Tebow's Real Phenomenon Is Leadership
Inevitably, the national conversation turns to God. Inevitably, the conversation turns to Tim Tebow's flawed mechanics and wobbly spirals. We all see this. We all hear this. And it's polarizing.
Half of me is convinced that when Judgment Day arrives, St. Peter will look down at the Book of Life, scrunch his nose and say, "Nitwit, how'd you miss Tebow's miracles?" The other half of me is equally convinced he'll say, "Nitwit, he was never going to be as good as Tom Brady. Bad mechanics."
Still, as GB2 (God Bless, Go Broncos) begat Tebow-Mania begat Mile High Messiah begat marketing of jerseys with the name "Jesus" above Tebow's No. 15 begat news Wednesday that one dictionary now lists "Tebowing" as a word … I have become much less interested in God's interest in the final score of Broncos games or Tebow's completion percentage than his stirring ability to lead mortals.I see authenticity.
I hear genuineness.
And truth be told, I think Tim Tebow scares the hell out of many of us because of it.
We're jaded. We're cynical. We have been burned so many times by so many phonies that for so many of us "optimism" is a campaign promise never kept. By now, all of America knows Tebow's story. Yet no matter how you come down on his religion, his mechanics or the Tebow hysteria, only the hardest of hearts would call Tebow counterfeit.
I called Bob Caffrey, a West Hartford attorney-turned professional counselor for men. He's a martial artist, a combat veteran, with definite views on positive thinking, male relationships and leadership. I wanted to hear what he sees in this national phenomenon.
"I think as a culture, as a nation, we are desperately looking for authentic leadership," Caffrey said. "We're dying for it. We're in the desert looking for water. We're so jilted by people in different walks of life we thought were leaders and it turned out to be about them.
"Good leaders care more about the people they're responsible for than themselves. That's a rare commodity right now. We yearn for it. When we see a person lead from a place of unselfishness, we're drawn to it. I also think we've been so disappointed that there's cynicism it will turn out bad."
In Tebow, I see an athlete so committed to his faith and a belief in himself that others grow to believe and trust in him. To me that screams leadership. To go through three quarters of most games with the most pedestrian of numbers before leading late fourth-quarter comeback after comeback, well, a 7-1 record is 7-1. Some athletes make others better through ball distribution. I swear Tebow makes teammates better with "confidence" distribution.
"One way leadership has a direct effect is it provides people with a model," Caffrey said. "They can mirror the behavior. People are taking their cue from their leader in how they respond to crisis, to challenge, to setbacks. People can learn to model that behavior, so they begin to almost resonate with the leader's energy.
"If the leader doesn't get fazed, the group, especially if it has a sense of trust or sense the individual has a certain amount of integrity — they say what they do, they do what they say — can draw tremendous strength from that individual. It becomes self-reinforcing."
In an excellent op-ed piece in Sunday's New York Times, Frank Bruni wrote how strength comes in many forms and some people have a gift for winning, "which isn't synonymous with any spreadsheet inventory of what it supposedly takes to win.
"For Tebow that state of mind comes from his particular relationship with his chosen God and is a matter of religion. For someone else it might be understood and experienced as the power of positive thinking, and is a matter of psychology. Either way it boils down to stubborn optimism and bequeaths a spark. A swagger. An edge."
Tebow looks in the huddle. He believes. His teammates believe. It becomes self-perpetuating. Anything seems possible.
"You can call it faith, hope, confidence, positive reinforcement," Caffrey said. "If someone is approaching a problem with an expectancy of a positive outcome, what happens is their perception literally expands.
"They start looking at different options. They are not closed in. One of the things discovered in studies is when you start to put people under negative pressure they start to narrow in terms of the options they consider. People become risk-averse when they become frightened."
Obviously, it is the opposite for Tebow's nervous system. He has a passer rating of 54.8 in the first half, 83.5 in the third period and a shining 111 in the fourth quarter. Some call the end of the game "Tebow Time." He calls it "Broncos Time."
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