The following is an excerpt from “It’s Not Magic: The Ordinary Skills of Exceptional Leaders,” by John Amaechi (Wiley, Sept. 23, 2025).

I regularly, and as gently as possible, challenge people on how they think they are seen by others, not to shift chameleon-like into compliance, but to reflect on how others perceive them will impact what they want to achieve in that or other environments.

Just as I saw throughout my decades-long career playing basketball at Penn State and in the NBA, leaders who demonstrate and reward reflection make it safer for others to step back from instinct, habit and reflexive responses. Reflection normalises adaptation, the cornerstone of personal and professional growth.

If you’re a named leader or someone without a management title, but imbued with status, credibility, or even coolness for some other reason, then you, too, are a Giant. If none of those apply to you, you’re not scot-­free. Everyone is a Giant to someone.

Please consider these physical patterns as ways to better engage with and enable growth through challenging times and interpersonal tensions.

A Giant’s whisper is a regular-­sized person’s shout. To enable someone’s growth is always to be cognizant of how you can have a deleterious impact beyond “saying the wrong thing.” I........

© Sports Business Journal