Uncommon Decency

When you depart, will they describe you with the words, "Uncommon Decency?"

In May of 2008, I recognized the leadership of Indianapolis football coach, Tony Dungy, in a post, Quiet Strength, Quiet Leader, Quiet Winner where I nominated Coach Dungy for the Lead Quietly Hall of Fame.

Yesterday, columnist Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote a column on Coach Dungy's retirement as a football coach where the headline read, "Tony Dungy: Uncommon Decency. "

The headline generated two thoughts in my "lead quietly" way of thinking:

1. It's a highly unusual label for a sports celebrity.
2. Will anyone describe my work or life using the phrase "Uncommon Decency?"

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly. Be uncommonly decent.
Don

Quiet Leader Presidents Rank Highly

My leadership study this past week found me pausing on a recent post on Michael McKinney's Leadership Now blog. What Makes a President Great was an terrific post where I encountered new leadership insight through Michael's review of the book The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn't): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game.

In the book, author Alvin S. Felzenberg devises new criteria and standards for ranking our former presidents. As Felzenberg described in an interview on National Review Online,

What I attempt to do in my book is to provide six criteria and assign each president a grade in each — just as educators do students on report cards. My categories are: character; vision; competence; management of the economy; handling of national security, defense, and foreign policy; and whether they extended or restricted liberty, especially at home.

As I read the Leadership Now post and reviewed the ranking of Felzenberg's top presidents, I was ecstatic to find three Quiet Leader "Hall of Fame" selections in the top 12 list. The Quiet Leader "Hall of Fame" represents my personal choices of quiet leaders who achieve greatness while exhibiting quiet leader attributes including humility, vision, balance, learning, and quiet purpose. The Quiet Leader "Hall of Fame" includes these top 12 presidents:

Rank	President/ Hall of Fame Selection
1	Abraham Lincoln
5	Dwight D Eisenhower
8	Ulysses S. Grant

A fourth president, Harry S. Truman, is ranked number 10 on the list and his nomination to the Quiet Leader Hall of Fame is currently under consideration.

Bottom line: Our quiet leader presidents rank highly and this causes me to reconsider,
In this age, could a Quiet Leader be elected president?

Read the Leadership Now post. It's very insightful in this presidential election time.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly and be presidentially humble.
Don

Quiet Strength, Quiet Leader, Quiet Winner

Tony Dungy, quiet leader, coach of the Indianapolis Colts and the winning coach of Super Bowl XLI, is the fifth leader to take a place in my personal Quiet Leader Hall of Fame.

With this profile, Coach Dungy joins a distinguished group of leaders that includes:

• U.S. Grant
• Abraham Lincoln
• Robert Greenleaf
• Dwight D Eisenhower

Granted, it feels like an unusual choice to me to propose a sports hero as a Quiet Leader of note. Nevertheless, I was moved by his leadership and approach when I read his autobiography, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life. He may be the ideal Quiet Leader role model, a contemporary figure who is very public about his quiet approach, his faith, and his success. I'm not alone in my admiration. Time Magazine in 2007 named Dungy to their list of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World."

In 1972, I was a student at the University of Minnesota when Tony arrived on campus to play football and basketball. As a member of the U of M Football Marching band, I watched from the sidelines as Dungy grew as the quarterback/leader of the Golden Gophers. I was a Dungy fan in those early days when I knew nothing of his leadership approach. I only knew that he was a winner.

Dungy reconnected with Minnesota in 1992 when he returned to become the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. I remember thinking at the time as I enjoyed listening to Dungy on sports talk radio thinking how I would prefer Dungy to be the Vikings head coach. It wouldn't happen at Minnesota.

Dungy left Minnesota to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it was in this this role where his style, unique in the football world, become public and prominent. Let's explore his leadership from using snippets of his book.

On Vision
"The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to envision it. Only vision allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action."

On his quiet approach
I don't yell a lot. In fact yelling will be rare," ... if my voice at this level won't get your attention, and you believe you need someone to yell at you to correct you or motivate you, then we'll probably need to find you another team to play for so that you can play your best."

Accountability
"Take Ownership No excuses, no explanations."

