This document discusses strategies for building, keeping, and working with teams based on the leadership examples of Abraham Lincoln, Lou Holtz, and Tony Dungy. It recommends bringing a team together by setting clear criteria and recruiting the best people. It suggests keeping a team together by regulating one's own emotions and managing relationships well. Finally, it proposes working a team together through establishing ground rules and setting ambitious goals, as illustrated by Lincoln's emancipation of slaves, Holtz's national championship, and Dungy's Super Bowl win. The overall message is that strong leadership can unite individuals to achieve great successes through a shared purpose and culture of discipline.
13. Bring a team together Republican Party: Former Whigs, Anti-Slavery Democrats, Free Soilers
14. Bring a team together 8 Posts, 11 states represented
15. Bring a team together Cabinet & VP Ability & Influence Top Presidential Contenders Governor of New York Governor of Ohio Governor of Maine U.S. Senators U.S. Representatives State legislators
16. Bring a team together Tony Dungy Criteria for coaches First, they had to be men of character and integrity. Second, they had to be good teachers. Third, I was looking to create opportunities for African Americans in the NFL. Finally, I was hoping for guys who would make a long-term commitment…. Mental toughness, strength, passion
19. Bring a team together Herm Edwards Rod Marinelli
20. Bring a team together Criteria for players Selfless Committed Winning Attitude Hard working Motivated Strong values & ideals Leader in everything he does Lou Holtz Reading #2
21. Bring a team together Chris Zorich 3-Time 1st Team All-American Lombardi Award Winner College Football Hall of Fame Member Walter Camp All-Century Team 2nd Round Draft pick to the Chicago Bears 6 NFL Seasons, 100+ tackles each, Man of the Year Finalist Lawyer, Philanthropist, Motivator Prototype Reading #3
22. Bring a team together Holtz’s ND Men Best in the Nation 1 Heisman Trophy Winner 1 Unitas Award Winner 2 Walter Camp Winners 2 Lombardi Award Winners 45 All Americans 80+ Drafted into the NFL
25. Keep a team together Lincoln, Holtz, Dungy Regulate yourself Self-awareness Self-regulation Motivation Define these. Why are they important to team leadership? Reading #s4 and 5
26. Keep a team together Lincoln’s tactics Regulate yourself “Now, burn it and write another letter.” “The stories – jokes – … are the vents of my moods & gloom.” “With the fearful strain that is upon me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.” Reading #6
27. Keep a team together Dungy’s approach Regulate yourself “What are you going to do to make the situation better?” “You can always control your attitude, approach, and response.” Reading #7
28. Keep a team together Holtz’s motivation Regulate yourself “From the Notre Dame football team, the goals were to return the program to its former glory, and be in the hunt for a national championship as soon as possible.” “My job was to build men of character.” “I don’t want to be known for the successes I had as a coach, because success dies. Significance – helping others to better their lives through word and deed – lasts forever.”
29. Keep a team together Manage relationships Empathy Social Skill Define these. Why are they important to team leadership?
30. Keep a team together Manage relationships Repaired bruised egos and injured feelings Assumed responsibility for the failures of subordinates Shared credit with ease Seward: “His magnanimity is almost superhuman. His confidence and sympathy increase every day.” Lincoln Reading #8
31. Keep a team together Manage relationships “We can enjoy success only when we realize that we must be able to count on one another.” “Championship teams play for things larger than themselves – the history and tradition of the institution, the quest for perfection, or the love of their teammates and coaches.” Holtz Reading #9
32. Keep a team together Manage relationships “I believe strongly in the idea of the team as a family. I can’t very well preach unity and tell the guys we’re all in this together and everyone’s important, then cut a guy because we might improve by one percent if we bring in someone else.” Dungy
33. Keep a team together Manage relationships “I meet four times a year with each player on our team, individually. We look eyeball to eyeball and talk about everything from her fears to her ambitions. I spell out what her role is and what's expected of her, but more important, I ask what she wants. After those talks, I feel more in tune with her. I know what she needs to help her performance. And I have heard her.” Pat Summitt
34. Keep a team together Manage relationships 8 national championships 14 SEC championships 1005-192 record (84%) 7-time NCAA coach of the year 7-time SEC coach of the year Pat Summitt
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37. “The republic endured, and slavery perished.” ~ James McPherson Work a team together 4 years Union & Emancipation Reading #10
38. Work a team together Holtz Ground rules Do what is right. Do your very best. Treat others like you’d like to be treated.
