- livingthedash.tv

Faith is a journey. And, once you’re on the journey, you’ll come to places along the way where you get the opportunity to either grow, or slow.  - Tony Dungy

Are you growing or slowing?

During this past weekend’s Sunday Night Football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Diego Chargers, the announcers pointed out that Jim Caldwell was serving in his first season as the Colt’s Associate Head Coach under Head Coach Tony Dungy.

I’ve seen that title before……..Associate Head Coach…….and always wondered what that really meant.

The announcers asked Jim Caldwell what the title means and he said…Apprentice…Understudy.

The Colts organization and Tony Dungy wanted to leave the team in good hands once Dungy decided to move on so they put a plan in place for Caldwell to develop, grow, learn, and study under Dungy.

Tony Dungy is a great leader and great leaders always leave a legacy.

John Maxwell says this about leaving a legacy in his book, The 21 Most Powerful Minutes In A Leader’s Day:

It specifically includes the passing of the leadership baton.  It means succession from the leader to his replacement.  That makes a leader’s legacy a tremendous gift.

Jim Caldwell said this about his apprentice situation with Tony Dungy in a January 2008 USA Today article……..

I have a unique opportunity to learn from men that know this business inside and out. As a head coach, there’s probably no better example in this country than the man I work for and support.

A perfect example of these 2 leadership princples…….

1 // Great leaders leave a legacy by properly passing the leadership baton.

2 // Good leaders become great leaders by learning from great leaders.

As a Dad, I need all the help I can get.

A great resource that I have been using for the past year or so is All Pro Dad.

All Pro Dad is an innovative program helping men to become better fathers. All Pro Dad has 50 NFL spokesmen including Coach Tony Dungy.

All Pro Dad has a Daily eMail Advice feature called ‘Play of the Day’ that every dad should sign up for (sorry, no RSS feeds).

Here is a sample ‘Play of the Day’………

Are you really connected to your kids?

Here’s a short test for you Dad: What’s your child’s favorite TV show? Their favorite movie, musician and magazine? What sites do they visit on the Internet? Name their three best friends. Name their favorite teacher – their least favorite teacher. So, how are you doing? Could you answer all of those questions? Could you answer even half?

The point is, to be connected to our kids, we have to enter their world. We need to know what they like, who they like and what has their attention. So get involved. Start asking questions and get connected.

I couldn’t answer all those questions. I need to get better connected with my 2 boys.