Jim Collins - Eric Mangini - Mike Whalen: LEADERS

Our class this week revolved around a series of videos on how effective leaders gain effective followers. The first video was an interview with Jim Collins. Jim is the author of two National best sellers, Built to Last and Good to Great, which we will reference continuously throughout the semester. In the interview, Collins makes a great point on the conditions in which he believes leadership is most effective. He states, “True leadership only exists when people follow, if they have the freedom to not follow. If I put a gun to your head I can make you do something, but I haven’t led you anywhere.” He later says, “If the people truly have the freedom to follow, they are not going to follow if in the end: a.) it’s about you or b.) you’re unwilling to sell the mills.” I believe Collins hit the nail on the head with this one. If a leader plans to be successful, he or she must have the respect and commitment of the team working under them. This can only be achieved if the followers actually believe the leader’s vision is for the greater good and not personal goals. Our senior classmate Geoff Mucha had a great comment on this issue. “Today, people are using leadership positions as a platform to advance professionally. When employees see this, they are less inept to believe in the leader,” stated Geoff. Our class agreed. We also concluded that a balance of personal and company goals is key for both leaders and followers. Mike Barsotti summed it up nicely. “Air on the side of productivity,” Mike stated.

The second clip was an interview hosted by Wesleyan in 2010 with ’94 Wesleyan graduate Eric Mangini. As some of you might know, Eric was a head coach in the National Football League with the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns. The clip fit our class perfectly as not only does Mangini have a personal connection with Wesleyan, but he also focuses his interview on leadership. The comment that stuck with me most was when Mangini talked about recruiting players at the 2:22 mark of the interview. He states, “I drive the personnel guys crazy. They’ll come in and tell me about a guy’s 40. They’ll tell me about his broad jump, how many tackles he had, and I don’t really care about that. I don’t care about the player until you can tell me about the person because I know that one guy is going to affect five guys in the locker room either positively or negatively. “ In other words, you can have the talent, you can have the grades, you can have all the skill in the world, but if you don’t have the heart you will never reach your full potential. In some cases, you might even negatively influence team or company goals. Wesleyan senior Colin Hartwig stated, “Recruiting people with value - by knowing he is a good person, then you can trust him. You can trust that he will be at work on time, value his job, and be an asset in more than the traditional ways.” Jim Collins talks continuously about having the right people. The right people are any team, firm, or organizations most valuable asset. Those are the people who know how to deal with the challenges and overcome them because they are willing to go the extra mile and do whatever it takes.

The final video was an interview with current Wesleyan head football coach and ’83 graduate Mike Whalen. By the tone of his voice and his first comment you can without doubt tell Coach Whalen is a born leader. Coach Whalen states, “The first words out of my mouth when I met with the team…..was guys we are going to win now.” I am a competitive person and when I heard this chills ran through my body. Even though I am not on the football team, I felt like I immediately accepted Coach Whalen’s identity. He didn’t sit there in front of Wesleyan Alum’s and current coaches and preach NESCAC championship or anything like that, but rather put it simply by saying “we are going to win now.” That’s deep. I have been around sports all my life and never heard anything so meaningful. Would you follow?

-A leader laying out the most simplistic vision possible, yet the most effective vision.

In class we discussed that this was probably so effective because of his reputation and I agreed to some extent. (For those unfamiliar with Coach Whalen, he was the head coach at rival Williams College for six seasons posting a 38-10 overall record during that time.) However, everyone wants to win regardless and for that, he earned the respect upon hiring and will someday lead Wesleyan football to the big prize, a NESCAC championship. Is this even up for debate? Coach Mike Whalen is the right person for the job. He is a born leader.