Leaders see the destination long before everyone else does. They see it, they describe it in vivid detail to the rest of the group, and then they help get the whole group to that “promised land.” Consider these visionary leaders…
- Moses—God showed him a picture of the promised land, and then Moses explained to the Israelites how to get there and stay there.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—“I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”
- Mike McCarthy—“Wait a minute,” you may be thinking, “Do you mean the coach of the Green Bay Packers?!”
Yes, I mean that Mike McCarthy: The head coach of the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers.
Most teams win the Super Bowl, celebrate it during the off-season as they get measured for their rings, and then have a ceremony at the beginning of the next season to hand out the Super Bowl rings. But not the Packers.
Check this out: Mike McCarthy had the Packer players get their rings sized BEFORE the game!
“I talked to our football team a lot about having real confidence, and those are just examples and opportunities to express that,” said McCarthy. “I felt that the measurement of the rings, the timing of it would be special, it would have a significant effect on our players doing it the night before the game.”
Here’s how some of the players responded:
“So that’s pretty unusual, huh?” linebacker A.J. Hawk asked. “Well, I liked it. It made things real for us.”
“It was the night before the game,” linebacker Desmond Bishop said. “And we could see that it was right there. Everything we wanted was right there in our hands, literally and figuratively.”
“That’s our head coach. He’s been the same way all year,” defensive end Ryan Pickett said. “He said he thought we were going to win it all, so we should have the rings fitted. After the meeting, we just went out (of the meeting room) and they had people there to measure us.”
If you are a leader:
(1) Get a clear vision for where you are taking your team.
(2) Describe it in vivid detail for your team; make it real for them.
(3) Then put the symbol of the “promised land” right in their hands.
What a great leadership lesson!
(Hat tip to my dear friend Greg Heeres for sending this article my way!)
Okay, I’ll need some help on this one.
Craig T. Owens 