The Score Takes Care Of Itself

Today, I wanted to write about one of my all-time favorite books. It’s a book called The score will take care of itself by a guy named Bill Walsh. He was the head coach of the NFL football team San Francisco 49’ers. In his first season he took over, they ended up 2-14. They were one of the worst teams ever to play in the league. And within the next 24 months, they won the super ball - the first and the only team in the NFL history to go from worst to the best in two seasons. And this book is a story of how he led that transformation.

To me, this book is not about the story of San Francisco 49’ers path to glory. It’s not even about football. It’s a blueprint of how to make a turnaround - in sports, in business, and in life. Some of the lessons mentioned here can be - and should be - directly applicable in the situation we find ourselves in.

I wanted to share a few parts from the book that I found very inspiring and hopefully excite you enough to buy the book and read it yourself.

The Standard of Performance

As he took over as head coach of the 49’ers, the first thing he implemented was what he called - the Standard of Performance. It was a way of doing things, a conceptual blueprint for action; that is, a clear understanding of what should be done, when it should be done, and why it should be done.

Here’s one very small example: After careful analysis, they identified thirty specific and separate physical skills—actions—that every offensive lineman needed to master in order to do his job at the highest level, everything from tackling to evasion, footwork to arm movement. Our coaches then created multiple drills for each one of those individual skills, which were then practiced relentlessly until their execution at the highest level was automatic—routine “perfection.” Linemen were taught multiple blocking techniques to capitalize on what they saw across the line of scrimmage; most teams taught far fewer. Quarterbacks were coached on the refined requirements of a three-step, five-step, and seven-step drop back; how to hold the ball; where to hold the ball (the tip of the football must never drop below waist level on a pass play); scanning the entire field for receivers; when to throw and not to throw; throwing the ball at different velocities and different trajectories.

Passing routes were designed down to the inch and then practiced until receivers learned how to be at that exact inch at the exact moment the ball arrived. On paper my diagrams of plays resembled detailed architectural drawings. And they required the same exactness in construction—execution—that a good contractor brings to building a skyscraper.

Our practices were organized to the minute—like a musical score for an orchestra that shows every musician what to play and when to play it. Our coaches then drilled the team so they could “play it” better and better. The specificity of detail and bombardment of information involved in doing this are mind-numbing to the casual observer—perhaps like the specifics of your own profession to an outsider.

My Standard of Performance applied to marketing, office personnel, and everyone else with the details applicable to their jobs, even to the extent of including specific instructions for receptionists on how to answer our telephones professionally. All of this increasingly demonstrated to others and to ourselves that we were on top of things, neither sloppy nor inattentive, and contributed to a greatly heightened sense of “this is who we are,” even though a strong case could have been made that “who we are” wasn’t much based on the initial won-lost records during my first two seasons: 2-14 and 6-10.

The fundamental point being - Details matter. If you focus on small things, the big things take care of itself.

The Prime Directive Was Not Victory

Concentrate on what will produce results rather than on the results, the process rather than the prize.

One thing I found fascinating was Walsh’s singular obsession with the Standard of Performance. The focus was less on the prize of victory and more on the process of improving - obsessing a lot on the quality of execution and the quality of thinking; that is, actions and attitude. The four characteristics he valued most were - talent, character, functional intelligence, and belief in his system.

While the first three are very important in getting the job done, the last one I believe was the most important one. Without belief in his vision and his methods, it would be impossible to do what he set out to achieve. Walsh knew that and didn’t hesitate to boot great talent from his organization if that talent didn’t have belief in his system.

Winners act like winners (Before They’re Winners)

The commitment to, and execution of, the specific actions and attitudes embodied in my Standard of Performance—some picky, some profound—may seem far removed from Super Bowl victories, but they were crucial to creating and cementing a 49er level of professionalism that I viewed as the foundation on which future success could be constructed. (That’s what the assistant coach who complained about my lack of focus on winning didn’t understand.)

Consequently, the 49er organization increasingly became known for our businesslike and very professional behavior even when we were losing more games than we were winning. There was no showboating allowed after touchdowns, no taunting of opponents, no demonstrations to attract attention to oneself, because one individual shouldn’t take credit for what our whole team had done. There was a minimum of whining, complaining, and backstabbing. And phones were answered in a professional manner: “San Francisco 49ers headquarters. How may I assist you?” All calls had to be returned within twenty-four hours.

