I saw this in the current Sports Illustrated in an
article about the young NFL head coaches. I thought it was quite enlightening
given the prevalence of military metaphors in coaching.
Bob Mayer, a former
Green Beret who writes books about leadership, says coaches get military
authority backward, viewing players as infantrymen—interchangeable and
replaceable—rather than as Special Forces elites. Mayer says coaches typically
demand respect as a condition of employment. Instead, they should award respect
up front and challenge players not to lose it. "A lot of these younger
coaches are operating off a World War II mind-set," Mayer says.
"They're about 60 years out of date."