Under siege

Therefore, there is a contemporary demand for all leaders to show leadership. No longer is it acceptable for any individual to gain a lofty position and proceed to pull the ladder up after him in order to protect his station. Oh, I accept totally that there are still a few individuals, and especially so in sport, who have created an ivory tower for themselves and feel invulnerable and invincible in their self-orchestrated and self-contained little fief-doms. But the reality is that even these towers, previously unbreachable, are now under siege as weak or false leadership and undermined authority can no longer remain immune from the demands of the modern world.

Survival

In sport as those involved in Cork GAA are now fully aware, the demands are now more intense than ever before. Whether one is professional or amateur the requirements for each and every top class athlete is to provide success. This demand awakens something very fundamental to the human species, an innate fear of failure. This fear that lies deep within all of us, is the first factor of motivation that drives the athlete.

When he or she moves into the highest echelon the first factor of success is purely survival. Initially this means that the person has to not only convince everybody around that they have what it takes, they have to prove it to themselves, and this is usually the hard part. Because while there will be help available there is, and indeed has to be, a loneliness, an isolation, that the person must work his way through as part of the test.

However, once the athlete gains this foothold something else occurs. He becomes increasingly demanding of himself and those around him and especially so of those in positions of authority, and quite rightly so. After all, has he not proven his ability and character by being at the top table, and along the way he will develop an unquenchable desire to become the very best and will want to see this reflected in his team mates and especially again in those in authority. Good managers understand this mentality and can harness the qualities therein. Great managers demand and know how to seek and gain, the very best desire and performance from those in their charge.

Good administrators will also understand the intensity of the desire of a winner and the great administrator will move heaven and earth to accommodate his performers placing their importance over and above his own. The player, the performer, is the most important part of the process. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can occur without the player. The vast majority of players love and truly respect their sport and illustrate this time and time again.

Thankfully, we are living in a time of self-assertion. Players, like all citizens of this island, no longer bend the knee meekly to those in authority. Players know they want. They know how to get what they want and they are willing to make the sacrifices to gain what they want. On and off the park this refusal to be imbued is intrinsic to Ireland and to Cork in particular. Long may it last.

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