Row the Boat

It is finally here! The 2015-2016 College Football season has begun and the fall collegiate gridiron season is poised to be another challenging and entertaining series of hard fought games. While The University of Michigan began their season with a loss, there was a much more intently watched game in my home as my daughter's Michigan State Spartans took on my son-in law's Western Michigan Broncos at their Waldo Field in Kalamazoo Michigan. It was a hard fought game and the 37-24 MSU victory was closer than the odds makers projected and it would be and that it would have been even closer if not for two notable long passes that were catchable but were not.

While the game was fun to watch, I could not help but notice a slogan or mantra being displayed by the coaches and players, and displayed in various places in Waldo Stadium. It was captured in three short words, “Row the Boat”. The TV cameramen panned to the signs calling out to “Row the Boat” and several players would often mimic the rowing motion following excellent plays or at times to help raise the spirits of their team mates.

Curious as to the meaning of “Row the Boat”, (which seemed a little out of sync with football) we did a little research and came across an article written by columnist David Drew that did a good job of explaining the meaning behind the mantra. It turns out that it has been minted and has been used extensively by Westerns new football coach P.J. Fleck as he goes about establishing his leadership with his team.

When asked about the meaning of the mantra, Coach Fleck can wax eloquent as to the larger meaning of each element of the mental picture and how he intends to use that to focus and align his team and his program on and off the field. Attempting to explain the literal meaning of “row the Boat” I think Mr. Drew spelled it out best with the following quotes from the coach.

“When you literally talk about rowing the boat, you’re facing the opposite direction the bow of the boat is actually going,” he said. “You’re not able to see the future. We’ve set sail and we’ve set our direction from point A to point B, whether it’s right now to win a MAC Championship, or be the first person in your family to get a college education or to beat cancer.

“We’re making it global and community-based. Everyone can relate to this. The boat is set in a direction and we’re rowing. We can’t see the future but we can see our past. Our past is the program. It’s the people. That’s what we’re looking at and we’re learning as we go. We don’t know if there’s a waterfall ahead of us, rocks, smooth seas or sunsets. We have no idea. We just have to keep rowing.”

"I want an oar in every school, every hospital, every bakery and everywhere. Not that the oar says, ‘Hey, that’s a Western Michigan Bronco.’ No, it’s a symbol behind the logo of our program so that when people see the oar they know what it means and they know what our football program is about. It has no tie to being an actual bronco, but it doesn’t have to.

"When there’s an 8-year-old boy lying in Bronson (Methodist) Hospital dying of cancer and looks up every morning when he wakes up and sees an oar right above him he knows he’s going to fight harder. He has something more to believe in than just himself. He’s going to keep rowing no matter what the doctors tell him or what the test results show. That’s what I want our football team to do. It’s a mentality. It’s a way of life. It’s a method that incorporates our entire program."

One does not need to be a big Broncos fan to see the many leadership lessons captured in “Row the Boat”. Coach Fleck is using it to get his team and his campus community aligned and moving in one direction. That’s what leaders do.

He is using a metaphor to help illustrate another leadership truth; you don’t really ever know what lies ahead. We learn from what we have done and what we are doing, but we do not know for sure what risks or what rewards lay ahead. Leaders push on regardless, because the mission is worth the risk, and the reward is worth the back breaking efforts required to achieve it.

Leaders motivate and inspire, they create vision and mental pictures that help their team focus and dream of their destiny. Leaders create momentum and they keep people pulling on the oars in unison and rhythm. Leaders know that you cannot steer a boat that is just sitting still and bobbing up and down with random wave motion, but when their boat is moving they can observe, adapt and overcome any and all obstacles in their path. Leaders keep their boats moving.

My best regards to Coach Fleck, and for my daughters sake, “Go Green”!

Stay Strong,

Terry