LEADERSHIP DEPOSITS 

When I was playing quarterback, leadership was a constant topic of conversation. And with it came a lot of opinions—what leadership should look like, how you’re supposed to lead. 

Most of the advice I received sounded the same:
“Be vocal.”
“Be out in front of the group.”
“Take charge.” 

And if you’re honest, that’s probably what comes to mind when you picture a leader—someone loud, commanding, and visibly in control. 

But the reality? 

Leadership can look a lot of different ways. 

There’s no single style. No one-size-fits-all approach. And trying to force someone into a leadership mold that doesn’t fit them often does more harm than good. 

One of the best leadership lessons I ever received came from Coach Mike Leach, and it’s always stuck with me: 

“Leadership is about elevating your group—getting the most out of the people you’re leading.” 

That’s the baseline. 

No matter your style, your personality, or your role, the job is the same: lift the group higher. 

Where I think leadership often gets coached wrong—especially with quarterbacks—is when coaches or parents have a specific vision in their mind of what a leader should look like. They then try to shape the athlete to fit that vision, instead of asking a more important question: 

What talents and capabilities does this person have that allow them to elevate the group? 

Different leaders elevate in different ways. And when you keep Leach’s words front and center, it reframes the entire conversation. 

Stephen Covey put it perfectly when he said: 

“You’re either making a deposit or a withdrawal with those you lead.” 

That’s it.

Every interaction you have—with players, teammates, or people you’re responsible for—either builds trust or drains it. And over time, those small moments compound. 

This leads to two very different outcomes.

1. WEALTHY LEADERSHIP 

Enough deposits made daily, compounded over time:
Trust → Buy-In → Elevated Performance 

2. POOR LEADERSHIP 

Enough withdrawals made daily, compounded over time:
No Trust → No Buy-In → No Elevation 

If you want to build something that lasts—something the people you lead truly believe in—you have to build it on deposits. 

Daily.
Consistently. 

Over the next few weeks, I want to walk you through three specific ways to strengthen your leadership-deposit discipline—so you can create more trust, more buy-in, and ultimately better performance from the people you lead.

Easy Easy,

-Luke Falk

See you next Monday!