Tom Landry, Air Force Officer and Dallas Cowboys Head Coach on Leadership

Dallas Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm, right, shares a shovel with coach Tom Landry at the ground breaking of the Cowboys practice facility in Irving, Tex., In this Nov. 30, 1983 file photo. (AP Photo/File) 

One of my heroes, the late Tom Landry, former Dallas Cowboys’ head coach, once said, the art of leadership is “to get people to do what they don’t want to do to achieve what they want to achieve.”

What Coach Landry understood was that the basic leadership dilemma: how to motivate people to accomplish some task, or mission, and to do that in such a way that they get some value out of the deal.  That requires leaders who can move people without breaking them in the process.

An effective leader has integrity and models it.  He respects his boss, the institution, and his subordinates.  He exercises the authority his organization had vested in him, stepping up to lead.  He requires teamwork, and actively seeks out teammates.  And he knows that little things matter, and add up to big things.

One thought on “Tom Landry, Air Force Officer and Dallas Cowboys Head Coach on Leadership

Leave a Reply to ahuophfe Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.