“Building those relationships is the key” - Joe Burrow once shared his strategy of being a good leader for Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals have relied on Joe Burrow and his calm leadership style since he was drafted in 2020. In his debut season, he led the Bengals to their first Super Bowl in over 30 years. En route to the Super Bowl, they defeated the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, strengthening Burrow‘s leadership in the locker room.
In an interview just two days before the Super Bowl, a soft-spoken Burrow talked to the media and shared his strategy for being a good leader.
“I think the key is figuring out how to communicate with a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds within the locker room," Burrow said. "You have to know how to talk to the redneck from South Dakota Riley Reiff, and you gotta know how to talk to guys from Chicago and Atlanta and from all over the country. So I think working hard on building those relationships is the key.”
Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor also explained other factors that made Burrow a good leader at such a young age. Taylor said that Burrow leads by example and expects others to do the same without yelling or screaming.
“He puts in the work," Taylor said. "He sets the standard. People need to match that standard. He's not a yeller and a screamer because leadership does not have to be that way. He gets his job done. He expects others to do the same. He's got a great rapport with each guy. It's not always the same. It's different for each guy. The team rallies around him and believes in him.”
Joe Burrow fine-tunes his leadership style
Unfortunately, Burrow and the Bengals failed to win the Super Bowl after they were defeated by the LA Rams 23-20. However, he has gained a lot of experience since. He has fine-tuned his leadership but his style remains the same.
“I've always been the guy who focuses on what I have to do and speaking up within technical aspects of football with routes and concepts and things like that," Burrow said in September, via Dayton Daily News. "I've never really been a big picture vocal kind of guy, I think that's more of what I'm talking about, big picture, work ethic stuff like that.”