For 17 years, Paul Tagliabue headed the NFL, the most structured of professional sports leagues. Tagliabue looks the part, buttoned-up and conservative-looking. Then he opens his mouth and in his New Jersey accent reveals the free spirit within, urging young people to go with the flow.

“Well, I guess I got into law by accident and I got into the NFL by accident, which is why one of the things I always tell young people is don’t try to program your life because you’ll probably sell yourself short,” Tagliabue said Thursday night in an appearance at the Dole Institute of Politics. “Especially today with the pace of change in our society being so fast and the future being so hard to anticipate, just get a lot of experience, get a lot of experience with different organizations, lead as much as you can and let things happen because things will happen you never dreamed would come.”

The event, which kicked off the Institute’s “Leadership and Globalization in Sports” series, lasted an hour and 20 minutes and started with director Bill Lacy engaging Tagliabue in conversation before a long line of members from the audience each took a turn at the microphone to ask a question.

Tagliabue, who started his association with the NFL as an attorney in 1969, was commissioner from 1989 through Sept. 1, 2006. During his tenure, there was not a single work stoppage. Tagliabue said it wasn’t until the August death of former union leader Gene Upshaw that he reflected on why the men were able to maintain labor peace.

“We had both come to the realization we could either act like donkeys and keep knocking our heads together or we could act like human beings and try to solve the problem,” the former commissioner said. “So then you figure out how to try to do that. And that took about three years of conversation.”

Since stepping down, Tagliabue and his wife, Chan, who was in attendance Thursday, have taken several trips to Asia.

“I think a lot of the West really doesn’t understand how dramatic are the changes in Asia and how motivated and skilled the people are,” he said.