The Responsibility of Leadership

The price of greatness is responsibility. ~ Winston Churchill

Several years ago Michael Vick, NFL quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, was arrested and sentenced to several years in prison for his part in a Dog Fighting ring. With his arrest and subsequent jail time he left the Atlanta Falcons in a bad place. It was bad enough that their all-star Quarterback was no longer with them but before he left he assured the owner of the Falcons that he didn’t do anything. Needless to say this breach of trust and contract made it harder for Vick to return to the NFL. He eventually found a spot with the Philadelphia Eagles thanks to his longtime friend Donovan McNabb.

In spite of his constant critics Vick focused on playing ball and he did it well. During the game however I noticed something about leadership. Have you ever thought about leadership stats – in this case, football stats? As announcers were talking about his pass rating he threw a perfect pass to one of his receivers that would have placed them near the goal line. The pass was everything it needed to be but the receiver didn’t catch it. When I saw this I started thinking, “Vick is the leader. He can do what he needs to do but if his guys don’t do what they are supposed to do whose stats are affected?” In this case it’s Vick’s. Sure the team is affected, and the receiver can’t add the yards he would have had to his game total but the truth is Vick’s rating is affected even though he didn’t do anything wrong. What a great picture of leadership.

I’m currently a business leader in my community, but I also have a sports background and love to watch a good game when I can. I am also very interested in the stories behind the games and leaders. I watched a biography on Vince Lombardi, a coach in the NFL, and there were several points in the movie that inspired me. One of them was when Lombardi moved to Green Bay to take on his first Head coaching job in the NFL. All he wanted to do was lead a football team and this was his chance. Needless to say his first shot at leadership was not going to be an easy one (being under a microscope never is). Where I was inspired, was after hearing an interview with the then Quarterback of the Green Bay Packers talk about Lombardi’s first meeting with the team. The team was all gathered in the room waiting to hear from their head coach. At this point the team was probably comfortable with mediocrity; they had consistently been at the bottom of the league and were probably expecting the new coach to embrace them as they were. Here’s the first thing the coach said to his team: “Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly pursue perfection, knowing full well that we will not catch it. We are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we catch excellence. I am not the least bit interested in just being good.”

The Packers began a hard work regiment. Lombardi was quoted as saying “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile”. And the hard effort paid off. The year before Lombardi took over the Packers lost every game but 2 (1 loss and 1 tie). After his first year they had a winning season. They eventually went on to win 3 championships in a row, something that had never been done before. They also won the first two Super Bowls ever put on.

The price of greatness is responsibility. Leadership is an amazing thing. As a leader you are dependent on the people you lead, and if they screw up, you are the one that’s affected long term. Coaches are fired all the time. Passes are dropped and your pass rating goes down. In response to this idea my friend said, “but leadership gets all the rewards”. And that is true. Sure Vick throws a perfect pass to someone on his team and they drop it, but who remembers the guy that dropped it, or even the dropped pass? Who’s the one with all the notoriety? Who gets on prime time TV, and who wins the awards and sponsorships? VICK.

As Christians we are all leaders. We are called to go out and share the gospel. I suspect that the same qualities and characteristics that make us great leaders in our professional fields will also make us great leaders (fishers) of men, leaders in our communities and leaders in our faith sharing. Be humble, know when to stop doing what you think is right and seek what is right for the ones you lead. Stay focused and strive after perfection because in that you’ll find excellence (in the Christian perspective I would apply this to your character). Show grace and don’t be afraid to give someone a second chance (no matter how unpopular the choice might be) as you might have another Vick on your hands. Work hard, be an example and though the responsibility is sometimes overwhelming, the rewards will be great!

So go! LEAD! Change lives and the world. I’ll leave you with a few quotes from Vince Lombardi.

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.

Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.

If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.

If you can accept losing, you can’t win.

Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.

Evan Drisner wears many hats. As a local Business Leader in his community, an Ordained Minister with the PAOC, Music Director at his Church, Father to two young boys and Husband to an amazing wife his life is in constant motion. He has a passion for music (Pearl Jam and the Beatles), his family, the lake and people in general.

©2012 Used by Permission. Excerpt taken from http://mypresenttense.wordpress.com/