Today’s Chapter is based on the book “The Winning Spirit: 16 Timeless Principles That Drive Performance Excellence” by Joe Montana and Tom Mitchell.
Joe Montana is widely recognised as one of the greatest quarterback in NFL history. During his career with the San Francisco 49ers, Montana won four Super Bowls and won Super Bowls MVP three times.
Here’s what I have learned from the book:
Visualisation
“To succeed in our work, we must attain the state of mind where we can visualize future results.”
— Kazuo Inamori
One of the most important things in achieving great things is to know what you are pursuing. As Joe Montana mentions, “it is impossible to strive for something until we know what it is we are pursuing. You have to know what you want.”
If we do not know what your specific goals are, it is very difficult to have the drive, discipline or imagination to achieve them. As such, the first thing to do is to identify what we want to accomplish. Not only that, I believe it is primordial to choose which goals we need to focus on in order to manage our time better.
One way of doing this is by writing down the goals we want to achieve and to circle the top three we want to achieve. The rest should be eliminated.
“This first principle, knowing what we want, is the beginning of achieving performance excellence.”
— Joe Montana
This reminds me of what we have learned from Kazuo Inamori who preached us to be persistent in our effort. Inamori explains that while working hard is important, hard work can be useless if one does not have an objective. As Kenichi Omae once said, “Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”
Inamori explains that “it’s meaningless to do something persistently if it’s done in a vague or aimless manner.” However, it is difficult to not achieve success if one is committed to making himself better than he was yesterday, and tomorrow better than today.
Once we have a goal in mind, Montana explains that visualization is a great mental tool in obtaining the positive results that we desire. He elaborates that “By concentrating on the image or outcome we desire, we can step into an "as if" reality, experiencing something as if it is really happening.”
He explains that the most important aspect of the visualization process is imagination. The greater the imagination, the more effective the visualization process will be. This idea reminds me of the importance of having imagination to succeed in business.
As we have learned from Anton Philips, the co-founder of Philips, imagination is the best tool to turn a crisis into an opportunity. In fact, back in 1900, Germany, which was an important market for Philips & Company, stopped taking in order due to the serious economic crisis. Instead of panicking, Anton showed a great sense of improvisation and started finding potential clients in entirely new areas such as Spain and Italy. While it seemed unimaginable at the time due to the higher expenses to obtain new clients, the company not only managed to turn a profit quickly, it solidified it increased its market share once the German markets recovered.
“And then, finally, there is another quality that I deem necessary. Imagination. The ability to imagine reality. It is possible to see into the future. Possibilities which do not yet exist, but which will exist five years hence. It can be termed vision. It is based on avoiding routine thought, on continually asking: can this be done differently? Can it be done better? I have found imagination to be one of the most important qualities for success in life.”
— Anton Philips
Practice
“Repetition builds instinct.”
— Michael Bloomberg
Joe Montana mentions that the greatest benefit of playing competitive sports is how one can understand the importance of preparation. As Montana once said, “excellent performance does not happen on its own. Preparation is required.”
Montana explains that repetition is king in preparation. He elaborates that “To become outstanding in a particular area, we must learn to practice with concentration and focus. Practice is our chance to work on weaknesses and get better.”
What made Montana special was his ability, as soon as the game was over, win or lose, to identify where he needed to improve and to prepare consequently for the next game. Similarly, Tiger Woods was back in the gym by 6:30 to work out the morning after he beat Phil Mickelson at the Ford Championship in 2005.
This reminds me of what we have learned from Michael Jordan. In Jordan’s opinion, “commitment cannot be compromised by rewards”. As such, the most challenging thing about success is keeping a good work ethic for a long period of time.
“Excellence isn't a one-week or one-year ideal. It's a constant. There will be days when you don't feel on top of your game, meetings in which you aren't at your best, but your commitment remains constant. No compromises.”
— Michael Jordan
However, it is important to note that when Joe Montana mentions practice, he reiterates that it must be deliberate practice. As a matter of fact, Montana recommends to “avoid trying to work on too many areas in one session”. It is much better to concentrate practicing on one essential skill at a time. As he once said, “Effort is required—at times huge, concentrated effort.”
