Bill Evans is a student of the game when it comes to wrestling, and the Richmond Hill coachs attention to detail has helped build one of the top programs in Georgia.

This season, the Wildcats had another impressive campaign. Richmond Hill finished second in the GHSA Class 6A State Dual Meet tournament losing to Pope 30-24 in the finals in a battle that came down to one match.

In the State Traditional Tournament, the Wildcats set a school record with three state champions in Jakeem Littles (195 pounds). Kamdyn Munro (152) and Rick Shores (132) among six place winners that included Joe Fusile, who was the runner-up in the heavyweight class; Tate Evans, Bills son who finished third at 182 pounds; and Nathan Furman, who took fifth at 126 pounds.

For the second year in a row, Evans is the Savannah Morning News Wrestling Coach of the Year.

What Ill remember most is that we had a great room this year. There was a lot of competition in our practices every day, said Evans, 46. We knew we had a team that was state championship caliber but there were some other great teams out there, too.

Evans has been coaching with the Wildcats for seven seasons, the last two as the programs head coach. He has learned a lot from Nick Purler, the highly-regarded coach who runs the Purler Wrestling Academy in Missouri. Evans knows the sport like the back of his hand and is always learning the latest techniques to pass along to his wrestlers, whom he considers to be family.

Jakeem Littles, the Richmond Hill star who became the first two-time state champion in school history when he won the 6A 195-pound title this season, is headed to Life University to continue his wrestling career in the fall. He said he wouldnt be where he is today without Evans.

Coach Evans has taught me everything I know, Littles said. Hes been supporting me since I started and taken me to all the camps to help me improve. He helped me develop my own style.

He knows how to motivate every wrestler on the team. Were all part of his family. He knows when to get tough, when to support us and hes always messing with us. Hes always there whether you need a laugh, or you need some help even if it doesnt have anything to do with wrestling.

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Wrestling coach of the year: Bill Evans, Richmond Hill - Savannah Morning News

Wins On The Court: Ravenswood head coach Mick Price is No. 3 when it comes to all-time wins in West Virginia high school basketball.

State sports historian Doug Huff gave me the list recently.

Price presently owns 688 victoriesmeaning at least 12 wins next season will get him to 700.

Of those 688 victories, 674 have been accumulated at Ravenswood. The data was supplied by Ravenswood basketball history buff Bryan Canterbury.

Two of Prices wins were state Class AA state championships (2006 and 2009).

Dave Rogers of Martinsburg leads the way with 775.

He was hoping to add to the totals in the State Tournament. Rogers Bulldogs were set to open in a Class AAA quarterfinal against Pakersburg South, guided by Ravenswoods Brett Rector, who is leaving the Patriot program to be an assistant for the University of Charleston.

Second on the list is Howard (Toddy) Loudin with 698. Loudin coached at several West Virginia schools.

Following Price is Pocas Allen Osborne, who led the Dots to a regional final spot in Class AA with hopes of reaching the State Tournament. Osborne owns 667 victories.

The late Jerome Van Meter is next in line with 647. Van Meters coaching career is legendary with the bulk of his wins coming at Beckley Woodrow Wilson.

The states high school coach of the year award (for all sports) is named in his honor. Price was the recipient in 2009.

Former Morgantown head coach Tom Yester is fifth with 627.

One of Yesters assistants during his career was former Ravenswood player Jason White, who has won three state titles as the girls head coach at MHS.

The late Sam Andy follows Yester with 211. Andy won his games while coach at old Wheeling High and later Wheeling Park.

On The Road: Since the State Tournament has yet to be played, West Virginia Radio Corporation, which does an incredible job broadcasting the event around the state each year, has been reliving championship games from the past over the air on stations such as 580 WCHS in Charleston.

The other night while driving, I was flipping around the dial and decided to see what game they were broadcasting.

And it just so happened to be Ravenswoods 2006 state championship win over Bluefield.

Dinner Plans: Not only are sports teams dealing with the coronavirus, but so are sports banquets.

-Sadly, the upcoming West Virginia Sports Writers Association Victory Awards Dinner has been scratched for this year.

The 74th annual event was slated for May 3 in Charleston at the Embassy Suites. The dinner is the longest running of its kind in the United States. This marks just the second time since it started back in 1945 that it is being cancelled (the other was in 1966).

Ripleys Tori Starcher was set to be honored for a second straight year as the female recipient of the Ray McCoy Award, given annually to the states top track and field/cross country performer.

Starcher, a senior at Ripley, is bound for Stanford University to continue her studies and track and field career.

-The 24th annual Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame banquet has been shifted from its original date of June 13 to August 22 at the Grand Pointe Conference and Reception Center in Vienna.

Jackson Countians James Abshire, Chase Fischer and Josh Miller are to be honored in the 10-member Class of 2020.

-Meanwhile, Tex Williams is still holding out hope his annual West Virginia Sports Legends Reunion event can take place at the Charleston Convention Center on July 11.

Since 2009, Williams has turned this into one of the biggest sports reunions in the country, recognizing past coaches, players, officials, administrators, band directors, volunteers and media members.

Well over 500 are to be at this years event, including former WVU head football coach Don Nehlen, one-time Marshall head football coach Bobby Pruett and Greg White, head coach for both Marshall and University of Charleston mens basketball.

Some Jackson Countians are to be recognized. Williams will be releasing a complete list in the coming days.

Remembering Bev Shatto: Like a lot of people I have had the pleasure of getting to know through the years, the sports world has been our bond.

