In Ryan’s first season as coach, he changed the Jets’ second-class existence through the sheer force of his bold and brash personality. He spoke loudly and often about the talent that surrounded him, until the players believed every word he said…

Ryan turned one of the N.F.L.’s most clandestine operations in into an open book. The Jets collapsed at the end of 2008 in part because of the tense atmosphere. Ryan changed that, changed a culture, changed the way people felt about coming to work. He never called his predecessor…

Instead of operating from a tower like a dictator, Ryan walks the hallways, massaging egos, cooking up defensive plans.

–Greg Bishop, on Rex Ryan, the incoming coach of the Jets: NYT. Fred Wilson makes hay from the article, as he folds these features into a view on management and companies.