Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Respect

"Coach Addazio walked up to the front of the team, and it was one of the loudest rounds of ovations that I have been a part of in my entire life," Gators quarterback Tim Tebow said on Monday. "The team, the players clapped for probably three or four minutes for Addazio. It didn't stop."

"I just really felt great about their support," Addazio said. "Do you know what I mean? Ultimately, that's what it's all about. It's about players and the respect that they have. If you have that, you can push and you can drive. If you don't have that now, you can't do that."

"It's not about me," he said. "It's not. It sounds corny, but that's how I feel about it. ... I'm just interested in making sure our players are good, our coaches are good, Coach Meyer is good. We've got a lot of work to do now."

From 12.29.09 USA Today after Steve Addazio was announced as the Interim Head Football Coach of the Florida Gators.

The point of this quote is that leaders earn respect because of what they give (involvement, commitment, concern and respect for people). These leaders will have a team that will give a great deal of effort for them. Leaders who think their position or title entitles them to this type of respect won’t get it because the team knows that 'you' as the leader think it’s all about 'you'.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Responsibility

Below are quotes from two different men from two different periods of history and each achieved success in a different arena. Each has come to the same conclusion.

"The price of greatness is responsibility." — Winston Churchill, Statesman, Prime Minister of England during WWII

In the old days, words like sin and Satan had a moral certitude. Today, they're replaced with self-help jargon, words like dysfunction and antisocial behavior, discouraging any responsibility for one's actions.." — Don Henley
Singer/Songwriter/ Founding member of the Eagles

One way to determine those who don’t take responsibility is to see who they blame when something doesn’t work out - themselves or others. Politicians come to mind when I think about this.