I saw an interesting interview by Shannon Sharpe of Mike Tomlin that aired on CBS this past Sunday just before the Steelers took down my beloved Jets. (The fact that I could no longer find a working link to the video this morning suggests that maybe I’m the only person who found it interesting.)
In the interview, Sharpe asked Tomlin to describe coaches who were influential in making him the coach he is today. Tomlin said that he was an assistant for two radically different, but similarly successful coaches in Tony Dungy and John Gruden. Dungy was introspective, deeply religious and emotionally reserved. Gruden, on the other hand, was emotional, impulsive, and coached by the seat of his pants.
And yet, despite their differences, Tomlin recognized that they both succeeded in leading teams to championships. Tomlin acknowledged to Sharpe that this gave him confidence to pick and choose among Dungy’s and Gruden’s traits that were consistent with Tomlin’s coaching style. In other words, Tomlin didn’t feel compelled to internalize coaching traits that he deemed effective for Gruden or Dungy – he knew he could be himself and still find success.
In my management training workshops, I often ask participants to describe characteristics and behaviors of “walk-through-wall” leaders (that is, a leader for whom the participant would have walked through a wall if the leader had asked them to) they’ve worked for/played for in their past. As you can imagine, these characteristics run the gamut – honest, approachable, humorous, sensitive, inspiring, detail-oriented, loyal, well-connected, experienced, calm in the face of a storm, etc. The point of this exercise is not for participants to take stock of all of their shortcomings, but rather for them to see that leaders come in literally all varieties. No one could possibly possess all of the traits listed – several are invariably mutually exclusive!
Tomlin is a great head coach because he spent considerable time observing and assisting excellent head coaches – among them, Dungy and Gruden – from whom he hand-picked coaching behaviors that he wanted made part of his leadership persona. But Tomlin’s greatest achievement is his recognition that no matter which of his mentors’ behaviors he adopted, they needed to be consistent with his own management/coaching style.
And whichever behaviors he adopted seem to be working. Just ask my beloved Jets.
About Sean O'Neil
Sean O’Neil is Principal and CEO of One to One Leadership (www.one2oneleadership.com), a sales and management training firm with clients that include the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, News Corporation, First Data, ADP, Xerox, the Oakland Raiders and the New York Knicks. Sean and John Kulisek co-authored Bare Knuckle People Management: Creating Success with the Team You Have – Winners, Losers, Misfits and All, which is due to be published in May 2011. Sean has contributed to or been featured in, among others, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Selling Power Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
