Based on these factors, industry experts predicted that the Cowboys would win six or seven games at best in Parcells’ first year and that it would take him at least two years to turn the organization around.

The Drill Sergeant

How did Parcells approach this challenge? The same way he has with all four teams he’s led. The basics of Parcells’ approach are similar to that of a drill sergeant. Drill Sergeants are responsible for the critical boot camp initiation and training of new military recruits. During this phase, they are responsible for their assigned recruits 24 hours a day.

All Drill Sergeants, more than anything, demand and instill discipline and teach self-control and mental toughness.

The very best drill sergeants also do two other things:

More than anything else, these are the same things that Parcells does for his teams and it’s his special brand of doing them that sets him apart. As the Cowboy’s new leader, he demanded discipline from each and every member of his team from day one, including his star players. He demanded that they always be prepared for all aspects of their roles and responsibilities. He demanded that they be mentally tough – that they maintain the required focus at all times.

From the very beginning, in everything he did with the team, he was preparing them to successfully execute their roles in the heat of the battle. To help achieve this aim, he instituted a short set of new policies that immediately set a tone for a team that would be focused on their roles and what it takes to be a winner. Most of these policies had to do with pride and professionalism, preparedness, physical conditioning, punctuality and the sort of distractions that plague most modern pro sports teams, such as the proliferation of cell phones and visitors in the locker room.

Here’s the thing. Many leaders say they want a disciplined organization and some of them even implement structures, processes and policies that they intend will help achieve that goal. The truth is that few organizations are very disciplined. Even fewer execute with much precision, especially under pressure.

So how does Bill Parcells achieve these aims?

Here are five ways he goes about achieving rare success in these areas:

One: It Makes Sense

There are sound reasons for the discipline he espouses and he is unwavering about it. The discipline, self-control and mental toughness he espouses are clearly in the best interest of his team, both individually and collectively. It’s apparent that if they consistently conduct themselves in the ways he is coaching them to, they will achieve greater results.

But here’s the key: he never wavers. Never. The standards are set. They don’t change based on the day, week, individual, or for any other changing circumstances. If they’re right, they never go out of style.

A stunning example of Parcells’ unwavering commitment to the standards he sets for his team occurred just days before the completion of this article and several weeks before the beginning of his second season with the Cowboys.

He and Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys, suddenly cut one of their most valuable players from the team upon learning he had tested positive for drug use. There was no league requirement that they do so and NFL teams historically do not take such action on their own volition with key players. NFL teams typically give repeated chances to talented players who have been in various forms of trouble.

In contrast, Parcells reportedly felt that he could no longer trust a player he had invested heavily in for 18 months. This particular player was the Cowboy’s quarterback and thus a team leader. Last year, Parcells had helped the player perform at a much higher level than he previously had and the player was integral to the Cowboys’ turnaround.

Even greater evidence of Parcells’ steadfast approach is that there wasn’t a comparable replacement waiting in the wings. Due to this, the Cowboys prospects for the upcoming season may have dipped with this action. Based on Parcells’ comments to the media following the decision, he’s saddened but not looking back. The day after the decision he declared he didn’t want to discuss it anymore because it was over and he wanted to focus on preparing his team.

Two lessons from this are clear:

Two: Class Is in Session

He teaches his players how to do things better. Although he’s reached the pinnacle of his profession and he could certainly leave this solely to his assistants, Parcells still personally teaches some of the techniques and fundamentals that he knows will help his team be more successful. In the NFL, it is often assumed that players already know the proper fundamentals necessary to performing their roles well. Parcells doesn’t assume such things because he knows many of them have gaps in their knowledge and understanding about important aspects of executing their roles. He also knows he can’t demand that they execute properly if he’s not willing to teach them what they don’t know.

If a player demonstrates that he’s committed, Parcells will invest a great deal in educating and developing him. Parcells believes that players will always be receptive to any teaching that can help them be successful as long as it’s presented in a manner conducive to learning.

