MANNING: STILL THE MASTER AT PREPARATION

Sometime ago I blogged on an article that spoke of Peyton Manning's drive in terms of preparation.  It was from earlier in his days as a Colts.  Today, after a near career ending injury, Manning is still among the very best in the NFL -- and he still is a master of preparation.  Below our excerpts of an article on his attention to detail in preparation.  You can read the entire article at: http://tinyurl.com/ckm3ul7

Manning wrote the notes at some point between summer school of his freshman year and the time practice started.

"What I learned very quickly," said David Cutcliffe, now the head coach at Duke, "was the amount of time he was willing to put in. He wanted such detail. I just walked out of the room and grinned."

Nearly 20 years after Manning looked at those cut-ups of "62 Meyer" and other plays from the Tennessee game tapes, he's still up there with the best when it comes to preparing. It could be for the upcoming game, season, or, in the most recent instance, for a comeback from what many thought was a career-ending neck injury.

His work ethic is the gold standard when it comes to breaking down an NFL opponent. And though he's had to adjust his schedule, accommodating for the physical changes he's encountered after his neck surgeries, the Broncos quarterback hasn't shown any signs of letting his preparation slip.

"I always felt like doing that work was something that could make me better," Manning said of the study time he spent before college, before his coaches could even come in and help decipher those Xs and Os. "Even if I didn't really know what I was looking at, sometimes if you just think it's helping you, then it's helping you."

This year, the preparation helped to the tune of 4,659 yards, 37 touchdowns and a passer rating of 105.9, all the second-best marks he's had in 14 NFL seasons he's played. The Broncos finished 13-3. Heading into their playoff bye week, they were the odds-on favorite to win the Super Bowl.

"I think a lot of people now are doing things he's been used to doing for a long time," said John Elway, the quarterback-turned front office executive for the Broncos. "He does such a good job. His preparation and the way he goes through it helps him have such a good idea of where the ball is going before it's even snapped."

Earlier this year, coach John Fox said Manning "has it down to a science when it comes to time management," recalling instances when he's seen the quarterback soaking in the ice tub while watching video of an upcoming opponent on his iPad.

The time-management element has become even more important this year, with Manning playing with what is, essentially, a new body after missing a season while his neck healed. Manning says he often refers back to something Bill Polian, the longtime president of the Colts, told him when he came into the league.

"He said you can't substitute for the physical," Manning said. "You can't shortchange a lift or a body session or rest for a film study. I took that advice and it helps even more with my injury. I used to be a guy who was going to stay up as late as I had to in order to get this film watched. Now, it's, 'I've got to go to bed at this time because that's important to me.' Or, 'I've got to get the weight work in because that's important to me.' 

HOOPTHOUGHTS REACHES 1,000,000 VIEWS

Sometime early this morning I received the 1,000,000th visitor to Hoop Thoughts.  I've got to be honest -- that was exciting for me.  When I started the blog by in September of 2008 I had two goals:

#1 Learn more about coaching and teaching utilizing the Stephen Covey creed that "the best way to learn is to teach."

#2 Share some thoughts and ideas that I learned from others.  I'd worked for Dale Brown at LSU and was mentored by Don Meyer who both shared a great love of passing on what we know.

I had no idea that the blog would be as popular as it has become.

Certainly I owe a great deal of gratitude to so many.  I have had no original ideas to post -- only great thoughts that I've read, viewed or been told by so many great and wonderful people out there.  Thanks to all who have shared and all that have read.

Here's to the next million hits!

COACH SABAN: COACHING TODAY'S ATHLETE

Here is one final post today on Coach Saban.  It is a list of of blog posts that I created out of coaching clinic notes on him speaking while he was at LSU.  It is outstanding material for coaches to study and was one of my more popular posts based on the hits it received when I first posted the series in February, 2010.

Coaching Today's Athlete (Part I)

Coaching Today's Athlete (Part II)

Coaching Today's Athlete (Part III)

Coaching Today's Athlete (Part IV)

COACH SABAN POSTS LIST

Here are a few blog posts I've had on Coach Saban over the years...simply click on the subject to view the post.

