Photo Adapted from Book Cover and Remembering Dan Rooney | NFL on YouTube
Sports are a part of my heart and soul, and in particular Pittsburgh sports. I proudly bleed black and gold, which is why I was so excited when I unwrapped A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule on Christmas day. This article is more of a reflection on the lessons that I gained from reading this book rather than a traditional review. It’s also my way of honoring Dan Rooney who in my yes, thanks to this book, is an inspirational leader who truly changed the world in so many ways. His influence and integrity helped shape ethical business practices in the NFL, brought hope to the land of his heritage in Ireland and of course helped fuel the passion of millions of Steelers fans around the world.
Steelers Fanship: My Personal Connection
I am a diehard Steelers fan who bleeds black and gold. My beloved grandparents are resting there and my extended family still calls Uniontown its home. So it’s no surprise that this isn’t the first Steelers-related book I’ve read. I’ve devoured many others, but none as possibly personal and as business-oriented as this one. This book was minted in December I noticed when I turned the first page, which struck me with a sense of pride to be among the elite few early readers to pick up the biography.
True story, I named my dog (@Chief_The_Thief on Instagram) after the original founder and owner of the Steelers: Art Rooney – aka “The Chief.” This book covers the life of his son Dan Rooney, and is written by his grandson Jim Rooney. How special is that? One of my favorite things about my beloved franchise is the fact that it’s a family business and I can’t imagine that would ever change generations from now. It I think it would devastate me if that tradition was ever broken but I’m confident I won’t have to see such a day.
Fans generally know cosmetic or public facts about the administrative leaders of their favorite teams. So going into this book I knew that Dan Rooney was the American Ambassador to the land of his heritage, Ireland, and that he genuinely loved the game of football and his the Iron City. That’s about it. He passed away in 2017 and all the players on my team proudly wore a “DMR” patch with a green clover in honor of him. But this book revealed so much more that made me feel even more proud to be a Steelers fan.
Dan Rooney: On Leadership, Integrity and Peace
Dan was a man of great integrity and faith. He was clearly brilliant, charismatic and knew how to use his influence to make positive change. To me that last part is becoming more of a rareity than it should be as many use their influential power that result in negative outcomes far too often. This book carried so many lessons in leadership.
The funny thing is that I, like most people, once believed a lot of leadership is simply common sense. Even as I was taking graduate classes on the subject, and earned an extra graduate certificate in organizational leadership addition to my MBA at Brandman University, I considered the curriculum pretty easy. Maybe this allowed me to enjoy them far more without stressing about the grade. But I soon learned that common sense is not so common and true leadership is a rare skill to come by now adays. That’s what made this book so impressive. It illuminated all the great things Dan Rooney did in his life that extended far beyond the football field.
Dan Rooney devoted his life to helping others. The world may not know it, but this story reveals what a massive impact he made on Ireland, its people and its history as a country. He did something no other politician has done to my knowledge, he brought grassroots back to social progress. He held town hall meetings and spent one-on-one time with the citizens. I’ve been to Ireland and it holds so many wonderful memories from my time there. From that experience I can really see what actions like that could do to help the people. The country was literally at civil war during “The Troubles” and Dan was able to use his position of power and his love for his heritage to implement peaceful solutions when hope was hard to come by.
Standing Up for Ethics and Equality in Business
There were of course references to the Steeler’s championships and heroic moments that millions of sports fans know and love about the franchise, but all that was simply a positive side effect of his leadership. A huge part of this book was the creation of the “Rooney Rule” named after Dan himself. This is where his integrity and brilliance in building authentic business relationships thrived.
One of the key takeaways I learned about Mr. Rooney was that he did not see skincolor. The Rooney Rule was created to give minorities in the NFL opportunities to be successful. Many were players themselves, and there is a clear historical connection between the two realms, but when you read more about the dynamics that went into implementing the Ronney Rule it really was impressive and facinating.
The stories that came out of this warmed my heart. It solidified of course why I’ve always loved and felt connected to Tony Dungy and of course our current Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. They among others are direct products of the Rooney Rule. Their success stories inspire me and I hope many others who read about the life of this Irish-American hero named Dan Rooney.
As a business professional I also appreciate stories of extending the impact of the Rooney Rule into other industries including the private sector. I felt such a strong sense of pride for Dan Rooney when reading the epilogue to find out that the spirit and principles of the model like meritocracy were adopted by some of the most successful brands that rule our everyday lives. In Silicon Valley the concept was embodied by the founding of Poject Include, a nonprofit organization whoe mission is to “give everyone a fair chance to succeed in tech.” Participating companies include giants such as Amazon, Facebook, HubSpot, Intel, LinkedIn, Lyft, Microsoft and Xerox.
This is just one of many reasons why Dan Rooney was truly incredible! He proved well before Simon Sinek‘ that when great leaders begin with “Why” they can inspire action that matters. He showed all future leaders that when they lead with heart and implement concepts in smart and honorable ways, they can truly change the world.
Valuing What Matters Most
Finally, in an industry where the value of a dollar has absolute power, Dan Rooney’s stance on the matter was truly special. He of course had pleanty of money by the end of his life thanks to the success of the league and the franchise he helped build. But like many, it wasn’t always like that. He took risks, invested his own dollars in a team whose success depended entirely on others whose performance was for the most part out of his control. He was innately torn and struggled daily on the idea of the growing wealth. He understood its value, but he was not a greedy soul. He saw the corruption that often comes with money and always kept that on the forefront of his perspective.
This internal struggle hit home for me and it mirrors my own stance on the matter as well as my opinion of social media an honestly my profession of marketing in general. Let me explain. I am proud to be the creator of the instagram account @BookQuotes_InColor. I’ve personally run my company’s social media accounts, and as a content marketer am constantly connected with the industry. That being said I have a passionate love/hate relationship with social media and am torn with things like followership just as Dan Rooney was with monetary gain.
I recognize the good, the creative expression it brings, the connections it makes in our communities, and the memories it holds record of. But I also have seen the negative impact it has had on things like self-esteem, creating chaos and amplifyng negativity that almost outrule my appreciation. But life is a balance, and Dan Rooney reocgnized this and used his ability to weigh the pros and cons of a situation to bring to the forefront what matters most – People, Equality, Integrity, and Peace.
If you’ve gotten this far in my reflection then I thank you and hope you’ve found it helpful. But I’ll also encourage you to follow @BookQuotes_InColor on instagram if you are interested in some of my favorite quotes from A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule and others. I bring this up not for a plug, I truly created this account to solve a personal need, which then turned into sharing my love for reading and writing with the world – my “Why” – but also to share some wisdom from this wonderful book:
So of course I give nothing but high recommendation for this book to all who may be interested in it, and I hope that it inspires you to lead with integrity in all that you do. God Bless and thank you to the Rooney family for leading Steeler Nation with love.
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