Industry executives take note. Many top executive leaders continually demand better performance from their management team members and from their organizations but leave it to the individuals to figure it out. When this happens, the best intentioned individuals often resort to just working harder than they already were. But it will always be true – working hard and smart will trump just working harder every time. Working harder at the wrong things or in the wrong ways has negative consequences beyond a lack of desired results – frustration and diminished self-confidence among them. Allowing personnel to suffer this way doesn’t exactly breed confidence in leadership or a loyal following either.

Another related issue in industry can be found when you take a close look at the behavior of managers and leaders at the various levels in an organization structure. Almost without fail, the higher the level – the less that level coaches and teaches the level below in the way that Parcells teaches his coaches and players. The resulting effect is that many industry managers and leaders have big gaps in the knowledge and understanding they need to execute their roles well. This effect is accentuated due to the great demands placed on many of them in the increasingly competitive business landscape.

Many industry executives receive little real mentoring and coaching after they are promoted to a middle management level. And continuing the cycle, most of them provide very little of it to the next level. That isn’t to say they don’t usually have clear performance expectations and goals. They often do. But it’s not the same thing. Even senior executives can benefit from the right mentoring and coaching throughout the journey. Minimally, they’ll be better and more successful leaders and people because of it, and in some cases, outright failure will be averted.

Three: There’s No Escape

He holds his players accountable every time. If you blew an assignment on the field, you blew an assignment. If you were late for a meeting, you were late. If your performance was substandard, there will be no “spin-doctoring” to save you from owning your performance.

Parcells lets players know what’s expected of them in no uncertain terms. Part of this communication is in one-on-one conversations he has with all of his players. He lets them know what they will have to do to remain a member of the team. Inherent in this is that it’s a privilege to be a part of the team and that the privilege must be continuously earned.

If a player has the potential to meet performance standards but is playing below them, he gives the player a chance to change if the player demonstrates sufficient desire and commitment to making the necessary improvements. He also sees that the player gets the education and coaching he needs to support his efforts. If the player doesn’t improve to standards in a reasonable timeframe, the player is cut from the team.

There are two main consequences of this overall approach. On the one hand, there are players who do not appreciate and embrace Parcells’ approach to this and who invariably do not remain with the team for very long. On the other hand, there are many players who swear by Parcells’ approach and credit him with helping them take their performance to a higher level because of it. These players also routinely cite the motivating effect it had on the team as a whole.

In contrast to Parcell’s approach, it’s common for many executive leaders to not even hold their management team members accountable for such fundamental responsibilities as being on time and well prepared for important management meetings. And it gets worse from there. I’ve witnessed countless examples of executives not being held accountable for unsatisfactory performance, including that which significantly impacted their organization’s bottom-line.

In some of these instances, I’ve seen all sorts of obfuscation, red herrings and other evasive maneuvers employed by individuals hoping to avoid being held accountable. Typically, nobody hearing it was fooled – yet the individuals still weren’t held accountable. These are casualties of the desire by executives to avoid the sort of intense and emotional confrontation that is required to hold people accountable in such situations.

On many occasions when I’ve seen executives escape accountability, I’ve thought about how devastating it would be if the front-line troops of the organization witnessed exactly what transpired. Even without any such direct knowledge, serious damage is sustained by an organization when the front-line troops simply become aware that unsatisfactory

performance is tolerated in particular areas without any visible consequences. How do you think they perceive top leadership when they see that accountability is situational?

Take a cue from Mr. Parcells. Accountability should never rest. You did or you didn’t. Deal with it. Celebrate or adjust. Just don’t escape or aid and abet an escape from accountability. What should organization members be held accountable for? Everything in their purview. When should they be held accountable? Always. The effect I’ve seen when top leaders have approached things this way is akin to an entire organization sitting up straighter in its chair, paying more attention and being much more eager to do well.

Four: Good Isn’t Good Enough

He challenges his players to perform better than they think they can. This is critical to Parcells’ success. He challenges all of them – even the players who have been recognized as being among the best in the league at what they do. Parcells starts with a basic assumption that everyone can do better if they are motivated to do so.

Parcells works at understanding what motivates each individual and then he works at getting under each player’s skin to motivate them to dig deep to show him their best. If a player is motivated by a desire to be perceived as the best in the league at his position – he works that angle. If a player is driven by a need to prove wrong those who considered him too slow to be successful in the NFL – he works that angle. His tactics range from simple needling to one-on-one challenges to using theatrical props to get the player’s attention.

