The Art of Sustained Excellence
By George Carralejo
One of the most often recited quotes from Championship Teams is, “it’s easier to get to the top, than it is to remain on top.” It serves as a warning to successful teams that what got you to the pinnacle, won’t keep you there. Once you’ve reached the apex of your profession, a myriad of new issues inevitably arise: your opponents are intensely focused on beating you, your team must overcome the disease of me, and internal complacency begins to set in. These are just a few of the issues that champions face in their quest to remain the best. So how do the best remain successful year after year? Long term winners have both incredible discipline and a willingness to constantly self-evaluate; by making these traits a hallmark of their culture, the team can remain successful year after year. As Super Bowl winning coach, Pete Carroll stated, the goal is to “Win Forever.”
The biggest threat to successful teams is complacency. It’s difficult for championship teams to respond the following year when the adrenaline of the championship atmosphere is no longer there to push them. It’s common for teams to come out flat and use the excuse that they will turn it on when they need to. When teams think like this, it’s safe to say that when the time comes to flip the switch and go back to championship mode, the switch fails to turn on a second time. So, how do teams avoid complacency?
1) The leader of the team must be clear about the team’s goals.
2) Maintain high standards. – Continue to push the boundaries of self-actualization.
3) Always look forward – You can’t keep your foot on the gas if you’re constantly glancing in the rearview mirror.
4) The only competitor is ourselves – The team should be in relentless pursuit of their personal best. This will be achieved through great self-discipline.
5) Pride yourself on resilience. Sustained excellence is achieved by avoiding the roller coaster of emotions and repeatedly finding the inner strength to come back again.
As you conquer the trap of complacency, you’ll next have to deal with “The Disease of More.” Pat Riley coined this phrase to describe the individual team members penchant to want more credit, more money, and an expanded role, as the members of the team overestimate their contributions to the success of the previous year. While ambition is a fine quality to have, when the team doesn’t properly self-evaluate, it’s members tend to exaggerate their necessity and contribution to the group’s success. At this point, it’s imperative that the leader clearly define the roles of each member of the team, and if a player can’t accept his role, it may be best to move in a different direction.
Finally, team’s that find a way to remain on top year after year do one thing better than any other. They realize their opponent is themselves. If a team holds itself to the highest personal standards and focuses on its own development and looks to get better each day, they are best able to maintain focus after wins and not get discouraged by setbacks.
Growing up in Southern California, I have been exposed to the success of Pat Riley’s Lakers, Phil Jackson’s Lakers, and Pete Carroll’s USC Trojans. While each of these legendary coaches were authentic to their own personalities and achieved success in different ways; the long-term success of all three of these dynasties included the principles listed above.
As Pete Carroll said, “the goal is to Win Forever.”
George Carralejo
The Commanding Traits of Great Leaders
By George Carralejo
For the past twenty years, I have had the unique opportunity to be surrounded by some of the greatest leaders in the worlds of business and sports. The words “leader” and “coach” should be used interchangeably if the person is approaching their position in the most complete way. A coach should always be a leader, and leaders should always be coaching their team, as this is the only way to achieve consistent improvement and for the team to feel they are growing at the individual level.
One of the easiest things anyone can recognize is whether one is being led by an excellent leader. Time after time in my career, I have been able to make quick, accurate judgments about a leader’s capacity to be successful. Michael Lombardi, former NFL GM, who has worked with Super Bowl winning coaches Bill Belichick and Bill Walsh, uses these five traits to establish what makes an excellent leader.
Command of the Room – The team needs something and someone to commit to. The leader must understand how to gain the confidence of his team. If a leader has presence, exudes confidence, and can clearly lay out his vision for success, the team will have the confidence to follow. The best leaders have an uncanny ability to make a team believe in both the plan and their own individual capabilities. It will always be much easier for a team to believe in the plan if they first believe in the man.
Command of the Message – The team needs to be able to visualize the plan. In order for them to do that, the leader must be able to communicate the message clearly, articulately, and with confidence. The leader should be prepared to offer specific details and deliver a message in a way that allows the team to see a clear path to success.
Command of Self – Before you can lead others, you must be able to lead yourself. Personal accountability is an excellent sign of strength. The self-discipline to do the right things and embody the behaviors you preach as a leader are paramount to success. Excessive ego and lack of accountability are traits of low-character leaders, and low-character leaders are doomed to failure.
Command of the Opportunity – Successful leaders have prepared themselves for the opportunity. They didn’t start thinking about the position when they were promoted to it; they have been planning and thinking situationally about their approach for years. Nothing happens on the fly; the responsibilities have been strategized down to the details. As Sun Tzu stated, “Every battle is won before it is fought.”
Command of the Process – Great leaders are consistent with their words and behaviors. They don’t succumb to high highs or low lows; instead, they have confidence that their plan will ultimately prevail, if they trust their process. Consistent actions and behavior give a team confidence in both the leader and the plan.
Great leaders are always getting better. They know that the competition is always trying to catch them, so great leaders respond by consistently self-evaluating, making necessary adjustments, and looking for ways to improve their approach. Ultimately, it’s the leader’s confidence, preparation, and self-belief that leads to their sustained success.
George Carralejo
The Art of Team Building
By George Carralejo
Team building is one of the most misunderstood aspects of successful organizations in business or sports. Too often, leaders think a collection of talented people will be enough to achieve success. When you are running an organization or leading a team, it’s imperative to remember the foundation of all success is built on the concept of team building. The ingredients of successful teams consist of: a strong culture, a realistic plan, strong leadership, and a talented workforce.