Furthermore, Montana advises to keep a performance journal. By recording your progress in writing, it allows one to become clearer about what they want to accomplish, but also helps in making our improvements feel that much more real.
This is eerily similar to how Shohei Ohtani used the Harada Method to become one of the greatest baseball player of all time. The Harada Method consists of creating a 64 chart where he listed down 64 specific tasks or routines he would have to complete or achieve in order to attain his main goal of getting drafted 1st Overall by eight teams from the Nippon Professional Baseball league.
Finally, Montana explains how practice time should be taken seriously, due to the limited opportunities to practice during a long NFL season. To do so, he mentions the story about his teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. At every single practice, Jerry Rice would sprint for a touchdown after catching the ball every single time as if it was a real game. And, this happened no matter what the drill or pattern or whether the end zone was ten yards or ninety yards away.
Similarly, Montana had the mindset to complete 100 percent of his passes whenever he stepped onto the field, no matter if it was at a practice or during a game. Whether it was practice or a game, he would give out 100 percent of his effort.
“Whenever I walked off the practice field, my goal was to be a better player than when I arrived.”
— Joe Montana
This reminds me of what we have learned from Alex Ferguson. When he was at the head of Manchester United, he understood that “our training ground was where the real work was done.” In fact, he explains that “Part of the pursuit of excellence involves eliminating as many surprises as possible because life is full of the unexpected.“ and this comes with practice.
As such, it is not surprising that the best players on Manchester United were the ones who took practices the most seriously. Ferguson mentions that “David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney would all stay after training to perfect their free kicks. They would not disappear for a long bath, or a massage, or be straight out the door because they had to run down to a car dealership. They would be religious about spending an extra 30 minutes trying to bend balls around a row of mannequins and past the goalkeeper.”
Failure
“Sometimes defeats are the best outcomes. To react to adversity is a quality. Even in your lowest periods you are showing strength.”
— Alex Ferguson
As we have learned previously from Alex Ferguson, recovery after big losses is an important part of Manchester United’s success. In fact, the famous Class of ‘92, a group of young players that would end up bringing major success to the Club such as David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, came up after a series of defeats.
Notably, Ferguson mentions that “I lost three FA Cup finals, to Everton, Arsenal and Chelsea. I lost League Cup finals to Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Liverpool. And two European Cup finals to Barcelona. (…) When we lost the FA Cup final to Everton in 1995 I said: ‘That’s it, I’m making changes here.’ And we made them.“
Ferguson mentions that after a loss, his first thought was always to “think quickly about what you should be doing.”Rather than being upset about the defeat, his mind would go straight into thinking about improvement and recovery.
Similarly, Montana mentions that “committing errors is how we learn to be better. Failure is an integral part of success.” As mentioned previously, after every single game, he would go into the film room to see what he did wrong and not what he did right, even in games he won. As he would mention, “You can’t learn how to get better if you don’t understand what you did wrong.”
Montana brings the example of Thomas Edison who used more than ten thousand materials as filaments before inventing the lightbulb. While questioned on how he remained positive in the face of so much failure, Edison replied that he didn’t fail, but he did achieve in eliminating ten thousand elements that did not work.
Montana also shares a story of Thomas Watson Jr., the founder of IBM. One of Watson’s executive once spent $12 million on a new project that failed. When the executive gave Watson his resignation letter, he responded with, “I don’t want your resignation, I just invested twelve million dollars in your education. Get back to work.”
While it is often easy to give up when faced with adversity or problems, Montana explains that successful people see setbacks as opportunities to improve. As Henry J. Kaiser once said, “problems are only opportunities in work clothes.”
And more importantly, Montana mentions that things are only considered a failure when one gives up or does not even try. While success is never guaranteed, it is the pursuit of it that matters and one can achieve a lot despite not winning the ultimate prize. As Michael Jordan once said, “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way"
— Marcus Aurelius
This reminds me of the story of how Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank co-founded The Home Depot. After being fired from his employment at Handy Dan, Bernie Marcus was told by Ken Langone that he has just been kicked in the ass with a golden horseshoe and that this is the greatest opportunity. In fact, Langone explained that he would finally be able to create that store he always dreamed of, which was the birth of The Home Depot.