Parcells will often challenge a player who feels satisfied with a good performance. If Parcells sees that a player who performed well can perform even better, he will make that known.

One of the keys to Parcells’ approach is that he challenges players on an everyday basis – not just at certain points. This is because Parcells believes that a leader has to create on-going performance pressure in an organization to constantly motivate people to perform at a high level. He believes that human nature dictates that this won’t happen otherwise.

This performance pressure sometimes results in conflict between Parcells and members of the organization. Whereas many leaders prefer to avoid such conflict, Parcells relishes it because it creates opportunities to reach people on a deep level, to get things straight with them and to achieve breakthroughs in understanding.

Parcells has found that many people appreciate this approach and he tells how players come and thank him years later for the pressure he put on them. They thank him for demanding more of them and for showing them they were capable of doing better.

The key fundamentals from this aspect of Parcells’ overall approach:

Here is an especially relevant lesson from Parcells’ approach for industry executives:

An organization needs on-going performance pressure. Organizations in industry are quite bottom-line oriented and many of them put a great deal of pressure on themselves to deliver certain results per month, quarter or year. Unfortunately for many of these organizations, they often have an attention deficit regarding their results until the latter stages of their measurement interval. This frequently leads to them lagging vs. their targets and then they typically react with directives that are more desperate than they are motivating.

When an organization feels desperate it is far more likely to make mistakes and to compromise its standards and reputation. In contrast to a constant positive pressure to perform at a high level, these organizations experience a stressful oscillation from one extreme to the other, repeated throughout the year or year-to-year.

The lesson from Parcells is to keep a constant pressure on organization members to perform at a high level every day. Not only does this help prevent having to play catch-up late in the game, but it provides an organization with daily opportunities to improve performance, achieve breakthroughs in understanding and to coach and teach.

Five: The Perceived Payoff

He gives his team confidence that they’ll be winners if they follow his lead. As their new leader, Parcells immediately gave confidence to the woeful Cowboy team he inherited. From his first day, they suddenly expected to become winners and they felt a greater pride and competitive sprit. There is no doubt that this confidence is significantly fueled by his pedigree as a two-time Super Bowl winner and highly successful coach of three different NFL teams. But that’s far from the only reason – Parcells creates confidence in his teams also because of his demeanor and approach.

One of the most important things Parcells does in this regard is he imposes his full leadership from the first moment. He doesn’t wait for the team to give the impression that he’s earned that right. He believes people want to be led by leaders who are confident and resolute about what they’re doing. He also believes people want their leaders to operate according to defined principles and philosophies and to conduct themselves consistently in accordance with them.

Parcells quickly earns respect and generates confidence for the following reasons:

Lessons abound from this aspect of Parcells’ leadership repertoire. Ask yourself if you are generating the level of confidence in your teams that Parcells does. Although not all elements of his approach in this area are directly applicable in all leadership realms, any leader can benefit from an honest self-assessment against the above items. Industry executives can definitely benefit from consistent application of items six and seven.

The Short Version

The five key elements of Bill Parcells overall leadership approach:

The first of two powerful examples that personify what getting “everybody on the same page” is all about comes from Bill Belichick, the Head Coach of the New England Patriots. How does he do it? The answer is primarily three-fold.

First, his process for screening potential team members is unwavering in its criteria. He might take a skilled player who was problematic elsewhere, but he won’t take a player if he’s not confident the player will live up to the standards and expectations once he’s become a New England Patriot.

Secondly, every new member of the Patriots is immediately immersed in the Patriot values and ways by both coaches and teammates. This is never left to chance.

And last, once you know what page a Patriot is supposed to be on, you’re either on it, or you don’t play and you’re not a Patriot for long, no matter who you are. The result of all this is an exceptionally tight knit organization that’s at or near the top of the NFL pecking order every year, even when their overall talent level is below that of many of their competitors.

The second example is from the gold standard of upscale department stores. It’s probably not news that the Nordstrom brand is all about elite service. What you may not know is their powerful but simple mechanism for getting “everybody on the same page.”

