Leadership Lessons from Al Davis

Website design By BotEap.comAl Davis is the recently deceased owner of the Oakland Raiders NFL franchise. He was quite a polarizing figure; people either loved him or hated him, the same with his Raiders, which under Davis were a highly successful soccer franchise that transformed the face of soccer and I mean that from a business standpoint. As my friends will tell you, I’m definitely not a Raiders fan, in fact, no matter who they play, I support the other team, but Al Davis practiced leadership. Let’s look at some of his leadership principles:

Website design By BotEap.comTake care of your people: I once met a former Raider who was unlucky and was digging his way out of trouble. He told me that he owed everything to Coach Davis, who helped him out of trouble. Al was loyal to this player even though it had been many years since the player played for Al and the player was loyal to Al.

Website design By BotEap.comMake decisions that are good business decisions, not based on emotions: When Al received what he thought was a better business deal from the city of Los Angeles than Oakland would give him, he relocated the team to Los Angeles despite the emotional reaction of thousands of fans. Did Al make the right decision? That is irrelevant in this case. He made the decision based on business, not emotion.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen making a decision, stick to it: When Davis decided to move the Raiders to Los Angeles, the city of Oakland and the NFL tried to prevent him from doing so. Al stood by his decision and took them all to court and won.

Website design By BotEap.comIf the situation is not to your liking as an entrepreneur, walk away: Al Davis was the commissioner of the AFL when the owners of the AFL voted to merge with the NFL. Al believed that the AFL was superior to the NFL and disagreed with the merger. Al resigned as commissioner and built a legacy as owner of the Raiders.

Website design By BotEap.comJust win baby! That was his motto. I knew that winning was important and if you don’t have a winning attitude, you will never win. He fired Tom Cable as the Raiders head coach after a 500 season for saying he didn’t feel like a loser for the first time. not victorious!

Website design By BotEap.comAcknowledge your mistakes and move on: When the city of LA defaulted on the promises they made to the Raiders when they moved to LA, he backed off and moved the team back to Oakland with no regrets.

Website design By BotEap.comJudge people by the content of their character and their results, not by their skin color or appearance: Al Davis hired the first Hispanic head coach in the NFL (Tom Flores) and the first African American head coach (Art Shell). This was before it was cool to hire blacks or Hispanics to be head coaches. Al didn’t think it was weird, he hired the best people for his jobs.