Eventually—within months, in fact—a high level of professionalism began to emerge within our entire organization. The 49ers’ self-perception was improving; individuals began acting and thinking in a way that reflected pride and professionalism, even as we continued to lose games. People want to believe they’re part of something special, an organization that’s exceptional. And that’s the environment I was creating in the early months and years at San Francisco.

I moved forward methodically with a deep belief that the many elements of my Standard of Performance would produce that kind of mind set, an organizational culture that would subsequently be the foundation for winning games.

The culture of the company and the attitude of people precedes positive results. And the way the team behaves in the times of adversity determines whether they would succeed or not. Champions behave like champions before they’re champions. If they have a winning mindset, it will eventually translate into them becoming a winner.

Control What You Can Control: Let the Score Take Care of Itself

The final score of a football game is decided, on average, according to the following percentages: 20 percent is due to luck, such as a referee’s bad call, a tricky bounce of the ball, an injury, or some other happenstance. I accepted the fact that I couldn’t control that 20 percent of each game. However, the rest of it—80 percent—could be under my control with comprehensive planning and preparation.

What about the quantity and quality of talent on my team? Doesn’t that override everything? Of course you need talent, but talent is not the only factor. And at the upper levels of competition, talent becomes much more evenly distributed. Thus, for working purposes my 80/20 ratio is quite good. Additionally, regardless of the level of talent in your organization, you have got to maximize the 80 percent when it matters most—on game day.

Luck plays a big part in life. Often, much more than we think. But while some things like competitors going rogue or critical deals falling off unexpectedly are outside anyone’s control, the best path is to take control of the inputs. After all, that’s what one can fully control.

And when external circumstances change - favorably or unfavorably - adapt and change your plans.

How You Get Good: No Mystery to Mastery

If you’re Jerry Rice, the greatest receiver in NFL history and, according to some, the greatest player, you’re practicing a slant pass pattern at 6 A.M. over and over with nobody within a mile of you—no football, no quarterback, nobody but Jerry working to improve, to master his profession.

Why is the NFL’s greatest-ever receiver doing this? Jerry Rice understands the connection between preparation and performance; between intelligently applied hard work and results; between mediocrity and mastery of your job. And Jerry has the skill coupled with the will to do it.

This is my favorite part of the book. He says, there is no mystery to mastery. The secret is hard work. Or as Uncle Arnold (Schwarzenegger) would say - you gotta do the reps and sets. It’s really no surprise that the most successful individuals, whether in sports or in business, are often the most hardworking ones. Look around yourselves and you will find that to be true.

Quick Results Come Slowly: The Score Takes Care of Itself

The Fujian Province of China is known as the Venice of Asia because of the superb stone sculptures created there over the centuries. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, near the city of Sichuan, artists—stone sculptors—worked in a time-honored and time-consuming way. Legend has it that when their sculpture was completed, the artist immersed it in the shallows of a nearby stream, where it remained for many years as the waters constantly flowed over it.

During this period, the finishing touch was applied by Mother Nature (or perhaps Father Time). The gentle but constant flow of water over the stone changed it in subtle but profound ways. Only after this occurred would the sculptor consider it complete—only when time had done its work was the sculpture perfect.

I believe it’s much the same in all walks of life, certainly in our business at least. Superb, reliable results take time. The little improvements that lead to impressive results come not from a single problem-solving session or week’s execution but from a series of experiments and months of hard work. The “big plays” in business - or in sports - don’t just suddenly occur out of thin air. They result from hard work and attention to detail over a sustained period of time.

And there would be patches of periods where it would all seem inevitable and designed to fail. Brief periods where despite all the hard work, the results might not show up. In such times, you gotta have self-belief, have faith in your inputs - your standard of performance. You got to believe that the score - one way or the other - would take care of itself.

Let me end this rather long note with the following thoughts.

Even with the greatest amount of talent possible, you can’t guarantee success for a team. But there are things you can do to increase the probability of success, and great teams intelligently and ruthlessly seek out the solutions to increase that probability.

People who succeed in highly competitive environments have one thing in common - failure, and the ability to overcome it.

Best,
Kaddy