Mateen Cleaves
The Catalyst
Ideas with a spark, energy, range and the ability to start things.
Mateen Cleaves is The Catalyst because he changes the culture first and trusts outcomes to follow. At Michigan State he introduced win-loss tracking in open gyms, lobbied Izzo for tougher opponents, and personally dragged teammates into early-morning workouts after a Sweet Sixteen loss. Now, building leadership culture across 8,000 employees at a mortgage company, he leads exactly as he played, igniting competitive standards until they become the environment itself.
“I got to change the mentality. I could just tell people was used to losing. So I'm like, let's start keeping track of wins and losses. That started making winning important.”
“I went to him saying, start lining them up. Let's play them big schools — when we play them in the tournament, cats ain't in awe.”
“He brought me in to help lead his leaders — show our leaders how to get the best out of other people. That's what I do.”
All The Smoke: “Mateen Cleaves Talks “Flintstones", 2002 Lakers vs Kings WCF, LeBron’s Rookie Year | ALL THE SMOKE”
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