Ted Chan

Over the past weekend I had attended a seminar with real estate guru Than Merrill. In telling us a little about his story and background he told us that he had played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while Tony Dungy was still coaching there.

Than had said, and I’m paraphrasing a little here that “Tony was the only coach that got everyone’s attention without swearing or cursing”. And he was calm and composed. If you’ve watched much football and been around it much on TV or in person many of the coaches swear, get mad and have quite the temper.

If you don’t know who Tony Dungy is he was the Head Coach for the Indianapolis Colts. And coached them to a Super Bowl win in 2006. You can read more about Coach Dungy at Wikipedia here.

Tony Dungy is one of the coaches that everyone respected and listened to. In the artricle that I read here today, it said:

Yet to Dungy, life was never solely about championship rings or division titles.

His top priorities were faith and family, and he never wavered.

In a profession where spare hours are scarce, Dungy made time for the prison ministry, All-Pro Dads and Family First although he always wanted to do more. He urged players and coaches to get involved in community work, too.

He had his priorities in order and spent time giving back. And he still had the time and energy to be a kick butt coach. His record speaks for itself

Dungy went 148-79, won six division titles and appeared in three conference championship games—one in the NFC and two in the AFC.

It is sad to see Tony Dungy leave coaching football, but I think he has done a splendid job in his career as a coach. Also, he coached with integrity, and without compromising his values. This is something that I believe we should all aspire to; being able to pursue or goals with integrity and without compromise. He kept his priorities in order and earned a lot of respect from the people that he coached and the people on his coaching staff.

It is also a testament to his leadership the kind of coaches that came out of his organization such as …

Kansas City coach Herm Edwards
Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin
Chicago’s Lovie Smith
former Detroit coach Rod Marinelli
Indianapolis’ Jim Caldwell

Over the past several weeks I have had some time to do some reflecting and one of the biggest things that I’ve found being an entrepreneur and business owner is how vital it is the people you surround yourself with.

As an employee you really don’t have too much say or control of who you work with and interact with, but as a business owner and entrepreneur you can choose who you work with, who you interact with on a daily and regular basis.

I feel it is important to surround yourself with the best people that you can, who can support you, be a good sounding board, as well as bring you down to earth when you need to pop the big head of yours.

Having a great leader or coach such as Tony Dungy in your life might not be a person that you currently have in your life right now; but it’s someone that you should look to find. I’ll be looking for a coach and mentor such as Tony.

Also, on the flip side of that is who can I mentor and coach who is in a place that I was not too long ago. How can I invest back into someone else’s life and help them grow?