Vince Lombardi, Leader of Men – He Made Them Better; He Loved Them

Think about this.  To succeed, you have to hire the right/best people.  Then, these people have to reach their highest level of competency; they have to get better, and then keep getting better, at what they do, constantly; they have to identify their weaknesses and overcome them; they have to work well with others — as a team.

So, where do we go to learn how to get all of these steps right; hire the right/best people, make them better; help them become a close, committed team.  One name that may be a true exemplar, worthy of study, is the name Vince Lombardi.

Two keys:

1)   He made his players better.

2)  He loved his players.

These are two key points that come through in a new play based on Vince Lombardi’s life and career.  And, in this segment on the play on NPR by Mike Pesca (Weekend Edition, Saturday), it is clear that a whole new theater audience, notably different from the typical theater audience, is attending this play:  people with Packers jerseys and helmets in hand, former players who laugh, and cry, within the first five minutes.  This is a wonderful segment!

Here are a couple of key excerpts (from the transcript), quotes from Dan Luria who plays Vince Lombardi, and from Judith Light, who plays his wife, Marie Lombardi:

Mr. LURIA: I’ll tell you one thing about his players, everyone one of them the first five minutes I’m on the floor laughing, and within five minutes every one of them had a tear in their eye. Did you see Sonny Jurgensen last night? He had tears in his eyes. They really love this guy. He made them better. He made them better.

Ms. JUDITH LIGHT (Actress): (as Marie Lombardi) He loved his players. And I don’t mean he just likes them an awful lot; he truly actually loves them.

Hire the right people.  Make them better.   Love them along the way.  This is the challenge of true leadership.  It always has been — it always will be.

{Click here to listen to this segment (it is about 5 1/2 minutes long), and read the transcript}.

 

Advertisement