The World is Moving Toward Great People like Tony Dungy
- People who can make decisions without fear of opinions.
- People who don’t let other people dictate their actions.
- People who are confident, but understand that awareness is more important than control.
Tony Dungy is always cool and calm when addressing his players. He never swears or berates his team. He treats his staff and players like professionals. It’s the way all people should be treated.
When players are given respect they return that respect. A lot of leaders (coaches) try to command respect through fear. Fear based leadership usually breaks down and causes dissention. Fear is not an emotion that people want to hold within themselves, so they eventually will rebel – mentally then physically. If a coach can command respect through positive action then the players will willingly follow because they are emotionally in agreement with the coach’s philosophy. They understand his thought process and the goals they are committing themselves to.
Dungy always put his family and his faith before work and gave his players the same choice; this created respect for his thoughts and beliefs. He let go of the control that most leaders use to run an organization and allowed his players to be in charge of their lives. He understood that his players were smart, strong and capable of making quality decisions. He believed in empowering his players instead of forcing them to follow his orders.
During the game Peyton Manning, the Colts’ quarterback, received the play calls from the offense coordinator, but was allowed to change it if he wanted to run a different play. This created a unified front that helped the Colts win the Superbowl. Many coaches don’t want to empower their players for fear that they will make a mistake. Mistakes cost games. Dungy knew that when a player makes a mistake he could foster a positive experience by turning it into a learning situation. Most coaches yell at a player who made a big mistake, making him feel even more awful. When someone is yelled at or chastised it makes that person weaker, afraid to make another mistake. Mistakes will happen, but they are not the end of the world. Dungy knew that losing the Superbowl is a terrible feeling, but if winning the Superbowl was the only reason a person plays professional football then they will almost always be disappointed. Only one team out of 32 wins each year, so that’s a 3% chance for happiness.
By giving the players more than just perfect plays to follow, he created players that wanted to go above and beyond the call of duty. He allowed them to succeed without fear of failure.
Dungy is an abnormality in a “Yell First†football tradition. That’s what makes him a great person. He built his team his own way. He trusted his beliefs and didn’t try to copy anyone else. Being the first black coach to ever win a Superbowl is not the greatest part of his achievement. His greatest achievement is showing the rest of the world that dignity and respect should go hand in hand with leading an organization.
Brian
March 2nd, 2007 at 4:19 pmI am a big Tony Dungy fan.
I think there are a lot of effective leadership styles and Dungy’s is one of them. He is on top of the world right now, so you get articles like this. Soon, a Bobby Knight type will win a championship and you will hear the opposite. Both Dungy’s and Knight’s styles work, and there are many styles in between (like Holtz, Spurrier, and a million more) along with a few that are totally out of bounds (Marv Levy is the one that comes to mind). I think the most important thing is to be true to yourself. Bobby Knight could never succeed if he tried to be Tony Dungy and Dungy could never succeed if he tried to be Bobby Knight.
The leadership style I don’t like is Bill Belichik, Bill Parcells, Bill Callahan, Jerry Sloan or Mike Kryzewski. Not that they don’t work, but I do believe in a right and wrong way of doing things, and they do things the wrong way. Also, their style only works when you win. If you lose, the players mutiny. And yeah, if you’re wondering, I would prefer Bobby Knight to any of them.
One thing I am sure of is that the world is not moving to any one leadership style. You can make the first paragraph completely relevant to 1968 by changing the name “Tony Dungy†to “Tom Landry†and the name “Bobby Knight†to “Vince Lombardiâ€.
Karl http://karlstaib.com
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:19 pmI must believe that the world is moving toward a better understanding of each other. I refuse to believe that we aren’t evolving and growing as a species. I’m saying that we should learn from Tony Dungy’s philosophy and attitude. I don’t want there to be a bunch of Dungy clones who copy his style, but I do want other coaches to take notes and lead more compassionately.
Brian, you make valid points that there were other great men who lead with intelligence, compassion, and patience. If it weren’t for them there wouldn’t be a Dungy. I wonder if there could have been a coach like Dungy forty years ago, my calculated guess would probably be no.
Dungy is a rare bread of coach. If I had to be coached by one person it would be Dungy. How about you? I know that money talks especially in the NFL and championships are important, but they aren’t as important as our family and faith. As our society develops my hope is that leaders who rule with an iron fist aren’t as popular as leaders like Dungy.