13 Practices Of Highly Successful Innovators

I am currently reading The Games That Changed The Game by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski.  In his book, Jaworski analyzes seven NFL games that helped influence what the league currently looks like.  One of individuals Jaworski profiles is former San Diego Charger head coach Don Coryell.

Coryell is my favorite NFL coach of all-time.  Known as “Air Coryell”, he is the father of the modern passing game.  His practices in the early 80’s were truly innovative and revolutionary.  The following are the qualities of this great innovator we learn from Jaworski’s profile.  They can be used by any leader regardless of their area of discipline.

1. Innovators Are Learners – Coryell knew his offensive philosophies would work against “vanilla defenses” after extensive film study.  Also, as a young coach, he went to as many clinics as possible to learn various coaching techniques.
2. Innovators Care About People – Highly Successful Innovators know it takes a team to accomplish anything new.  Furthermore, they know people must personally like you to take a journey into the unknown with you.  Dan Fouts said, “The most important thing to me about Don Coryell is him as a person.  He actually cared about us as players.”
3. Innovators See Opportunity Where Others See Calamity – When asked why he took a head coaching job at San Diego State in the early 60’s after the team had three consecutive winless seasons, Coryell said “because he could do better than that.”
4. Innovators Value Experienced People Around Them – When he arrived at San Diego State, he initially only recruited junior college players.  Rather than going after high school athletes like other schools, Coryell “took some of the guesswork out of player evaluation.  Everyone we brought in was ready to play.”
5. Innovators Focus On Results – Though associated with the passing game, Coryell was never committed to a single style of play.  He simply viewed the passing game as a way to help him win quickly.
6. Innovators Thing Big – Fouts stated the Chargers approached each game in dramatic fashion.  “The first thing in our offense was always the bomb…you start with this premise and then work your way back toward the line of scrimmage.”
7. Innovators Are Repetitious – Coryell believed that repetition produced precision.
8. Innovators Are Unpredictable – An outside-the-box approach to football was vital to the Chargers’s success.
9. Innovators Utilize Talent Differently - Part of Coryell’s innovative process was leveraging the unique giftedness of those on his team.  This aided in the evolution of his ideas and philosophy.
10. Innovators Respect Tradition But Will Change It – The coaching staff, men like Joe Gibbs, recognized that tight end Kellen Winslow’s talent was boxed in by the traditional use of the position.  Therefore, they began to create unique positions for him.
11. Innovators Encourage Top Talent – Let’s be honest, talented people can be fragile and the Chargers were an incredibly talented team.  The coaches continually complimented their unique skills verbally.
12. Innovators Have Courage – Highly Successful Innovators are not afraid to fail.  Coryell would let his assistant coaches try any idea.  This is critical to creating environments where people do what has never been done before.
13. Innovators Focus On The Right Things – The genius of Coryell was that his creativity allowed his players to compete against the other team’s players rather than their coaches.  Coryell’s gameplan already had defeated their coaches.

Pastors and other leaders, have you mastered these 13 practices?  If so, you may also be a Highly Successful Innovator.  If not, where can you improve?

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