BOOM! WHAM! JOHN MADDEN’S “TEAMWORK, TONE, TENACITY” (T3) LEADERSHIP LESSONS

This week, the world lost exuberant American football legend John Madden. He was an incomparable Coach (Super Bowl Champ and Hall of Famer with the highest winning percentage of any peer), Broadcaster (20+ years with several networks as their #1 commentator), and Video Game entrepreneur (“Madden NFL” a top seller).  For more than 50 years he was the most recognizable name and voice of the National Football League (NFL).  A man of integrity and intensity, he improved and informed others about his profession like no other.  His most inspirational leadership traits:

  • TEAMWORK:  Husband, Father, Friend, Coach, Broadcaster, Businessman.  In all these, his greatest metric of success was the universal love and respect he earned from others.  Why? To begin with, he was authentic.  John was big, loud and emotive.  He never tried to change the core of who and what he was.  John instinctively shared credit, particularly with his broadcast partners at all four major networks.  Pat Summerall was John’s CBS and FOX play-by-play announcer for 22 years.  Their opposite approaches and complementary strengths of energy and understatement blended perfectly.  He was also incredibly inclusive; John had time to listen, learn and talk with everyone; especially ordinary Americans who he met during cross country bus rides and at entry-level positions within his networks. 
  • TONE: Unmatched sense of humor. He brought smiles to any room he entered.  Self-effacing too.  John was once asked what he thought about a colleague’s statement that described his appearance, “like an unmade bed.”  Madden replied, “Yeah, That’s about right!”  Above all else, John saw himself as a Coach and Teacher. Like other great leaders and communicators, he had an ability to make complicated things as simple (and in John’s case) and memorable as possible to help others understand his message.  He set a culture and mood by having simple rules as a Coach too: “There were only three. 1) Be on time, 2) Pay attention, and 3) Play like hell when I tell you to … The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break.”  That’s a level of a respect for one’s subordinates that few others share. 
  • TENACITY: Never stopped learning and growing. As a leader, he was adaptable.  After a career ending injury as a young player with the Philadelphia Eagles, he became a College and then Professional Coach.  When he retired from coaching, he became a teacher at Berkley. When he found that teaching wasn’t exciting enough, he became a broadcaster.   When his health prevented him from traveling as much as he’d like, he became a video game producer.  John Madden’s passion and desire to increase knowledge about his profession never waned across seven decades. 

When eulogizing Pat Summerall, his broadcast partner of 22 years, John asked this about his friend, “Can the history of what you’ve done be written without your name?”   In John Madden’s case, the answer is no.  

NFL Commission Goodell … please, from this year forward, rename “The NFL’s  Coach Of The Year Award,”  “The NFL’s ‘John Madden’ Coach of the Year Award.”  

– Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (Ret) is a former Naval Intelligence Officer who led large, diverse teams in peace, crisis and combat.   He is the CEO of The Becker T3 Group, a platform for his motivational and national security keynote speaking. In 2016, The Naval Intelligence Community established “The Rear Admiral Becker ‘Teamwork, Tone, Tenacity Award for Leadership” in his honor

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