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Leo Hindery Jr.
Founder
The YES Network

The George Steinbrenner I Knew
He had all of the intellectual attributes and many of the leadership ones that every great CEO must have — but. . . .

By Leo Hindery Jr.

"His lantern was always on the bow, not the stern."

What better way to describe George Steinbrenner, who began his career on the Great Lakes marshalling ore boats and who passed away last month, only days following his 80th birthday.

George will always be remembered for marshaling the New York Yankees to greatness, in the process turning the premier baseball team in the country into a premier media and entertainment franchise.

George was arguably the most complex man to ever come into my life, and for the nearly four years that we collaborated on the formation of The YES Network, I struggled to understand his complexity, while emulating and learning from his good parts and avoiding the bad.

George had all of the intellectual attributes and many of the leadership ones that every great CEO must have. He was bright, well educated and well informed. He had an inquiring mind and was articulate. He was exceptionally hard working, showed great courage, and took smart risks. He made tough decisions in a timely way while firmly acting on his convictions. And absolutely he knew where the buck really stops

George was also one of the most philanthropic individuals I will ever know, with a big heart and only a modest need for recognition of his generosity. His giving was mostly to needy individuals and seldom to 'monuments,' which distinguished him.

The Missing Pieces
But in so many of the more important — and truly defining — areas, he fell short.

George did not, unfortunately, live his life with particular grace, nor did he visibly embrace equality. He seemed to carry with him an absence of fairness and fair play, despite living his life surrounded by arguably the fairest game in sports. And he had far too little patience with the foibles and stumbles of others who were less gifted. And certainly he could never delegate without second-guessing (and even third-guessing).

Now that George has emptied out into the universe and is enjoying the fullness of life, as my Dominican nun first cousin would say, it is important and helpful for those of us who knew and greatly admired George, and for those who never knew him, to quietly reflect on the dichotomy of a man who will be remembered for years as a great leader and philanthropist and yet who was at once very often abusive and petty.

This is so clearly the time in society when our leaders — and CEOs — need to have the whole package.

Leo Hindery was from 2001 until October 2004 chairman and CEO of The YES Network, which he founded to be the television home of the New York Yankees. YES is now the nation's largest regional sports network.

He is the author of “It Takes a CEO” (Free Press), a chapter of which was excerpted in the First Quarter 2006 edition of Directors & Boards.