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Dick Vermeil:
Mentor in Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
Kansas City Star - 09.17.01
By Jim Dugan, Ph.D, Fortisan Group
How about honing your leadership abilities by
watching Dick Vermeil during this upcoming
football season? After all, Vermeil's leadership
talents have earned him some notable successes.
He led two different teams, the St. Louis Rams
in 1999 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 1980, to
Super Bowl berths. A feat matched by only two
other coaches.
What's striking about Vermeil is that he seems
to instinctively know that strong leaders
inspire through the emotions. As a leader he
sets the tone. He seems to possess a heady dose
of what is termed in business and academic
circles as "emotional intelligence." Emotional
intelligence, or EI, has been described as "the
centerpiece of leadership and organizational
success." Princeton Presidential Scholar, Fred
Greenstein Ph.D., cited emotional intelligence
as the most important criterion in selecting a
president. Specifically, the promise of EI is
that leaders and organizations alert to how they
mange their emotions with self and others will
be successful and deliver the desired results.
Leaders strong in EI like Vermeil use their
emotions to motivate, persuade, direct, and
confront highly paid and talented employees at
all levels of the organization to put their
individual differences aside to achieve the "
common good." Remember that picture of Vermeil
in a very public and friendly bear hug with
Chief's General Manager Carl Peterson. It was
just days later that Peterson finally signed two
key players and got them into camp.
Vermeil does not have a one size fits all
leadership style. He announced that when one of
these key players, his proven star and all-pro
tight end joins the team: " I am going to kiss
him-and welcome him back and tell him to get
ready for football." However, his words were
more pointed about another player, a promising
but unproven rookie, " He's fat and out of
shape."
Vermeil has said that "coaching is about
teaching and building relationships," and that "
the most underrated aspects of football are team
chemistry and the mental attitude." Vermeil's
coaching beliefs are similar to the theories of
Daniel Goleman Ph.D., the leading expert in the
field of emotional intelligence. (Goleman is the
author of three popular books on EI and his
first book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can
Matter More Than IQ, was 72 weeks on The New
York Times best seller list.)
Vermeil and Goleman seem to share a philosophy
that exceptional talent whether it be superior
athletic skill or raw brainpower, are not
guarantees of individual or team success. Both
the coach and the best-selling author seem to
agree that to develop a winning team or
organization, there should be a strong emphasis
on building the emotional skills - the emotional
intelligence of the players and team. In fact,
some suggest (Stein 2000) that as much as 50% of
business leaders¹ success relates to how
successfully they manage their emotions.
If you think you could be more effective as a
leader and want to develop some EI skills, watch
and listen to Dick Vermeil during the football
season.
Let Dick Vermeil be your EI mentor. Pay
attention to what he says and critique his
comments in the newspapers. What you might learn
is that he treats each player differently. It
will be interesting to follow how he motivates
his number one quarterback who seems to be
suffering a bout of indecisiveness. Or what he
says to inspire his players or cool vociferous
fans if the team experiences a slump. If a
player needs a boost of self-confidence then
Vermeil will probably not chastise this player
in the press. However, if a player's arrogance
or lack of enthusiasm is apparent, then we may
be reading about that. (Recall last year,
Vermeil's very direct comments in the press
about a wide receiver with some good potential
who didn't practice very hard and is no longer
with the team.) On the other hand, after a tough
loss, he will not threaten to quit, or blame the
officials. (Remember two years ago, the former
Chiefs head coach threatened to quit after the
opening loss.) In defeat, Vermeil typically
signals the setback is only temporary. In
victory, he spreads the credit around. Grilled
by the press, he artfully fires back but
probably is more inclined to de-escalate a
provocative question.
Take Vermeil's comments and style of EI and
apply that approach to your job. Re-evaluate if
you have a one size fits all leadership style.
Imagine yourself in the hot seat at the office
and not getting riled or blaming others. This
takes practice-Vermeil has been coaching for
more than 30 years. Building EI takes time and
effort. Having a solid level of EI is an
important part of the equation in an
organization's success. However, even with
Vermeil's ample dose of EI, the Chiefs are no
sure bet for the Super Bowl. It will be fun if
that happens. Even if it doesn't, he may inspire
us to pump up our own level of emotional
intelligence.
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