Not only this, but for Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, their bad experience at Handy Dan played an important part in developing Home Depot's values. For example, their previous boss, Sandy Sigoloff would reward staffs based their loyalty to him rather than on their competence. As such, at Home Depot, they made sure that their associates were well compensated for their hard work and contribution to the company.
“Our theory had always been that if we were going to get rich, we wanted our associates to get rich with us. If we were going to benefit, they were going to benefit as well. That has always been a part of our philosophy. There were men and women busting their rear ends, killing themselves, working day and night for The Home Depot; if we made it, we wanted them to make it as well. From the day we opened the stores, that was a philosophy of the company.”
— Bernie Marcus & Arthur Blank
Leadership
“Much of leadership is about extracting that extra 5 per cent of performance that individuals did not know they possessed.”
— Alex Ferguson
As we have learned from Michael Jordan, it is important for a person in a leadership position to lead by example and to set the standard for everyone inside the organisation. As everyone will follow their lead, any single action they make as a leader will be projected as the standard required within the basketball team or the multibillionaire business.
As Jordan would say, “they set a standard, and everyone has to live up to that standard if it’s good standard.” As such, when Jordan was a player, his great practice habits forced his teammates to also improve their practice habits to match his standard.
“My leadership came from action, all action.”
— Michael Jordan
Similarly, Joe Montana believes that “a single person with a powerful attitude can impact team chemistry in an incredible way.” As a matter of fact, Montana mentions that the most incredible tool for inspiring others to strive for excellence is to lead by example.
He explains that “Leading by example is inspired leadership. Such leadership is more influential than motivating through fear, intimidation, or coercion, which can be dispiriting to everyone.” In team sports, it is not sufficient to succeed on a personal level. You need everyone else on your team to succeed along with you. As Montana would say, “The great leaders in sports all have one thing in common: When they were in the game, they made their teammates better players.”
In his book, Joe Montana provides a great example of how a leader can motivate others to follow his great practice habit. As mentioned previously, Jerry Rice had the habit of running the passes he caught in practice all the way into the end zone. This habit became contagious. One by one, all the other wide receivers on the team would start running to the end zone after receiving a pass from Montana. And quickly after, the defensive backs followed suit and started running all the way with receivers to the end zone, trying to stop them.
“Walking the talk is essential.”
— Joe Montana
Leadership is often mistaken for something that cannot be learned or taught. However, Montana believes that while natural leaders do exist, other individuals can learn how to lead over time. As Vince Lombardi once said, "Leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work."
More importantly, Montana believes that to have a successful organisation, it is important for every single member to become an effective leader. While they may not be in a position of power, every team member, similar to a leader, should be willing to take on responsibility and possess a high degree of mental toughness.
Montana elaborates that, “On the 49ers, our success was directly attributed to the way we prepared as individuals first, then as an organization. Each one of us needed to be responsible for ourselves. Even in football, the most team-oriented sport, it often comes down to individual effort. It is how each of us prepares that makes our team better. That's a key to team success.”
“Individuals should keep sight of why they joined the team, what keeps them on the team, and what unique skills they offer the team. Conducting regular self-evaluations helps with individual performance as well as team success. Ask yourself what contribution you have made today or this week, and how you could contribute more tomorrow or next week.”
— Joe Montana
As such, he believes that every team member has the responsibility to question themselves on how they can become better and to contribute to the team being better. This reminds me of a story from Kobe Bryant about Bill Russell:
“There’s one anecdote Bill shared that stuck with me. He recounts how people always said he wasn’t a good ball handler, just didn’t know how to handle and shoot the ball. He said sure, he could do all of those things, but why would he lead the fastbreak when Bob Cousy was playing with him? Why would he shoot jumpers when Sam Jones was on his wing? The message was that if you want to win championships, you have to let people focus on what they do best while you focus on what you do best. For him, that was rebounding, running the floor, and blocking shots.”
— Kobe Bryant
Beyond the Book
Read "Smarter, Not Harder: How to Succeed at Work" by Farnam Street
Read "The Ultimate Deliberate Practice Guide: How to Be the Best" by Farnam Street
Read "16 Leadership Lessons from a Four Star General" by Farnam Street
Read "The Beginner’s Guide to Deliberate Practice" by James Clear