Hockey Legend Mark Messier Offers Insights On Leadership And Success In A New Memoir | The Canadian News

Mark Messier calls Nobody wins alone their memories. But it’s actually the hockey icon’s recipe for success, on and off the ice.

And given Messier’s résumé, it’s no surprise that he wrote the book on winning.

READ MORE: Mark Messier’s Book on Leadership, Teamwork Coming Fall

Known as the Moose, Messier won six Stanley Cups, as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy (twice), the Ted Lindsay Award (twice), the Lester Patrick Trophy and the Conn Smythe Trophy in a brilliant professional career that spanned since 1978. until 2004.

He captained the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks, finishing his NHL career with 694 goals, 1,193 assists and 1,887 points in 1,756 games to rank third on the all-time scoring list behind former teammate Wayne. Gretzky (2,857) and Jaromir Jagr. (1,921).

“Like Gordie Howe, Messier has the merit of being the most complete player of his generation,” reads his biography of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The NHL Mark Messier Leadership Award, awarded since 2006-07, is given “to the player who exemplifies the great leadership qualities of his team, on and off the ice during the regular season.”

READ MORE: Mark Messier among the 3 Edmontonians added to the Order of Canada

The book focuses on Messier’s hockey career and not much else. That was a conscious effort with Messier acknowledging that he saw books like Pat Riley. The Inner Winner: A Life Plan for Team Players and Phil Jackson Eleven rings: the soul of success as models that “many different people could read it and get something out of it.”

“I was lucky enough to play on some great teams with fantastic people,” he said.

“One of the last things we came up with was the name (of the book),” he added. “And I didn’t want to settle for any name. I wanted the name to really represent what the book was about. I think Nobody wins alone it really says it all. it’s about people.

“I thought I was playing hockey for 26 years and what I realized when I retired is that I was not in the hockey business, I was in the people business.”

While Messier opens up about his interest in indigenous cultures, spirituality, travel, and even an inadvertent experiment with magic mushrooms, he offers little about his private life, although there is a brief reference to his much-publicized time with Madonna. “Interesting woman, but we only dated once,” he writes.

“I don’t know if my personal life was that interesting,” he said with a smile in an interview.

But he’s much more forthcoming with his hockey relationships, from teammates to coaches, on what worked and why.

“I didn’t want to criticize anyone or anything,” he explained. “I wanted it to be a positive reading on teamwork and leadership. So trying to thread that needle and hopefully write it down so it’s entertaining and a wide group of people can enjoy it, was what worried me. “

For the most part, it complies. It’s an easy read that will appeal to both the hockey world and the business world.

“I think the beauty of sport in general is that it gives you life lessons that you can take with the rest of your life, regardless of the level, any type of team sport, the commitment, the
Accountability, work ethic, discipline, hang your head and get it right mentality can all be helpful to anyone after retirement or in business or whatever, ”he said.

Messier attributes his work ethic to his family, noting that his father Doug combined hockey, college and a teaching job after a season playing for the Nottingham Panthers in England. That kind of drive didn’t go unnoticed.

“It was hard to make excuses for not having enough time to get things done with a man whose days seemed to last 25 hours.” Messier writes.

It also points to childhood family trips from Edmonton to a vacation home in Oregon, with seven family members and 80-pound sheepdog Tootie in an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser pickup. The lessons learned on that trip stayed with Messier.

“As a leader, you learn to accept and appreciate that each of your teammates can react differently to the same situation,” he writes. “With that knowledge, you can resolve any conflict that arises from a place of understanding.”

He also differentiates between inspiration and motivation, saying, “If you create a great place to work where people are inspired by a shared goal and purpose, they will motivate themselves.”

Preach respect, to teammates, coaches, doctors and coaches and others in the organization.

“What you do off the ice has to do with respect and helps build a team,” he writes. “You have to recognize that you are all an entity, pulling the same paddle to reach the goal of winning.”

Messier says he was always curious about ways to improve the mind and body and was willing to ask questions when he failed, seeing it as a “chance to get to know himself.”

“And of course he was playing with great players,” he said. “I played with the best player of all time for 12 years. Watching him prepare and the amount of time he spent in the game, away from the game concentrating on the game, preparing for the game, focusing on the game, it was enlightening for me. And then I had to find my own path and what worked best for me. “

Messier, now 60, is a studio analyst for ESPN’s hockey coverage. He has also campaigned long and hard for the Kingsbridge National Ice Center to occupy the Kingsbridge Armory space in the Bronx, in an attempt to offer New Yorkers more ice surfaces.

“The same things apply,” he said. “You have to find a way to work with people and maximize potential.”

Nobody wins alone comes out on Tuesday.

Messier will appear in 630 CHED CHED Mornings with Daryl McIntyre Thursday, October 28 at 7:05 am