We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Lucchesi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with michael below.
Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
I’ve had a few but one of the biggest ones was in our first few years. We started a team in Chicago and at the time, no one from the state was really getting to the Olympic Trials despite the large amount of teams and athletes. We started in 2013 with 6 athletes and in a few years had 4 athletes qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials in LA in 2016. Funny thing was, it wasn’t about that…it was more that we have developed a culture and system to help really great people compete at that level while managing very busy careers, family and social lives. It was about establishing good habits and since we practiced the often, the output took care of itself.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I started my education while running at York High School in Elmhurst, IL. While running under former Olympic Distance Coach Joe Newton, I was a member of three state and four national championship teams in his four years. Beyond that, I got to learn so many life lessons from a great man in Mr. Newton that would shape the rest of my life. Words like honesty, culture and accountability were drilled into me at a very young age. After high school I had to opportunity to attend the University of Illinois and got to run for another legend, Gary Weineke. Grateful is an understatement.
One thing I have really tried to focus on as a coach is being the least important person in the room; meaning it’s not about me. I believe true leadership requires me to always put the people I work with first. Another thing I have really focused on, especially in this era of information overload is keeping things simple and ask athletes the two most important. questions: How are you doing? How are you feeling?
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I never look at the goal is to get bigger, to get “more”…I’d rather have the mindset of “how do we do what we do but 1% better?”. Culture is the #1 thing and consistent maintenance and work on that culture is a huge priority. If we just focus on that, output takes care of itself.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
I wouldn’t, without a doubt.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.secondcitytc.com
- Instagram: @secondcitytc