It’s impossible to sustain their brand without getting “everybody on the same page.” This is so because customers who expect elite service expect it every time—without exception. The only way to meet and exceed such expectations is by getting “everybody on the same page” to prevent any cracks or breaks in the brand.

Their industry-leading success in doing this is largely based on an incredibly simple customer service philosophy coupled with highly empowered front-line personnel. Both aspects are articulated in their legendary one-page Employee Handbook. It says, and I quote: “Our #1 goal is to provide outstanding customer service.” It also says, “Rule #1 is to use your good judgment in all situations,” followed by “There will be no additional rules.” The result of the one-page handbook is clarity of purpose few companies achieve. The result: “Everybody on one page, based on one brand. And a cult customer following who enthusiastically pay above premium.

With Key #2, momentum is accelerated by getting “everybody on the same page.”

The third of the Six Keys to Achieving Disciplined Execution is:

Pay attention…Pay attention to how things are being done in the day-to-day aspects of organization performance.

Setting unreasonable standards and expectations and getting everybody on the same page is just the beginning. In order to achieve Disciplined Execution, organization leaders must then continuously pay attention to how the organization is actually doing things day-to-day vs. standards & expectations. This is necessary for the organization to achieve mastery of the key activities in support of its competitive strategies.

It’s not enough to evaluate performance in regular review meetings. Too much of what’s behind the numbers is missed or glossed over. Many of the most valuable opportunities to gauge and refine an organization’s performance and behavior happen real-time in the course of the day-to-day activities that are the lifeblood of the organization.

One organization that epitomizes this level of “paying attention” quietly became an industry leader when almost no one was looking. I’m talking about Harrah’s Entertainment. Harrah’s has grown to become the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment. Their CEO, Gary Loveman, was recently named Best CEO in his industry for the fourth year in a row by Institutional Investor magazine. That’s every year he’s been Harrah’s CEO.

Harrah’s distinguishes themselves through Disciplined Execution. New employees are often surprised by management’s insistence that nothing be left to chance. Each aspect of a property’s service delivery—the average time to greet a customer or to deliver a drink—is measured and reported on a weekly basis.

What are the results of this mindset and commitment?

In 2006, Casino Player magazine’s annual reader survey revealed Harrah’s properties winning 82 of the 168 possible “Top Three” rankings across 56 categories.

And their financial track record includes rapid growth coupled with stellar bottom-line financial performance, especially in this decade. Last year, their financial performance ultimately led to one of the largest leveraged buyout offers in history. That offer is awaiting approval as of this writing.

With Key #3, mastery of the key activities in support of the organization’s competitive strategies is attained by “paying attention.”

The fourth of the Six Keys to Achieving Disciplined Execution is:

Be constructively intolerant…Be constructively intolerant about performance and behavior variances related to Disciplined Execution—every time.

In order to realize its full potential, an organization must be “constructively intolerant” of performance and behavior that’s counter to its aspirations. This means that the organization must refuse to accept less than the performance and behavior that is necessary. It’s crucial that this unwillingness be absolutely consistent—no exceptions. It may sound harsh—but it’s not. Such consistency breeds confidence. And it says “This is who we are and this is how we do things.”

It’s important that the intolerance for performance or behavior variances be “constructive.” To illustrate what I mean I’ll compare the approaches of two football coaches. Coach A yells at a struggling receiver in practice and tells him to catch the ball or he’ll find someone who will. Then the coach moves on to yell at someone else who’s screwing up. In the same situation, Coach B stops play and provides specific coaching to the receiver about how to fix flaws in his technique that were causing the problems. Both coaches are intolerant of less than what is needed but Coach B approaches it more constructively and gets faster and better results. Coach B will also be in a better position than Coach A to know when someone simply isn’t capable of doing what’s asked.

Despite its recent market challenges, one of the best-executing big companies of the past quarter century is Dell. Launched by Michael Dell in 1984 with only $1,000 in starting capital, Dell grew to $50B in little over 20 years. In contrast, Compaq was launched 2 years earlier with $100M in capital.

Dell’s phenomenal success can be traced to a great business model + unreasonably high expectations + an execution-obsessed culture that symbolizes “constructive intolerance.” “Constructive intolerance” is so ingrained in their DNA that Dell Managers who try to spin or hide problems or who aren’t urgent about fixing them can’t survive. The execution obsessed culture won’t accept them.

