Lessons from a Lion

I started this blog to write about the intersection of digital technologies and content and devices, but I feel the need to go off the tracks a little and offer some thoughts on the passing of Joe Paterno, and what we can all learn from his leadership.

I grew up in a small rural town in Southeastern, Pennsylvania.  Saturdays in the fall, no matter where I was or what I was doing, I found a way to watch or listen on radio to the broadcast of the Penn State football games.  While Pennsylvania has two major cities on its eastern and western borders, State College was the capital on Saturdays.  And regardless of the outcome of the game on Saturday, I spent my Sunday morning devouring the game highlights in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  No Internet in those days kids, so the newspaper had to suffice.

I attended several games at Beaver Stadium but my most memorable game was a road trip with a coworker and Penn State Alum to South Bend to watch Penn State play Notre Dame.  As I sat beneath the arms of "Touchdown Jesus" in the end zone I watched and cheered as Penn State defeated a great Notre Dame team with a field goal in the last 30 seconds of the game.  I'll never forget this experience.

Over the years my passion for Penn State football grew, as did my admiration for the man with the large framed glasses and Brooklyn accent who led the team on Saturdays.  His rolled up pants and white socks harkened back to the days of old school, smash mouth football.  But what I began to learn by reading more about this man, this icon, this legend, was the impact he had not only on the football team but on Penn State and its student body.

Since his passing many of these accomplishments have been revealed.  The donations of over $4M to fund a wing of the library that now bears his name.  He and his wife's support of the College of Liberal Arts and the founding of the Paterno Fellows program in that College.  His suggesting to alumni who wished to donate to the football program to donate their money to the Classics program in the Liberal Arts college as he so loved the classics that he wanted the program to survive.  His yelling from his car window to students to "get to class" and to "study", as if their grandfather was watching their every move.  His traveling to Philadelphia several times a month with players to visit a player who had been paralyzed from the neck down during a game, and his words of encouragement as that man learned to walk, and eventually attend law school and become a lawyer.  Many of these same stories were shared during the past week, those of how Joe Paterno would not let go of each and every one of these men until they were on a path to reach their potential, and even then he offered counsel when needed.

Joe Paterno went to Penn State to coach football, but he also had a large hand in building the University from a small, agriculture, college in central PA to a world class institution.  This was his Great Experiment, and a lesson in leadership.  He took a singular idea with singular focus, "Success with Honor", and first started with his players to plant this seed.  As this seed spread from the players to the students his vision grew.  And as these players and students graduated the vision moved beyond the campus to the daily lives of these alumni.  They could hear him encourage them to hustle and to determine whether this day they would move forward or backward, as you can't stand still, as Jimmy Cefalo so eloquently offered in his speach during the Memorial Service.  From this singular seed grew a movement that was backed up by action, by the coach living these ideals each day and leading by example.  And from this singular idea Penn State grew.  It became not only a major college football power, but a world class institution.

But this wasn't enough for the bespectacled man from Brooklyn.  His vision was larger, so much so that he sacrificed the independent status of the athletics program to join the Big Ten conference.  Yes, Joe Paterno was a major supporter of this action as it gave students of Penn State the opportunity to share the resources of the other world class institutions in the Big Ten.  Michigan.  Ohio State.  Purdue.  Joe's vision was to create world class students, and world class people, and to do so meant sharing the wealth, and his vision, with others.

Its a shame the events of the past few months have tarnished Joe Paterno's reputation and how people will remember him.  Frankly, I believe Phil Knight, the Chairman of NIKE, hit the nail on the head in his eulogy, and I am glad someone had the courage to address the elephant in the room.  After all, can each of us not look at our lives and wish we had done more in a certain situation, even if the actions we took were in accordance with the law?  Thanks, Mr. Knight, for stating what many who know the true character of Joe Paterno already understood.

Thus, from a singular vision and a focused set of values and principles, Joe Paterno became the center of a revolution that started in central Pennsylvania that is now global. There are tens of thousands of alumni worldwide who carry this vision in their work and family lives, and who would go to battle for Joe Pa if asked.  And many of them have over the past few months.   To have such an impact in the world.   This could be compared to the lives of other visionaries, like Steve Jobs, whose passion and focus changed the lives of many and whose death evoked extreme emotions.

That each of us could be so committed to improving the lives of our fellow man.  That each of us could have a singular vision for our lives and pass that vision to those in our family, those with whom we work, who work for us, in our volunteer activities, in the children we coach or mentor.  Isn't this the reason we are on this planet, to leave it a better place than when we arrive?

I say thanks, Joe Paterno, for giving a boy from a small town in rural PA a team to cheer for on Fall Saturdays, and an example of what can be accomplished when a singular vision and passion become a movement.