On Quiet Strength

Okay, it's book report time again. I just finished Tony Dungy's autobiography, Quiet Strength. This is easily the quickest that I've gotten through any of my books so far. The holidays afforded me some extra reading time, and after two Yancey books, and also being in the midst of reading Tolkien, Tony Dungy's intelligent, yet simple and straight forward style made for a rather easy read, especially since I was really enjoying the book anyhow.

As I said back when I mentioned I was starting this book, I really respect Tony Dungy, and so I was expecting to enjoy the book, and I was not disappointed. One of the things that has always really marveled me about the coach is how highly everyone I've ever heard talk about him speaks of him. Former players, current players, opposing players and coaches, etc. Until he finally won the Super Bowl last season, you might have found people to criticize his coaching for his inability to win the big game, but you'd be hard pressed to ever find someone to criticize him as a leader, or as a person. The book really demonstrated to me why that is. Now, I know any autobiography is going to come off one-sided in favor of the author, but his story lines up so well with what I've heard said about him by others. He's a man of strong character, integrity, and of faith. He's someone who commands your respect, not with loud or forceful words, but with the manner in which he conducts himself.

I really appreciate his approach to leadership, and his commitment to his principles in the face of scrutiny. He fell short of the ultimate goal so many times, but was convinced that his approach was the right way, and he stuck to it when others would have started making changes in order to "get over the hump". He mentioned a quote from Chuck Noll, his coach during his brief playing career with the Steelers, "Being stubborn is only a character flaw if you're wrong." At so many times during the book he told his team after a tough loss that they were going to continue to "do what we do", only we were going to do it better. Honestly, I think the title of the book probably should have been Do What We Do, but they didn't ask me.

Something he said early in the book really stuck with me throughout: "most people have a better chance to be uncommon through their efforts than through their natural gifts". That, coupled with the mantra he inherited from Chuck Noll for his team "Do the ordinary things better than everyone else" really hit home for me and is something I want to carry forward into my approach to all aspects of my own life. I also really appreciated the extent to which he views football and his current position as a temporary thing, and something that fits into the grander purpose of his life, rather than something that defines his life and who he is. He seems to take everything in that context, even the tragic death of his oldest son at the end of 2005. Assuming you take him at face value, and I certainly do, he considered walking away from coaching on his own accord at least once because he was concerned that it was taking too much time away from his family. That's not something you hear a lot of in this day and age.

Anyhow, it was a great read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has an interest in football, Dungy, the Colts, etc. It would probably come off as rather preachy to someone who doesn't share Dungy's faith, but that the same time, if you have any context of Dungy coming into the book, you'll understand that it's a pretty genuine thing for him. He's not all in your face about it, but he is not at all shy about his faith either, and he brings it into his work unashamedly.

Next on my stack of non-fiction books is Game of Shadows, the famous expose on Barry Bonds, the BALCO scandel, and the like. As a die-hard baseball fan, I'm looking forward to digging into the steroids saga in more detail than I ever have before. This should be an interesting start, since as I've mentioned in a previous post, I do not approve of a number of the methods these authors used to get their information.