Business executives and managers now can tap into the secrets of success from one of America's winningest college football coaches.
In "The Bowden Way: 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom," Florida State University coach Bobby Bowden discusses nuts-and-bolts business practices such as hiring, firing, conducting staff meetings, relating to superiors, keeping a professional distance, and salaries and promotions.
The book was written by eldest son Steve of Childersburg, Ala., the only one of the four Bowden boys who didn't pursue coaching.
"I approached Dad last November and said, 'Tommy, Terry and Jeff all worked for you. They know how you work behind the scenes. No one knows what you do Monday through Friday behind closed doors that's made your program one of the best in the history of college football.'"
His 71-year-old father — with a 36-year head coaching record of 321-90-4 and two national titles — agreed to share his secrets, mistakes and observations on 25 issues that leaders face. The result is a how-to manual on managing a schedule, evaluating performance, meting out discipline, taking charge, handling success, humility and dealing with the public.
The book is balanced with one-liners, success tips (Bowden believes in "power naps") and in-depth remembrances of difficulties Bowden encountered with players, assistants and rival coaches.
Here's a sampling of Bowden's thoughts:
n "The first chink in the armor of any organization is usually disloyalty."
n "Look for reasons not to hire the person you're interested in. If you can't find any good reasons to pass on him, then hire him."
n "I don't confide in, or share my personal life, with my staff members. We aren't bosom buddies. We don't take vacations together. And I don't draw selected staff members into any kind of inner circle. I keep my distance. Intentionally."
n "Complacency is the No. 1 threat to continued success."
The elder Bowden admits lying to a player in his first head coaching job as a 26-year-old at South Georgia College in Douglas, Ga.
Bowden fibbed to the troublesome player that another college had a scholarship available. When the player found out, he called Bowden's hand.
"What I did ... was downright yellow," Bowden said. "I had abandoned a player instead of trying to help him. To this day, I'll defend my players and support them unless circumstances prohibit me from doing so."
Steve Bowden, a 49-year-old businessman who handles his dad's financial affairs — including the coaching contract with Florida State — learned something new about his father during interviews last winter and spring:
"It's his ability to work with subordinates and get them to do what he wants them to do because they want to do it. I've never seen him operate in that scenario and have never heard other coaches say that about him."
Steve describes his father as "the Southern cracker, always with a quick wit and a slap on the back. But nobody knows he was accepted as a doctoral student at Columbia University. He chose football instead."
As a parent, Bowden could be tough. During his teens, Steve remembers his father holding him in a headlock and shaving his scraggly beard after several admonitions to shave went unheeded.
He also recalls his father showing up at jail at 3 a.m., when the 15-year-old Steve had been caught driving a car and erroneously arrested for auto theft. Bowden didn't bring up the incident until a few nights later, when he called his son to his bedroom and told him to never again bring an indignity upon either of them.
"I wish he had beaten me and gotten it over with," Steve recalled. "What he left was something I've carried for 40 years. Now that I've got kids in college, I marvel. How did he know to say that?"
Gilbert Nicholson writes for the Birmingham (Ala.) Business Journal.