Such is how a friendship was developed with the late Bev Shatto Ripley High Schools beloved principal who passed away last week.

In her earlier years as an educator, Shatto was also a tennis coach.

Not only could she play the game, but she had a gift of showing others how it was to be done on the court.

Her playing background included winning a national tournament earlier in her life.

With no pun intended, Bev truly loved tennis.

She loved sports in general and staying physically fit.

The Ripley community has been incredibly saddened with her passing.

I didnt see Bev often, but when the two of us did cross paths we always had a nice conversation. The topic was usually about sports, her family or her Ripley High family.

While teaching Sunday School for several years at Calvary United Methodist, I had the pleasure of having some of Bevs children in my class.

Bev worked tirelessly as a teacher, coach and later as an administrator.

One of her friends (and she had a boatload) told me it was nothing for Bev to put in 15-to-16 hour days at Ripley High.

She referred to Ripley High as her second home.

When you look up the word class in the dictionary, you might just find a picture of Bev Shatto.

She had so many great qualities.

She was kind, caring, dedicated and passionate...just to name a few.

Our heart aches for her four children and other family members. It aches for her church family. It aches for her many colleagues. It aches for her abundance of friends outside of the school system. It aches for all the young lives she touched through the years in the education field. It certainly aches for the Ripley High Class of 2020.

I have heard so many wonderful things about her over the course of the past few days.

And having known her myself, those heartfelt tributes come as no surprise.

She will be forever missed.

More:
State coaching wins; dinner plans and remembering Bev Shatto - Jackson County Newspapers

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Author JK Rowling created a flutter on Twitter recently when she gave scathing replies to a person, who suggested that the author should not knock life coaches for trying to inspire people during these troubling times. In her tweet, Rowling said: Implying that people are lazy or unmotivated if they arent knocking out masterpieces daily isnt inspiration, its a form of shaming. If endless distraction cured depression, no rich person or workaholic would ever have killed themselves. Sadness and anxiety arent weaknesses.

Theyre a natural human response to difficulty and danger. Allowing ourselves to feel what we feel, and acknowledging that we have good reason to feel that way, is a better route back to good mental health than beating ourselves up for not being superhuman. Rowling was on to something when she said this. Alongside the steady and bleak stream of the number of COVID-19 positive cases, social media today is full of tips and ideas on how to make this pandemic useful.

Life coaches and influencers are exhorting people to not waste the extra time they have earned while working from home during the lockdown. But does this create a pressure on people to be extra productive when just coping can be stressful for many?

Dr Pragya Rashmi, consultant psychologist, says: We are culturally taught to be stronger in difficult times, to put on a happy face when we are going through depression. We are told to behave in a way that contradicts our feelings. This school of thought has been coming down from generations. It might have some meaning at that time, but currently, it does not.Baijesh Ramesh, a clinical psychologist at Chetana Hospital in Secunderabad, says: We are facing unprecedented chaos, and this can easily overwhelm many of us. What we are going through globally is a collective trauma.

There are people amongst us who lost their jobs and many more living in fear of losing jobs. The whole situation has given rise to significant anxiety, profound grief, panic, and fear of loss of lives of loved ones among people. Many of us are struggling to survive poverty, financial burden, health issues, mental health difficulties, and relationship struggles due to the lockdown.

Individuals differ dramatically in their response to stress and how they cope with it. Some people thrive even under these circumstances and make the best use of this time to be extra productive, but that cannot be expected of everyone. If a person feels pressured to be extra productive amid these uncertainties, that can be unhealthy. This pressure can create an additional challenge for children, who may not express their stress and anxieties like adults do; they are also perceptive of whats happening around and are concerned.

If anyone can cope with this situation by being productive, then thats great, but if someone doesnt have the bandwidth right now, thats fine too. It is absolutely okay to be not okay.Stating that we are witnessing an unprecedented situation, Pragya adds: The Covid-19 pandemic is a situation that most of us are undergoing for the first time in our lives. The last time the world saw such a crisis was during the World Wars. Amid this, people are being told to be extra creative and extra happy by social media, influencers and the socio-political environment.

Students are being asked to take up extra coaching, mentoring etc. I coped is no longer a thing for us. We dont see coping as an activity and ignore the fact that it requires energy too. We want to sweep coping under the carpet, put some activity on top of it, and believe that is the way to go forward. The more we repress coping, it will come back in a darker form. We have to face our anxieties and accept that dealing with them requires energy. Its not mandatory to be happy.

There are people who are being extra productive now, and it is their way of dealing with things. But everyone need not be happy, or cooking, or acquiring a new skill. To let go of all activities is an important psychological phenomenon that nourishes our minds. A retreat need not be activity based. Its important to pause our minds to gain new perspectives.

Creating extra pressure is stressful Life coaches and influencers are exhorting people to not waste extra time while working from home. Does this create pressure on people to be extra productive, when just coping can be stressful?

kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com@KakoliMukherje2

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You need not do anything extra this pandemic - The New Indian Express

Todd Woodcroft instructs during a Winnipeg Jets practice.(Photo: Jonathan Kozub/Winnipeg Jets)

Soon after Kevin Sneddon announced his intentions to retire at the end of his 17th season in charge of the University of Vermont men's hockey team, athletic director Jeff Schulman heard from Noah Segall, theprogram's former director of operations.

