The Score Takes Care of Itself
I just finished The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh. In short — it's a book about how to be great.
An Outsider's Path
Bill was an outsider in the elite world of the NFL. Much like a general born and raised on the outskirts of society — think Napoleon — Bill didn't go to a great school. He wasn't particularly brilliant in the academic sense; he got average grades. The man embodied extreme discipline and organization. In short, he worked like hell and took on a ton of pain. And he rose to the summit.
People called him a genius and it infuriated him. It trivialized the pain, sacrifice, and work he did constantly in order to achieve.
In many ways, I too am like Bill. An outsider. Not particularly brilliant. Not particularly pedigreed. If I want to become great, I'll likely have to follow a path — in spirit — similar to his.
Bill is the average, not the outlier. His approach follows a similar path as other not-particularly-talented luminaries: Philip II of Macedonia, Robespierre, Sargon the Great. For these men, three things were important for their rise: innovation (good judgement), discipline (to the point of self-sacrifice), and promoting talent based on merit alone.
The Standard of Performance
His prime directive was not victory but to steep the organization in a Standard of Performance. In the pursuit of winning, he focused the staff on the details — trying to achieve the standard. Obsessing over the quality of improvement is what matters. Here are a few that stand out to me:
- Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement
- Be deeply committed to learning and teaching
- Honor the direct connection between details and improvement, and relentlessly seek the latter
- Show self-control, especially where it counts most — under pressure
- Take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort
- Deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation
- Maintain ongoing levels of concentration and focus that is abnormally high
- Make sacrifice and commitment the organization's trademark
On Teaching
Walsh believed that passion is not just having a desire to do the job of teaching — passion is a love of the act of teaching itself. It is not a means to an end, but an end in itself. In order to have passion you must love the subject in which you teach. It's not a duty or a burden that you get out of the way so you can move on to more important things. It is the important thing.
On Mastery
Don't let anyone call you a genius. Don't mistake grabbin' for tackling — if you're going to do the action, then do it. Don't go through the motions.
There's no mystery to mastery. Be dedicated. Do it when other people wouldn't — at 4 am, at 6 am. The difference is how much you're willing to give to get there.
As Walsh put it: "There was no single individual in the organization — player, assistant coach, trainer, staff member, grounds keeper, or anyone else — who could accurately say he or she outworked me. Not one. Some worked as hard — nobody worked harder."
As General Rommel said: "A command must accustom his staff to a high tempo from the outset, and continuously keep them up to it."
Listen. Learn. Lead.
— Jay