39. Work a team together 11 Seasons 1988 National Champs 1 Undefeated, National Championship Season 2 Second Place Finishes 5 Top-10 Finishes, 9 Top-20 9 Consecutive New Year’s Day Bowls Second most wins in Notre Dame history – 5 fewer than legendary coach Knute Rockne
40. Work a team together Dungy Ground Rules Be a pro. Act like a champion. Respond to adversity; don’t react. Be on time. Being late means either it’s not important to you or you can’t be relied upon. Execute. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. Not almost. All the way. Not most of the time. All of the time. Take ownership.
41. Work a team together 7 Seasons 2005 World Champs 1 Super Bowl Championship 1 AFC Championship 5 Consecutive AFC South Division Championships 7 Consecutive Playoff births 92 wins, 33 losses
42. Team of Rivals Leadership First, you must have a purpose. Bring a team together. Get the right people on the bus. Set criteria. Recruit and hire the best. Keep a team together. Exercise your emotional intelligence. Regulate yourself. Manage relationships. Work a team together. Create a culture of discipline. Set ground rules. Have audacious goals.
43. Final Thought Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. ~Vince Lombardi
“Some weeks after the 1860 election, Springfield banker John W. Bunn met Senator Salmon P. Chase coming out of Lincoln’s law office in Springfield. ‘You don’t wan to put that man in your cabinet,’ he told Lincoln. ‘Why do you say that?’ Lincoln asked. ‘Because,’ said Bun, ‘he thinks he is a great deal bigger than you are.’ ‘Well,’ said Lincoln, ‘do you know of any other men who think they are bigger than I am?’ ‘I don’t know that I do,’ said Bunn, ‘but why do you ask?’ ‘Because,’ said Lincoln, ‘I want to put them in my cabinet.’” (Boller, 135)
“I looked up and down the rows of players, searching for a bright spot. I found one in Chris Zorich. He sat in front of his locker with his face in his hands, his shoulders heaving. It took a second for me to realize he was sobbing. A player who hadn’t broken a sweat after warm-ups, who had stood on the sidelines and encouraged his team all afternoon, was distraught to the point of tears by our loss. That was the kind of player we needed at Notre Dame…. We had to find players who were as selfless and committed to the idea and ideals of Notre Dame football as Chris Zorich. I expected us to recruit attitude over athleticism, and an aptitude for hard work over natural ability.I wrote a model profile for the type of player who would play for Notre Dame from that point forward: someone who was motivated and who wanted to do something with his life, who wanted to represent Notre Dame and its values on and off the field, and who stood up and led in everything he did. (240-41)“If you want the best from others, you have to hire the best people, define what it is you want from them, and come to a common agreement on the terms and conditions of your relationship.” (61)
“He had come to Notre Dame from a broken home in a crime-infested neighborhood where he had to fight his way home from school on a daily basis, and from a high school where you were more likely to become a drug dealer than a college All-American…. But no one worked harder on the practice field or in the library than Chris. He wasn’t blessed with outstanding speed or size, but he did have the fortitude to do whatever it took to reach his goals.”
Almost half drafted in the first 3 roundsStarted the season ranked #13, but beat 4 top-10 teams, including #1 Miami, #2 USC, #3 West Virginia, and #9 Michigan on its way to an undefeated national championship season.
