Relational Leadership Post

First let me start by apologizing I could not find a clip of this awesome moment but will do my best to try and explain. Friday Night Lights the show is about Texas high school football and how the world revolves around these young men and what they do with the pigskin on Friday nights. After the loss of their star quarterback the Dillon Panthers are in a tight spot. Players are seen doubting the coaches, themselves, and the team as a whole. It takes another star running back to make a comment on a TV interview about the team that sets Coach Taylor off. Coach arranges a bus to meet the team very late in the night at the field house. Coaches then make calls to all the players to get themselves to that bus that they were going on a little field trip. You see kids answering phones all all over the place, being woken up from bed, doing homework, hanging out. In the end, everyone gets to the bus and they pull away for who knows where. Coach Taylor gets everyone off just as it starts pouring rain and thundering. They line up at the edge of the road facing a ditch that leads up to a huge hill on the other side. "Wind- sprints up and down the hill!" Players start sprinting in their clothes up and back. Soaking and wading through now the creek that has formed, struggling up the hill and back at a full sprint. Coach Taylor then proceeds to yell at as follows:

"You think you're champions because you wear the Panther uniform, YOU'RE WRONG!"

Back and forth.

"You think you're champions because they give you a piece of pie at the dinner, YOU'RE WRONG!"

Back and forth.

"Champions don't complain. Champions don't give up."

Back and forth. 

Assistant coaches send them again.

"Champions don't give up. Champions don't give up. Champions give 200%. You're not champions until you've earned it."

Assistant coaches speak up and ask Taylor is he thinks its been enough, Taylor says go ahead and send them again that he will decide when it has been enough. Remember that star running back that set Coach Taylor off? He steps forward and says Coach Taylor's motto, "Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't loose." He says it again, "clear eyes. Full hearts." another player says "can't loose." He says it again, "clear eyes. Full hearts." More players this time, "can't loose". He begins to scream, "clear eyes. Full hearts." Screaming back, "can't loose." One more time together. "Clear eyes. Full hearts." 

"Can't loose." Go back and forth again.

This is one of the best scenes from this whole show. Coach Taylor's leadership is undeniable. He relates to the relational leadership model because he gives the team a purpose, a positive purpose. To be champions though it is going to take more than just wearing their well-known uniforms. He re-includes everyone by getting back to hard work. This works as we can see at the end of the clip when together they scream "can't loose" and take off. Coach Taylor is doing this in an ethical way because is streaming away this idea that champions are just given what they have. No instead it comes from hard work and only once you have earned it. If anything he is demonstrating that yes the purpose of playing together on this team is to be champions, that will not ever happen without the process. the process must be empowering, inclusive and ethical.