The following is my analysis of the article posted here... https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/13/bill-belichick-leadership-rules.html.
So why this article? Why sports? Why Bill Belichick? The man is a proven winner obviously. He has taken personalities and managed to get them to buy into the system, stay out of the lime light and effectively become a team player. So why not? As for sports, two reasons, I love sports! Two, sports can cover the grey area of the business world and the military world. It is a for profit business, money is exchanged and there are strategies for running organizations. On the field however, it is Xs vs Os, just like the military. In the military is Blue vs Red, but it is the same war-gaming concept. Therefore, I feel sports is a nice transition to bridge the communication gap. Specifically in Bill's case, who grew up around sports and the military. He watched tape at Annapolis when his father was an assistant coach. You can still see his connection today, as he builds condition and teamwork amongst the Patriots by conducting training with the US Navy Seals. I pick Belichick because he is humble and hungry. He states he knows "little" about leadership. Guess he keeps getting lucky with all those Ws and Super Bowls! This article sums up the following five principles:
1- There is only one sign in the Patriots locker room, "Every battle is won before it is fought." -Sun Tzu. There is that business to military comparison again. So what does that mean. Plan, plan, plan, prepare, prepare, and prepare and the battle fought is easier. Even in the corporate world, when you can control and dictate things (let's say raw material for example, you are not left reacting to your enemy, or in this case, an external supplier potentially). The ability to analyze and see things before they happen in order to control your own destiny. Bill leaves a window for the ability to adjust on the fly. However, to do this, you must be an effectively organized team in sync. So here I am picturing a UH60 Blackhawk Air Assault Battalion, conducting an air assault, when the main avenue or route becomes compromised. A code word is announced, and the flight of 20 helicopters seamlessly maneuvers to the alternate route to maintain the element of surprise and maintain control of the battle. This ability to adjust was not an exact part of the plan, but the battalion used another plan to implement a portion. Likewise, it was executed because the team started by practicing individual skills, before conduct training as a flight of two, then four, then 8, and so on. But before this, they conducted a 10 mile run together, slept in the field and suffered together, supported each other through families, etc. Perhaps more easily said, build your team with mentality to ruthlessly plan and prepare with ability to quickly adapt if that plan fails. 2- Bill defines dependables as those that are confident and consistent. Maybe they are not as flashy, maybe they don't bring in the big sales. But when things get down to the nitty-gritty , they plain old get things done. Avoiding those peaks and valleys will help your team stay more cohesive and allow each person to build that trust that is necessary for adapting on the fly. 3- Requires you to step up and take charge. In the story about Belichick telling the mouthy player to shut it and listen, what he is refer to here is accountability. He was holding his player accountable to pay attention in the meeting. He could have not said a thing and perhaps the player would have missed a play call, or a block, because he did not pay attention. Bill and that player would have been just as accountable then as they were during the meeting, he just chose to nip it in the butt earlier. To military personnel, this really becomes second nature. With a rank structure organization, if there is more than one person standing around, the highest rank has to step up and take charge. Couple that with the fact that in the business of national defense, accountability or lack there of, could cost lives. The ability to be the boss is something you will get with most prior military personnel. 4- I don't need to go much further than this (you can see my previous blog on empathy). Even big stars need to have a work-life balance, and no matter how much you want to sell it to yourself, they intertwine and are inseparable. Therefore, Bill believes in helping his players sort out personal issues, so they can be 100 percent focused on the team, the game, and the mission. Though I will not say that this is common to all military personnel, most of us get this, especially those of us who have deployed. When deployed, life moves on without you back home and sometimes things happen. You want to see someone effected, visit those deployed! They have no control whatsoever, but have to live the consequences and find a way through the situation. Good leaders recognize that and take them out of the fight to take a knee, again, because an unfocused team member could cost the lives of people if a mistake is made. 5- In a day of analytics, it sounds crazy right. Don't get big headed over your accomplishments sure, but maybe don't take every piece of data to heart. The past is the past, rather spending time analyzing it, focus more on the present and the future. Prepare for the sale you have now, the parts you need to make for your customer now. Then you can circle back to #1 and begin building that team to get be better in the future through planning and preparation. You can see that, although used in sports, these principles resonate in both the military and the business world, so they certainly are lessons that all leaders can follow, I mean wouldn't you want to be the best and have your team considered the greatest of all time? I know I would!!!
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