NFL head coach Mike Smith lead one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NFL history. In the season prior to his arrival in 2008, the Atlanta Falcons had a 412 record and the franchise had never before achieved back-to-back winning seasons. Under Smiths leadership, the Falcons earned an 115 record in his first season and would go on to become perennial playoff and Super Bowl contenders earning Smith AP Coach of year in 2008 and voted Coach of Year by his peers in 2008, 2010 and 2012.
You Win in the Locker Room Firstdraws on the extraordinary experiences of Coach Mike Smith and Jon Gordonconsultant to numerous college and professional teamsto explore the seven powerful principles that any business, school, organization, or sports team can adopt to revitalize their organization.
Step by step, the authors outline a strategy for building a thriving organization and provide a practical framework that give leaders the tools they need to create a great culture, lead with the right mindset, create strong relationships, improve teamwork, execute at a higher level, and avoid the pitfalls that sabotage far too many leaders and organizations.
In addition to sharing what went right with the Falcons, Smith also transparently shares what went wrong his last two seasons and provides invaluable lessons leaders can take away from his victories, success, failures and mistakes.
Whether its an executive leadership team of a Fortune 500 company, a sports team, an emergency room team, military team, or a school team successful leaders coach their team and develop, mentor, encourage, and guide them. This not only improves the team, it improves the leaders and their relationships, connections, and organization.
You Win in the Locker Room First offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the most pressure packed leadership jobs on the planet and what leaders can learn from these experiences in order to build their own winning team.
Introduction xi
1 Culture 1
Create a Winning Culture 3
Build Your Culture Up and Down 4
Everyone Creates Your Culture 6
X's and O's Are Overrated 8
Sustained Culture = Sustained Success 9
Know What You Stand For 10
Process and Milestones 12
Focus on the Root, Not the Fruit 16
You Have to Fight For Your Culture and Team 17
2 Contagious 21
Germ or Vitamin C? 23
Contagious with a Vision and Mission 24
Contagious with Your Belief 26
Contagious with a Positive Attitude 28
Contagious Leaders in the Locker Room 29
No Energy Vampires Allowed 33
The No Complaining Rule 35
3 Consistent 37
Consistency Wins the Locker Room 39
Consistency Wins in the Long Run 40
It's Not Okay to Be Moody 41
Be Consistent in Your Desire to Be Great 42
Complacency Is a Disease 43
Consistently Improving 45
Humble and Hungry 46
4 Communicate 49
The Most Important Thing a Coach Can Do 51
One-on-One Communication 52
Listening Enhances Communication 55
What's the Temperature Today? 57
Leading by Walking Around 59
Communicating the Message 61
The Power of an Outside Voice 63
The Enemies of Great Communication 64
Communication Must Lead to Collaboration 65
5 Connect 67
Communicating and Collaborating Leads to Connection 69
Team Beats Talent When Talent Isn't a Team 70
We Got This 71
Unplug from Technology and Plug into People 74
Create a Connected Locker Room 76
Connect Outside the Locker Room to Be Strong Inside the Locker Room 79
Stay Connected 81
6 Commitment 83
Commit if You Want Commitment 85
Commitment Begins with the Leader 86
Feeling Is More Powerful than Hearing 87
Serve to Be Great 89
Commitment Starts at Home 90
Commitment is Spelled T-I-M-E 91
When You Commit You Make Everyone Better 93
The Hard Hat 95
It's Not About You 97
Lose Your Ego 98
Commitment Requires Sacrifice 101
7 Care 103
Caring Is a Strategy 105
Care More 107
Create a Culture of Caring 109
Show You Care 110
More than a Uniform and Number 114
Transactional versus Transformational 115
Love Tough 116
Discover Your Caring Trademark 117
When You Care, Your Team Will Care 119
The Big C 121
The Other Big C 125
Beyond the 7 C's 129
Integrity 129
Be Passionate, Not Emotional 131
Create Your Own Style of Leadership 131
Leadership Is Both Macro and Micro 133
Lead Your Leaders 133
Focus on the Process 135
Forget the Past, Focus on the Fundamentals 137
LOSS: Learning Opportunity, Stay Strong 139
Culture Contamination 140
Don't Focus on Winning Championships; Focus on Developing Champions 141
The Time Is Now 142
Looking for Murphy 144
Pressure, Not Stress 145
Compete, then Unite 145
Speaking as One Voice to the Media 147
Become a Lifelong Learner 149
Leave Your Legacy 150
The Action Plan 153
Put the 7 C's to Work to Enhance Your Culture 159
Build a Winning Team 160
Other Books by Jon Gordon 161
