Everything I Know About Business I Stole from the San Francisco 49’ers
Reflections from the book "The Score Takes Care of Itself"
I’ve always been a big sports fan because athletes and entrepreneurs are very similar. They both have to:
Play to their strengths
Pick themselves up from tough losses
Grind for results that won’t show up for months or years later
So by studying how athletes pursue excellence, we glean insight into how we can be better entrepreneurs as well.
With that said, I recently read a book by Bill Walsh, one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, titled The Score Will Take Care of Itself. In his memoir, Bill documents his leadership lessons as the head coach of the San Francisco 49’ers football team.
At the beginning of his tenure, the team was coming off of a 2-14 season. Their morale was in tatters, they had traded their best talent away, and their facilities were falling apart.
Yet when asked whether he had a timetable for turning things around, his answer was succinct, “No.” Instead, he was concerned with instilling a “Standard of Performance” in every member of his team.
Bill’s “Standard of Performance” was a set of specific behavioral norms that emphasized execution and process improvements as opposed to a focus on results.
It involved paying attention to the most minuscule details, from making sure players were perfectly positioned down to the inch to how they wore their uniforms.
It established common values that guided all members’ actions, like putting the team first, exhibiting poise and self-control, and displaying a professional attitude in all interactions.
His efforts paid off. Two years after he became head coach, the team went from last in the league to winning a Super Bowl. It remains the fastest turnaround in NFL history.
Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from Bill Walsh’s focus on process improvements over scoreboard results like winning Super Bowl championships.
Many founders often become obsessed over the equivalent of the “scoreboard” in business, like growth rates, follower counts, and revenue.
But these numbers mislead founders because business success is a lagging indicator of the work that founders put in months or years ago.
So instead of focusing on outcomes, they need to focus on adopting the right habits and mentality needed to succeed. This includes two particular habits:
a willingness to question prevailing assumptions
the resourcefulness to make the most of any situation they’re in
Like the 49’ers focus on consistent execution over results, entrepreneurs should focus on implementing these habits above obsessing over business outcomes.
By doing so, the growth will take care of itself.
How Bill Walsh Challenged the Status Quo
Part of the reason for the 49’ers success was their willingness to try new things even when it went against popular belief at the time.
For example NFL scouts often use a receiver’s speed in the forty-yard sprint as the litmus test for their potential. Do a good time in the forty, and the receiver will probably get drafted. Do poorly, and they may have to look for another job.
Bill challenged this belief. He realized that most game situations don’t involve a player running 40 yards in a straight line. What mattered more was their “functional” speed - how fast a player can move with a ball in their hands after they’re in stride.
Because of this he was able to see the potential in their future NFL receiver Jerry Rice, who didn’t have a great 40-yard time, but was blazing fast once he had the ball in his hands. The 49’ers took a bet by drafting Jerry Rice when all the other teams had passed him up.
Jerry Rice ended up playing a crucial role in the 49’ers Super Bowl championship team. He is now considered one of the best receivers in NFL history.
How Challenging My Past Assumptions Lead Me to Revisit Ads
There are two lessons we can learn from the 49’ers acquiring Jerry Rice.
First, we should always question our assumptions because that’s how we can uncover blindspots that help us reach our next growth inflection point.
For the 49’ers, it was questioning how they measured talent through the 40-yard dash. For entrepreneurs, it could be our old ways of operating and our disdain for certain approaches that hold us back.
For example, I used to assume that using ads was “dirty” and all growth had to be organic. But last week, I realized this assumption caused me to sleep on ads as a distribution channel for growing my consulting business.
Particularly since consulting engagements are so expensive, I realized if a single ad campaign leads to one closed deal, it will more than pay for itself.
My past assumption caused me to overlook ads completely. Now I’m rushing to test ad campaigns this weekend.
Why Entrepreneurs Must Hold Strong In the Face of Criticism
The second lesson is that we have to trust our gut instinct even in the face of significant criticism. For Walsh, several of his draft pick decisions came under close scrutiny, including Rice. People questioned why Bill would pick Jerry Rice when other faster were receivers available.
This applies to business as well because being an entrepreneur means doing things that people have never done before.
A corollary of this is that others may misunderstand us for long periods of time, and we have to hold strong with our conviction during these trying times.
For example, early on when I tried career coaching, a few friends told me it wasn’t worth doing. They said it wasn’t scalable, it was a dead-end gig, and it didn’t make enough money. Despite the criticism, I went for it anyways and surprising things happened.
Not only did people sign up for the career coaching, many of them booked to ask engineering questions instead. That’s when I realized that my past experience at FANG and my engineering expertise were the most valuable assets I had. It also revealed a potentially more lucrative path through engineering consulting instead, which has become my main focus now.
If I listened to the armchair critics, I would never have known what my biggest assets were, and wouldn’t have even considered consulting as a potential career path.
As Bill Walsh once said,
“Conventional wisdom produces conventional results.”
Entrepreneurs must be willing to challenge prevailing assumptions in the face of criticism to get ahead in business as well.
How Bill Walsh’s Resourcefulness Lead to the “West Coast Offense”
Another key ingredient in Bill Walsh’s success was his resourcefulness even when he didn’t have the best talent.
When Walsh was an assistant coach at the Cincinnati Bengals, his main quarterback was injured and the backup quarterback couldn’t throw long passes.
But rather than complain, he invented a new offensive system that capitalized on his backup QB’s one talent: executing quick, short passes.
In this “West Coast Offense”, Walsh flooded the “secondary” zone with multiple receivers rather than having them go long to keep them within his QB’s throwing range.
Furthermore, he had many of his receivers start in the same position but go in different routes to further confuse the defense and give his QB more time.
The strategy worked. The Bengals won the Central division that year. Walsh eventually brought this offense to the 49’ers as well, utilizing it countless times on their road to winning multiple Super Bowl championships.
Walsh’s ability to make something out of even the worst situations is the type of resourcefulness that entrepreneurs should adopt.
Startups for example don’t have the resources that large companies have. But they do have one advantage - speed. So rather than complain about their smaller war chest, it’s better for them to execute quickly to play to their strengths.
This applies to solopreneurs as well. Like Bill Walsh fully utilizing his backup QB’s talent for short passes, entrepreneurs should take stock of all of their talents, assets, and interests, and look for projects that utilize them to the fullest.
For example, if you’re good at writing, you should stick to writing platforms. If you’re great on camera, video and picture platforms make more sense.
If you worked at FANG, you should use that for street credibility. If you have any certifications and degrees, you should proudly display them. I’ve seen some entrepreneurs who have MBA’s or PhD’s not mention this in their LinkedIn profile.
It’s an asset so might as well use it!
Some final questions for you to ponder regarding your assets and talents include:
What comes easier to you than it does for others?
What assets do you have that you aren’t utilizing to the fullest?
And try to make the most of your answers from 1) and 2) in any of your endeavors. That’s where your unfair advantage as a founder lies.
Final Thoughts
There are so many lessons entrepreneurs can learn from athletes because business and athletics are both avenues for self-improvement.
I’ll leave you with a final quote from Bill Walsh’s book on what it takes to succeed.
There is no guarantee, no ultimate formula for success. It all comes down to intelligently and relentlessly seeking solutions that will increase your chance of prevailing. Consistent effort is a consistent challenge. When you meet the challenge, the score will take care of itself.”
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