Blind Siders Manifesto
Not everyone can be a great leader. So what?
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In American Football the Quarterback plays the most important (and well-paid) role inside a team. It is up to him to set the whole strategy, throwing the ball and, in fact, taking the risk of decisions that will lead his team to victory or defeat. As an entrepreneur in his company: he is the most visible player, the “protagonist”, the fulcrum on which the whole game runs.
Still, this player has a “blind side”, especially when he throws the ball to his teammates. In these cases, the risk that the most valuable (and expensive) player is badly tackled by the opposing players grows with the possibility of losing a game, if not the entire championship.
Now y’all would guess that usually who gets the highest wage in an NFL team is the quarterback and you’d be right. But what you probably don’t know is that very often the second in line for wage is the Left Tackle, thanks to Lawrence Taylor.“Because, every housewife knows the first check you write is for the mortgage but the second is for the insurance.” (From the film “The Blind Side, Directed by John Lee Hancock, 2009).
Virginia Woolf stated that “Behind every great man there is always a great woman”. Today we could advance the thesis that behind every great leader there are always great “Blind Siders”. These are people who are not necessarily visible, perhaps not always holders of honors and mentions, but who play an essential role in the second lines so that entire projects, structures, companies and institutions (including educational) can be successful. In a team of American Football these players are called “Left tackle” and have nothing to do but protect the “Blind Side” of the Quarterback, allowing him to do his job well. They are very difficult to find and sports clubs are available to pay very high gigs to have them in their team, since they have to possess:
“Quite special technical, physical and attitudinal requirements. Mass and speed, long levers and coordination, footwork almost like a dancer, strength and power. A reactive intelligence, an ability to understand and communicate on the fly with the companions the adjustments of a scheme. Discipline, reliability, dedication and instinct of protection “(Maurizio Clementi, Offensive Tackle: the angels of the dark side, Huddle Magazine, 21 February 2016)
Here, in this section we would like to talk about — and dialogue with — these people, whom we will call “Blind siders”. People without whom any leader or structure couldn’t really excel and who give everything for the victory of the team. We will try to make them tell their stories and reflect on the fundamental nature of this role, starting from the need to understand that not all are born leaders, but this doesn’t mean losing the opportunity to be protagonists of stories worth telling.
(A long) Backstory
Blind siders is born in front of two excellent beers, between Marco della Monica and Alessandro Giovanazzi, on the edge of the Naviglio Pavese in Milan.
We were talking about the evolution of content in social networks, particularly Linkedin, by noting how much the mainstream was pushing and showing only success stories; stories of people at the height of dazzling careers, along with real “To Do List” to become great leaders.
And everything born from a statement of Marco: “I would rather tell the stories of those who send the shack ahead, those who in cycling are the “gregari”, who are sometimes almost as important or even as much as the leader they support. Nobody, or almost, tells about them and I cannot explain why “.
No sooner said than done.
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And you? Do you know a Blind sider or you want to tell a story about this subject? We look forward to listen it and give you the chance to tell it here, inside “Blind siders” section, on Euristika!
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