Re: Managing skills

[Wayne Douglass <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM>]

At 03:22 PM 6/20/97 EDT, Larry Kunz wrote:

>Interesting list, Wayne.  If I had to pick a common denominator among
>all three men, it's that they successfully emphasized the good of
>the team over the good of any one individual.  I don't recall who
>first said "there's no 'I' in 'team,'" but I wouldn't be surprised
>if it was one of those three.
>
>I can't help noticing, though, that only one of them (Lombardi) ever
>coached at the professional level, and that was thirty years ago.
>Thus none of them had to deal with issues like wealthy superstars
>demanding special treatment, long-term contracts, no-trade clauses,
>and the like.
>
Larry isn't the first to have taken my list seriously - even though I don't
take it very seriously myself. The obvious common denominator, which I tried
to underline in my usual heavy-handed fashion, is that Wooden, Paterno, and
Lombardi were *language* teachers (Paterno used to be - and maybe still is -
a tenured English professsor). This might be of interest to the STC
Assistant to the President for Professional Development as we debate the
merits of a technical writing degree/certificate versus a background in
anything else.

I like all three because they conveyed a sense that they knew what they were
doing and emphasized *execution* to their teams. Wooden wouldn't even scout
his opposition; he told his teams that they they would probably win if they
practiced their team strategy (and it changed depending on the kind of team
he had) until they could execute without thinking about it. They were
successful, but if they lost they didn't whine about it. Comparisons are
always odious, but I give you Barry Switzer.

--Wayne
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