BEAVER, PA – Sept. 10, 2015 – Forged in Steel: The Seven Time-Tested Leadership Principles Practiced By the Pittsburgh Steelers – a locally produced and widely praised book, and co-authored by Tunch Ilkin and Damian W. Williams – is back on press with a second printing. Forged in Steel is the first book examining leadership values and principles through the prism of a National Football League team.
Copies will be available Sept. 22, 2015 on Amazon and in the Steelers Sideline Stores and PG Store as well as through the publisher’s website, www.forgedinsteel.org. Forged in Steel also is in a Kindle ebook format on Amazon. The book has received widespread kudos from the news media, CEOs, university faculty and the faith community.
Ilkin is a two-time All-Pro tackle with the Steelers who today is one of the team’s television and radio commentators, and Williams is an authority on leadership who is CEO of Leadership League. Forged in Steel taps into the enduring values of the Steelers’ way as a guide for individuals and groups who lead in his or her business, community group or family. The book has been produced by Beaver-based Minerd.com Publishing, LLC and its CEO Mark A. Miner.
The seven chapters of Forged in Steel include:
1. Inspiring Standards – Identifying and living your values and mission establishes and sustains trust with those you lead.
2. Contagious Humility – Humility becomes contagious in your team, resulting in greater interdependence and teamwork.
3. Servant Leadership – You live to serve and add value to others, the only type of leadership that will bring out the best in others and consistently outperform other leadership styles.
4. Strategic Team Making – Your team has a plan for success — and is crystal clear about it.
5. Passionate Execution – Your team cares deeply about the game plan and will go the extra mile to execute it.
6. Continuous Improvement – You are willing to pay the price for excellence, will improve every day and never settle for mediocrity.
7. Mental Toughness – When things get hard, you have an integrity that chooses the right attitude in every situation and demonstrates the ability to bounce back.
Praise for the First Printing of Forged in Steel:
“[It’s] about football and life and come[s] with our heartiest recommendations…. Ilkin knows how to spin a tale… [and] manages to weave some sense of humor and perspective into it…. worth the price.” –Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“A tremendous how-to leadership book if you’re in any business, or even if you’re a college kid or a kid in high school looking to try to better yourself. It’s worth every penny.” –Ron Cook, Vinnie & Cook Show, 93.7 The Fan (KDKA-FM), Pittsburgh
“You’ll enjoy it. You really will. I hope it sells a zillion copies.” –Stan Savran, Savran on Sports, 970 AM ESPN
“Deep into the community, the business world and even family, there are core values… [such as] leadership with a difference, attacking goals with passion, exhibiting mental toughness, embracing and living inspiring standards, always working toward improvement, developing a clear plan for success and displaying humility.” –Rex Rutkoski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Tunch Ilkin and Damian Williams have done a great job of capturing the life changing leadership principles that were modeled and taught to us by the Steelers organization. These timeless values can be applied to any leader regardless of age or occupation.” –Mel Blount, Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame Cornerback
“…examines ‘The Steelers Way’ and how you can put it to work for your organization. The book explores the management style that the Pittsburgh Steelers implement to motivate players and staff throughout the organization.” –Bill Flanagan, Our Region’s Business, WPXI-TV and Executive Vice President, Allegheny Conference on Community Development
“It takes a leader to convincingly talk about leadership. Tunch Ilkin does an awesome job with stories and insights to build a bridge between Steeler leadership principles and the leader traits we want to stress and expand on in our own organization.” –Joe Peilert, President and CEO, VEKA Holdings
“What a great, inspirational message. Tunch and Damian are both excellent motivational speakers who really connected with our audience. The feedback from the luncheon has been outstanding.” –Kelly Szejko, President, National Association of Corporate Directors (Pittsburgh) and Association for Corporate Growth (Pittsburgh)
“You can learn about leading people by being in a classroom, but if you want to learn how the principles of good leadership are put into practice, make the time to read this book. It is great to see how the Pittsburgh Steelers have built a successful organization based on sound leadership principles.” –Bill Shadle, Professor, Organizational Leadership, Robert Morris University
“Amazing leadership content with powerful life and business principles. You will come away with a high level of respect for the Steeler organization and be challenged to apply these principles to your own life and business.” –Doug Slaybaugh, Partner, Paterson Center and Co-founder, Purpose Driven Organization
“Forged in Steel captures the essence of the Pittsburgh Steelers.” –Tony Quatrini, Director of Marketing, Pittsburgh Steelers
“There are a lot of books about leadership, like John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. Chuck Noll was a private person after football and didn’t write books. Limited few people in the world had the chance to learn what Chuck taught. Forged in Steel tells a lot of his stories and is a great book for fans.” –Frank Murgia, Craig Wolfley Podcast
“…insight on the Steelers’ unique culture and the principles the franchise practices to field competitive teams year after year.” –“Page Turners,” Beaver County Times
“It’s for leadership, it’s for Steelers fans, it ties a lot together, and it’s really well done.” –Ron Moore, The Journey
“Make sure you look at this book for your Christmas list this year. I’m telling you, it is just outstanding, and every little anecdote, you read one, and you can’t wait to get to the next one, which is really time tested, true to life stuff.” –Kathy Emmons, It’s the Ride Home Show, WORD-FM
“Forged in Steel is more than just a Steelers book. It is a must-read for not only fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers but also for anyone looking to become a better leader and better person. The beauty of Tunch Ilkin’s book is that it offers three different leadership styles of coaches Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin and it also includes tremendous lessons from ‘The Chief’ and Mr. Rooney. It is crystal clear how Mr. Ilkin made himself into a better player and better man and he is gracious in passing those life-lessons on to others.” –Marc Uhlmann, SteelCityBlitz.com blog
“A fantastic work, great Steelers stories, really terrific leadership principles.” –John Hall, It’s the Ride Home Show, WORD-FM
“What I love about the Forged in Steel leadership content is that people at all levels of the organization can be inspired and challenged by the principles.” –Doug Fagerstrom, Senior Vice President, Converge Worldwide
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