Leading With Gratitude Is A Golden Strategy For Maggie Steffens

Dying To Ask: Road to Paris

They say good things come in threes. Maggie Steffens hopes they come in fours.

Steffens is the team captain for the U.S. Olympic Women's Water Polo Team.

The team has won three straight Olympic gold medals. Winning a fourth would make history as no team, men's or women's, has won four straight gold medals.

We caught up with Steffens and her team at a sold-out exhibition game at Long Beach City College. The crowd was packed with female teenage club players.

"I was once that little girl on a pool deck looking up and seeing role models and saying, that's something I want to do," Steffens said.

Steffens' team is a team is a mix of veterans and first-time Olympians. She leads with an Olympic mindset grounded in gratitude with an eye on mentorship for the next generation of players.

Steffens says, "Going into this Olympics gratitude is one of my biggest things. How cool is it I get this opportunity and how can I make this torch a little brighter for the future of our sport?"

Coach Adam Krikorian says his team tries not to focus exclusively on winning gold again.

"The reality is this team has never won a gold medal. And we have people that have never been Olympians before. So this is their first experience," Krikorian says.

Bottom line: leadership and experience will matter greatly this summer in Paris.

On this Dying to Ask:

• Why leading with gratitude works
• How a spirit of gratitude fosters mentorship
• Advice on how to get different generations to work together toward a goal