As a former college football player who has been a leadership consultant to Fortune 500 companies for 22 years, I view Quarterback Tom Brady, aka The GOAT (Greatest of All Time) as a case study in the difference between managers and leaders. Managers bark orders and expect the team to march and salute simply due to the manager’s seniority. Talk about seniority, Tom has more seniority than any other NFL player. What’s different than in a “Command and Control” environment is that Tom’s teammates don’t follow him because they must. They follow him because he is a master encourager. Tom Brady leads by his daily examples of discipline, relentless study, coaching teammates to be their best selves, and his personal dedication to excellence.
I cannot wait to see how Tom Brady uses his leadership acumen. If he chooses to be a business leader, we should expect Brady to experience the same level of post-football success as another NFL quarterback, Roger Staubach. Roger transposed his football leadership to the commercial real estate business. And he crushed it. I interviewed a few of Staubach’s employees for one of my books and I found them to be happy, loyal, fulfilled, and productive. Roger coaxed extreme performance from his team members because he was fair, honest, game-day competitive, and always encouraging. By all measures, Roger was exactly who we thought he was. Ethical. Trustworthy. Rich.
Roger Staubach sold his company in 2008 for $613 million.
Tom Brady and Roger Staubach have another leadership quality in common. They motivate different team members using different tactics. Some players need to be calmed down when they make a mistake. Others respond better with high emotions in a tense situation. That said, if you ever saw Tom or Roger in a 4th down and 9-yard pickle to win the game in one play, they were always focused and absolutely unshakable. Nothing speaks to that leadership trait more than when Tom was asked by a reporter if he was going to retire after his recent 30-27 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Brady said, “I can’t say. I don’t want to make a permanent decision over a temporary emotion.” Tom Brady is truly a living and breathing version of comic hero, Tom Terrific.
Ross Shafer is an TV Emmy winning talk and game show host and Keynote Speaker who has written (10) business books on Leadership, Customer Experience, Motivating Teams, and Growing Market Share. www.RossShafer.com