As Schulman prepared to begin a national search to replace Sneddon, Segall tossed a name in the mix for consideration: Todd Woodcroft, a longtime NHL coach who has spent the last four seasonswith the Winnipeg Jets.

"He said you may want to take a look at this guy," Schulman said, "and it evolved from there."

More than two months later, and smack in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that prolonged the process for the school and itsmost sought-aftercandidates, Schulman and UVM selected Woodcroft, 47, as the fifth Catamount coach in program history.

"I talked to several head coaches in college hockey including in our league who know Todd and feel like hes a really exceptional person and his background and international reputation for player and skill development indicated he was somebody we should really consider," Schulman said.

"We really felt like he was a great fit for UVM and where we want to move our program," said the fourth-year AD and 1989 alum of the hockey program.

More: Why NHL assistant coach Todd Woodcroft wanted the UVM men's hockey job

Todd Woodcroft instructs players during a Winnipeg Jets practice.(Photo: Jonathan Kozub/Winnipeg Jets)

Woodcroft was UVM's guy, its top choice, according to Adam Wodonof College Hockey News.And Woodcroft yearned for a situation that had presented itself in Burlington. The marriage seems like an ideal match for both parties: A coach on an upward trajectory to take the reins ofa programand a school hoping the right personcould spark a return to prominence after seven losing seasons this decade.

"This isnt just a good place," Woodcroft said Thursday during a phone interview, "this is a destination where you want to be."

Schulman: "When I really evaluated what I think our program needs and to take the next step and compete at a championship level, which is what our goal is, Todd is the best person to help make that happen."

On the surface, there are questions. UVM'sopening, the final vacancy out of the 60 Division I teams, went to a coach who has noNCAA background either as a player or as a member of a college staff. And despite a stacked resume, the UVM gig is also Woodcroft's first head-coaching assignment.

"I dont know if I consider myself a maverick in any way, but I also dont mind pushing up against the status quo," Schulman said. "Most of our candidates came from deep inside the college hockey world and Todd represented a pretty stark contrastin that regard.

"Ive never been a believer that there is one career path for a successful coach. For me, its more about the person and their core values and what they bring to the job."

More: UVM tabs Todd Woodcroft to lead men's hockey program

Jerry Tarrant, part of an alumni group that played a small rolein theinterview process, praised the decision.

"This is a bold move and I really respect it. There were a couple choices that were safe choices and nobody would havechallenged Jeff on it," said Tarrant, who played hockey with Schulman at UVM. "Having talked with this guy, I can see the allure of (Woodcroft). This one is so far out of the mainstream of what people thought was going to happen that it creates an even higher level of excitement."

Associate athletic director Joe Gervais, another UVM hockey alum, called it a "non-traditional hire." But the overwhelming reaction has been positive, and could be viewed as a sneaky-good hire when the time comes for judgement.

"Ive been part of a lot of searches over the years and theres never one candidate who has absolutely everything," Gervais said."Time will tell how good a hire it was, but we feel like he's a great person for the job right now."

Todd Woodcroft has been picked as UVM's next men's hockey coach.(Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan Kozub/Winnipeg Jets)

Woodcroft hasn't stepped foot into Gutterson Fieldhouse in about five years. And the COVID-19 crisis turned all formal interviews from in-person to video or phone conversations.

But that was only a minor setback thanks to modern technology.

Resuming after the pandemic delayed proceedings for a couple weeks, Woodcroft was impressed by UVM's pursuit and dogged preparedness.

"They were meticulous in their research about me. They did a marvelous job vetting me,"Woodcroft said. "It was an intense process,I felt like the character of Red in 'TheShawshank Redemption' at the parole hearings."

Woodcroft also noticed the longevity of the administrators and coaches he spoke with. Schulman and Gervais are each closing in on 30 years at their alma mater. Men's head basketball coach John Becker just wrapped his 14th season with the program.

"Thats the greatest testament to a school," Woodcroft said.

Schulman said they had to win over Woodcroft, too.

"A big part of this process was us selling Vermont to Todd," Schulman said."I think it became pretty clear as the process went along that this was a good fit on both sides."

And, of course, Woodcroft had to beat out a strong candidate field. Six others were formally interviewed; associate head coaches Ben Barr of Massachusetts and Jerry Keefe of Northeastern were the other two finalists, according to several media reports.

"There seems to be a real synergy between (Schulman) and Todd, two people who share a common vision of trying to bring the program back to prominence," said Jay Woodcroft, Todd's younger brother. "I think the way that he prepared and delivered in theprocess, he showed them how serious he was about theresponsibility."

Woodcroft was also sold on the team's potential. Sure, the Catamounts won just two games in Hockey East this winter, part of a66-136-37 record in conference play over the last decade. But the Toronto native and 1995 McGill graduate saw a group who played and skated hard.

"I watched some games (on film) and this was a team that never quit, they blockedshots for each other," Woodcroft said. "They were inso many one-goal games."

Todd Woodcroft instructs players during a Winnipeg Jets practice.(Photo: Jonathan Kozub/Winnipeg Jets)

Woodcroft has spent the last two decades with five NHL teams in various roles, most notably as a scout. He won a Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 as the team's primary European scout. He alsowas an assistant coach on gold-medal winning teams forCanada and Sweden at the 2004 and 2017 IIHF World championships, respectively.

Given his NHL experience, his teaching knowledge of the game "a cutting edge technician," his brother saidand the contacts he has amassed in North America and Europe, it was only a matter of time before a professional team or school offered Todd Woodcroft a head gig.

