Last weekend Naomi Osaka won her third career Grand Slam at the U.S. Open Tennis tournament.  At 22 years-old, she is the first woman to win the championship after losing the first set in a quarter of a century.

After she claimed the championship, she was asked, “What did you tell yourself and what did you do differently after the first set?”.

Your mindset reflects your past, describes your present, and predicts your future.

Excellence, like leadership, is built from the inside out. Your organization’s excellence will rarely exceed your team’s excellence, and your team’s excellence will rarely exceed your personal excellence.

Therefore, the most important question a leader should ask is: “What am I currently doing to improve my personal excellence?”

Inspiring coaches work  on themselves before they work on their teams. It starts inside with an understanding of yourself.