URBAN MEYER ON CULTURE (PART I)

I fully believe that success leaves clues.  One of the best place to look for clues is in reading -- especially books by those that have demonstrated consistent success.  One of the better books I've read in the past couple of years is "Above The Line" by Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer.  Coach Meyer opens up his program and shares his philosophy and some of the things he did in building a Championship Program.  The entire book is a great read but Chapter 3: Creating a Culture is worth the price of the book alone.  Here are just a few of my take aways from this section.

Leaders create culture.  Culture drives behavior.  Behavior produces results.

Leadership isn't a difference maker, it is the difference maker.

Performance cannot be declared.  It must be lead.  Great results are initiated and sustained by great leadership.  Not just leaders at the top, but leaders at every level.  Leadership is the triggering factor in the Performance Pathway.

Behavior reinforces the culture that creates it.

Ironically, some coaches are so preocupied with pushing for results that they fail to build a culture that sustains the behavior that produces results.  But winning behavior will not thrive in a culture that does not support it.

As a leader, you are responsible for creating a winning culture that drives behavior and produces winning results.  It's not someone else's job.  It's your job!

Exceptional leaders create a culture that engages hearts and minds, energizes action, and executes with discipline.  When that happens, the numbers and wins follow.

Culture eats strategy for lunch.  Talent, schemes, tactics and plans cannot replace a strong culture.  A great culture can make even a mediocre strategy successful, but weak culture will undermine even the best strategy.  The foundation of culture is core beliefs.  Not platitudes or quotes.  Core beliefs.  The beliefs that are the heart of the team.