"Theres a reason the best players in the world gravitate toward him. Yes, hes dynamic and he has a magnetic personality but, most importantly, hes got the coaching chops," said Jay Woodcroft, a former NHL assistant coach who now leads the AHL's Bakersfield Condors. "Hes earned every opportunity, hes earned the right to work with the best people in the sport.

"Hes spent the last 20 years of his life preparing for this moment."

The key to unlocking the Catamounts' success is through recruiting, finding elite players, and Tarrant said Woodcroft appears to havethat ability.

"For me, I feel like recruiting is a very important part of the job, maybe the most important. I felt like he spoke to that," Tarrant said. "These kids will say, This is a guy who can get me ready to achieve my goal of playing in the National Hockey League. Thats a good reason to go to Vermont."

Naturally, Woodcroft's younger brother believes in him.

"He has an unmatched work ethic. When he sets his mind to something, hes a very driven person," Jay Woodcroft said."Thats why I think the University of Vermont not only got a great human being, but a very motivated and a very prepared hockey coach.

"Hes going to make it his mission for that program to succeed."

Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 oraabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter:@aabrami5.

Read more:
How UVM landed NHL assistant coach Todd Woodcroft for the men's hockey gig - Burlington Free Press

Tawa town centre in New Zealand during lockdown for the Covid-19 pandemic Photograph: Dave Lintott/REX/Shutterstock

New Zealand has been one of the few western nations to pursue a policy of elimination for Covid-19, drawing global praise and popular support at home for a swift and stringent lockdown that began three weeks ago.

But now as the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, decides how and when the strictest measures in the countrys national shutdown will ease, New Zealands comparatively low death toll and case rate have generated increasingly fraught and personal disputes between scientists about whether the lockdown has proven too costly.

Ardern announced on 23 March that the government would move swiftly to implement a stringent national shutdown at that point no one had died from the virus and a little more than 200 active cases in the hope of preventing the catastrophic death tolls seen in Italy and elsewhere.

On Monday she is due to signal whether her government believes four weeks of the most restrictive lockdown measures which will expire next Wednesday have been enough to flatten the curve and what the next steps will be.

To date nine people have died of the virus in New Zealand, with more patients having recovered than there are remaining active cases. Modelling used by the government had projected 14,000 deaths if the virus remained unchecked, and Ardern has been lavished with praise by commentators overseas for averting that possibility.

But domestically as always she faces a harder task in convincing the country to stay the course with the elimination strategy, said Jennifer Curtin, a politics professor at the University of Auckland.

There are a lot of people who are experts in this space in a way that we havent really seen in other crises that shes had to deal with, Curtin said. This is a whole of society crisis and a whole range of interest groups are offering their opinion now.

Ardern has suggested that during the next phase of recovery from Covid-19 restrictions will be loosened only slightly. She has also pushed back at academics who are calling for a swift and total lifting of restrictions.

[It is] commentary that reflects our success to date in stamping out the virus as reason enough to take our foot off the pedal, Ardern said. It is not.

Among those calling for an immediate end to the lockdown is a group of scientists who provoked controversy this week by exhorting Ardern to reopen the country. The group of six, calling themselves Plan B, have claimed that a strategy of elimination is bound to fail and would generate worse economic and health outcomes than the virus itself.

They have pointed to Australia, a favourite example of strict lockdown detractors, where a slightly less restrictive shutdown has seemed to result in a similar case rate of Covid-19 to New Zealands though that conclusion has been disputed by a number of other scientists.

Prolonged lockdown is likely to cause greater harm than the virus to the nations long-term health and well-being, social fabric, economy and education, said Simon Thornley, a public health lecturer at the University of Auckland, in a statement on behalf of the group. He added that New Zealands health system had spare capacity to deal with Covid-19, unlike in more populous countries.

Echoing the group, the leader of New Zealands parliamentary opposition, Simon Bridges, wistfully referred this week to the takeaway coffees and haircuts Australians are permitted to access. New Zealanders can only leave their homes to walk, buy groceries or see a doctor.

An editorial published by the group which appeared to have sparked Arderns remarks on Tuesday generated a backlash on social media where users said their proposition would condemn to death the elderly and those in ill health.

Ive never experienced the level of vitriol that occurred over this, Thornley said.

Siouxsie Wiles, an associate professor in microbiology at the University of Auckland who has been a prominent government adviser during the crisis, accused Thornley and his group of cherry-picking and misrepresenting evidence to support their position. An article she wrote rebutting their points also generated a tirade of social media abuse this time against her.

At the heart of Plan B is the belief that those who are more likely to die from Covid-19 should self-isolate so that the rest of us can get back to our normal daily activities, Wiles said. This sounds awfully like the UKs original herd immunity strategy and look how that turned out.

No one would argue that the lockdown was not harmful to the economy but there was evidence from other countries that it was the least worst option, she said.

More than 60 academics from Auckland universitys population health school signed a letter on Thursday saying they backed the governments elimination strategy.

Nick Wilson, a public health professor at the University of Otago, said scientists using their authority to suggest the economy should be reopened immediately were being irresponsible in a time of such crisis.

Normally it wouldnt matter much, duelling academics, he said. But in a national emergency, which is what this is, if people are coming up and saying the governments strategy is wrong, it is irresponsible not to back this with some very thoughtful work.

For his part Thornley is taken aback at the exhortations for him to be quiet. Im getting that sense that Im out of order asking these questions, but to be quite frank these are probably the biggest policy decisions the government will make in my lifetime, he said. I want to be helpful. I could have not said anything and I would have been having an easier time.

