30 vince lombardi truly practiced what he preached

preached and this transferred directly to his players. I look up to Lombardi as a mentor because
he was able to demonstrate his leadership and his players modeled him because of it. Lombardi
demanded hard work from his players, so he would always be yelling “run that play again”
(Lombardi, 2005, p. 30). Eventually, it was his players that were saying “run it again.” This effect
that Lombardi had on his players is something that I want to take from him and apply it to my
future career. When I think of Vince Lombardi, I recall all of the success that he has had, but
what really causes me to look up to him is the steps that he took to become successful. The
strong mentality that he had is what I strive for. Lombardi possessed the mindset that he and his
team were going to chase for perfection, but settle for excellence. I admire him because he
believed that “if you settle for nothing less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can
accomplish in your life” (Lombardi, 2005, p. 91). Due to Lombardi’s amazing leadership skills,
hard work, and his beliefs I consider him to be a mentor to me.
3-5 Key Mentor Beliefs or Philosophies:
1)
 One of Lombardi’s philosophies was, “Only by knowing yourself can you become an
effective leader” (Lombardi, 2005, p. 2).
 Vince Lombardi used this by trying to develop a strong self-knowledge. He believed you
obtained self-knowledge by asking yourself tough questions, looking the truth straight
on, and playing to your own strengths. He strived to do those three things because he
thought that when you understood yourself, “you could start to write your own
character”, which created the traits of being a strong leader (Lombardi, 2005, p. 2). The

3
THE LOMBARDI RULES
two pillars of being an effective leader are character and integrity. Lombardi claimed that
through obtaining good character and integrity you can then be a great leader.
 This philosophy stood out to me because I never thought about getting to know myself
better. I had never considered the benefits of achieving a high level of self-knowledge.
For example, one of the tough questions I should ask myself is, “ is there an overriding
purpose in my life”( Lombardi, 2005, p. 5)? This made me think hard about what is my
purpose? I pondered the thought if there is one particular thing in my life that I am
trying achieve. I could not single out one overriding purpose in my life. I think this
philosophy stood out to me because I saw it as a way to improve my leadership skills by
getting to know myself better.
 I will implement this philosophy into my own life by challenging myself to ask myself
tough questions, looking the truth straight on, and playing to my own strengths. I want
to get to know myself better because of this philosophy. I believe that if I get to a strong
understanding of my own self, then I can transfer that ability into being an effective
leader in the classroom, in the workplace, and on the field.