Regarding Dell’s recent earnings slippage, Michael Dell reassumed the role of CEO on January 31st, 2007 and vowed to get the business back on track. And what did he say would be his overarching strategy for achieving that? Mr. Dell was right on cue. He said that the key would be “to…improve execution.”

Another leader who represents the ideals of good execution in general and “constructive intolerance” in particular is John Wooden. His resume as the former coach of the UCLA Bruins basketball team is unequaled. 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years. Seven in a row.

Coach Wooden certainly recruited many great players but so have many other coaches. What set him apart was his “constructive intolerance” of variances to the principles of behavior that he believed would lead to success.

One of the countless times that Coach Wooden demonstrated this is when the great Bill Walton showed up for the first practice of a season with both a hair length and beard not meeting team standards. Walton had just come off a year in which he was the centerpiece of an undefeated team and had been the NCAA Player of the Year. Walton figured he had the leverage to test the principles of the legendary coach.

When Coach Wooden immediately addressed the issue with him, Walton told him that he didn’t have the right to tell him how to wear his hair or whether he could have facial hair. Coach Wooden said “you’re absolutely right Bill…and…I have a lot of respect for people who stand up for the things in which they truly believe…and we’re going to miss you Bill.”

Walton decided to exercise his personal freedom by hurrying to get a haircut and a shave.

With Key #4, a winning mindset is forged by “constructive intolerance” of anything that gets in the way of Disciplined Execution.

The fifth of the Six Keys to Achieving Disciplined Execution is:

Be flexible about everything that doesn’t require Disciplined Execution.

Organizations that are constructively intolerant of performance or behavior that is counter to their aspirations also benefit greatly if they are simultaneously quite “flexible about everything that doesn’t require Disciplined Execution.”

Not everything organization members do requires Disciplined Execution. In fact, there are many things organization members do that are best left to each individual to determine the best methods relative to their unique strengths, talents and style.

Southwest Airlines is a company that really gets this. While their flight attending crews operate in a machine-like manner when executing a variety of tasks, they are also empowered to be themselves while working and serving their customers. The result is a relaxed and fun environment while you savor your seven peanuts and miniature beverage. When Herb Kelleher, their Chairman, was asked why many Southwest flight attendants sing, he said it was “because they want to.” He said “We don’t…teach people to sing or tell jokes. What we say is, if that is your…personality, feel free to go ahead and do it.”

There are few areas of a business that aren’t made better by harnessing this powerful synergy. An organization that’s constructively intolerant and greatly empowering is a force that no competitor wants to face.

So with Key #5, the benefits of Disciplined Execution are maximized by being flexible in the areas that don’t require it.

The sixth of the Six Keys to Achieving Disciplined Execution is:

Behave As-If.

To realize a vision, organizations need to continuously answer four critical questions relative to the future image they have of themselves:

Organizations can only realize their potential by consciously and continuously molding their thinking and behavior to the future image they have of themselves—until the image and the reality are one and the same.

A fantastic example of the power of behaving “as-if” occurred in the days leading up to Super Bowl III, in January of 1969. As the quarterback of the underdog New York Jets, Joe Namath played a huge role in inspiring his team to a historic upset of the Baltimore Colts. And I’m not talking about his dramatic declaration that the Jets would defeat the supposedly unbeatable Colts. I’m talking about what happened from the moment that he made his proclamation, three days before the game, up until the end of the game.

Joe Namath didn’t behave like a guy who brazenly shot off his mouth but was really just whistling in the graveyard to keep his fears at bay. Everything about his behavior and appearance suggested a quarterback who would be on the winning side. He “behaved as-if.” And I believe this had a profound impact on the game’s outcome.

One of my favorite examples of “behaving as-if” ironically features one of the world’s most acclaimed actors. As a young man, Al Pacino committed himself to be an actor. Once he did this, he envisioned everything about the actor he wanted to become. He created a picture in his mind of the whole thing. Not only that he would be a great actor who would win major awards and be famous. That alone wouldn’t be an unusual dream for an aspiring actor. The picture Al created in his mind included every detail that he deemed important. And then he did what inspires me to tell you this story.

