February 14; What Is the Secret That Makes Teams Really Work?
MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK:
365 Daily Bible Verse &
One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful

14 February

My commandment is this:

that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 15:12

Love Conquers All

Vince Lombardi was the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who won the first NFL-AFL championship game. It was not called by the name then – but it would come to be known as Super Bowl I. The winning Lombardi drafted a design for the oversized(!) winner’s ring. (Maraniss 2000)

He had two words etched on the sides. On one side was the word CHARACTER as you might expect from Coach Lombardi who prized individual and team discipline.

The other word was LOVE.

It is said that Lombardi’s success in his influence on his players and the game was his love for his players and the game. And how his players worked so well together as a team.

Modern textbooks will never mention the ‘L’ word in descriptions of teamwork and unit cohesion. In attempting to outline the ingredients for what makes for effective teams the manager can read of “affection, spending time together, task accomplishment.”

But never LOVE.

Vince Lombardi knew well that teams can win when the individual players had self-sacrificing love for each other. Love is a winning emotion that the Coach decided made for winning teams.

Lombardi, a devout Catholic boy from Brooklyn, practiced Jesus’s command in John 15:12, My commandment is this: that you love one another as I have loved you.

Lombardi loved his players about as much as Christ loved us.

Love can influence a team. And win a Super Bowl.

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