“This, then, is a story of Lincoln’s political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility; to assume responsibility for the failures of his subordinates; to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes…. His success in dealing with the strong egos of the men in his cabinet suggests that in the hands of a truly great politician the qualities we generally associate with decency and morality – kindness, sensitivity, compassion, honesty, and empathy – can also be impressive political resources.” (Goodwin, xvii)
Holtz: “I … became a football player myself, an eighty-pound wonder boy who made up for his lack of size by being slow and weak.”“I had three years of Latin – Latin One and Latin Two, twice.”Lincoln: “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
Boller 135: “One day Secretary of War Stanton complained to Lincoln of a major general who had accused him of favoritism in extremely abusive language. Lincoln suggested writing him a sharp rejoinder. ‘Prick him hard!’ he said. Stanton at once wrote out a strongly worded letter, then showed it to the President. ‘Right! Right!’ cried Lincoln approvingly. ‘Just it! Score him deeply! That’s first rate, Stanton.’ But when Stanton folded the letter and put it in an envelope, Lincoln interrupted him. ‘What are you going to do with it?’ he asked. ‘Send it,’ said Stanton, surprised at the question. ‘Nonesense!’ exclaimed Lincoln. ‘You don’t want to send that letter. Put it in the stove. That’s what I do when I have written a letter while I am angry. It’s a good letter, and you’ve had a good time writing it and feel better. Now, burn it, and write another letter.’”143: “The President was reading a book and hardly noticed me as I came in,” Secretary of War Stanton wrote later. “Finally he turned to us and said: ‘Gentleman, did you ever read anything of Artemus Ward? Let me read a chapter that is very funny.’” Lincoln then read aloud something by the humorist Ward entitled, “A High Handed Outrage at Utica.” Furious at what he regarded as “buffoonery” on Lincoln’s part, Stanton almost got up and left. But Lincoln read on until the end of the piece and then laughed heartily. Everyone else was silent. “Gentleman,” said Lincoln disappointedly, “why don’t you laugh? With the fearful strain that is upon me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die, and you need this medicine as much as I do.” Then he reached into his tall hat on the table, took out a paper, and said: “I have called you here on very important business.”
104: “Coach,” I finally choked out, “I’ve been offered the head coaching job at William and Mary. I’m going to take it.”The first words out of his mouth were unprintable. He stomped around his living room ranting and raving. Then he took off his glasses and threw them into his fireplace, where they broke. This set off another torrent of obscenities, although at that point I was biting my lip to keep from chuckling.Self-discipline 250
“This, then, is a story of Lincoln’s political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility; to assume responsibility for the failures of his subordinates; to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes…. His success in dealing with the strong egos of the men in his cabinet suggests that in the hands of a truly great politician the qualities we generally associate with decency and morality – kindness, sensitivity, compassion, honesty, and empathy – can also be impressive political resources.“It is due to the President to say, that his magnanimity is almost superhuman. His confidence and sympathy increase every day…. Executive skill and vigor are rare qualities. The President is the best of us; but he needs constant and assiduous cooperation.” ~Seward
219: I was still concerned that our players were pointing fingers at one another for our problems. We had a lot more excuses than we had wins. Improvement in the fundamentals will take a team only so far. In order for a team to make the leap from solid performers to true winners, you have to eliminate excuses and finger-pointing and take every accomplishment and setback as if the entire team is responsible.220: “You aren’t out here playing for you, and you aren’t out here playing for me. You’re out here playing for the man next to you. If you aren’t trying to win for your teammates, the men who are sacrificing beside you, you have no business putting on that gold helmet on Saturday.”218: I know everyone talks about Notre Dame’s tradition, and I was aware of it, but I also believe tradition never graduates. It is always under construction, and it is yours to create or destroy. It was our mandate to build onto Notre Dame’s great tradition, and the best way to do this was to win.248: Do any of you know why men die for their country?249: “Whether it be a military battle or Notre Dame football, we can enjoy success only when we realize that we must be able to count on one another.” That theme would be repeated hundreds of times throughout the season. Those athletes had to understand that if they were playing for personal glory, they were in the wrong place. Championship teams play for things larger than themselves – the history and tradition of the institution, the quest for perfection, or the love of their teammates and coaches. I wanted every member of this team to internalize all those motivators.
215: I was less interested in individual performances, and more interested in building a team. Teams win when everyone subjugates his own personal welfare for the benefit of the unit. A team is capable of accomplishing things that no individual can regardless of how multitalented he may be.
100 Wins – would have surpassed Rockne with one more season
100 Wins – would have surpassed Rockne with one more season
Lombardi coached men who were all of these things, winning 5 NFL Championships in 9 years.