Do you remember the guy who finished second to Lance Armstrong in the 2005 Tour de France?

I bet you don’t.

I don’t either.

You know why?

Because nobody gives a shit who you are unless you win.

That remains true for both life and sport.

Figuring out the science behind building a winning culture was the life’s work of the biggest coaching legend in American football:

Vince Lombardi

Preface:

I’m a big sports fan. I like studying athletes, I like leadership and team culture.

I love diving into a team’s history and discovering the genesis of these organizations.

I’ve been an on-and-off Green Bay Packers fan for most of my adult life.

Mostly on.

The legend of the fan-owned, non-profit NFL team has always intrigued me.

Green Bay only has a population of around 107,000.

They’re still the smallest market major sports market in North America, and yet the Packers as a team are the 31st most valuable sports franchise in the world (approximately $4.6 billion according to Forbes).

They’re one of the last (if not THE last) remnants of an age where start-up, small town teams would spring up and play football against similar start-up teams during the 1910’s and 1920’s.

I visited Green Bay when I was around 18-19 and I was awestruck by something:

In that little, often-snowy city they really only care about one thing in the world:

The Packers.

All year around.

You’d think it’s absurd until you see their stadium, Lambeau Field.

An 80,000 person stadium in the middle of a neighborhood.

No, seriously, it’s in the middle of a neighborhood.

Good luck getting season tickets too, it’s about about a 30 year wait.

Parents put their kids on the list when they’re born in Wisconsin so they have a chance by the time they’re adults (I’m not even kidding).

They take their football very seriously.

It’s a way of life for the residents of Green Bay.

But Lambeau Field, a museum of football history, resides on Lombardi Avenue.

If the Packers are the biggest focus for the residents of this quaint little town care about, the man they revere and eternally worship is Vince Lombardi.

An outlier in the Midwest by virtue of his Brooklyn accent and upbringing, he was a strict disciplinarian and fierce leader.

He assumed complete control over what was a sinking football team, telling the Packers executives:

“I want it understood that I am in complete command here”.

The 1958 team he inherited went 1-10-1 (that’s 1 win, 10 losses and 1 tie).

They had 8 players who would make the Hall of Fame on the roster.

His first year as head coach in 1959, they went 7-5 — a winning record and 6 game turnaround.

He took a team that was in the dregs of the NFL by the late 50’s, far from it’s heyday of championships in the 1920’s and 30’s, and turned them back into a perennial champion.

Installing drastic culture change, a roster overhaul and a philosophy of “running to win”, the 60’s were the decade of the Green Bay Packers:

• His teams never had a losing season

• 5 championships (3 NFL championships, 2 Super Bowls) in 9 seasons

• Finished 1st in their division 6 of those 9 seasons

• The 1962 Green Bay Packers are considered one of the most dominant teams of all time, only losing 1 game that year and shutting out 3 opponents

• Packers won the first AND second Super Bowls (I and II)

• They named the Super Bowl championship trophy after him (Lombardi Trophy)

• He put Green Bay back on the national stage

I looked into why he was so successful with the Packers and his strategies for leading and winning.

Here’s two of the biggest reasons why his teams were so effective:

Coaching for Perfection

Lombardi coached for his players to be perfect.

He didn’t expect them to be perfect though.

He would famously say it was unattainable, but if you could strive for perfection, somewhere along the way you’d catch excellence.

“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

Football was a way of life in Green Bay, and it was for Vince.

You had to be all in, you had to work towards perfection and he had to see that in you.

Vince tolerated nothing less than the best from everyone around him, and if he noticed they weren’t giving it 100% — they were gone.

There was no place for mediocrity in his presence.

Fundamentals, Fundamental, Fundamentals

It’s kind of cliche in every sport, but if you can execute the fundamentals to the highest level, you’re going to be very successful.

The 1960’s Packers didn’t necessarily do anything crazy or groundbreaking.

They didn’t rack up record-breaking statistics and change the way the game was fundamentally played.

They didn’t need to.

They ran the football better than anyone else did by emphasizing run blocking schemes, and practiced them more than anyone else.

Green Bay’s defenses were routinely ranked in the top 3 of the NFL because of an emphasis on the maxim “Defense wins championships”.

The most successful football coaches still abide by it to this day.

He was so convinced of this ideology that when he signed onto coach the team, his immediate focus was on putting together a fearsome and tough defense.

When the Packers lost the NFL championship to the Eagles in 1960, he told his team they would “never lose another championship again”.

Then the following year, he would start from scratch.

He went into the next training camp with the idea that he was teaching from a blank slate.

“Gentlemen, this is a football”

When things don’t work, always return to the basics.

Look, I’m just a big fan of coaches, athletes, and their systems of winning.

It’s one of the most accessible ways to study execution and leadership with some entertainment sprinkled in.

Vince Lombardi is one of the greatest stories in American sports on how to win.

His lessons transcend the sport he coached and people still need to be reminded of these simple lessons on building a successful, winning culture:

• A certain kind of determination to master a skill

• The goal of striving for perfection in that skill

• An unmatchable work ethic

• The absolute hatred of losing

If you’re not an American reader, you’re probably annoyed that this sport is called “football” even though it’s played mostly with your hands.

To sign off, I’m going to leave you with a hilariously accurate quote from the show “Shoresy”.

“It’s not that they don’t love to win, it’s that they don’t hate to lose”

Thanks for reading,

Evan.