Tony Dungy's 'Uncommon' Path to Excellence

Tony Dungy reveals lessons on achieving significance in his new book.

ByABC News

January 26, 2009, 3:42 PM

Jan. 27, 2009  -- Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy has penned a new book reflecting on what it takes to achieve significance. In "Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance," the man who was the first and only African-American coach to win the Super Bowl reveals the lessons he's learned during his lenghty coaching career.

Read an excerpt of "Uncommon" below and find out about his book tour below.

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.Aristotle

Chapter 1
In 1998, the Indianapolis Colts were confrontedwith a dilemma. Finishing the prior season with three winsagainst thirteen defeats, they held the first pick in the NFLdraft that April. Their selection would affect the direction ofthe team for years to come, positively or negatively. At thetime, I was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so I wasworried about my team in Tampa, and didn't realize what ahuge impact the Colts' selection would have on my life.Bill Polian, president of the Colts, was faced with a difficultchoice between two great talents: Ryan Leaf and PeytonManning. Both were big players with strong arms: Leaf hadset numerous records at Washington State University, andManning had done the same at the University of Tennessee.In hindsight, it seems like an obvious choice, but at thetime there was plenty of debate. Media analysts and scoutsaround the league were split evenly, but Bill decided to selectManning. There was no question Peyton had the physicalskills to be a great player, but what tipped the scales in Bill'smind were Peyton's work ethic, his love for the game, hisapproach toward football as a job, and his quiet private life.Ultimately, when faced with the choice that would definethe course of the franchise, the Colts based that decision oncharacter, and that choice has resulted in great success for usand for our future Hall of Fame quarterback.

For the Colts, character is a quality that can be measuredjust like height, weight, and speed. In fact, we put moreemphasis on this area than we do on physical tools. Coachingability or talent cannot make up for a lack of character. In thedraft, there are only a few things that will knock a player outof consideration for our team, and this issue of character isone of them. We have a category on our evaluation form thatis labeled "DNDC"—Do Not Draft because of Character. Everyyear, many players that we put in that category get draftedin the first round by other teams, and some even go on tobecome household names in the NFL. But we pass on thembecause of something we see in their character that makes usbelieve they are not worth the risk. Most of the time, we'reright. And those times when we are make it worth even thosetimes when we're not.

That's not necessarily the common approach today,though. So often there is such an emphasis on results that itdoesn't matter how you get them. Moving up is more importantthan the way you move up. It doesn't matter what kindof person you are, just what kind of player you are. It doesn'tmatter if you follow the rules or break them, just as long asyou come out on top. After all, that's what everyone willremember at the end of the day. That's why we have to havesteroid testing in the NFL. That's why medals are forfeitedin the Olympics. Competitors have to ask themselves: Sinceeveryone is doing it, if I want to have a legitimate chance, I have todo it too, right?

What you do is not as important as how you do it. Those arethe words that keep coming back to me when I am tempted tochoose what is expedient over what is right. People who bendthe rules to get ahead usually get caught in the long run. Buteven if they don't get caught, they will always know how theymade it to the top. And at some deep-down level, they'll knowthat they're frauds and that maybe they didn't have what it tookto accomplish such achievements on a level playing field.The other problem is that, at some point, somebody whodoes care how the game is played—a boss, a board of directors—may well find out. For me as an employer, how you doyour job has always been more important than what you do.Can you be counted on to do things the right way? Do youhave the appropriate habits to get you through a tough situation,or are you the type to cut corners and hope things turnout all right? Your character will determine the answer.When I was growing up, my folks were very clear aboutthe importance of character. "Your word is your bond," mymom would say constantly. The thought that someone mightthink of her as unreliable or untrustworthy was the worst thingpossible. That's how she taught us to choose our friends—notby where they lived or what their parents did for a living. Shewanted us to have friends we could trust.

Today, I have friends of all ages, races, and economicbackgrounds. But my closest friends are people of high character—and I don't hang around with people I can't trust.My mom believed that a person's character reveals whathe or she really believes about life. It it important to be honest?Is it important to obey your parents all the time, or justimportant not to get caught disobeying? Is there a God whoreally rewards good character, or is it okay to do whatever ittakes to win?BookEnds

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Tony Dungy's 'Uncommon' Path to Excellence

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