Page 180 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

Ch10_Baldoni_141496-7 5/22/03 12:48 PM Page 158
158
GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
elevate his own expectations of himself, and the entire team collectively would
benefit. Sly fox that Lombardi was, he pushed and pushed, but with the tacit
approval of the players, who believed in themselves enough to feel that they
could succeed.
TEACHING THE SWEEP
Lombardi was first and foremost a great teacher. His greatest football lesson
was the powerful motion to the strong side of the field, right into the teeth of
the opposition. It became known as the Green Bay Sweep, and from this for-
mation Lombardi devised a number of running and passing variations that
would keep the other team off balance and his team in control. It was impor-
tant, Lombardi said, for a team to have one play that the players felt they could
run and run well; it would become, in our parlance, the “go to” play—one that
would do more than gain yardage, it would instill confidence and rally the
team. .8
THE LEGEND SPEAKS
In their first year under Lombardi, the Packers finished third and Lombardi
9
was named coach of the year. In his second year, 1960, the team captured the
league championship, and in his third year, 1961, the Packers took the NFL
title—the first of five titles. The team capped its final two seasons under Lom-
bardi with wins in Super Bowls I and II, games that in those days were little
more than afterthoughts because it was believed that the AFL, the upstart rival
conference, was not up to NFL standards. (Super Bowl III would change that
perception when Joe Namath led the New York Jets to a win over the Balti-
more Colts.)
Winning brought fame to Lombardi and, not surprisingly, offers to join
10
the lecture circuit. Lombardi crafted a speech built on “seven themes.” All of
these themes are relevant to who Lombardi is as a person; three of them tell us
about him as a leader.

Discipline. Speaking during the tumult of the sixties, Lombardi did not
really understand the divisiveness that those times provoked. While he
could be faulted for not listening to what young people at the time were
rebelling against—war, conventionalism, and materialism—his words
on the need for discipline are timeless. People, according to Lombardi,
want to be led and will respond to and appreciate a leader who instills
discipline. 11
Leadership. Educated formally by the Jesuits at Fordham and infor-
mally by Red Blaik at West Point, Lombardi had seen leadership
close-up. In fact, while he was at West Point, he got to know General
Douglas MacArthur when he gave MacArthur private screenings of