaching Manual.