WWE Hall of Famer Kane appeared on The Freedom Pact to discuss various topics, including what he learned from Vince McMahon.
Kane said, “As far as Vince, he was a great mind. I learned some good things from him. I also learned some things that I’m like, ‘That’s not how I would do things,’ So you learn both. ‘Okay, this is something to emulate, and this is something that I shouldn’t do,’ just leadership styles, when Vince and I are obviously very different in that. It certainly wouldn’t work for me. I don’t think that’s how you do things,” Jacobs explained. “One of the things that I’ve become really passionate about is learning about leadership, and I really do believe that organizations rise and fall on the quality of their leadership, and team building, and doing all those things that I think, if you often think, are cliche, right? But they’re not. I mean, it’s vitally important.”
On Triple H’s leadership of WWE:
“I look at WWE now, under the leadership of Triple H, and it’s just, wow. I’m so proud of everything that he’s been able to do with his own style of leadership,” he continued. “Just almost taking the company to another level altogether. Vince is one of the great entrepreneurs in history. I don’t think he gets enough credit for that, and it’s not just in the wrestling business, just in entertainment, you know? He was very visionary, and he could just see things that none of the rest of us could see at the same time.”
On Linda McMahon:
“You have the great entrepreneur, and often what you see is that their partner in business and in life is the business person. That was true of Henry Ford. Everybody remembers Henry Ford as the visionary. Henry Ford wasn’t a great business guy. His brother was the great business guy who took Henry’s ideas and made them practical, and that’s what really led to the success of Ford. That’s Linda McMahon. She was the same way in WWE. A lot of folks, you think WWE, you think Vince. A lot of folks don’t realize how important she was, especially in the early years, as the business person who is running the back office operations. That’s also something, again, going back to the team, though, yeah, everyone thinks Vince, He’s the face. Well, the thing about Vince was that he always had a great team around him. One of the most important people was Linda.”
On the differences in leadership between Triple H and Vince McMahon:
“I would say that. I think the difference is Triple H was one of the guys and understands the locker room, understands the mentality of the locker room, you know? Vince, again, he was a great visionary, a very good business person, but he was always a promoter. He was always outside of the locker room. So, yes, you do have those two very different styles now, both successful in their own ways. I think now, especially with the trajectory that the company’s on, because of Triple H is leadership, and it’s going to go places it’s never even been before. The company’s.”
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(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
