Vince Lombardi

WHAT IT TAKES
TO BE #1
Vince Lombardi
on Leadership
by

Vince
Lombardi,
Jr.

M C G RAW -H ILL
New York St. Louis San Francisco Washington, D.C.
Auckland Bogotá Caracas Lisbon London Madrid
Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi San Juan
Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto

Dad,
this is for you

Copyright 2001 Vince Lombardi, Jr. Click Here for Terms of Use.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

VII

PROLOGUE:

VINCE LOMBARDI AND THE QUEST FOR LEADERSHIP 1
PART I:

THE FOUNDATION OF LEADERSHIP:
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE #1 13

CHAPTER 1:

LOMBARDI ON LOMBARDI 15
CHAPTER 2:

THE VINCE LOMBARDI LEADERSHIP MODEL 31
CHAPTER 3:

SELF-KNOWLEDGE: THE FIRST STEP TO LEADERSHIP 51
CHAPTER 4:

CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY 71

v

Copyright 2001 Vince Lombardi, Jr. Click Herefor Terms of Use.

vi

W H AT I T TA K E S T O B E # 1

CHAPTER 5:

DEVELOPING WINNING HABITS 95

PART II:

INSPIRING OTHERS TO GREATNESS: HOW TO LEAD
LIKE VINCE LOMBARDI 123
CHAPTER 6:

TEACHING, COACHING, AND LEADING 125

CHAPTER 7:

BUILDING THE WINNING ORGANIZATION 163

CHAPTER 8:

MOTIVATING THE TEAM TO EXTRAORDINARY
PERFORMANCE 195

CHAPTER 9:

VINCE LOMBARDION WINNING 221

EPILOGUE:

“ALL THE MAN THERE IS” 251

E NDNOTES 263

I NDEX 273

Acknowledgements

Any important project such as this is a team effort, and a good leader
acknowledges everyone who made it possible. So here is a heart-felt thank
you to those who made this book a reality. Jill, my wife of thirty-five years,
thank you for your patience and understanding. My sons,Vincent, John
and Joseph, and especially my daughter, Gina, my computer expert and
ever vigilant grammarian. Terry Bledsoe, Ed Cerny and Roger Bel Air,
trusted filters for the early version of this work. Jeff Cruikshank, a talented writer, who brought needed organization and clarity to the book.
Finally, Jeffrey Krames, McGraw-Hill editor-in-chief and publisher, who
exhibited some of VinceLombardi’s "mental toughness" in bringing this
effort to successful completion.

vii

Copyright 2001 Vince Lombardi, Jr. Click Here for Terms of Use.

Prologue

Vince Lombardi
and the Quest
for Leadership
There are no hereditary strata in
leading. They’re not born; they’re
made. There has to be an inclination,
a commitment, a willingness
to command.

Copyright 2001 Vince Lombardi, Jr.Click Here for Terms of Use.

I

magine that sometime in the near future you live through one of
those opening scenes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
You’re driving your SUV down a deserted country road on a
moonlit night. Suddenly, the calm of the summer night is shattered
by the arrival of a spaceship, just ahead of you on the road. You are
apprehensive, but unafraid. Astrange-looking creature emerges,
and you discover that you’re able to communicate with each other.
The creature looks you in the eye and says,
Take me to your leader.
What will you do? Take him to the White House? To your statehouse? Maybe you’d be more inclined to go roust out the CEO of
your company. Maybe the first person you’d think of is your town’s
mayor or the superintendent of schools.The creature has asked you to put a face on leadership. For me,
and maybe for you, that would be a difficult task today. Why?
Because today, a legitimate leader is hard to find. We live in a time
when authority is questioned, gratification is instant, morals are
relative, ethics are situational, and the truth is apparently what we
decide it is. We lead lives of comfort and ease, and as aresult, we’ve
lost our hunger to lead and achieve. Today, fewer people are willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to become a leader.
Leadership is not just one quality, but rather a
blend of many qualities; and while no one
individual possesses all of the needed talents that

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VINCE LOMBARDI AND THE QUEST FOR LEADERSHIP

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go into leadership, each man can develop a...