Piran Parivar
Journal #1
In the article “How Cam Newton’s Leadership Skills Led the Panthers to the Super Bowl” by
Darren Heitner, he gives a great example of what a leader is and how Cam Newton is a great
example of one. Cam Newton has always been in the media spotlight even when he was a
freshman at Florida he was the back to Tim Tebow and many did not think he was ever going to
be capable of getting the starting job, but we will never get to find out because he was kicked out
of school for allegedly stealing a laptop from another student. This is just an example of the
many adversities he has gone through in his career and path to starting QB in a super bowl.
The article outlines the steps all leaders go through on the path to becoming leaders and gives
an example of how Cam has achieved each of these steps the first step is what he calls “not
worrying about the haters” Darren states that “leaders do not necessarily care how they are
viewed by the public. The care about results and getting respect from their peers.
(How Cam Newton’s Leadership Skills Led the Panthers to the Super Bowl)
Cam has shown many times that he is not bothered by the public with his commercials that often
poke fun at him being so big but behaving like a kid when playing football. He has embraced this
and his teammates feed off it his desire to win and his passion come off as being a kid or taking
the game as a joke. The reality of it is that he plays with so much fire and loves what he is doing
so much that he still feels like the young kid who dreams of playing in the Super Bowl about
being great. His teammates love the way he plays the game and feed off his enthusiasm.
Piran Parivar
Another great leader that exists in the sports world is 4-time super bowl champion Tom Brady. In
recent news people have all been talking about how he got suspended 4 games for allegedly
letting the air out of the balls for games he is still a great leader. He has led his team to 6 super
bowls and won 4 of them. He fits the mold of a leader because no matter what anyone says or
thinks of him he still does what he thinks is best for his team and his team mates. In the article
“Tom Brady could work out with Randy Moss and Wes Welker” by Alex Butler he talks about
how even though Tom Brady is serving a suspension he is still working out and throwing to two
future hall of fame receivers to stay ready when his suspension is up. He was once teammates
with both receiver and even though they parted ways with the team they have still remained
friends over the years. This is a mark of a true leader someone that teammates and ex-teammates
