NFL icon Fran Tarkenton has long drawn insightful parallels between the dynamics of professional sports teams and the intricate workings of modern companies. According to him, the same internal tensions and clashes that can erode a football team’s chemistry in the locker room can just as easily cripple collaboration and morale within a corporate environment. This conviction forms the foundation of his leadership approach today: as a business founder and CEO, Tarkenton insists on personally interviewing every employee who joins his organization. He believes that selecting the right individuals—those who share compatible values, positive attitudes, and a genuine commitment to the collective mission—is absolutely essential to sustaining both performance and harmony. In his words, whether one is competing on the gridiron or building a successful enterprise, poor team composition will inevitably lead to failure.
Reflecting on this philosophy during an interview with Business Insider, Tarkenton explained that his perspective is deeply rooted in his life experiences as both a legendary NFL quarterback and an accomplished entrepreneur. “If you don’t have the right people,” he emphasized, “you can’t make it in your business, my business, or in the NFL.” His statement illustrates a principle of universal truth in leadership—no strategy or innovation can compensate for a lack of cohesion and mutual respect among teammates or colleagues.
Tarkenton recalled a conversation from more than a decade ago with Pete Carroll, who was then the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. In that exchange, he offered blunt but practical advice about managing toxic talent. He urged Carroll to release a high-profile player whose negative behavior was poisoning the atmosphere within the team. To drive his point home, Tarkenton invoked a vivid metaphor from his playing days: “If you have a 40-man roster—and back then we did—and 39 are All-Pro players but one of them is a problem, that single individual will eventually dominate the entire group.” His warning underscored how even a small amount of negativity can spread destructively, undermining leadership authority and neutralizing the hard work and dedication of everyone else. It was an unambiguous reminder that one disruptive personality can outweigh the collective excellence of many if left unchecked.
Now the CEO of an Atlanta-based technology company that bears his name, Tarkenton regards entrepreneurship as a lifelong pursuit rather than a career chapter. He traces his entrepreneurial spirit all the way back to childhood, when at the age of seven he managed a newspaper delivery route—an early taste of self-reliance and responsibility. His distinguished NFL career, spanning the 1960s and 1970s, elevated him to stardom as a record-setting quarterback known for his innovation and improvisational playing style. Yet his professional prime predated the era of astronomical sports salaries. Consequently, Tarkenton supplemented his income during the off-season by taking on side ventures to ensure financial security and expand his business experience. After retiring from football, he continued to diversify his career—serving as a commentator on the nationally broadcast “Monday Night Football” and later co-hosting ABC’s popular television program “That’s Incredible!” where he once profiled a remarkably young Tiger Woods, then only five years old.
Throughout these ventures, Tarkenton established a consistent pattern: he reinvested his earnings into opportunities that would allow him to learn, grow, and shape new enterprises. His investments have ranged from partnerships with major corporations like IBM to his most recent initiative, pipIQ, an artificial intelligence startup designed to support small businesses by helping them manage large language models securely and efficiently. This blend of athletic tenacity and business foresight continues to define his career decades after his retirement from professional sports.
Tarkenton, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986, has carried the core principles of teamwork and communication into his executive leadership. As CEO, he makes an extraordinary effort to personally connect with his workforce, meeting individually with everyone from senior executives to newly hired employees. He sets aside at least 15 minutes for each conversation, resulting in more than 500 interactions over the course of a year. This deliberate engagement, he explained, reflects one of his seven guiding business maxims: “People have to talk to people.” In a follow-up email, he elaborated that no one achieves meaningful success in isolation; progress depends on communication, collaboration, and the continuous exchange of ideas. Dialogue strengthens critical thinking, unlocks creativity, and fosters a culture of trust that propels both individuals and organizations forward.
For Tarkenton, the principle is straightforward yet profound—technical skill, intelligence, or even brilliance cannot compensate for an inability to work well with others. Across professions, from sports to technology, sustained achievement is fundamentally social and cooperative. That conviction explains why, even now at eighty-five, he remains directly involved in meeting job applicants for his companies based in Atlanta. “I want to see who they are,” he said with characteristic candor. “If someone happens to be a genius but lacks integrity, humility, or respect for others, they’re simply not the right fit.” For him, cultural alignment and character trump raw ability because harmony among people is the foundation upon which enduring success—on the field or in the boardroom—is built.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/fran-tarkenton-quarterback-ceo-interviews-every-employee-2025-12
