It's been a while since I have written about P.J. Fleck, the current head coach at the University of Minnesota. As of today's post, the Minnesota Golden Gophers are 3-2 with a very tough game coming up this weekend against the #2 ranked University of Michigan Wolverines. He's not done a bad job with an overall record of 44-27 in his 7th year there (including a 4-0 record in the post-season), but for some reason fans on social media aren't happy with the team's performance. Oh well, I still like reading about his coaching and leadership philosophy (see my posts from a few years ago, "Row the Boat", "Golden Gopher Leadership 101", and "What makes a champion?"). I've always liked one of his quips, "Have a Nekton Mentality".
For those of you who didn't major in marine biology, there are two categories of aquatic animals. "Plankton" (not the character from Sponge Bob) are marine drifters and literally "just go with the flow" (they are carried along by the tides and currents). "Nektons", on the other hand, are able to move or swim independently of the currents. In Fleck-speak, Nektons are "always hungry, always attacking, and never satisfied."
As a leadership metaphor, Nektons are the individuals who don't let the situation dictate what happens next, but rather they themselves dictate what happens next. Nektons are always progressing forward and are never satisfied with the status quo. Nektons don't react, they proact! The word proact is a verb that means to take action in advance of an expected event. Nekton leaders are in a state of constant readiness and seek to continuously improve. “Have a Nekron mentality!”
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