Want to win the Big Game? Become a better coach. (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest – February 5, 2010)

Hey, I don’t know if you heard, but there’s some football game happening this weekend. Yeah, I know. It’s kind of a big deal. I’ve heard people say it’s going to be super.

Anyways, it seems like, in the biggest games, the team with the best coach wins more often than not, doesn’t it? So, how can you be a better coach for your team? How can you help your team win its big game? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• While originally designed for students, Chris Lehmann’s approach to developing tomorrow’s leaders can apply to you, today, too.
• Along the same lines, Umair Haque turns Jim Collins’ classic Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
  on its head with his “Great to Good Manifesto.” Haque argues that leaders focus beyond the bottom line, building their companies on the bedrock of core values.
• Of course, you have to get your employees to share those values. Mark Pincus argues that ceding ownership of the process works wonders and asks you to question what your employees are the CEO’s of.
• Finally, lost in all the recent tech news about Apple’s iPad and Google’s Nexus One is Microsoft. It seems like a long time since they’ve won a big game doesn’t it? Former Microsoft VP Dick Brass offered one analysis of the company’s decline. And while he blames a lack of innovation, it’s really a lack of leadership that seems to have killed Microsoft’s innovation culture.

Happy Friday, Big Thinkers. Enjoy the game this weekend – or at least the commercials. And get ready to put your winning team in place on Monday.

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