High Fives and Steve Nash

This is a brilliant video about one of my favorite basketball players, Steve Nash. In it, an intern for the Phoenix Suns counts how many times Nash high fives his teammates during a typical game. The number is truly staggering: more than 200 times. This comes on the heels of body language research that suggests that teams that touch each other more often are more successful than ones that touch less frequently. It got me thinking about leadership and the importance of positive affirmation. Sometimes, in the crush of daily responsibilities, it is easy to forget to praise outstanding performance. In this spirit, let me just single out two moments of excellence from my day: first, Julius returned from a business trip to Argentina having made a bunch of new friends for the Center and second I had a great meeting with Melissa who is doing a wonderful job running the Staten Island Youth Justice Center.