Institute of Sports Humanities (ISH) co-founder and former National Selector of England cricket, Ed Smith, picks three people within sport that he identifies as great leaders.
Bill Walsh
Bill Walsh, who created the San Francisco 49ers dynasty, had a great line: “Everything I did was teaching in some manner or other.” He also said, “If we are all thinking alike, no one is thinking.” At ISH, we also want to teach independence into people, not teach it out of them. Walsh said that he hired ‘people who were intelligent before they were anything else.’ Brilliant. He wanted critical thinkers, not closed-minded technicians. A leader who has a wide range of capabilities and insights finds it easier to be authentic because they aren’t over-awed or unbalanced by the latest person through the door claiming specialist expertise. In part, education is about helping people to find their own solutions.
Andy Flower
Andy Flower, like Bill Belichick in the NFL, is a great example of a restless, curious thinker who never tires of searching for the next edge. And he’s someone who is always revising how he thinks about coaching – he quickly made the transition to being one of the most successful T20 franchise coaches. When I worked with Andy at England cricket, he’d already been world cricket’s top coach. But every conversation was anchored in curiosity.
Baroness Sue Campbell
Baroness Sue Campbell of Loughborough was, earlier in her career, an academic at Loughborough University. She’s not only a leading advocate for women’s sport, but a highly successful administrator in achieving winning results, and in the widest sense of the term. Having been instrumental in the successes of London’s 2012 Olympics, she has now driven the FA’s victorious ‘Lionesses’ – and the trajectory of women’s sport across the board.
