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The Highest Level: Lessons from a Championship Culture
Actionable insights on coaching, leadership, culture, and teams June 16, 2023 Howdy Y’all, This week’s Highest Level includes:
Let's go! EB Lessons From a Championship CultureAs the Denver Nuggets were crowned NBA champions this week, three things really stood out to me about their culture and team building philosophies that helped them become champions. Selflessness The selfless way in which Denver plays is mirrored by their genuine focus on doing what is best for the team regardless of what anyone's stats or awards are. All they care about is winning as a team. Finals MVP Nikola Jokic stated after winning the title that “We won because we are not rooting for ourselves…we are rooting for the person next to us. I’m winning for Jamal and everyone else, and they are winning for me. We believe in each other and the relationship that we have." Denver coach Michael Malone on the relationships with his players "You can have the best plays in the world, you can know more than most people about the game, but if you don't have relationships with your players, if you don't have true buy in, it doesn't matter. It will fall on deaf ears." Patience A patient approach in building their team and not being too quick to make unsound decisions (far too common for NBA franchises) helped the Nuggets not only build chemistry as a group, but also allowed them to experience failure with each other and grow from those moments. Jokic on the relationship between failure and success "If you want to be successful, you need to be bad, then you need to be good. Then when you're good, you need to fail. Then when you fail, you're going to figure it out.” Situations Dictate Success Situations play a big factor in the success of players at the highest level. Ownership, coaching staff, teammates and a number of other factors have significant impact on the success, and failure, we see in any highly competitive environment. Nugget players like Aaron Gordon were able to not only accept, but star in their roles and have a huge impact throughout the season and playoffs. Kevin O'Connor's tweet below does a great job summarizing the tactics behind his role and how Denver leveraged his greatest strengths to make a difference on a championship team.
Revisiting 'Moneyball' with Michael LewisFor anyone who enjoys author Michael Lewis or read his best-selling book Moneyball, The Athletic had a great piece looking back on the game of baseball and the lasting impact of the book over the past 20 years. My favorite quote from the article was from the Chicago Cubs' Jed Hoyer on how 'Moneyball' changed the strategy of the game. Cubs' Jed Hoyer on how Moneyball changed baseball: “It changed everything quickly. Eventually, things were going to shift, but I thought it put that in fast-forward. The book comes out, a lot of owners read the book and realized they were doing the things that a handful of teams were doing and it just microwaved the process of change in those years after the book came out. In the next five years, there was so much change because all of a sudden, owners were driving that change.” The High-Stakes Environment of an NFL Draft RoomThe first 6 minutes of this video from inside the Arizona Cardinals Draft Room give an excellent portrayal of the high-stakes environment of an NFL war room as Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort pulls off a blockbuster trade as the clock ticks down on Arizona's 1st round selection. There is so much preparation that goes into the NFL Draft. Teams follow 2-3 year plans for scouting college players, draft prep, mock drafts, and setting their draft boards. But the NFL Draft is also about reacting to real-time changes that happen in an instant (trades, players falling, etc.) and still having the ability to stay calm under pressure in those critical moments. The production value of the content that some pro sports teams create these days is just insane. Something I wish I could have had around when I was a young fan growing up. The Power of GratitudeActor Richard Lewis made a twitter post this past week that made me stop and reflect on Lewis' perspective and mindset in the throes of his own personal adversity dealing with the tragic loss of friends and his recent diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. We often fail to recognize the truly good things in our lives. The simple times when we are surrounded by friends and family or showing up for work that we love. These are the times that seem normal and mundane, when they are actually the times we should be the most grateful for. Losing three great friends sucks. Battling Parkinson's sucks. But as Richard says, he's still in the game. It's a great reminder to be grateful more often for the simple yet amazing things in our lives. It will help us all to be more present, and maybe help some unlock the motivation to keep fighting and living like Richard is.
Thanks for reading and see you next time at the highest level. Dominate Today, Evan Find me on Twitter or my website. Thank you for subscribing to The Highest Level. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can sign up for the newsletter here. |
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