For those of who may not know, I am a HUGE NFL fan. My pre-season Super Bowl prediction is that the Baltimore Ravens will defeat the Green Bay Packers and become this year’s NFL champs. Part of the reason I feel this way is because of the inspirational leadership of Ray Lewis.
The video above is his post-game speech after the team’s loss in last year’s AFC Championship game to the New England Patriots.  There are five key principles I gleaned from Lewis that all leaders can learn from and apply. Check out the quotes below and see if you agree.Â
- “We fought as a team.” – Great leaders are incurable teambuilders. Regardless of your individual talent, leaders understand that it takes a team to accomplish something truly great. Â
- “We’ve got to come back and go to work to finish it next time.” – Great leaders are laser-focused on their goal. In addition, great leaders always point their team to a brighter tomorrow.
- “Don’t ever drop your head when it comes to a loss because there’s too much pain outside of this that people are going through.” - Last year when a tsunami devastated the nation of Japan, we were having a very difficult meeting at work. Our Executive Vice President Ken Friar then reminded us, “We could be living in Japan today.” Great leaders always bring proper perspective.  Â
- “Let’s make somebody smile when we walk out of here.” – In addition to giving us proper perspective, great leaders also remind us of the need to expand our influence by serving others.Â
- “We got an opportunity to keep going…Let’s get stronger as a team.” – Great leaders do not waste opportunity. There are so few of them.
What other leadership principles did you get from Lewis’s speech?
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