Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
Lou Holtz passed away on March 4 of this year. He was 89 years old. He was a longtime college football coach who led Notre Dame University to a perfect 12-0 record and the national championship in 1988. He is the only coach to take six different programs to bowl games. But he was more than just a coach. He helped mold the lives of countless young athletes as they made the transition to adulthood. Like many coaches, he was not a high achiever as a young athlete. Lou was undersized, slow, and not particularly skilled. One way he made himself valuable was to learn all the field positions, and this started his path towards coaching.
In the years after retiring as a coach, he was a highly sought-after motivational speaker. Using his experience in coaching and developing top-notch athletic talent, he shared his philosophies with audiences around the globe.
For example, WIN was his acronym for, What’s important now?” If you want to win at anything, what sacrifices will you make to get the result? Even easy answers can demand pain and hard work. He often spoke about people who look to blame others for their personal failures. He counseled against being bitter. We all have a reason to be bitter. We have all suffered injustices from society, a spouse, or a friend, but you cannot go through life bitter. His philosophy was to stop blaming someone else. Wherever we are, it is because of the choices we make.
I especially like his advice about dealing with setbacks. Lou’s path to a professional coaching slot included a job as a hospital custodian. He could not even get a job as a high school coach at first. Later, when he thought he had landed a spot at the University of South Carolina, the new athletic director fired him within an hour of their first meeting. “Have you thought about going into a different profession?” the director asked him. However, Lou persevered and finally landed a job as an assistant coach at William and Mary in 1961. After serving as an assistant coach with several programs, he returned to William and Mary in 1969 to serve as head coach.
Lou believed there were four things any person or organization needs to be a winner. First, you must make a commitment to excellence. When you are just interested in something, you do it when circumstances permit. However, when you are committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.
Second, pay attention to detail. He believed that only teams that pay strict attention to little things win. His attention to detail was an obsession. It must be part of a company’s culture or an individual’s mindset. You cannot just talk about it. You must practice it every day.
Third, you must develop sound fundamentals. You cannot be bored with basic things like blocking and tackling. Whatever it is you do, you can be better at it if you focus on mastering the basics.
Fourth, find discipline. He believed that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. Discipline gives us the wherewithal to finish the job.
Finally, Holtz also had a list of four things you need in your life.
• Everyone needs something to do.
• Everyone needs someone to love.
• Everyone needs someone to believe in.
• Everyone needs something in their life to hope for.
Useful information for us individually and as companies to consider. Holtz was straightforward and used simple, easy-to-understand language. Read the lists again and give them some thought on how we might use his ideas in our organization and our lives.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Russell B. Leavitt, CFPS, SET, is executive chairman and board member of Telgian Holdings, Inc. Leavitt’s Telgian roots can be traced to the genesis of the company. In 1990, he co-founded Fire Design Group, which merged with Tomes, Van Rickley, and Associates (TVA) in 1991. He subsequently served in numerous executive positions, including TVA Fire and Life Safety President, Managing Member of Fire Materials Group, LLC, and CEO of Telgian. Today, Leavitt serves as the Executive Chairman for Telgian Holdings, Inc., as well as the Chairman of Telgian Fire Safety and Telgian Engineering & Consulting.
Leavitt is active in numerous trade and professional associations and holds several leadership positions. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors as Immediate Past Chair of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), he has served as the Chair of the NFPA 13 Technical Committee for Fire Sprinkler System Discharge Criteria and continues to serve as a Principal Member. He is also a Principal Member of the NFPA Technical Committee for Installation and a Principal Member of NFPA 3 and NFPA 4. Leavitt also represents NFPA 13 on the Technical Committee for NFPA 909 (Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties) and 914 (Code for the Protection of Historic Structures).
Throughout his career, he has authored numerous articles and training guides, including the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) Beginning Inspector Training Program and the AFSA Online Hydraulics Training Program. In addition, he is a major contributor to several NFPA Handbooks and served as the subject matter expert for numerous NFPA live and online training programs.
Leavitt shares his more than 40 years of experience in the fire protection industry by conducting training presentations for many professional and industry organizations including the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), NFPA, and AFSA.
In 2013, he received the AFSA Henry S. Parmelee Award for dedication to the professional advancement of the fire sprinkler industry and improvement of fire safety through automatic sprinklers. He is also the recipient of the NFPA Standards Council Special Achievement Award in 2018 for his leadership of the task group which completely reorganized NFPA 13 for the 2019 edition.
Leavitt is a Level IV NICET certified technician and Certified Fire Protection Specialist who holds fire protection contracting licenses in multiple states. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.