Grab Above The Line: Lessons In Leadership And Life From A Championship Program Originated By Urban Meyer Digital

the line was a pretty good book, It's not as much an X's and O's Type but more of a "Jimmy's and Joe's" book.
With that being said, being able to see into what makes a top level program like Ohio State so successful is an intriguing and appealing endeavor.
As someone who plays football the things Meyer writes about in terms of leadership and team cohesiveness speak volumes to someone like me who has a continued interest in the sport for the long term.
Obviously a book like this won't be the most challenging read, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
By making the book easy to follow it gives many people a chance to peek into what makes someone like Urban Meyer as successful as they are.
I don't have many serious complaints about the book, If I did have to find something I didn't like in order to reason why this book only gotit'd have to admit that at some points the book just flat out gets boring.
Without the interesting anecdotes of teams past and individual players this would be a book I'd probably read occasionally in short spurts during times of interest but I wouldn't engage with for extended periods of time like I did.
Overall it's a good book for its intended audience, a quick read, and especially interesting to those who follow Ohio State football or the prominent coaches in the game currently.
I had mixed feelings about this book, On the one hand, it was incredibly inspiring and very convicting on a personal level, I plan to look at my life and figure out the ways in which urban Meyer's life challenges my own, so that I can live life more fully.


His approach to football is clearly hardcore, The book is meant to give lessons in leadership, and while I can see some obvious parallels between military leadership and Ohio State football, I struggle to figure out how to apply his principles to something like a voluntary society, a Church, a nonprofit, or even a business.
I'm pretty sure that if I adapted his leadership methodology to a church I was leading, it would very quickly become a cult.
Unless you were coaching a football team or leading men into battle, you would have to be very choosy about the kinds of principles you applied rigorously from this book.


The most intriguing statement he made was "I have never seen the tougher team that played the hardest lose a game.
" I really wonder if this is true, He boils everything down to effort, I like that he encourages his players to fail by failing forward, I am just not sure that when it comes down to it, effort and discipline always outweigh talent.
Like, ALWAYS

But he is surely correct that culture is more important in a team effort than individual brilliance or talent.


This is a great book for someone who loves getting inside peoples heads, And it's wonderful for a Buckeye fan who wants to know what makes this psychology major turned top shelf football coach into such a winner.
I think for anyone who likes football, and definitely for someone who likes Ohio State football, this is a must read.
It will take some creativity to figure out what to apply to your own leadership, but it's much easier to figure out where you are being a slacker and apply his discipline method to your own daily life, leading yourself.
Ive read this twice and am reading it a third time and I will constantly refer back to it.
As a former athlete and current coach the information is relevant, entertaining, and invaluable, I use it to teach leadership to my team, Its a must read for coaches and athletes, Urban is a top of the line guy, Oh, I mean “Above the Line, ” This quarter I read the book Above The Line by The Ohio State University Head Football Coach, Urban Meyer.
The book is a nonfiction text that describes the mindset and steps needed to becoming a better leader.
Coach Meyer gives his take on life by sharing some of his stories and applying them to any situation that someone could come across.
I enjoyed reading this book because of the relatable life lessons that it entailed, and also because it was written by someone who I personally look up to.

The main points of the book Above The Line are that everyone is put in difficult situations in life, and the path to being successful comes from the response and ability to overcome these difficult situations.
This ideal is called ERO which stands for Event plus Response equals Outcome, In order for people to overcome their problems, they must first accept and take responsibility for them.
Meyer calls this step eliminating BCD or Blame, Complain, Defend, By first taking responsibility for any predicament that has affected you or the team, you have already made yourself stand out as a leader.
Another important leadership quality to possess that Meyer discusses is to make the people around you better as you better yourself.
This comes from first earning their respect, and then setting an example of the type of effort and composure needed from everyone else on the team or group being led.
If you do not first gain the respect and trust of those around you, they will either not follow your example or will lose sight of the purpose for their actions.
Meyer used a story from his coaching days at Florida to describe how a leader makes the team better as a whole.
He said that on the average team there areof people who put forth maximum effort and will be the elite contributors,of people who come and work hard most of the time and are reasonably reliable, and the otherof people who do not care or try to cause trouble.
At the University of Florida, he told his quarterback Tim Tebow to try and turn as manys intos as he could.

For me personally, the book had great messages about how to overcome obstacles in sports and in life.
Although Urban Meyer is not known as a great writer, I still see this work as a top notch piece with a few parts that were somewhat cliche or corny.
I felt that the themes taught through stories definitely came from the heart and that Coach Meyer has truly implemented these into his whole lifestyle to become a more successful football coach, but more importantly a better all around human being.
Being an athlete and captain, I believe that if I buy in to the Above The Line way of thinking, that my teams will have more success, and I will be much happier.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is an athlete or part of a team that wants to take the next step in their role as a leader.
Even if you are not a huge fan of football there are still many great lessons to be learned that relate to all aspects of life.

This is more than a sports memoir or leadership book, Its a manifesto about core principles, Its a bible on leading men, My three sons are going to hear a lot of Meyerisms in the coming weeks,BauersStrong! It's no secret that I am a massive OSU fan, On top of that, naturally, I am a huge fan of Coach Urban Meyer, Following the

team closely my entire life, I have come to understand that Urban is not only a football mastermind and an inventive football strategist, but he is even more so a gifted leader of young men.
He implements reallife training and decisionmaking into his program and focuses on things outside of football, with the reality being that even at toptier program like Ohio State, the majority of players never end up playing on Sundays.
All that being said, my favorite parts of this book were the anecdotes about theseason, Hearing stories and getting the inside scoop on some of my favorite Buckeye legends was quite entertaining.
I have always wondered what goes on in the locker room and in the practice facility, and it was fun for me to get a peek into the life of a college football player at The Ohio State University my childhood dream.
In a way, I had the chance to live out my lifelong football dreams by reading this book and becoming part of a championship program in my own small way Being'never helped my football aspirations.


As far as the leadership aspect of the book, I agree with everything that Coach Meyer has to offer in this book.
I would only point out that Coach Meyer is not offering anything new or groundbreaking, However, I say that as no fault of Coach Meyer's, but simply because fundamentals for success do not change.
This is a reason why I have little interest in leadership books, because I believe that the core tenants of leadership and success are common sense and have more to do with getting up and doing them than reading books about getting up and doing them.
There are no substitutes for hard work, consistency and trust, Despite my distaste for these types of books and "selfhelp" books in general, I thoroughly enjoyed this book simply because of the way it ties in something I am passionate about, Ohio State Football.
In short, rather than offering new perspectives on success, Urban drives home the point that "effective leaders look at common things in uncommon ways.
" In other words, although there is nothing "fresh" or innovative in Urban's philosophy of success, he does an effective job of emphasizing the importance of these wellknown values in this book.
Building a culture and setting the example for behavior within that culture perpetuates a successful program, .