Coach Saban on being a relentless competitor

Coach Saban's 3 I's

Coach Saban's Motivation

Coach Saban on the "process"

Coach Saban on pushing past normal

Coach Saban be perfect on every play

Coach Saban on the culture of accountability and responsibility

Coach Saban: recruiting is in the details (and the hours)

Coach Saban on having confidence in the players' ability to learn

Thoughts from Nick Saban

Coach Saban and having attention to details

SABAN: ON THE PROCESS OF SUCCESS

KEEPING THE INSPIRATION INSPIRING

Following is an excerpt of a blog post by Michael Hyatt from his blog.  You can read the entire article here.  Michael's blog is one of my five or six "go-to's" -- it is a wealth of information that can help you in a variety of ways.  He is also a must follow on twitter: http://twitter.com/michaelhyatt

The title of this blog post is "Four Ways to Keep Inspiration Alive" -- as a coach, we are constanlty looking for ways to keep things new, fresh and exciting over the course of the season.  Here is what Michael suggested:

1. Connect people to the larger story. People want to know the organization they work for matters. They want to know it is making a difference in the world. For this to happen, you must connect them to the larger story.

Why was your organization founded? Why does it exist? What would happen if it disappeared? What is really at stake? You can’t talk about this too much.

2. Remind people why they matter. It’s one thing to understand the organization matters. It’s another thing to understand they matter—and they do. But they must be reminded and affirmed.

They must understand how their actions contribute to the overall mission. While this might be clear to you, it is probably not clear to them. Your role as a leader is to help them “connect the dots.”

3. Resist creating new policies. I have seen this over and over again in organizations. Someone makes a mistake. Rather than dealing with the problem—which is likely an exception or an anomaly—the leaders create a new policy.

Over time, these policies slow an organization down, like the ropes that rendered Gulliver immovable. The better tactic is to deal with problems and people head-on and only institute a policy if the behavior happens repeatedly or spreads beyond the original situation.

4. Set the pace for what you expect in others. This is ultimately your most important leadership tool. You cannot create an inspiring organization without being an inspiring person.

If you want people to be positive and upbeat, you must be positive and upbeat. If you want people to be flexible and embrace change, then you must be flexible and embrace change.

Like it or not, your people will mimic your priorities, values, and behavior. To quote Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

10 REASONS WINNERS KEEP WINNING

The following comes from a column by Rosabeth Moss Kanter for the Harvard Business Review.  You can read the entire article here.

1. Good mood. Clearly everyone feels good about winning, while emotions sag at failure. Emotions affect performance. Positive moods produce physical energy and the resilience to persist after setbacks. While losers use any excuse to stop, winners sometimes play on even while injured, lifted by a kind of winners' high. Moreover, psychologists find that moods are contagious. Winners' exhilaration is infectious. Losers' gloom can be toxic.

2. Attractive situation. Whether at children's soccer games or in the office, losers go home early. Winners stick around. My studies show that there is less absenteeism or tardiness in organizations known for their successes. There is also more solidarity, because people spend more time together feeling good about what they can accomplish. More time together brings more chances for information-sharing and mentoring.

3. Learning. Losers get defensive and don't want to hear about their many failings, so they avoid feedback. Winners are more likely to voluntarily discuss mistakes and accept negative feedback, because they are comfortable that they can win. Because they are confident about the possibility of winning, they see practicing as a route to a positive outcome, not as a punishment. For athletes, practice matters. Winning is often found in mastery of the details. As a former student found in studies of swimmers who did and didn't qualify for the Olympics, excellence consists of examining and improving many small processes and routines.

4. Freedom to focus. As every golfer and tennis player knows, you must keep your eye on the ball. Losers often punish themselves in their heads. Winners have fewer distractions. Golf pro Tiger Woods won nearly every championship until hit with personal problems of his own making, which was followed by loses on the golf course.