From that time forward, he committed himself to thinking and behaving as he thought the man in the picture would. He approached his craft as the man would. He walked and talked as the man would. He read what that man would read and so on. The real test of his commitment was regarding what roles he would pursue and accept when he was poor and unknown. I learned that he wouldn’t take any part that the man in the picture wouldn’t take. He was steadfast about this no matter how much he could use the money. I think he somehow understood that you can’t fake your way to such greatness. The result: he ultimately became the man in the picture and has sustained one of the movie industry’s longest runs as a top-tier actor.

Think about the ambitious expectations for your own organization. To “behave as-if” means constantly asking yourselves how the organization that soars over that expectation high-bar would think and behave. And you’re asking yourselves that until you look up and realize you’re looking back from the far side of that bar.

Now what does it take to excel at the Six Keys I’ve just shared with you? It takes a lot. It takes a lot of your time and energy. It takes a lot of effort. So is it worth all that?

I’ll make you an ironclad promise. A promise I would never make to you if I had even the smallest doubt about it whatsoever. This is my promise: you will earn three exceptional rewards if you focus on the six keys I’ve shared with you.

1. You will become even smarter, and more importantly, wiser – every day.
   It’s literally impossible to focus on these six things without becoming even smarter and wiser every day. With every passing day, you will see things you didn’t see before. You will understand things you didn’t understand before. You will solve problems you didn’t even know were problems before.
2. Your business will perform at unprecedented levels.
   This is a no-brainer. Your business will continuously refine itself and perform better and more efficiently than its previous bests. Your business will become even stronger every day.
3. Your top and bottom-line will grow.
   They will grow proportionate to the effort you invest in achieving Disciplined Execution of the right things. Business sense dictates that if you’re committed to a vision that’s better than you are today and you achieve Disciplined Execution of the things that are critical to the realization of that vision—you will grow the business. And since Disciplined Execution always yields tremendous gains in efficiency and in doing it right the first time—your bottom-line will grow even faster than your top line will.

Here’s an analogy that will connect the dots between the things I’ve shared with you:

Now imagine you’re 23 years old and you’re at a social gathering with many friends. Everybody’s having a great time enjoying each other’s company and the food and spirits.

And then out of nowhere it happens. One of the guys at the gathering accidentally drops an almost full bottle of beer on the floor and it rapidly begins to spill out. Every guy within earshot of this horrible accident has the same primal response—a visceral urge to grab the capsized bottle and turn it right-side up as soon as possible to minimize the tragedy before it’s too late.

One of the guys immediately swoops down with Olympian skill and saves the innocent bottle after only a small amount of the beverage had spilled. All who witnessed the feat admired both his courage and athleticism. Some admired his apparent commitment to conservation. And every one of the men admired him for upholding their code in a time of distress.

What was their code? You know what it was. You never, ever waste a drop of beer. Now for our purposes, the great lesson comes from understanding the motivation behind the code. It’s not borne of cost-consciousness or a lack of sufficient current supply of the tasty beverage. They could afford more and they had more than they would need for the gathering.

The motivation for the code was borne from their wisdom that a wasted beer is a loss that cannot really be replaced. You can take another from your supply or you can purchase more. But you can never enjoy the one that was wasted. It’s a missed opportunity.

It’s exactly the same thing with business execution. No matter how hard you work and no matter how much you achieve, if you don’t have Disciplined Execution of the right things—you will leave a lot on the table. As with wasted beer, the result is missed opportunities.

But if you achieve Disciplined Execution of the right things, you get the most out of your resources. You get all there is to get. You become the best you can be. And then you become better than that.

Exhibit A of someone who exemplifies this constant drive, no pun intended, is Tiger Woods. Tiger has been widely considered the best golfer on the planet since shortly after he joined the PGA tour as a young man. After already reaching this level, he significantly rebuilt his golf swing—twice! The first time was about 10 years ago and the second time was about four years ago. Think about it. You’re the best in the world. Many think it’s only a matter of time before you’re statistically the best that ever played…and you feel the need to fix your swing!!! There’s only one answer to why someone would engage in such sheer madness. The answer is he’s not trying to be the best—again, he already was—no, Tiger’s on a very different quest. He’s on a never-ending quest to be better then himself.

