Leadership and Resilience Lessons from the Eagles win of Super Bowl 52
As we are still trying to absorb the incredible history-making win by the Eagles over the Patriots, there were many examples of leadership and resilience that are worth noting. I distilled these examples into five lessons. Last night, we saw how important it is to lead with your heart, lead self first before leading others, lead with strategy by leveraging the unexpected, and executing courageously for results one drive at a time.
Lesson I: Lead with Bigger Purpose
- Bigger Purpose: Leaders enlist others in a bigger purpose, it's more than just winning. The Patriots wanted to win. The Eagles wanted to make history!
Lesson II: Lead Self - Be Resilient
- Be Resilient: You trained all year just for this stressful moment. This is the time for resilience. This is the time to turn stress and failure into positive energy; "The resiliency of this team is incredible," said Jason Kelce, the burly bearded Eagles center who broke down in tears during his postgame interview. "We’ve all talked about it. A lot of you guys picked us to finish dead last in the NFC East."
Lesson III: Individual versus Team
- "An individual can make a difference. But a team makes a miracle” Coach Doug Pederson kept telling his team.
- Engagement at all levels: The whole team believed they could win and they were not intimidated by the Patriots' previous victories. Defense, offense and special teams were engaged and they delivered.
Lesson IV: Lead with Unexpected Strategy
- Leverage the Unexpected: Great leaders turn the unexpected into game-changers. A 4th down play and a catch by the quarterback in the end zone was unexpected by the Patriots. In fact, this is the first time in super bowl history that we had a quarterback catch a touchdown.
Lesson V: Lead For Results
- Football is a Game of Inches: Leaders know that winning big is about executing small wins, in football success is measured 10 yards at a time.
Let us celebrate the great win from last night by reflecting on and applying these 5 leadership and resilience lessons in our daily lives. Ready, Set, Lead!
Mo Kasti is author, coach and CEO of CTI (www.ctileadership.com) a training and consulting company on Leadership, Strategy and Innovation. He can be reached at [email protected]