Kristin Sharp PhotographyJohn Perry, Nixa High School's head football coach.
Purchase Photo
John Perry knows that success goes hand-in-hand with mindset. As Nixa High School's head football coach for six years, he has cemented the team's status as a top-tier Class 6 program that finished its 2025 season as state runner-up. His social media recommendations recognize the mental strength required of leadership.
@coachajkings
Find Him on X
AJ Kings uses athletics to demonstrate that success stems from attitude. His X page features interviews from competitors like Wayne Gretzky. This translates off the field: "We can take a sport," Perry says, "and we can teach life through the sport because what it takes to be great at football; it's the same thing that it takes to be great in business or as a husband or as a father or as an employee."
@damonwest7
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Perry calls Damon West "the coffee bean guy," and for good reason. The bestselling author is known for a story where three objects are placed in a pot of boiling water. Of these, only one has the power to affect the water instead of being affected—the coffee bean. This story took inspiration from reality, as West faced a 65-year prison sentence and was freed on parole due to his initiative to change his prison environment for the better.
@alansteinjr
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Alan Stein Jr. caught a second wind as a mental performance coach after more than 15 years as a basketball skills trainer for Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Kobe Bryant. Perry says that Stein demonstrates on X that the brain is as trainable as your muscles, and while you can't stop your emotions, you can train your brain to steer clear of the long-term effects of negative thinking and stress.
@briankight
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Leadership coach Brian Kight is known by Perry for a formula he created: E + R = O, or event plus response equals outcomes. Perry uses the example of being cut off in traffic. "What you do control is how you respond to it," he says. Kight's X page is full of leadership lessons.
