You Win in the Locker Room First

NFL head coach Mike Smith lead one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NFL history. In the season prior to his arrival in 2008, the Atlanta Falcons had a 4–12 record and the franchise had never before achieved back-to-back winning seasons. Under Smith’s leadership, the Falcons earned an 11–5 record in his first season and would go on to become perennial playoff and Super Bowl contenders earning Smith AP Coach of year in 2008 and voted Coach of Year by his peers in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

You Win in the Locker Room First draws on the extraordinary experiences of Coach Mike Smith and Jon Gordon—consultant to numerous college and professional teams—to explore the seven powerful principles that any business, school, organization, or sports team can adopt to revitalize their organization.

Step by step, the authors outline a strategy for building a thriving organization and provide a practical framework that give leaders the tools they need to create a great culture, lead with the right mindset, create strong relationships, improve teamwork, execute at a higher level, and avoid the pitfalls that sabotage far too many leaders and organizations.

In addition to sharing what went right with the Falcons, Smith also transparently shares what went wrong his last two seasons and provides invaluable lessons leaders can take away from his victories, success, failures and mistakes.

Whether it’s an executive leadership team of a Fortune 500 company, a sports team, an emergency room team, military team, or a school team successful leaders coach their team and develop, mentor, encourage, and guide them. This not only improves the team, it improves the leaders and their relationships, connections, and organization.

You Win in the Locker Room First offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the most pressure packed leadership jobs on the planet and what leaders can learn from these experiences in order to build their own winning team.

Jon Gordon is the author of numerous bestselling books and his inspirational talks have inspired audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by countless Fortune 500 companies, school districts, hospitals, sports teams, and nonprofits. Jon invites you to visit and connect with him at JonGordon.com or on Twitter @JonGordon11.

Mike Smith is the former head coach for the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons, a position he held from 2008 to 2014. He is the all-time winningest coach in franchise history. In his first season as Falcons head coach, Smith was recipient of the NFL Coach of the Year Award by the Associated Press. He was also named NFL Coach of the Year 3 times by Pro Football Weekly (2008, 2010 and 2012).

Introduction xi

1 Culture 1

Create a Winning Culture 3

Build Your Culture Up and Down 4

Everyone Creates Your Culture 6

X's and O's Are Overrated 8

Sustained Culture = Sustained Success 9

Know What You Stand For 10

Process and Milestones 12

Focus on the Root, Not the Fruit 16

You Have to Fight For Your Culture and Team 17

2 Contagious 21

Germ or Vitamin C? 23

Contagious with a Vision and Mission 24

Contagious with Your Belief 26

Contagious with a Positive Attitude 28

Contagious Leaders in the Locker Room 29

No Energy Vampires Allowed 33

The No Complaining Rule 35

3 Consistent 37

Consistency Wins the Locker Room 39

Consistency Wins in the Long Run 40

It's Not Okay to Be Moody 41

Be Consistent in Your Desire to Be Great 42

Complacency Is a Disease 43

Consistently Improving 45

Humble and Hungry 46

4 Communicate 49

The Most Important Thing a Coach Can Do 51

One-on-One Communication 52

Listening Enhances Communication 55

What's the Temperature Today? 57

Leading by Walking Around 59

Communicating the Message 61

The Power of an Outside Voice 63

The Enemies of Great Communication 64

Communication Must Lead to Collaboration 65

5 Connect 67

Communicating and Collaborating Leads to Connection 69

Team Beats Talent When Talent Isn't a Team 70

We Got This 71

Unplug from Technology and Plug into People 74

Create a Connected Locker Room 76

Connect Outside the Locker Room to Be Strong Inside the Locker Room 79

Stay Connected 81

6 Commitment 83

Commit if You Want Commitment 85

Commitment Begins with the Leader 86

Feeling Is More Powerful than Hearing 87

Serve to Be Great 89

Commitment Starts at Home 90

Commitment is Spelled T-I-M-E 91

When You Commit You Make Everyone Better 93

The Hard Hat 95

It's Not About You 97

Lose Your Ego 98

Commitment Requires Sacrifice 101

7 Care 103

Caring Is a Strategy 105

Care More 107

Create a Culture of Caring 109

Show You Care 110

More than a Uniform and Number 114

Transactional versus Transformational 115

Love Tough 116

Discover Your Caring Trademark 117

When You Care, Your Team Will Care 119

The Big C 121

The Other Big C 125

Beyond the 7 C's 129

Integrity 129

Be Passionate, Not Emotional 131

Create Your Own Style of Leadership 131

Leadership Is Both Macro and Micro 133

Lead Your Leaders 133

Focus on the Process 135

Forget the Past, Focus on the Fundamentals 137

LOSS: Learning Opportunity, Stay Strong 139

Culture Contamination 140

Don't Focus on Winning Championships; Focus on Developing Champions 141

The Time Is Now 142

Looking for Murphy 144

Pressure, Not Stress 145

Compete, then Unite 145

Speaking as One Voice to the Media 147

Become a Lifelong Learner 149

Leave Your Legacy 150

The Action Plan 153

Put the 7 C's to Work to Enhance Your Culture 159

Build a Winning Team 160

Other Books by Jon Gordon 161

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