Some close friends already know this, but I was this [picture pinching one's thumb and index finger together] close to enrolling in a Ph.D. program in organizational behavior, upon my MBA graduation several years ago. The research I was most interested in conducting was the application of sport coaching principles to corporate leadership.
And the individual I had most clearly in my mind, when formulating all of my initial hypotheses, was Bill Parcells. Not that I consider him the greatest sport coach of all time ... I don't even consider him the greatest football or NFL coach of all time. But he struck me as a clear data point that there is no one perfect leader for all situations ... but rather, specific types of leaders for specific types of situations, e.g., turnaround artists.
In any case, Parcells claims to be retiring finally from coaching. Whether this retirement sticks, who knows? On his way out, he did not do a final regular media interview. However, he did participate in a lengthy radio interview with a New York station yesterday, and I thought it worth posting the link here. For those interested in leadership or coaching, there are too many nuggets in the interview for me to attempt to quote only a few here.
Technorati Tags: Bill Parcells, coaching, leadership, Dallas Cowboys
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