The players make the coach

I was telling the kids about a great lunch meeting I had yesterday: I hosted the founders of five of the start-ups that I am involved with. They are all monetizing their audiences with advertising but each is taking a different approach as has different challenges. It was a lot of fun to help them learn from one another...

The kids didn't understand why that was fun. How can work be fun? I used the analogy of a soccer team. I imagine that coaches derive fun from watching their players learn. But they probably derive even more fun from watching their players learn from one another. They kids agreed it would be more for the coach if players with particular strenghths teach the other players as opposed to the coach having to personally teach everything.

I said the best coaches can often be judged by their players: the better the players, the better the coach. A disagreed: what about a lousy but luck coach who gets great players? Well, the best players are unlikely to want to play for a lousy coach. And great coaches often attract good players...