6 Facts about a Championship Mindset
Recently, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield appeared on the “Casa de Klub” podcast. Referring to the differences between him and the team’s previous quarterback Tom Brady, Mayfield said, “The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out. … They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football, for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”
In fairness, Mayfield did not mean any slight to Brady in his comments. Furthermore, the way Mayfield is playing on the field and the difference the Baker & Emily Mayfield Foundation is making off the field has been outstanding. But Brady’s response was still quick and emphatic.
During the Sunday, September 29th Fox NFL telecast, Brady said, “I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings. So, there was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I was going to have fun, I’d go to Disneyland with my kids. There’s a way to approach this game and it’s with the right mindset to try to push each other outside our comfort zone, and great teammates do that. You come, I have someone like [Rob] Gronkowski, I have someone like Evans — there’s high expectations for us. We got to make sure we go out there and deliver.”
Brady’s comments teach us six lessons about the mindset of a champion.
- Losing creates stress for champions.
- A championship mindset is brought to your assignment every single day.
- Champions push each their teammates.
- Champions work outside their comfort zone.
- Champions deliver championship results.
- Champions have high expectations which leads to my next point.
3 Benefits of High Expectations
One of the most important things leaders can do to build healthy and winning cultures is have high expectations. Leaders must continually raise the bar.
Recently, the Los Angeles Dodgers won their 11th National League West title in the past 12 years. It is a level of sustained dominance rarely seen in the sport. Andrew Friedman, the team’s President of Baseball Operations, said in this article from The Athletic, “We like high expectations. We relish them. It beats the *&)# out of the alternative. People care, they’re passionate about the Dodgers. They have high expectations. So do we. We think that’s a great thing. And for us, this is step one.”
Friedman teaches us that if you want to build a healthy and winning culture, high expectations is step one. The following are three benefits of high expectations:
- People relish high expectations.
- People care.
- People are passionate and own the result.
Let’s now look at a team with low expectations.
How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything
This year the Chicago White Sox have set a record for the most losses in a single season. There are numerous reasons for this level of futility. So much so, a single article will not suffice.
However, The Athletic recently reported an article about a symbol of what was wrong with the franchise. Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal reported the team’s plane is a constant source of contention.
While most clubs charter 757s, the White Sox utilize an Airbus320. It contains only eight first-class seats. When a new player boarded the plane for the first time, he bellowed “C’mon, man, no show plane?” to the laughter of those on board. It was also reported when players leave the White Sox for other clubs, they celebrate by texting their friends about their new location, “This is the big leagues.”
The team plane does not make plays on the field but it is a symbol of how decisions are made within the organization. How you do anything is how you do everything.
10 Signs of Unhealthy and Losing Cultures
The Bob Principle comes from John Maxwell’s book Winning With People: Discover the People Principles that Work for You Every Time. In essence, it teaches that if Bob has a problem with Charlie, and Bob has a problem with Stan, and Bob has a problem with Steve, Bob is the problem.
I thought about the Bob Principle during the September 19th episode of ESPN’s College GameDay as Coach Nick Saban addressed the challenges of the Florida Gators football program. Click the image below to hear this thoughts:
Coach Nick Saban said, “Well, I think maybe the problem isn’t the coaches. They’ve been through four coaches since (Steve) Spurrier and Urban Meyer, who both created a tremendous culture of winning there.”
Coach Saban elaborated, “And sometimes the fan base can just think oh we can show up and expect to win. And not make the commitment to the program that you need to make to be able to continue to make the changes and investments that you need to make to keep up with changing times. And things change. They should have taken advantage of building better facilities when Urban Meyer was there. Now, what’s their collective been like? How have they adapted to this, you know, new model of college football?”
Then he concluded with the Bob Principle, “So, it’s not just the coaches. When you’ve been through four coaches and haven’t had the success, there’s something else that people should be looking at.”
Here are the signs of unhealthy and losing cultures we learn from Coach Saban’s comments:
- They misdiagnose problems and can’t properly evaluate reality.
- They do not recognize and seize opportunity.
- They have unrealistic expectations.
- They refuse to change.
- They refuse to invest resources in the organization.
- Their systems are antiquated.
- They do not raise up new leaders.
- The leaders they do have are not aligned, attuned, or effective.
- There is constant dysfunction and instability.
- They have poor results.
3 Things Top Performers are Grateful For
One person who is the antithesis of The Bob Principle is Philadelphia Phillies superstar first baseman Bryce Harper. He recently said in this article from The Athletic, “I want every single guy when they get to the big leagues to really have success and enjoy what they do. Enjoy each moment. Find gratitude in the moment. Find gratitude in the struggle. Find gratitude in the moment of having success. Enjoy the success. Enjoy the struggle, too.”
Harper’s words give us three things elite performers should constantly be grateful for:
- The moment. That is because it is “a moment.” It does not last forever. After the moment happens, it is gone forever. So be grateful for the moment.
- The struggle. Struggle is necessary for strength.
- Success. It is the payoff of all the sacrifices you have made.
2 Lessons About Talent
The following are two stories which demonstrate the importance of talent.
First, regarding the early struggles of Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, The Athletic‘s Derrick Klassen wrote in this article, “Williams has been playing NFL football on Hard Mode through three weeks. Let’s start with the run game. Chicago’s rushing offense is about as bad as it gets. The Bears are 30th in rushing success rate (25.5 percent) and dead last in yards per carry (2.7) on early downs. [As for the offensive line,] the film is littered with clips of linemen, particularly along the interior … being slow off the ball or generally being outmatched by the guy across from them.”
The lesson we learn from Williams is that no matter how talented you are, to be successful you must have equally-talented people around you. Success cannot be self-combusted.
Second, the worst performing team at the end of this year’s baseball season was not the Chicago White Sox, but rather the Los Angeles Angels. The team’s manager Ron Washington said in this article from The Athletic, “We forgot to bring real baseball players into the organization. Nothing against those guys here, but they’re not big-league baseball players, and they certainly can’t help us win a championship.”
The lesson we learn from Coach Washington is you simply cannot consistently win without talent. So go get you some big-league performers.
But talent is never enough. You need a number of additional qualities. One is intelligence which leads to my next point.
Intelligence
Colorado’s wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter is the current Heisman Trophy front runner. His energy, production, and making great plays at critical moments is elite. But what is not often spoken of is his intelligence.
Hunter is a notorious studier of game film which empowers in-game instincts. Intelligence is one of the primary reasons he is such a good football player.
The best teams have smart players like Hunter, but they are also made up of smart leaders. One such team is the aforementioned Philadelphia Phillies.
One of the things the team did as the regular season was concluding was rest a number of its players. When asked if this would cause the team to lose its edge, manager Rob Thomson said in this article from The Athletic, “With our hitting coaches (Kevin Long, Dustin Lind and Rafael Pena), the way they work and how smart they are, I think I have less concern than I probably would with somebody else.”
What allowed the Phillies to implement these energy management practices was the intelligence of the team’s coaching staff.
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