casmith07
Attorney-at-Zone
- Messages
- 31,539
- Reaction score
- 9,313
What Is Leadership?
I joined this site in October 2008 in the middle of what turned out to be a somewhat circus of a season for the Cowboys – we had Terrell Owens, Adam “Pacman” Jones, and Tank Johnson on the team, and we also had Jerry Jones making the fan-favorite trade for Roy Williams at the trading deadline to attempt to get us over the hump. One of the things that I have seen argued about by fans on this website in the last two years has been leadership. Everyone here loves to throw around the word leadership in different contexts – is [player] a leader? We need some leadership on offense/defense. [Player] is not a vocal leader, he should be getting in people’s faces! While I have usually argued what leadership is in bits and pieces here and there, I figured that I would take a good look at what I think it is from my perspective.
As a Military Officer, leadership is a concept that you encounter throughout all of your training. Whether you are at a service academy, in an ROTC program at a college or university, or a prior-Enlisted Soldier going through the rigors of the Officer Candidate School, you will encounter some form of training, seminar, briefing, or class on “leadership.” But what is it?
From an Army standpoint, as that is what I am mostly familiar with, “competent leaders of character are necessary for the Army to meet the challenges in the dangerous and complex security environment we face.” Additionally, we are strong advocates of the BE-KNOW-DO model for leadership. Army leaders set the example, teach, and mentor – Field Manual 6-22, Army Leadership, has four parts that try to put this intangible quality into a tangible source. Out of all of those, I think the best example of what to look for is in Chapter 2 – Leadership Requirements Model. At the risk of sounding too military, I will try to put these as close to football terms as I can.
The Leadership Requirements Model has two main avenues – Attributes and Core Competencies.
Attributes include being a leader of character (values, empathy, and the warrior ethos), a leader with presence (having good bearing, being physically fit, composed, confident, and resilient), and having intellectual capacity (mental agility, sound judgment, innovation, interpersonal tact, and domain knowledge).
Core Competencies include leading (leading others, extending your influence, leading by example, communicating), developing (creating a positive environment, preparing oneself, developing others) and achieves – basically, gets results.
Now, in thinking about football players on the Dallas Cowboys, both past and present, who fits these molds?
Troy Aikman – high values, empathy for teammates, a warrior spirit, physically and mentally fit, always composed and confident, resilient and tough, master of his domain, innovative, achieves results.
Tony Romo – high values, empathy for teammates, a warrior spirit, physically and mentally fit, always composed and confident, resilient and tough, master of his domain, innovative, achieves results.
Basically, what a leader does is he inspires others around him to be their best, and to want to be their best for the greater good of the organization. I think that goes without saying for Cowboys legends such as Roger Staubach, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith and others. I also think it goes without saying for current greats like Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware, Terence Newman, Bradie James, Jason Witten, Miles Austin and Jay Ratliff.
Where I am conflicted on this is with the chain of command on the coaching staff. I do not think that Wade Phillips possesses all of the traits necessary to be a sound leader. Now, this is not a knock on him as a person, as I do believe he possesses some if not many of the traits, namely a person of high character and someone who empathizes and is arguably a master of his domain. But I think he falls short in some that weigh more heavily than others, such as his innovation, resiliency and toughness, and the warrior spirit.
The question is – does Jason Garrett possess these qualities? I think we can unquestionably say that he possesses some, and the others remain to be seen. Character, values, empathy, and the achievement of results are all there. I think the others, namely the warrior spirit, resiliency and toughness, and innovation cannot be seen because he refuses to overstep his boundary as a “follower” to the head coach, Wade Phillips.
Bottom line: give Jason Garrett a shot. Sometimes an Army’s best leaders are those that hunger for a chance to prove they have the warrior ethos, resiliency, and toughness to inspire their Soldiers to do extraordinary things.
In my humble opinion, of course.
I joined this site in October 2008 in the middle of what turned out to be a somewhat circus of a season for the Cowboys – we had Terrell Owens, Adam “Pacman” Jones, and Tank Johnson on the team, and we also had Jerry Jones making the fan-favorite trade for Roy Williams at the trading deadline to attempt to get us over the hump. One of the things that I have seen argued about by fans on this website in the last two years has been leadership. Everyone here loves to throw around the word leadership in different contexts – is [player] a leader? We need some leadership on offense/defense. [Player] is not a vocal leader, he should be getting in people’s faces! While I have usually argued what leadership is in bits and pieces here and there, I figured that I would take a good look at what I think it is from my perspective.
As a Military Officer, leadership is a concept that you encounter throughout all of your training. Whether you are at a service academy, in an ROTC program at a college or university, or a prior-Enlisted Soldier going through the rigors of the Officer Candidate School, you will encounter some form of training, seminar, briefing, or class on “leadership.” But what is it?
From an Army standpoint, as that is what I am mostly familiar with, “competent leaders of character are necessary for the Army to meet the challenges in the dangerous and complex security environment we face.” Additionally, we are strong advocates of the BE-KNOW-DO model for leadership. Army leaders set the example, teach, and mentor – Field Manual 6-22, Army Leadership, has four parts that try to put this intangible quality into a tangible source. Out of all of those, I think the best example of what to look for is in Chapter 2 – Leadership Requirements Model. At the risk of sounding too military, I will try to put these as close to football terms as I can.
The Leadership Requirements Model has two main avenues – Attributes and Core Competencies.
Attributes include being a leader of character (values, empathy, and the warrior ethos), a leader with presence (having good bearing, being physically fit, composed, confident, and resilient), and having intellectual capacity (mental agility, sound judgment, innovation, interpersonal tact, and domain knowledge).
Core Competencies include leading (leading others, extending your influence, leading by example, communicating), developing (creating a positive environment, preparing oneself, developing others) and achieves – basically, gets results.
Now, in thinking about football players on the Dallas Cowboys, both past and present, who fits these molds?
Troy Aikman – high values, empathy for teammates, a warrior spirit, physically and mentally fit, always composed and confident, resilient and tough, master of his domain, innovative, achieves results.
Tony Romo – high values, empathy for teammates, a warrior spirit, physically and mentally fit, always composed and confident, resilient and tough, master of his domain, innovative, achieves results.
Basically, what a leader does is he inspires others around him to be their best, and to want to be their best for the greater good of the organization. I think that goes without saying for Cowboys legends such as Roger Staubach, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith and others. I also think it goes without saying for current greats like Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware, Terence Newman, Bradie James, Jason Witten, Miles Austin and Jay Ratliff.
Where I am conflicted on this is with the chain of command on the coaching staff. I do not think that Wade Phillips possesses all of the traits necessary to be a sound leader. Now, this is not a knock on him as a person, as I do believe he possesses some if not many of the traits, namely a person of high character and someone who empathizes and is arguably a master of his domain. But I think he falls short in some that weigh more heavily than others, such as his innovation, resiliency and toughness, and the warrior spirit.
The question is – does Jason Garrett possess these qualities? I think we can unquestionably say that he possesses some, and the others remain to be seen. Character, values, empathy, and the achievement of results are all there. I think the others, namely the warrior spirit, resiliency and toughness, and innovation cannot be seen because he refuses to overstep his boundary as a “follower” to the head coach, Wade Phillips.
Bottom line: give Jason Garrett a shot. Sometimes an Army’s best leaders are those that hunger for a chance to prove they have the warrior ethos, resiliency, and toughness to inspire their Soldiers to do extraordinary things.
In my humble opinion, of course.
