Bill Reynolds: URI's Doyle is once again on the leading edge
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 19, 2005
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Leadership.

What is it?

How important is it?

Can it be taught?

Is it transferable?

How do you know when you see it?

What is it?

It's an interesting question, one that cuts through both sports and life, whether it's the Boston Celtics, or the local politician saying he wants your vote. It's what Bill Belichick is so good at, and the Red Sox used to be so bad at it, the intangible quality that often determines who succeeds and who doesn't.

It's also something Dan Doyle is trying to do something about it. In real life, he both founded and runs the Institute of International Sport at URI, one of the little jewel's in this state's sports necklace. But he's also writing a book called The Encyclopedia for Sports Parenting, and in polling 500 highly successful people around the country for a chapter on leadership he discovered some interesting statistics: Of the people polled, 87 percent said they had played competitive sports as kids. Of those who played, 98 percent said it had been a positive experience.

What to make of these stats?

One thing that jumps out is that, at some level, anyway, sports really do teach some lessons that transcend the playing fields. That it's not just the obvious things that can come out of sports -- the identity, the recognition, the scholarships, etc. -- the spoils that go to the winners, but the intangibles, too. The working toward goals. The competing. The commitment. The sense of being a part of a group, something larger than yourself. The part of sports that few rarely see, the part that has nothing to do with the cheers and the awards ceremonies.

It's Doyle's theory that successful people deal with failure and disappointment better than most people do. They don't dwell on them. They don't let themselves get sidetracked for very long. They move on. And that these are lessons that come from sports, the ability to quickly put failure in perspective, the ability to quickly set new goals, the ability to keep on pressing forward, whether it's the next practice, the next game, the next season.

He also believes it's through sports where these people first discovered leadership.

"They watched leadership, both good and bad," Doyle says.

From the coaches who constantly yell and scream and belittle kids, to those who are able to both inspire them and teach them to respect both the game and the people who play it. It's all out there, like some large sampler kids are always sorting through. The good, the bad and the ugly.

In his view, it's a by-product of playing sports, whether you are talented or not. Kids who play sports are exposed to a variety of leadership styles, even if they're not always aware of them.

For that's the other stat from his survey that jumped out at Doyle: only 7 of the 500 successful people had been college team captains. Only 29 had been high school captains. So odds were they weren't always the best players on their respective teams.

But just by being on a team they had learned the benefit of following leadership, had learned what traits worked and what didn't, what they liked and what they didn't, lessons they were able to apply as adults. Just being on a team was like being an apprentice in some leadership workshop, daily lessons that had little to do with what we so often think sports are about.

"I think there's a murky perception out there of what leadership is," says Doyle.

Enter the International Intern Building, which broke ground Tuesday at URI.

The premise is simple:

Interns from around the world will come for three months, In essence, it will be a sabbatical, a Rhodes Scholar-type program where people can come and study, learn. The theme? Leadership in both athletics and academics. The first group will be six graduate students from Australia who are planning to arrive in January. There are also plans to host ongoing forums, including a leadership development curriculum for kids from both Rhode Island schools and local colleges.

This is just the start, the public face.

Doyle believes there's a craving for leadership, that when he goes on college campuses to speak it is leadership that people want to hear about. What makes a good leader? What are the traits?

Can they be taught?

These are the questions he wants to address, questions that have as much to do with society as they do with sports.

"This is going to be a building with a mission," Doyle says.

One he hopes will ultimately transcend this new building, this Institute. Transcend this campus, this state. One he hopes that will go out of here like rays of light.

Online at: http://www.projo.com/sports/billreynolds/projo_20050519_19rencol.2360747.html