And what happened after he made the changes to his swing? Both times, once he achieved Disciplined Execution, the best in the world got even better.

—MWW

Click here for the PDF version of “The Six Keys to Achieving Disciplined Execution,” including a printable poster of the “Six Keys” on page 15

Key Results:

Tangible

The Clippers’ game-to-game performances were too inconsistent – had they been able to maintain high energy and a tenacious focus throughout most or all of their second-round series, they very well might have defeated the Suns.

No. 4: Phil Jackson – Los Angeles Lakers

Key Results:

Tangible

• Developed a bond of respect and trust with the team’s most talented player whichpaved the way for the player to embrace a major leadership role in implementing his strategies
• Assembled a very young team that can develop and grow as a unit

• He commands respect from his players because he’s won significantly more championships than any active coach
• He gets his teams to commit to his proven philosophies and systems
• He’s uncommonly candid with his players, regularly providing critical feedback that is needed to achieve crucial performance gains
• He’s a master strategist, focused on the big picture and what it will take to get the most out of a team over the long-term

• Although they lost one of their two best players to injury at the very beginning of the season, the Suns had one of their best regular seasons in the history of the franchise, easily winning the Pacific Division
• They were the highest-scoring team in the NBA by a wide margin
• In the first round of the playoffs, after being down to the Lakers three games to one, the Suns became one of only eight teams in NBA history to prevail after such a deficit
• In the second round of the playoffs, the Suns defeated a very talented and confident Clippers team in seven games by ultimately wearing them down with their unrelenting fast pace
• In the third round of the playoffs, they pushed the Dallas Mavericks to a sixth game before succumbing to the Mavericks’ size and depth

• An unusually cohesive group of players that like and support each other exceptionally well
• Unsurpassed confidence in their ability to compete and win
• A very mentally tough team that never gets down on itself when struggling
• Due to their unique fast-paced style and talent, combined with a humble demeanor, they are both one of the most exciting and well-liked teams across the league

• The Suns’ core strategy was to out-run and out-shoot the competition from long range to take advantage of the three-point rule – the Suns assembled a group of players uniquely suited to execute that strategy
• Crucial to successful execution of their strategy, the Suns’ on-court leader and best player leads the way by consistently getting the ball to his teammates at just the right time and when they are in just the right position to succeed
• The Suns’ practice regimen results in a level of stamina that their competition cannot match

• He lets his players play with rare freedom, essentially only demanding that they out-run and out-shoot the competition
• His quiet confidence in his team’s ability to successfully execute their game-plan and eventually wear down the competition is infectious
• He has the willingness and foresight to allow his on-court leader to make decisions on-the-fly during much of the game – instead of directing most of the plays from the sideline like most of his peers
• His players are better able to recover from brief performance lapses because he demonstrates confidence that they will quickly return to form if they continue to play their role and execute the strategy
• He believes in and never veers from driving the execution of his strategy regardless of the opponent’s strategy and style

Nothing that was available to him in their third round defeat to Dallas, but the main reason Dallas ultimately defeated them in six games is instructive. Dallas prevailed primarily because of their much greater depth (more talented supporting players) that enabled the Mavericks to give their best players more rest to keep them fresh with little or no dip in team performance, whereas the Suns were forced to over-rely on fewer players due to serious injuries sustained to several key players.

No. 2: Avery Johnson – Dallas Mavericks

Key Results:

Tangible

After taking a two games to none lead at home vs. the Miami Heat in the championship round, the Heat stunned the Mavericks by winning the next three games in Miami, with Miami narrowly escaping defeat in two of them. Instead of role-modeling his usual mental toughness and adapting to overcome the confidence and momentum Miami had gained, he focused too much of his energy on claims that the officiating had unfairly favored the Heat and prevented his team from winning at least one of the games in Miami. This resulted in his team not being mentally prepared to regain control of the series when they returned to Dallas for game six, as Miami had done when they returned home for game three.

No. 1: Pat Riley – Miami Heat

Key Results:

Tangible