Dear Peyton Manning,
Thank you. You’re truly one of a kind, and I hate to see you go. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for you, from a Super Bowl title to some tough news coverage, to the daily question of when (or if) you would retire. Now you’ve chosen to do so.
I have been consistently fascinated by your leadership—which has earned you league MVP five times and two Super Bowl wins—but you are leaving us with a much greater lesson:
You’re leaving the game on top and on your own terms.
In the history of major sports, there are only a small number of greats—John Wooden, Tony La Russa, Jerome Bettis and your current boss, John Elway, to name a few—who’ve gone out as champions as you have.
As a Hall of Fame keynote speaker, longtime Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated, and 13-time New York Times Best-Selling author, Don Yaeger is one of America’s most provocative thought leaders. From walking into Afghanistan with the Mujahadeen to living with football legend Walter Payton, Don has spent three decades embedded with the world’s greatest "Greats." Now a sought-after executive coach and host of the Corporate Competitor Podcast, he translates the lessons of sports and business legends into actionable strategies for building a culture of greatness.