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Debate over when and how to ease New Zealand's lockdown turns personal - The Guardian

When the reality of COVID-19 began to sink in, it felt like everyone was flooding inboxes with messages of heres our plan or were all in this together. Many organizations were intently focused on getting a reassuring message out. Agency concern for the public and other external stakeholders was the initial priority. Now several weeks in, most federal program managers seem to have established a regular cadence and tone for their updates and guidance.

As you adjust to this new normal, you can now turn your focus to your internal customers. These internal customers are your colleagues from other parts of your organization that depend on your teams work.

Whether internal or external, customer engagement is all about relationships and trust. In the old world of three weeks ago, many of us cultivated these internal connections in-person, during face-to-face meetings, over lunch, or chats in the hallway. Now, as we work from home, its more important than ever to reassure your peers and partners within your own organization that you are open for business and committed to serving their needseven if they cant see you doing it.

Start by reaching out. Tell them in an email or an audio recording what you are doing, as a leader, to keep your employees safe, healthy, and motivated. Share how you and your team are not skipping a beat in delivering the solutions and services they expect regardless of your location. Are there upcoming activities that could be affected, like planned group meetings, technology deployments, deadlines, travel? Be honest; let them know that there may be delays, extensions or even cancellations. Admit that there may be some bumps in the road, but that your devotion to their success is unwavering. Inform of your contingency planseven Plans B and Cshould you need to shift course. And with genuine compassion, make sure they know you care about their health and safety and that of their own teams.

Establish regular touchpoints. While you may not be able to gather in your office or conference room for weekly status meetings, you can leverage approved online meeting options like MS Teams, WebEx, Skype for Business, even FaceTime, to meet by video, share your screen, and do some whiteboarding. Sure, conference calls can be effective, but theres nothing like actually seeing each other, especially in these challenging times, that can bring a feeling of personal connectedness. Kids and pets invited!

Ask what they need. Remember that they are experiencing the same or similar challenges. Are there tips you can give about effectively moving employees to telework? Are there ad-hoc reports they need to make their job easier now? Think about the future; what will they require from you when this crisis is over, and they transition back to the office? Work together to plan for it now.

Report your accomplishments and request feedback. In a virtual world, transparency is key. If they are not already in place, develop dashboards that show the status of your projects, progress against goals, and metrics that matter to your customer. Share these reports regularly with your internal customers and employees. Doing so will instill a level of confidence of that you continue to deliver seamlessly. And ask what you could be doing better, especially now.

Do the same for your team, especially the compassion part. This is a time of tremendous change and uncertainty. While you feel pressure to meet your customers needs, so do they. Connect with them often, celebrate their successes, encourage their well-being, and most of all, be the caring leader they need.

While you navigate this new normal with your colleagues, you can connect with your internal clients and ensure they know they can count your services and support. While there is no playbook for this, the brands [organizations] demonstrating empathy, acknowledging how theyre adapting their business, and transparent about how theyre taking care of their team are the most successful, says Simon Hill, North American president of consultancy FutureBrand.

Lee Frothingham is customer experience consultant and communications strategist with Wheelhouse Group.

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Ensuring Continuity with Your Internal Customers in a Virtual World - Nextgov

Stepping into a role as a leader whether as a seasoned executive or a neophyte supervisor is both challenging and exciting. How you handle this transition can have a huge impact on your career. You need to hit the ground running not only with your bosses and key stakeholders but also with your direct reports. Research shows that having a 90-day plan with 30-day and 60-day milestones along the way increases your chances of success. But while these plans are great tools, direct reports will evaluate who you are and what you bring to the table long before you hit those milestones. Indeed, theyll make sticky evaluations of you from the very first conversation. Thats why I think you should have a Day 1 plan, or what I like to call a new-leader pitch.

Just as entrepreneurs need people and institutions with money to invest in their start-up ideas, leaders and managers need people with social and human capital to back them. How much support they get directly influences their effectiveness. The good news is, your immediate boss is already invested in you (she knows your background and hired you). But your direct reports havent voluntarily made the same investment at least not yet. And you should never assume that theyll automatically follow your lead just because you have the title of manager, vice president, or even chief fill-in-the-blank (that is, formal power). You must win them over, and you should have a strategy for doing so that you can translate into a cogent set of talking points that guide rather than script all your early conversations with them. If the group you manage is large, these discussions will probably begin with an all-staff meeting at which you introduce yourself, followed by individual meetings with your reports over the next several days.

To answer this question, I asked full-time professionals, via an online survey platform, what they would want to learn from their new leader in their first conversation. In total 278 people responded. Their average age was 36, and the group was approximately half men (53%) and half women (47%), made up mostly of college graduates (77%), and represented a wide range of industries, including telecommunications (14%), government (12%), health care or pharma (11%), education (11%), finance (10%), and manufacturing (10%). I purposely made the context a conversation rather than a presentation to allow respondents to offer what they personally would want to know rather than what they think others or their group might want. In my framework, I also incorporate other research my colleagues and I have conducted over the past decade on work relationships and new employee onboarding.

The respondents in the survey broke down fairly equally into two groups: warriors and worriers. Each group had a distinct set of concerns. Chances are, youll have some of each type among your reports, so youll need to figure out how to address both in your pitch. Lets look at what that entails:

Warriors evaluate your knowledge, competencies, experience (and whether its relevant), and leadership approach to see if they will support you. They want to know if you can handle the job and understand how to help them do theirs better or will just get in their way.

