Angelo Dundee, who died on February 1st, was cornerman to Mohammed Ali and fourteen other world boxing champions including Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman.
 
In the tributes that have been paid one in particular stood out. NPR’s Tom Goldman said that Dundee was “a savvy cornerman who would motivate fighters who wanted to give up and find unorthodox ways to help.” One example of this is when Ali (then Cassius Clay) was dazed in a fight with Henry Cooper. In order to buy some time, Dundee slightly enlarged a small tear in one of Ali’s gloves and asked the referee if he could put a new glove on the boxer. As the LA Times writes, “none were available, but the incident added valuable seconds to Clay’s rest time, allowing him to recover and go on to win on a fifth-round technical knockout.”

All leaders need a good cornerman: someone to patch them up, encourage them to fight on, and help them think a little differently. Who’s in your corner?

Whether they are an insightful friend, a trusted colleague, or a professional coach – get a good cornerman.

Tags: Executive Coaching

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 7:08 pm and is filed under Values. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.