Tom Brady… on Leadership

Brady is one of the main characters in the book I recently wrote with Todd Pittinsky, Leaders Who Lust: Power, Money, Sex, Success, Legitimacy, Legacy. Brady, we found, was a leader whose lust for success particularly was so visceral, so palpable, so unquenchable as to singlehandedly explain his preternatural accomplishments.

I was interested therefore to read that Brady himself thinks leadership the single most important explicator for his success on the field. “What,” he was asked a couple of weeks ago by the Wall Street Journal, is the “one essential talent for a quarterback?” At first he gave a one-word answer: “Leadership.”

Then he continued, “Leadership is not a physical trait; it’s more of a mental/emotional trait. You know, I’m the one calling the plays. If I lack any confidence [my teammates] see right through it.”

In other words, though he did not frame it as we did in the book, Brady clearly considers his lust for success to be contagious. He has it – and he gives it to his teammates.  No wonder where he goes success follows.

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