One warrior technical professional for a large high-tech firm, for instance, said that what he wanted to know from a new leader was have they actually done the job, or do they just think they know what the job requires. How willing would they be to get in the trenches and try out our job themselves? Another warrior who was a nurse said her biggest concern was whether the new leader really knows how to do my job. It is offensive to me that people who dont know my job try to make judgments.

Some new leaders might interpret this line of questioning as an attempt to undermine them, and although thats possible, warriors general intent is different. Employees reactions to a new leader usually are based on their experience with the most recent leader. While a warrior direct report might be happy to be rid of a less-than-stellar leader, he or she may still be rightly on edge about whether history may repeat itself with you. Indeed, the nurse went on to explain that all of this is important, because it has been a problem in the past.

Warriors also want to know if you will be an active, hands-on kind of leader. Ultimately, they want you to (as one professional put it) jump in and take responsibility to make sure the team is kept up-to-date, while shielding the staff when there are issues with upper management.

Worriers, in contrast, are more focused on whether youre a safe investment. One sales professional summed it up well when he said he wants a new leader to make us feel secure in our jobs and in the company. How can you set these reports at ease? Many of them ranked clarifying job expectations as the primary task of new leaders. Deep curiosity about the leaders plans for the future and next steps was also common (particularly in turnaround situations). I would like to know if they plan to make any changes, especially what changes would affect me, said one worrier. Last, the worriers also wanted insight into the new bosss leadership approach, but their concerns were slightly different from warriors. They wanted answers to questions like: What is her supervising style? Does she have an open-door policy? How does she want us to approach her with problems?

To address both groups, make sure your pitch provides information on competence and change, experience and expectations, and your overall leadership approach. Jonathan (a pseudonym), a global product development associate at a pharmaceutical company based in the Caribbean, described how a recently hired leader did all this in an initial conversation: The new leader reviewed his past accomplishments in significant detail. It was impressive. He laid out his approach to learning the priorities of the various departments. He also told me that although he would restructure the organization to support the business, jobs and opportunities would expand. No one would be fired, but everyone would need to interview again for positions. That first meeting left quite an impression, and I was excited to see what was to come. Although its true that the prospect of interviewing for positions might have alarmed some worriers, setting clear expectations settled the future for them.

The survey respondents also pointed out ways that new leaders can get off on the wrong foot and what they should be doing instead.

1. Dont overshare, but do relate to reports on a personal level.

Relationships with supervisors can be powerful motivators. Research shows that when a direct report has a strong connection with a leader, the report is more likely to identify with the organization, engage in creative behavior, and help others at work. As one professional said, a good connection with the boss helps with morale and teamwork.

Interestingly, another respondent, an IT consultant, provided nuanced guidance on how to create a productive connection. New leaders, he said, should tell me a small bit about their personal life; nothing too revealing, but enough to make them feel like an actual person. In short, do not get overly personal. Another professional went a bit further: I would like to know them more, not just about where they worked. If they could do anything in life besides what they are doing now, what would that be? Others said that sharing personal details helps a new leader be more relatable and to bond. It also may help lay the groundwork for later presenting your vision for change and continuity. And while it may seem as if relaying that vision right away will help you get your reports excited about you, you may not want to rush in. One professional underlined a preference for the new leader to wait to give the vision for the department once they know us, the staff, better.

2. Dont just share your rsum, but do tell them your story.

While warriors may be examining your experience and worriers may be wondering how it influences your approach to them, both groups want to know about your work history. However, they both want you to stake your claim as the new leader through your career story, or narrative. They want to know, for instance, why this particular job makes sense for you at this time. As one warrior said, I would like to know what led my supervisor to get into a role like this. We help hospices manage their patient care, and our company is only medium-sized and not wealthy. It takes a certain kind of person to give up money and work for a good cause.

Jonathans boss was able to provide a powerful and personalized career narrative. As Jonathan recalled, The new leader expressed his excitement with being here. He took the opportunity to share a bit about himself. He highlighted that his previous college athlete days provided him valuable lessons for his career and his daily drive. He related past successes in a similar role that he thought would translate to our organization.

In your narrative, you can and should project your story into the future. Indeed, several respondents wanted to know about a new leaders goals for the leadership position itself. A health care industry professional commented: I would like to know what their vision for the position entails and how this vision affects me personally. Employees also appreciate it when you explain why your new position is integral to your story and, most important, how your direct reports play a critical role in that story.

After all, everybody likes to be part of a story especially a success story. And if, as a new leader, you put some thought into how to make a good first impression on your reports and win their support, you can help them be part of yours.

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Stepping into a Leadership Role? Be Ready to Tell Your Story. - Harvard Business Review

Jurgen Klopp called him a modern-day great and Brendan Rodgers said he could be as good as Luis Suarez, but the forward is without a club at 30

For a year and a half after joining Liverpool in 2013, Daniel Sturridge looked like the best English striker in the Premier League.

Thirty-five goals between January 2013 and May 2014 told their own story. Sturridge was incisive, clever, technically superb and brimming with confidence.

In the six seasons since, Sturridge has scored just 23 more league goals. He has finished bottom of the Premier League with West Brom, won the Champions League with Liverpool, and been banned from football for betting offences.

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He has drifted to the sidelines, on the pitch and in the public consciousness.

