Bill believed that in order to achieve outstanding performance, you had to master the details. This involved hard work, preparation and ongoing practice. This commitment did not waiver no matter how much natural talent you had or how many hours you had put in previously as a rookie.
In The Score Takes Care of Itself, Bill explains the commitment of his receiver Jerry Rice and his quarterback Joe Montana to master their roles.
"If you’re Jerry Rice, the greatest receiver in NFL history and, according to some, the greatest player, you’re practicing a slant pass pattern at 6 A.M. over and over with nobody within a mile of you — no football, no quarterback, nobody but Jerry working to improve, to master his profession. Why is the NFL’s greatest-ever receiver doing this? Jerry Rice understands the connection between preparation and performance; between intelligently applied hard work and results; between mediocrity and mastery of your job. And Jerry has the skill coupled with the will to do it.
Joe Montana, perhaps the greatest quarterback in NFL history… would spend two hours a day every day at the same little practice field at Menlo College near San Francisco. I would work with him on basic fundamentals that would bore a high schooler to death. Joe Montana understands what mastery means. You never stop learning, perfecting, refining — molding your skills. You never stop depending on the fundamentals — sustaining, maintaining, and improving.
Jerry and Joe, maybe the best ever at their positions, at the last stages of their careers were still working very hard on the fundamental things that high school kids won’t do because it’s too damn dull. It wasn’t dull to Jerry and Joe, because they understood the absolute and direct connection between intelligently directed hard work and achieving your potential. We all do; you do; I do.
The “big plays” in business — or professional football — don’t just suddenly occur out of thin air. They result from very hard work and painstaking attention over the years to all of the details related to your leadership."
In conclusion, Bill Walsh reinvented an entire football franchise and demonstrated how to lead successfully and create a winning mindset and professional team culture that focused on improvement and mastery of details with positive feedback. He taught leadership and team-building essentials that can be expanded beyond an NFL franchise to running a business or organization of any size.
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When you focus on creating and sustaining a culture of success, winning takes care of itself.