The Winning Spirit: 16 Timeless Principles That Drive Performance Excellence

by Joe Montana, Tom Mitchell, Bruce Henderson

Widely considered the best NFL quarterback of all time, Joe Montana personifies performance excellence and personal integrity both on and off the field. Yet the word most closely associated with him is not “winner”–it’s “leader.” Since his retirement a decade ago, he has become a popular motivational speaker sought out by corporations nationwide, speaking to capacity audiences as large as twenty thousand.

Now making his message available to a broader audience, Montana teams up with performance coach Tom Mitchell to extend to all areas of life the truths of success on the field. The Winning Spirit shows that ultimately performance excellence is fueled by personal integrity. This is the key to winning the inner game, which is about accountability and attitude, as well as desire, enthusiasm, effort, and appreciation. For

• Know What You First, identify goals, then turn clarity into action.
• Strive for Surpass expectations and reach new heights
• Fail Fast and Move Take chances, learn from mistakes, and keep pressing forward–don’t let fear or regret take you out of the game.
• Remember the “I” in Make yourself the priority–because intense preparation is the individual responsibility of each member of the team.
• Welcome Want to be the best? Work with or compete against the best!
• Walk Like a Your life is not just about achieving success, but also about having a purpose and creating significance.

With great stories and practical strategies, Joe Montana and Tom Mitchell give us hard-won advice based on years of success. This timely and timeless message is nothing less than a contemporary motivational classic.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Sports, Football, Leadership

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2005

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read many leadership books, but this book really resonated. I appreciated the simplicity. I liked that the chapters were short and descriptions of the principles were direct. It helps to turn the ideas of the book into action.

[Major Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to this book: Dr. Tom rehashed other people's stuff with Joe's #. Sports stories were good.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expectations vs. Reality applies here. What do you expect when you buy a book entitled "The Winning Spirit, #16" by Joe Montana? (For those readers who don't happen to follow football, specially football in San Francisco, you might want to know that Joe was one of the best quarterbacks in the game in history! He drove the San Francisco 49er's to several Superbowl wins.) So, I'm expecting some kind of biography or life story (which BTW, would be interesting). Well, surprise! That's not what this book is about!!

In Joe's after-football-life, he and partners went into capital investing and then eventually into training sessions on performance. He and partners are also into business coaching of executives. So, in reality, this book turns out to be a rather interesting and well written training class on team building and executive leadership. Believe me, I've read alot of these kind of books! What I like about this book is that it focuses on teamwork and teambuilding. Drawing from Joe's football experience (and his co-author's basketball coaching experience), they successfully map between sports and business. A pretty easy book to get thru and relatively easy on the brain, it does give a nice set of 15 guidelines with alot of examples and suggestions. In fact, I often found myself saying, "hey I do that!"

Bottom line, yeah, a pretty good business book focusing on teamwork and teambuilding. Oh yeah, GO NINERS!

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a nice motivational book written by Joe Montana (Hall-of-Fame for 49er QB) and he shares 16 point to help in any career. He and his co-author share personal stories that illustrate these points. Here are the points:

1. Know what you want
2. Love what you do
3. Practice with a purpose (Keep a performance journal)
4. Strive for excellence
5. Find the confidence within
6. Fail fast and move on
7. Cultivate the right attitude
8. Lead by example
9. Remember the ‘I’ in team (Prepare as individuals-personal responsibility) There’s an ‘I’ in WIN
10. Build trust and consideration
11. Welcome pressure
12. Perform in the moment
13. Visualize success
14. Find a coach and an inner circle
15. Walk like a champ
16. Appreciate
I found it a quick, worthwhile read.

[David Glad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice quick (audio)book that is great as a pep talk and likely deserves revisiting. Some folks might find it gimmicky, but I think the principles are timeless even if perhaps the overall rating on this site is that people might have wanted more.

Joe Montana and Tom Mitchell are right on the insight that those who never fail never try. Perhaps that might be another interpretation of what "perfect" really means.

Overall I think this is a book about finding passion in what you do to the point where it becomes contagious and elevates a team. Certainly is reflected in one's work if s/he does not enjoy it, but I think it was made clear with more polish here. (Perhaps more easily believed too if the messenger is seen as an opinion leader.)

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really hoping for more on the this book. The stories were nice but short and overall it is nothing new or revolutionary in the business world or business books for that matter. I would have liked to have more from Joe's career rather than what felt like a Name drop and splash of color here and there to keep people reading. I would like ot see an autobiography from Joe... that could be really interesting.

[Bob Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are no new concepts in this book, but they're packaged in an interesting way. The two authors are both successful athletes and business people. They do a beautiful job of portraying the parallels of the two different endeavors.

I'd recommend it as a solid second-tier personal development book. Better than most, but not worthy of five stars.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about leadership and winning in life! Great book!

[Jim Serger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on life, business and why work hard. I did the audio version great quality.

[Arielle White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light read but cute and inspirational.