Perhaps the only trade that requires its work force to take more jobs over the course of a career than football coaches than football coaching is acting. If they're lucky, every working actor's IMDb page looks like the bio of a well-traveled coach, with new job on new job on new job. In coaching, it's an unfortunate byproduct of the industry. In acting, it's the goal.
In a recent interview with the Harvard Business Review, Kevin Spacey detailed one of his most interesting jobs: a 10-year run as the director of the Old Vic Theater in London. Though the two crafts, directing and football coaching, share about as much in common in practice as painting and scuba diving, they come from similar places -- a role that requires the person in question to make executive decisions while motivating those around and below them to get the most out of their talents.
Spacey talked about what he learned about leadership in his job as a director, saying, "I had always learned that when you take on a role, acting or directing, you have a responsibility to bring the right spirit and energy every day to create something with a group of people. I was very fortunate to have mentors who were great examples, not because they sat me down and gave me lessons but because of the way they behaved. There’s a different kind of leadership in running a theater and staff, a company, productions, fundraising, educational and community projects. I learned as I went along. I read. I asked questions of leaders I admire. I studied other theatrical beginnings in Great Britain so I knew what to expect."
If the analogy is too far out there for you, read the quite again while substituting "theater" for "program" and "Great Britain" for "the SEC."
Here's a bit of wisdom Spacey offers after taking multiple new jobs a year dating back to 1986:
"With every job, you should have something to lose, something to gain, something to learn."