I couldn’t possibly write about leadership without referencing Superbowl LIV. Even if you weren’t happy that Kansas City won, you have to respect coach Andy Reid. This is a team that had not won a Superbowl in 50 years. Imagine holding onto a goal for that long, failing each year and disappointing the people around you, but still coming back and trying again the next year. For 50 years. That’s the length of an entire career.
And Coach Reid didn’t pull off the win with a seasoned quarterback like Tom Brady, he had Patrick Mahomes, a talented but young quarterback in only his third year in the NFL. They were the first team to come back from double digit deficits three games in a row leading up to the Superbowl. They were up against one of the most successful teams in NFL history, and they won. It was a real David and Goliath story.
I’m always fascinated to learn from leaders who are able to pull off greatness, so I paid special attention to what the players were saying as they were being interviewed on the field after the game. And, business nerd that I am, I even took notes.
“No one believed in us. Coach told us to keep going.”
“After all these years, we had to take our opportunity.”
“Coach told us to just move on to the next play.”
“Coach pushes us to be the best people we can be.”
Coach Reid has been described as a leader who is calm, with a view to the big picture. He doesn’t get too high or too down depending upon what’s going on during the season.
As business leaders, we don’t do what we do alone. We are only as good as our teams. So what can we learn from Coach Reid to bring out the best in our people?
- Attitude trumps experience. We are often faced with the decision of hiring a more or less experienced person for a role. Sometimes people with more experience have had the time to develop some bad habits that may not work well with your culture. As long as they have the right foundation skills for the job, it’s often better to hire the person who is optimistic and has great team spirit and train them to hone their skills.
- Encourage your team to work together no matter what. All too often, entrepreneurs develop a hub and spoke model of leadership which puts them in the middle of resolving every problem. It’s tough because this is typically the natural model you create when you’re small and hire a couple of people to help you. But as you grow, you as the founder simply cannot be the one resolving every problem or you will never scale. Find a way to give leaders on your team responsibility and accountability and (and this is the tough part), respect and support their decisions. If they screw up, or if you’re pretty sure they’re about to, provide them with coaching on how to resolve the issue, but resist the temptation to swoop down and take over, unless it’s a really serious problem like you’re about to lose a client. They’ll learn more from their mistakes than they ever would have from watching you do it for them.
- One step at a time. A couple of seasons ago when Kansas City had only won one of their last five games, self-doubt, which is the ultimate performance killer, could have easily crept into the team. Coach Reid just calmly told his team, “Guys, we’re going to work ourselves out of this, there’s a lot of season left.” The Superbowl was always the goal, but he knew that they had to get there one play at a time. And that’s no different for your business. We succeed one client at a time, one case at a time, one project at a time. Details matter.
Soaked with Gatorade, and under the rain of red, white and yellow confetti that had been printed with Tweets from Chiefs fans, here’s how Andy Reid described the win, “No one had their head down. We believed in each other. When you’re down by a couple of scores you have to jump in and keep believing in yourself.”
The biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people, isn’t money, resources, or even intelligence. It’s the belief that they can make their goals happen. My challenge to you is to show your team through your actions how much you believe in them, trust them and are willing to empower them, as you work together to a common goal.