You should never let the other team determine what you are. General George Custer overestimated and General George McClellan underestimated their opponents. You cannot let the other team destroy what you are. You will not win or lose or have success based on what the other team is. You will have success based on what your team is. Team work is a funny thing. You can have a 427 Corvette with oversized cams that will run 160 miles an hour, but if you don’t have the lug nuts for one tire, you are not going anywhere.
On the field, you can’t develop leadership if the coaching is doing all the leading. The players have to play and the coaches have to coach. The coaches can’t continually tell the players what to do. Bill Belichick would make the coaches go to the sidelines all the time when we had team drills. He would say to let the players play. I have senior meetings all the time. When we have them, I give the players ownership in those meetings. We have a peer group from every class that serves in a Peer Intervention Program. This program centers on behavioral issues. They deal with drugs, alcohol, agents, how to treat the other sex, spiritual issues, or any other behavior issues both positive and negative that you might have heard about. It actually is a tool to develop leadership within every group. I need groups that I can meet with to find out what is going on and be a sounding board for the team.