It was Peter Drucker who stated. “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” All great organizations start with building the right culture. The culture of the organization is established by the leader and encompasses the principles he exhibits and values. It’s my experience that the best organizations build their culture by empowering their talent around the idea of freedom and responsibility within a framework. This is the idea of disciplined entrepreneurship. The talent is encouraged to think for themselves, be creative, and therefore share a responsibility for the outcome. If you fill the organization with self-disciplined people, they will go to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities.
Realistic plans are paramount to sustained success and team building. A leader must develop both strategy and tactics that give the organization its best chance for success. Many leaders don’t understand the difference between strategy – the long-term goals and the plans to achieve them; with the tactics – the detailed small steps that must take place to achieve the strategy. In organizations, the talent can always spot unrealistic, aimless plans and when the talent loses faith the goals of the organization will not be achieved. The legendary management guru, Tom Peters, discusses this in his book In Search of Excellence, where he writes – “Great organizations don’t jump in with both feet, the stick a toe in the water; if they fail, they terminate the plan quickly.”
Strong leadership is the third component of successful team building. It is the leader, and most importantly, their character that sets the foundation of the team. Talent follows excellent leadership and will adopt the leaders’ personality. When this occurs, the leader creates an environment where his values and expectations are in place even when he is not present. Successful teams follow leaders who adhere to the ‘mirror and window’ philosophy. Leaders that take responsibility for failures create an environment where the talent is willing to follow, and when the leader gives the credit to his team for all success, he will now have a loyalty that only the most successful team leaders experience. Great organizations are always led by a leader whose character defines the culture, is strategic enough to set realistic plans, and who understands that his team is the number one priority.
In great team building the talent knows that they come first. Building a talented workforce is the final piece to great team building. Jim Collins writes about this in his book, Good to Great, “First, get the right people on the bus, then worry about where the bus is going.” When determining the right people, the leader should place a greater weight on character attributes than on practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience. Those skills are teachable whereas dimensions like character, work ethic dedication to fulfilling commitments and values are more ingrained. The right people are self-motivated and set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning.
Too many leaders make the mistake of setting goals and then hoping they get achieved. They promote people into positions by a process of ‘election over selection,’ this means they elect their friends instead of selecting the most qualified candidate for the job. This type of mindset never leads to sustained success. The most successful organizations will always keep team building as their focus. The leader will set a strong culture, he will make realistic plans, exhibit strong leadership and build the most talented workforce. As the legendary former Raider owner Al Davis used to say, “First you get great coaches, then you get great players. After you’ve done that, you’ll have a great organization; and then you tell them one thing, Just win baby.”
George Carralejo
Leadership & Culture
Leadership and team culture are two of my greatest passions. In my experience, the most effective leaders clearly define their leadership principles. When you have clear principles, those principles become the standard that the team follows. As the standards come to define the team’s behavioral expectations, you now have a “standard of performance.” The team’s standard of performance ultimately defines the team’s culture. In my effort to become a great leader and culture builder, I have studied the likes of Michael Lombardi, Pat Riley and Bill Walsh among others, as these three men have inspired the leadership principles outlined below.
1) Clear Expectations – Team members must understand the expectations; this is paramount so that any confusion of expectation can be avoided. People will always perform at their best when the expectation is clear.
2) Empower Others – People are naturally more invested in an outcome when they are a part of the decision-making process. The best leaders don’t give people the answers, they teach them how to find the answers and how to ask the right questions.
3) Attention to Detail – A leader needs to present their plan with a focus on attention to detail. People have more confidence in a plan if they believe their leader has prepared them for anything.
4) Set the Example – Great leaders don’t just speak of expectations, they live them. They are the most selfless, the hardest workers, and the first to recognize others. As the saying goes, “preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.”
5) Self-Actualization – A major focus of the most effective team leaders is to help their team members reach their goals, both personally and professionally. People are motivated by a paycheck, but they are inspired by leaders who help them grow and believe they are capable of great work. Inspire self-belief.
6) Accept Responsibility – Jocko Willink often speaks about Extreme Ownership. Once you accept responsibility for all things, you go from being a victim of circumstance to a leader who can step back, evaluate and make the necessary adjustments that lead to future success.
7) Mirror and Window – The leaders with the most devoted team members are those that accept responsibility when things go awry, and who look outward to give the credit away in times of success.
8) Empathize and Refocus – When teams struggle or fail, great leaders empathize with them and then refocus the team on the present. Don’t let a disappointment beat you twice. The best leaders help their team move past disappointment and refocus on the goal.
9) Strategy/Be an Expert in Your Field – The most respected leaders are life-long learners, constantly seeking improvement. They approach each day with a beginner’s mindset and are students of their field. No one is staying the same, you are either getting better or worse.
While these principles encompass what makes up excellent leadership, it’s paramount to note that character and self-discipline must be in place if you are to build a strong culture. One of the greatest culture builders of our time is the legendary Pat Riley. In 2010, Lebron James went to Riley asking that he fire Coach Erik Spoelstra and come back to coach the team again. Riley denied this request, choosing to stick with the young Spoelstra. This decision, in part, led to four NBA Finals appearances in a row and two World Championships. Today, Erik Spoelstra is widely considered one of the top coaches in the sport. Pat Riley demonstrated character in 2010 when he stood by Spoelstra, and he displays self-discipline every time he’s in front of the media. Never nervous, never flustered, always calm and in control, Pat Riley exudes confidence. In doing so, he instills a high level of confidence in those he leads and embodies the culture he has built.
George Carralejo