Family Balance
In his book, Tony stresses the importance of family and life balance. He cites that football is only a game. But tells the team directly at the beginning of every season, " I want each guy to understand this his family is his first priority."

Albert Eienstein provides a quote that nicely underscores the Dungy approach,

Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value.

A great summary of the quiet leadership style of Tony Dungy.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

Abraham Lincoln - Quiet Leader

These are the words spoken during the narrative within the orchestral composition, "Lincoln Portrait" by the American composer Aaron Copeland,

Lincoln was a quiet man. Abe Lincoln was a quiet and melancholy man.

Although many will simply view Abraham Lincoln as godlike, the hero and savior of the Union during the Civil War and the freer of slaves, a study of the life of Lincoln will identify that Lincoln was a very complex soul. Biographers have noted his depression, bipolar tendencies, tumultuous marriage, superstitions, seances at the White House (likely held by his wife Mary Todd Lincoln), and even controversial questions about his religion and sexuality. He also had another side highlighted by his skills at storytelling and humor. Let's just agree that Lincoln was a complicated man, quite unlike the simple heroic perception one might have. Within this complexity, I find quiet leadership.

My impression of Lincoln as a quiet leader is cemented in the book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln where historian Doris Kearns Goodwin adds a quiet leader dimension to the Lincoln biography when writing about his ability to bring his political rivals into his cabinet and sooth their egos, turn these rivals into allies, and gain their respect and loyalty through his political skill and insight into human behavior. It is this skill that the quiet leader in us emulates and the basis for nominating Lincoln as a quiet leader.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

Eisenhower - Quiet Leader

I identify Dwight Eisenhower as a quiet leader and my admiration for him has grown in recent months as I have been searching for definition to quiet leadership. I'm not alone in my admiration.

Historian Stephan Ambrose is quoted as saying, " Eisenhower is my choice as the American of the 20th Century. Of all the men I've studied and written about, he is the brightest and the best. "

One of the quiet leader attributes that Eisenhower embraced was the use of "we" in talking. In a PBS interview Amrose said,

Eisenhower never used the word "I". It was always "we," except one time when he
wrote out the message that would be handed to the press in the event the landings failed. And there he used the personal vertical pronoun, it's my
fault, I did it. Otherwise it was always "we".

I recently listened to the book General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence, written by Eisenhower's son, John. A section of the book focused on the relationship between General George Patton and Eisenhower. There was a special relationship between the two men despite the contrast in styles. Eisenhower as a quiet, thoughtful leader, Patton was brash and frequently a source of frustration for his commander, Eisenhower. However, I respect that Eisenhower accepted and leveraged Patton's skills. Perhaps another trait of quiet leadership.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.

The Quiet General Grant

I remember the surprising revelation on U.S. Grant's leadership style. My perception was that General Grant was the hero general who inherited the failed or mediocre efforts of previous Union commanders and reversed the course of the war. The surprise was in discovering that Grant was a quiet leader. I distinctly remember the revelation while reading Lee and Grant A Dual Biography. The book describes Grant's tendency to quietly sit in the back corner of the room while his generals and officers were presenting their cases for a particular battle plan. He would listen and ultimately decide while quietly writing his orders, barely speaking as he did.

Theodore Roosevelt also recognized the trait in his speech in Galena, IL in 1900,

He was a plain, quiet man, not seeking for glory; but a man who, when
aroused, was always in deadly earnest, and who never shrank from duty. He was slow to strike, but he never struck softly. He was not in the least of the type which gets up mass-meetings, makes inflammatory speeches or passes inflammatory resolutions, and then permits over-forcible talk to be followed by over-feeble action. His promise squared with his performance. His deeds made good his words.

General Grenville Dodge, a Grant contemporary sited Grant's style and approach in his interviews.

General Grant as a soldier was modest, retiring, unassuming and easy to approach. He seldom, if ever, showed anger. It was his etermination in every battle that won the victory.

The great distinguishing qualities of General Grant were truth, courage, modesty, generosity and loyalty. He was loyal to every cause in which he was engaged - to his friend, his children, his wife and to his country. He absolutely sunk himself to give to other honor and praise to
which he, himself, was most entitled. We shall not see his like
again.

General Grant is this blog's first nomination as a quiet leader.
Thanks for reading