3 Lessons in Leadership

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Leadership is one of those qualities you know when you see it. Think Gen. Douglas MacArthur returning to free the Philippines from the Japanese during World War II, or Vince Lombardi leading the Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships.

For football great Joe Theismann, Gen. Stanley McChrystal and NBA hall-of-famer Magic Johnson, the three keynote speakers at the 2017 Outlook Leadership conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., leadership can be found in different ways and in the most humbling of circumstances. Despite their diverse backgrounds, each speaker came to a common theme about what it takes to be a leader. Here are their lessons ...

Finding and developing leaders is not a quick endeavor, said Joe Theismann, former quarterback for the Washington Redskins and today an ESPN sports analyst.

“Anything you build quickly won’t stand the test of time,” he said. “You have to develop the people around you—study them, get to know them, observe them in communication with other people. Give them an assignment, see how they handle it.”

He once asked Al Saunders, former offensive coordinator with the Redskins and current senior offensive-receiver coach for the Cleveland Browns, what to look for in a championship individual. Saunders’ advice: Is the person available, reliable and accountable?

One of the things Theismann is most proud of is his ability to play in 163 consecutive football games over a 12-year period in the NFL. “I didn’t miss a day. I didn’t miss a game. I wanted to be available,” he said. “When asked to do something, I wanted my boss to know I was reliable and could deliver it and get it done. If it didn’t go right, I didn’t blame someone else; it was my responsibility.

“Availability, reliability and accountability are vitally important when we look at young people from a leadership standpoint,” he said.

Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal oversaw Joint Special Operations Command and was commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, providing him with some unique opportunities to learn about leadership. Today he is founder and partner of the McChrystal Group, which advises businesses on leadership during change.

McChrystal believes many businesses perceive the function of leaders incorrectly. “We think the role of leader is to grow other leaders,” said McChrystal. Perhaps the better model is to think of leaders like gardeners.

“I’d argue a gardener grows nothing—only a plant can do that,” he said. “The gardeners prepare the ground, water, weed, feed and at the appropriate time they harvest. They protect the ecosystem. They create the environment where plants can do what only what plants can do. If the gardener does it well, plants can do it simultaneously.

“It’s not about the leader,” McChrystal said. “It’s about the culture and performance of the organization.”

Before he became point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and helped the team win an NBA championship, Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr. was a kid helping his dad haul garbage in Lansing, Mich. It was during an especially cold winter that Earvin Johnson Sr. taught his son a valuable lesson.

“My job was to pick up all of the loose trash and throw it into the truck,” Johnson said. One day, it was especially cold—close to zero degrees—and some trash was sticking to ice on the ground. Rather than try to pry it out of the ice, Johnson ran back into the warmth of the truck’s cabin. But as soon as he closed the door, his father reopened it and dragged him back to the frozen trash.

“He said, ‘If you do this job halfway, you’ll do everything in your life halfway,’ ” Johnson said. His father made him chop the trash out of the ice with a shovel.

“What am I now because of my father? I’m a perfectionist; I do everything the right way,” he said, pointing out that he has never been late throughout his decades-long basketball and business careers, whether for practice, a meeting or a speaking engagement.

“I’d rather lose money than not do things the right way,” he said. “I tell my staff all the time: We’re going to drive ROI. I got the right people in place. But the main thing is doing it with excellence, and we can be around for a long time.”