This past week I finished reading Pete Carroll’s book Win Forever. Now if you don’t know who Pete Carroll is, he is the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks football team. Before that, he spent nearly 10 years as head coach of the University of Southern California Trojan football team. His teams there were national champions and Rose Bowl winners and produced several Heisman Trophy winners and current NFL stars.
Ironically, before that, his tenure as a head coach in the NFL was one of mediocrity (in terms of results) and his reputation wasn’t that great. In fact, Carroll was referred to as a “retread” or a coach that stays with a team for a short time and gets fired.
So what turned it around?
According to Carroll, it was taking his thoughts, concepts, tools, techniques, and ideas that he’d developed over time and condensing it into a formal philosophy. He then took his philosophy and hammered into a standard process that he used with great success at USC. His name for the philosophy is simply, Win Forever. When he left USC and went to Seattle, the owner Paul Allen allowed him full control to implement his philosophy. In the past four years the Seahawks have been more than competitive and have played in two Super Bowl games, winning one of them (and were one knucklehead play from winning that other game!)
After reading it, it made me think about taking what I know and believe about management development and turning that into a philosophy. I just finished it. Maybe more importantly, it also made me think about doing one that reflects my personal philosophy, encompassing my values and priorities. I put that together too.
Most of us know stuff and claim to have expertise. The question is: if asked, could you recite your formula and give evidence that you both espouse it and have gained success with it?
This week, why not take that on as a challenge? If you’re successful, figure out how and make it formulaic. Come up with your success philosophy.
