Derek Jeter Leadership Style

Derek Jeter, one of the greatest shortstops of all time, once said, “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do- and I believe that” (“Jeter”). Sometime later the same man also said, “Your image isn’t your character. Character is what you are as a person” (“Jeter”). Jeter was obviously a guy that believed in hard work all the time, but also realized that he had to be great off the field as well. There have been some spectacular shortstops in the history of baseball, but none greater than the likes of Barry Larkin, Derek Jeter, and Cal Ripken, Jr. They all changed the game in one way or another, but every single one of them had great leadership abilities, a knack for coming

Some would even argue that Jeter was the greatest leader in the history of the game of baseball. Derek was even given the nickname “The Captain” which suited him very well. He guided the New York Yankee vessel for almost 20 years, and led them to five World Series championships. Ever since the day that he was drafted by the organization, players chose to follow him. Jeter’s ex-teammate and former coach, Joe Girardi, said, “(His leadership) is by example, and one-on-one; he’s going to take players aside and talk to them, and the way he plays the game, people will follow” (DiPietro). According to Girardi, Jeter led in more than one way. Girardi believed that people would follow Jeter, but he also believed that Jeter would pull people aside and confront them, when necessary. According to Joe Torre, another one of Jeter’s ex-managers, Jeter came onto the scene and began leading almost immediately (DiPietro). It is very unusual for a player to be a leader at such a young age, but Jeter did it and did it well. There was a distinct moment in time when Joe Torre knew that Jeter was going to be leader for a long, long time to come. That moment came during the 1996 season, which was Jeter’s rookie