The Epitome of a Leader

Our main man, Tony Dungy, won his first Super Bowl as coach of the Indianapolis Colts. (We'll write more about him and humble leaders tomorrow. Stay tuned!) He showed the world what a badass leader is all about:

In face of adversity, resolute faith:

Kept hope alive: Peyton Manning: "I'm proud that Tony Dungy is my head coach. I'm proud to play for him. He's had a lot of good speeches after those playoff losses when guys can hardly say anything, when it's hard to stay positive. He kept believing. It's hard to believe a man when he says that, but you do believe in him." Mistakes schmistakes: "We talked about this last night, that there would be some storms in the game. Nobody was really shocked, nobody was upset, after the opening kickoff. It was just seven points and we felt we could get back in it."

Driven by a set of core values:

Driven by his values: "You want to do things the right way. I'm proud as a Christian coach that I can do it that way. I can honor the Lord. I can coach with no profanity, no violations of the rules, anything like that. And you can still win." Assembling people who 'fit:' "Our goal was to win the Super Bowl but if all we did was win one, it would only be half-fulfilling. We needed to win it with the right kind of guys, with community-oriented guys. To me, that's what it's all about, that you can win professionally and you can win with class."

Humility:

"Certainly not the best:" "The Lord gave me the opportunity, Lovie and I, and we're able to take advantage of it. But we're certainly not the best, certainly not the most-qualified, and I know there's some other guys that could have done it, given the chance." Credit elsewhere"I really have to dedicate this to some guys who came before me. When I came in the league in 1981, Jimmy Raye and Sherman Lewis and Lionel Taylor, those guys were in the league already, great coaches that I know could have done this if they had gotten an opportunity."

Glass-half full mentality:

"I think the disappointments that you have along the way make it feel that much better when you finally do accomplish it. I came in as a player [with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s] and won my second year and really kind of thought that was the way it goes, and that it was easy. With the disappointments, you get to appreciate how hard it is to [succeed]. It means more. We love the guy.

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