Salah Comments on Leadership

Our classmate, hockey captain and a Treasurer of his fraternity Tom Salah '12 (who is not enrolled in the class but is following on the blog) makes some interesting comments to me in an e-mail last week, so I wanted to share them with you (keep in mind I'm interested in other outsiders making guest posts!):

"I enjoyed your links between leaders throughout social scenes and various interactions. I had an interview this past week for an internship at a bank in Boston and I answered many of the woman's questions by relating them to sports. Is that the right thing to do, who knows, but for me it felt right. I think your tie between a firm, team, parish, and family is right on. This was the direction I headed in my interview. Good leaders are a dime a dozen. I would have to say that leaders of all different groups should value many of the same things. This unfortunately isn't the case. 

As for Rex Ryan, I certainly believe he has a unique way of coaching, but I also believe that it works for him. The problem I see is that his style isn't built for the long term. He put so much emphasis on winning a Super Bowl in that Hard Knocks show and obviously didn't get it done. I thought he made a good move in coming out after the Pittsburgh loss by saying that their goals aren't going to change next year, but if he doesn't get a ring in the next few years then he probably won't get one for a while, unless of course he falls into a perfect situation which usually doesn't happen. I think that because there is always less meaning on ideas the second time around and meaning is everything. Which is why Lombardi would pat a guy on the back after him out and got his point across. This world is full of personalities and great leaders are the ones who can adopt those different ways to make their players perform at the highest level. Sure, Bill Belichick  has had unbelievable talent during his tenure with the Pats, but the credit is due for the job he did when he didn't have the Pro Bowlers. I know I may seem biased, but Belichick is one of a kind and all leaders should model his way."

Best Joey,
Salah