Q&A with Tyler Palko: From field general to leader in the business field

You may know Tyler Palko as the local star who forever etched his name into western Pennsylvania football lore during his time as a fiery southpaw quarterback.

Palko –– a three-time Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review WPIAL Class AAA Player of the Year –– led West Allegheny High School to the PIAA Class AAA championship game three years in a row, finally winning the title in his senior year and ending Strath Haven High School’s 44-game winning streak.

At Pitt, Palko played in 41 games as quarterback and completed 60 percent of his passes for 8,343 yards, 66 touchdowns and just 25 interceptions. He guided the Panthers to the 2004 Big East Championship, resulting in the team’s first and only BCS bowl berth before going on to play two seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Now, at age 33, Palko is the director of Leadership Development at Solutions 21, a company that trains businesses in sales and employee management. He also helped build 2nd Skull, a protective headgear company for athletes.

The Pitt News caught up with the former quarterback turned startup developer to discuss the Pitt-Penn State rivalry, how the football field prepared him for the field of business and how he knew the time was right to switch careers.

TPN: Were you at the Penn State game on Saturday? Did watching make you wish you could have played against Penn State, or was playing West Virginia and Notre Dame good enough for you?

Palko: I was at the game, on the field before the game, then got a chance to stay and watch it, so it was awesome.

Man, [not playing those teams has] always been a regret. I guess it can’t be a regret, since I didn’t have any control over it … the reason I went to Pitt, I wanted to help bring them back to national prominence, and you do that by beating West Virginia and Penn State –– and getting good players. So that was something I was upset I never got a chance to do. I was happy to be a part of it as an alumni, but I wish I had a chance to suit up for that game.

TPN: You accomplished a lot during your time at West Allegheny, you accomplished a lot at Pitt. You even won a game in the NFL. Which part of your playing career do you look back on most fondly? What game meant the most to you?

Palko:  I’ll always remember the games that got away, those are the most memorable to me. We lost to the Steelers on the final drive, we were going in to win. We got our tails kicked in the Fiesta Bowl, we got our head coach fired in the week before that, so that was tough. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of a lot of good games [too].

TPN: Is there a specific moment, play or drive in any big game that you think helped prepare you the most for your career as a leadership consultant?

Palko: They all did. I was lucky, my dad was my coach in high school, and I grew up around football and athletics, so I had an opportunity to be hyper-aware of everything that was going on during those times. So I was able to really put them in my memory bank and learn from them and still continue to use those situations in my career now.

TPN: How did you know it was time to give up playing in the NFL after just two seasons and decide to go into the business world instead?

Palko: Well, I don’t think … there’s a select few people who get a chance to say I’m done. They don’t usually pick you, you pick that. I was a free agent after the year we had some bad games, but I really put some good film together and thought that I would have another opportunity to be a backup somewhere and sign a contract and continue a career, but it didn’t happen.

I had to make a decision. I have a family and a wife and kids … [Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach] Chuck Noll had a famous line. It says, “Time to move on with your life’s work,” and that’s what I decided to do.

TPN: How would you define your role and what you do at Solutions 21?

Palko: I’m a succession candidate, so as long as I don’t screw it up, I’m going to be taking over in some capacity soon. That was one of the reasons I decided to go there. Our CEO [Buddy Hobart] was kind of preparing me –– I guess you could say I’m the backup right now, and preparing to move into the starting role. I do a lot of speaking engagements … it’s a business development role. I do a lot of writing, a lot of speaking, trying to build this business to where we can work with organizations to build their strengths.

TPN: What is the hardest part about getting clients to buy in with your company?

Palko: They were [already] successful doing it their way. Again, the biggest football example I can give you is: [former Green Bay Packers head coach] Vince Lombardi, arguably the best coach out there; [former San Francisco 49ers head coach] Bill Walsh, arguably the best coach out there; they would have a hard time winning in today’s game. The game’s evolved.

That’s the hardest part, having conversations with people about adapting when they were pretty successful doing it their way. That’s why you get guys like [New England Patriots head coach] Bill Belichick that have done it for such a long period of time, they’ve adapted their principles and adapted their style as they evolved.

TPN: If you could go back to high school and start over, is there anything you would have done differently? Or did your career play out exactly the way you hoped?

Palko: It’s hard to say. I got a chance to achieve my childhood dream, so that’s tough to say that I’d change anything. I had a dinner with my old college coach and my dad yesterday, and I think probably the reason why I chose to play quarterback was because there was a lot of people that said I could never do it. That whole trying to prove people wrong thing. I think I was a better free safety than I was a quarterback, but I guess we’ll never know. That being said, I got a chance to achieve my childhood dream and play on Sundays.