Team Engagement
June 25, 2013
“If you are a hard worker, people will want to be around you and will follow you in whatever you do. That is the essence of great leadership."
– James Harris, Football Operations Chief of Staff, Philadelphia Eagles
In the midst of Rookie Development at the 2013 Rookie Symposium in Canton, Ohio where the League’s top Draft picks are being schooled by NFL executives and their peers on Total Wellness, the history of the NFL and maintaining professionalism – a different kind of education is taking place back on the East Coast at the renowned Wharton School. This class, however, is not made up of running backs and star QB hopefuls, but of top high school student athletes from around the nation at the top of their class in academics and athletics, hoping to get a taste of things to come in Corporate America, collegiate life and possibly even the pros.
The course, entitled – THE NFL PREP LEADERSHIP PROGRAM – is a 4-day long academically fueled camp which unites both the NFL and the Wharton Sports Business Initiative to distill the essence of “Leadership” and all of its facets into a package of experiences and tools which can be applied through the student athlete’s life. Over the next few days students will hear and take part in interactive lectures and team-building activities lead by Wharton faculty and active and other successful student athletes.
The evening kicked off with a reception at the Rittenhouse Hotel where students were given a formal welcome by Kenneth L. Shropshire, professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics and James Harris, newly appointed Football Operations Chief of Staff for the Philadelphia Eagles and right hand to Head Coach Chip Kelly.
James, a self-professed tireless student of professional development theory and an avid reader, enlightened students about his own philosophies on leadership, becoming your best self and how he has strived to put together winning teams at top sports organizations over the years. After breaking the ice with a story about how he initially set out in his career to buy a BMW, and then quickly realized that he had 50 years left to live and much, much more to do – James offered the following to the student athletes on leadership and being a great teammate:
“Leadership and being a great leader is a lifelong commitment. It is something that you set out to become and always strive for but will never reach…I look around and see each and every one of you at the top of your game and know how hard you must have worked to get to this point, but I want you to remember something. Your victories and past and future are not just your own. They belong to your family, friends and every person along the way who has helped to guide you to get where you are and where you will go.”
“At the Philadelphia Eagles and throughout my career, I have worked tirelessly to assemble individuals who put others before themselves, have a strong moral compass, work ethic, functional intelligence and are coachable. Simply, we only want to bring people into our organization who believe in the same things as we do. If you are a hard worker, people will want to be around you and will follow you in whatever you do. That is the essence of great leadership and being a good teammate."
“Think about what you actually want in life. Have goals that are substantive, are centered on impacting others and are bigger than your own life. That is how you leave a mark.”
Before heading back to the dorms, students also took time to go around the room and break the ice with the hopes of building bonds that will one day benefit them. In day two, the Wharton faculty and the NFL will pick up speed and push further into where the Eagle’s new organizational guru left off.