The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership

by Bill Walsh

(1) he had a tremendous knowledge of all aspects of the game and a visionary approach to offense;

Skill and passion unique to Bill Walsh

(2) he brought in a great staff and coaches who knew how to coach, how to complement his own teaching of what we needed to know to rise to his standard of performance;

He got the right people on the bus

(3) he taught us to hate mistakes.

He built up his team with the means to succeed beyond him

didn’t jump on you for a mistake; he came right in with the correction: “Here’s what was wrong; this is how to do it right.”

Constructive and focused on learning from mistakes to get it right rather than criticism

Bill and I both knew what we were trying to achieve, and his approach with me was simply to teach what was necessary to get there.

Bill raised everybody’s standard, what we defined as acceptable.

a resolute and resourceful leader understands that there are a multitude of means to increase the probability of success.

intelligently and relentlessly seeking solutions that will increase your chance of prevailing in a competitive environment.

When you do that, the score will take c...

I’ve observed that if individuals who prevail in a highly competitive environment have any one thing in common besides success, it is failure—and their ability to overcome it.

must stand and fight again, stand and fight or it was all over.

I had to do what I was being paid to do: be a leader.

It took time for me to stop despairing and regain some composure, to settle down and start thinking straight,

There aren’t months or weeks to recover, not even days. Usually only hours or minutes.

Those awful feelings brought on by the events in Miami were in retreat because I was able to summon strength enough to pull my focus, my thinking, out of the past and move it forward to our next big problem.

When knocked down, you must get up; you must stand and fight.

allow yourself the “grieving time,” but then recognize that the road to recovery and victory lies in having the strength to get up off the mat and start planning your next move.

Failure is part of success, an integral part. Everybody gets knocked down. Knowing it will happen and what you must do when it does is the first step back.

Planning as a crucial technique for facing failure and realizing success. Success is planning, doing, and assessing repeatedly moving onward.

Sixteen months after I spent part of a transcontinental flight experiencing an emotional meltdown, the San Francisco 49ers became world champions,

Incremental steps, failing and iterating repeatedly to gain momentum and over time succeed

The competitor who won’t go away, who won’t stay down, has one of the most formidable competitive advantages of all.

to not go away, to get up and fight back.

just a few plain and uncomplicated reminders that helped me manage things mentally and stay afloat:

Do expect defeat.

Do force yourself to stop looking backward and dwelling on the professional “train wreck” you have just been in.

Do allow yourself appropriate recovery—grieving—time.

Do tell yourself, “I am going to stand and fight again,” with the knowledge that often when things are at their worst you’re

closer than you can imagine to success.

Do begin planning for your next serious encounter.

MY FIVE DON’TS:

Don’t ask, “Why me?”

Don’t expect s...

Don’t bel...

Don’t keep accepting co...

Don’t blame ...

Instead, I arrived with an urgent timetable for installing an agenda of specific behavioral norms—actions and attitudes—that applied to every single person on our payroll.

Start simple when building a system...habits start with small steps and snowball into success

organizational excellence—was due in large part to many quantifiable, even nuts-and-bolts, skills available to you or anyone with drive and intelligence.

implement what I call the Standard of Performance.

Regardless of your specific job, it is vital to our team that you do that job at the highest possible level in all its various aspects, both mental and physical

My mission statement was implanted in the minds of our people through teaching.

Part of the culture, adopted by all on the team and focusing all intentions

the dictates of your personal beliefs should ultimately become characteristics of your team.

It starts with you...

You must know what needs to be done and possess the capabilities and conviction to get it done.

A philosophy is the aggregate of your attitudes toward fundamental matters and is derived from a process of consciously thinking about critical issues and developing rational reasons for holding one particular belief or position rather than another.

The why to your what, and when properly conveyed can be understood and practiced by your team. Your integrity derives from your philosophy, know thyself

It is a conceptual blueprint for action; that is, a perception of what should be done, when it should be done, and why it should be done.

Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement;

demonstrate respect for each person in the organization and the work he or she does;

be deeply committed to le...

teaching, which means increasing my o...

be ...

demonstrate ch...

honor the direct connection between details and improvement, and relentl...