B
@drgnslayr I think it has to be a balance. In education we hear a lot about being a “warm demander” and how that creates an environment that fosters learning and motivates students. A motivator needs some warmth to create a relationship so that the person cares enough to try for that person. With your examples your saying Self brings the warmth while Marshall brings the demanding.
Wright seems to have a good balance of that right now for the athletes he’s bringing to campus.
The difficulty is that every person is different. Some people respond to negative consequences and stimuli. Threaten them, tell them they can’t do it, insult their pride, call them soft etc. Point out their weakness and they will work their butt off to never show that weakness again. In general these are people who care about reputation, perception, collaboration, and mostly external pressures. People use anger, and fear of shame as motivation.
When I think about KU players who fit this mold I think about Frank Mason. He seemed to be all about proving people wrong. Early Frank wasn’t good enough finishing at the rim/ he fixed it. Then he wasn’t a good enough 3 pt. shooter/ he fixed it. Is he too small for the league? Got drafted/played some for a few years.
Some people if you do any of that stuff will shut you out or even shut down completely.
Others respond to positive reinforcement and stimuli. Praise them for something they do right and they will do it over and over again and will work tirelessly to earn that praise. Often these are people who are more internally motivated and don’t respond to shame well. These people may not directly address their weaknesses but are much better at playing to their strengths. I think about Devonte as an example for KU players. “Go out there and have fun” would have been a great pre-game speech for him. watch him play basketball and you can’t help but see the positivity, the joy. Devonte came in as a good passer and a decent shooter. He just continued (and continues in the NBA) to grow in both those areas.
I don’t think one kind of player is naturally better than the other nor is a person always one or the other. Our brains are elastic and heavily impacted by our mood and surroundings. Most people are somewhere in the middle and fluctuate in between.