At 30, he should be coming towards the end of his peak years, but he was never in the conversation for Englands squad for the postponed Euro 2020 Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Jamie Vardy have grown beyond him while youngsters like Tammy Abraham and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have emerged in his wake.

Sturridge is used to being overlooked. As a youngster at Manchester City, he struggled to break into the first-team picture ahead of experienced - if goal-shy - operators like Rolando Bianchi, Darius Vassell and Benjani.

Sold to Chelsea a year after Man City were taken over in 2008, he took time to settle. His first two seasons brought 26 league appearances and just one goal before a productive loan spell at Bolton, but he burst into life under Andre Villas-Boas in 2011-12.

Thirteen goals that year was his best season to date by some distance, but his personal success was tainted. While he shone under Villas-Boas, the Blues struggledand the young Portuguese coach was sacked in early March.

Roberto Di Matteo came in and won Chelsea the Champions League, but Sturridges goals dried up; he scored just two more in the league and didnt feature in Europe beyond the quarter-final first-leg win at Benfica.

Sold midway through the following campaign, Sturridge immediately clicked at Anfield.

There were rumours Brendan Rodgers didnt want him at Liverpool.Regardless,the pair found a good relationship straight away and Sturridge was electric alongside Luis Suarez.

The pairs partnership was among the most potent the Premier League has seen, even if it was short-lived. They spent only one full season together, and almost fired Liverpool to the title in 2013-14. Suarez was the leagues top scorer with 31, Sturridge second with 21, and that wavy-armed celebration was near-ubiquitous.

"Daniel has a wonderful opportunity over the next few years to become world class, Rodgers said midway through that season.

He has every tool and every quality he needs to be as [good] as Luis Suarez. If he stays clear of injury and stays on the field he can achieve that.

Since leaving Liverpool in 2014, Suarez has scored 142 league goals for Barcelona, at one point serving as the tip of perhaps the greatest attacking trident the world has ever seen. In the same time, Sturridge's career has slipped through the cracks.

Hamstring injuries, hip injuries, knee injuries, ankle ligament injuries, calf injuries - his body just couldn't take the strain.

Jurgen Klopp realised quickly enough he couldnt rely on Sturridge to build a team around him. He still scored goals when he played, and he still performed for England his last-minute winner against Wales at Euro 2016 was a career highlight but his playing time dwindled.

The move to West Brom midway through 2017-18 was his last-chance saloon, a nothing-to-lose opportunity to put himself in the shop window.

Six goalless appearances and another two-month injury lay-off left the writing very much on the wall.

He left Liverpool as a free agent at the end of 2018-19 after watching from the bench as Liverpool won the Champions League. His manager had nothing but praise for him.

Daniel has earned the right to be considered a modern-day Liverpool great, I would think, Klopp said.

He came to the club while we were trying to rebuild and re-establish ourselves. Some of the goals he has scored for Liverpool were so, so, so important.

He is one of the best finishers I have ever seen in my life. He scores goals you think could and should not be possible.

Unexpectedly, Sturridge ended up moving abroad. He went to the Turkish Super Lig with Trabzonspor and found his goalscoring touch hadnt left him he rattled in seven goals in his first 16 games.

Then it all fell apart. A year previous, he had been banned from football for six weeks for breaching betting rules after telling his brother to bet on a possible move to Sevilla.

But the FA appealed the decision, and in March 2020, he was banned from football for four months. His contract at Trabzonspor was terminated the same day.

"Devastating for me, I'm absolutely gutted about it. My season's over, Sturridge said.

"I just want to say it's been a very long, drawn out process over the last couple of years, and difficult to concentrate on my football.

In the end, Sturridges ban hasnt been that dramatic, with global football largely suspended anyway. But it is hard to shake the idea it has spelled the end of his career at the top end of the game.

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What has happened to Daniel Sturridge? Liverpool's 'world-class' striker banned from football and without a club - Goal.com

Working moms already face an enormous amount of pressure to juggle both work and home life. Throw in COVID-19 and the family all together under the same roof 24/7, and you have a recipe for a perfect storm.

In fact, 81 percent of employed moms said their ability to engage effectively at work has been negatively impacted by COVID-19, according to a new study by Bonnier Custom Insights, a division of Working Mother Medias parent company Bonnier Corporation. The survey was taken online by 549 of Working Mother readers from March 27 to April 9.

Over half of the respondents (55 percent) said they have trouble engaging effectively at work because they are experiencing anxiety or stress due to the current uncertainty in their personal life. And a significant portion of working moms, 27 percent, said their emotional state is currently terrible or poor.

They are worried for their children, their households and their careers, said Dr. Laura Sherbin, an economist and managing director of Culture@Work, a division of Working Mother Media.

At the household level, we observe significant challenges beyond just the logistical. Working parents and moms, who are lucky enough to have their job right now are unable to do what they need to do to deliver across multiple demands. Nearly half of working moms are sacrificing rest and sleep and are not experiencing support, she added.

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A similar poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, conducted March 25 to 30 found nearly half of people in the U.S. say the pandemic has affected their mental health, with 19 percent reporting a major impact."

RELATED: 5 ways to curb coronavirus-related stress and anxiety

And the fallout from this stress and anxiety will make a big impact on the economy.

Sherbin estimated that working moms coronavirus-related anxiety will cost the economy a whopping $341 billion. She derived the number based on Gallup, which found that the cost of work disengagement is 34 percent of a persons salary. So, if there are 31 million working moms who make an average of $40,000, that equates to the $341 billion.