5. Positive culture of mutual respect. For anyone who plays on a team, winning makes it easier to respect and listen to one another, because after all, if you win together, then the presumption is that everyone is a good player. Winners can maintain high aspirations and act generously toward others. Losers are more likely to blame others and disdain them as mediocre, creating a culture of finger-pointing and infighting.

6. Solid support system. Behind every high performance athlete or team is a cadre of coaches, friends, and fans that fuel motivation. Winning enlarges the circle of backers. Losing erodes support. For instance, the cheerleaders for one perpetually losing college football team used to leave the stadium at half-time. When even their cheerleaders feel they won't win, how can athletes gear up for the next try?

7. Better press. It's not just the buzz at time of victory that separates winners from losers, it's also the more favorable story about the past and future. Winning provides a halo that makes everything seem to glow. Losing causes observers and analysts to probe for reasons in a rewritten version of the past that makes continuing losses seem inevitable.

8. Invitations to the best parties. Really. Winners get invited to the White House, Buckingham Palace, key conferences or exhibitions. They gain access to networks and relationships that confer benefits that maintain winners' momentum, such as early information or better deals. Who invites the losers?

9. Self-determination. Winners have more control over their own destiny. "Why tamper with success?" we often say. Winners are left alone, getting a free pass on reviews (occasionally tragically, as at Penn State, where locker room abuse went uninvestigated). Losers get attention of the negative kind. They are encumbered with "help" — special committees, audits, reviews, frequent visitors. Enough of that, and losers spend their time in meetings instead of practicing and improving performance.

10. Continuity. Lose too often, and heads roll. New coaches, new strategies — like HP's lurching between hardware and software or Yahoo's parade of exiting CEOs. High turnover consumes time and attention. More time spent getting people on board leaves little time to fully execute any particular game plan. It's hard to start winning again until the situation stabilizes. Winners have the luxury implementing long-term strategies and planning for orderly succession.

GREAT THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP

"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on."
~Walter Lippman

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."
~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Leadership is action, not position." ~Donald H. McGannon
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."
~John Quincy Adams

"Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach."
~Rosabeth Moss Kantor

"Good leaders must first become good servants."
~Robert Greenleaf

"Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it."
~Marian Anderson

"The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."
~Ray Kroc

"To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone."
~Harry Truman

THE NEXT PLAY

The following is a story from Florida head coach Bill Donovan from a few years back:

"Bill Belicheck met with the team shortly before the SEC tournament. Showed them a video of the Breeders' Cup horse race. He paused halfway through the race with the outcome still up in the air. He asked the team 'Who will win? The horse with the best odds prior to the race?' The team was puzzled, 'No, its the horse that runs the best race from here on out.' You can't focus on prior accomplishments and failures, you must only focus on the present and doing the best on the next play."

BE WRONG FOR THE RIGHT REASON

In every leader’s work there are times when you must coldly evaluate the path down which you are taking your organization.

A leader must be keen and alert to what drives a decision, a plan of action. If it was based on good logic, sound principles, and strong belief, I felt comfortable in being unswerving in moving toward my goal. Any other reason (or reasons) for persisting were examine carefully. Among the most common faulty reasons are (1) trying to prove you are right and (2) trying to prove someone else is wrong. Of course, they amount to about the same thing and often lead to the same place: defeat.

A leader must have a vision, which is simply an elevated word for “goal.” Significant time and resources will be applied to achieving that goal. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that you proceed and persist for the correct reasons; your tactics must e sound and based on logic seasoned with instinct.

Few things are more painful for a leader than losing because your reasoning is faulty, your conclusions flawed, your logic skewed by emotions, pride or arrogance. One of the great leadership challenges is to recognize when hubris has you in its grip before it is too late to change. Here’s a short checklist worth keeping in mind when it comes to preserving, to doing it “your way” at all costs:

1. A leader must never quit.
2. A leader must know when to quit.
3. Proving that you are right or proving that someone is wrong are bad reasons for persisting.
4. Good logic, sound principles, and strong belief are the purest and most productive reasons for pushing forward when things get rough.

From "The Score Takes Care of Itself" by Bill Walsh and Steve Jamison