Put Me in Coach

I work for a living.  How hard I actually work is debatable.  I have never had the freedom of being self-employed, I’ve always worked for “the other man”.  This requires a great deal of patience since I am not a natural people person.  More than once in my career I’ve wondered how some executives have made it as far as they have.  Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn has observed the same thing and expounded on it in his blog and on CNBC last September.  Basically, Icahn advances the idea that these guys get ahead by being the least objectionable person in the room– very likable, non-threatening, lacking outbursts of emotion or intelligence.

This behavior can be seen in Corporate America and in our politicians in Washington D.C., a lot of soft peddling and unwillingness to be blunt about reality.  You don’t really see this behavior in athletic coaches, especially in football coaches.  There’s a lot of genuine emotion with these guys.  They have inane press conferences just like politicians– yet football coaches do allow the unfiltered truth to escape from their mouths.  It seems like you’d know where you stand with these guys.

First example: Mike Singletary, the new head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.