The mentor leader: secrets to building people and teams that win consistently by Nathan Whitaker

Author:Nathan Whitaker [Nathan Whitaker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychologie
ISBN: 9781414338040
Published: 2010-08-03T10:00:00+00:00

We are all role models. There is simply no escaping it. Whether we’re completely unaware—as Nathan was in high school when young Jeff was watching his every move on the baseball field—or very intentional, as Colts linebacker Gary Brackett is for thousands of kids, we are all role models for someone. There is simply no escaping it.

What kind of role model are you? Well, that’s another matter altogether.

One of my early role models in coaching and leading a team was the Cowboys’ Tom Landry. (I probably shouldn’t admit that, especially not in print, since I was on the other side of those great Steelers/Cowboys rivalries in the 1970s and ’80s.)

My first recollection of Coach Landry, when I was still in high school, was watching his responses to the behavior of running back Duane Thomas. Thomas had been drafted in the first round, with the thought that he might replace Calvin Hill; but instead he was traded to the New England Patriots after his rookie year. The Patriots, however, voided the trade almost immediately, sending Thomas back to Dallas. Thomas then vowed not to speak to any player, coach, or anyone else in the Cowboys organization during the 1971 season.

Coach Landry never flinched in treating Duane with grace and fairness. His goal was to blend Thomas’s incredible playing skills with the team’s other talented players to create success rather than disruption. Thus, he never made an issue of Duane Thomas’s “vow of silence.” I’m sure at some point during the year, Duane had to speak to someone in the Cowboys organization, but it was obviously not an ideal situation. Coach Landry was somehow still able to lead that team to a Super Bowl victory.

At some point during his time with the Cowboys, Thomas even referred to Coach Landry as “plastic,” which, frankly, seemed to fit my impression of the coach from a distance. You never heard a response from Coach Landry, but I suspect if you had watched him closely when he heard Duane’s characterization of him, you might have seen a wry smile.

Coach Landry seemed stoic and placid, emotionally immovable on the sidelines, and incredibly calm in his demeanor. His teams, of course, were very good, but you never saw or heard a lot of that attributed to Coach Landry. The Cowboys were called America’s Team, but I never heard anyone refer to Coach Landry as America’s Coach. I’m sure that’s just the way he wanted it.

A few years later, when I arrived in Pittsburgh, Coach Landry went from being a coaching curiosity to being an archenemy. But it wasn’t until I began my own coaching career with the Steelers that I realized just how far ahead of his time Coach Landry was with many of the things the Cowboys did on the field—which were totally different from what the rest of us in the league were doing. In fact, Tom Landry was ahead of his time in a lot of ways, including how he led a team.

I later got

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