So, what can be done to help lower working moms stress and anxiety so they can be as productive as possible?

This is a big time for growth for everyone and the most important takeaway from this time is how we need to evolve and improve our lives, said executive career coach Liz Bentley, who is not affiliated with the study.

RELATED: On air and at home: How NBCU moms are juggling work, family while covering coronavirus

Bentley added, For women, this means it is finally time to divide the parenting and household responsibilities more clearly and with better boundaries. If women are working and also doing most of the caring for the children, they are unfairly sacrificing their careers. Instead, they need to create better boundaries and fight for equality in their relationship so that all of their work and worry is not on them.

Bentley said that working moms in return need to be willing to give up some of the control and allow their spouses to find their own way of doing things.

This will help everyone in the long run and will create a better family dynamic, career success for both parents equally and happier employers," Bentley said. "For so long, we have wanted more women in the boardroom and the C-suite and they cant get their without the support."

Employers can help too. Sherbin stressed management needs to proactively check in with their employees and offer targeted support.

At each team level, there needs to be a resetting of how work gets done with the assumption that this new normal isnt the old normal, just virtual, Sherbin noted. At the company level, offering tools and resources for those with existing and new mental health conditions is paramount to helping employees, and their companies, come out of this crisis.

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Working moms are struggling to engage at work and it will cost the economy $341B - NBC News

Germany has overseen the largest-scale coronavirus testing program in Europe, conducting 350,000 tests each week, detecting the virus early enough to isolate and treat patients effectively. In New Zealand, the prime minister took early action to shut down tourism and impose a month-long lockdown on the entire country, limiting coronavirus casualties to just nine deaths.

All three places have received accolades for their impressive handling of the coronavirus pandemic. They are scattered across the globe: one is in the heart of Europe, one is in Asia and the other is in the South Pacific.

But they have one thing in common: they're all led by women.

These countries -- all multi-party democracies with high levels of public trust in their governments -- have contained the pandemic through early, scientific intervention. They have implemented widespread testing, easy access to quality medical treatment, aggressive contact tracing and tough restrictions on social gatherings.

Take Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people -- with roughly the same population as Australia -- off China's east coast. Taiwan is claimed by Beijing as its territory and shunned by the World Health Organization, so it should have been highly vulnerable to an epidemic originating in mainland China.

But when Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen heard about a mysterious new virus infecting the citizens of Wuhan in December last year, she immediately ordered all planes arriving from Wuhan to be inspected.

She then set up an epidemic command center, ramped up production of personal protective equipment such as face masks and restricted all flights from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Taiwan's early, aggressive intervention measures have limited the outbreak to just 393 confirmed infections and six deaths. The US State Department cites Taiwan's coronavirus success in calling for Taiwan to be given observer status in the WHO's World Health Assembly.

New Zealand is an island country of almost five million, which relies heavily on tourism.

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shut New Zealand's borders to foreign visitors on March 19 and announced a four-week lockdown of the country on March 23, requiring all non-essential workers to stay at home except for grocery shopping or exercising nearby.

Iceland's Prime Minister Katrn Jakobsdttir governs a small, island country of only 360,000 people. But its large-scale, randomized testing of the coronavirus could have broad ramifications for the rest of the world, as it has found that around half of all people who test positive for the virus are asymptomatic. Iceland also intervened early, aggressively contact-tracing and quarantining suspected coronavirus cases.

Contrast these interventionist responses with Sweden -- the only Nordic country not led by a woman -- where Prime Minister Stefan Lfven refused to impose a lockdown and has kept schools and businesses open. There, the death rate has soared far higher than in most other European countries.

Other female heads of state have also made headlines through their tough response to the coronavirus. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs of Sint Maarten governs a tiny Caribbean island of just 41,000, but her no-nonsense video telling citizens to "simply stop moving" for two weeks has gone viral around the world.

"If you do not have the type of bread you like in your house, eat crackers. If you do not have bread, eat cereal. Eat oats," she says emphatically.

Of course, South Korea's (male) President Moon Jae-in has deservedly received praise for flattening the curve of infections in his country through widespread testing. But many countries led by incompetent, science-denialist men have led to catastrophic coronavirus outbreaks.

That helped bring about the current emergency of over 25,000 coronavirus deaths and a half-million cases, which continue to mount each day.

Similarly, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson dismissed the severity of the public health crisis and refused to introduce restrictions on social gatherings long after other European countries went on lockdown. Before he was hospitalized with Covid-19, he told reporters that the virus would not stop him from shaking hands with hospital patients.

And the coronavirus would not have spread throughout the world as swiftly if Chinese President Xi Jinping had not allowed five million people to leave Wuhan before it went on lockdown.

It's too early to say definitively which leaders will emerge as having taken enough of the right steps to control the spread of coronavirus -- and save lives. But the examples above show that a disproportionately large number of leaders who acted early and decisively were women.

Yet, on January 1, 2020 only 10 of 152 elected heads of state were women, according the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations -- and men made up 75% of parliamentarians, 73% of managerial decision-makers and 76% of the people in mainstream news media.

It is long past time for us to recognize that the world is in dire need of more women leaders and equal representation of women at all levels of politics.

At the very least, the disproportionate number of women leaders succeeding in controlling this pandemic -- so far -- should show us that gender equality is critical to global public health and international security.

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Women leaders are doing a disproportionately great job at handling the pandemic. So why aren't there more of them? - CNN