Vince Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, He is more significantly recognized as one of the greatest coaches and leaders in the history of any American sport.
 
In 1959, Lombardi became the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. The year before his arrival the Packers were 1-10-1. In his nine seasons as head coach, Lombardi's Packer's won six conference titles and five NFL championships, including three in a row which included the first two Super Bowls.
 
Some of Lombardi's key ideas have been misunderstood and taken out of context. In his biography, When Pride Still Mattered, David Maraniss gives two good examples:
 
The most famous saying attributed to Lombardi—"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." did not originate with him. He said it a few times but it did not reflect his philosophy. To Lombardi, it was the pursuit of excellence that mattered most. He was often harder on his teams when they played poorly but won than when they played well and lost.
 
Lombardi actually said: "Winning isn't  everything – but making the effort to win is". Lombardi was certainly a task master in pursuit of perfection. He said: "You don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time."
 
Maraniss explained how Lombardi's leadership style also got mischaracterized:
 
There is a myth of Lombardi's leadership methods. It was Henry Jordan, a defensive tackle for the old Packers, who uttered the oft-repeated phrase "Lombardi treats us all alike, like dogs."  Memorable, but inaccurate.
 
Lombardi was an adept psychologist who treated each of his players differently. He rode some mercilessly but stayed away from others, depending on how they responded. He did not mind oddballs—his teams were full of them—as long as they shared his will to excel.
 
Lombardi was a master motivator and teacher. He described it this way:
 
"You can't coach without criticizing, and it's essential to understand how to criticize each man individually. … Football is a pressure business, and on my teams I put on most of the pressure. The point is that I've got to learn 40 ways to pressure 40 men."
 
"They call it coaching, but it is teaching. You do not just tell them it is so, but you show them the reasons why it is so and you repeat and repeat until they are convinced, until they know."
 
The most valuable lessons I learned from my study of Vince Lombardi were:
 

1. Pursue a goal that you are excited about.
2. Build a team of people with a good work ethic that share your enthusiasm. Get rid of the bad apples as quickly as you can.
3. Build a system that is based on the most important fundamentals, Keep it simple and demand the perfect execution of those fundamentals every time.
4. Give your team the flexibility to innovate within the execution of those fundamentals.
5. Be clear that the team will only be inspired if you are inspired.

 
What are you excited about?

Have you ever had a goal, idea or project you gave up on because you ran out of time or thought you were too old to start on it again?
 
Meet Casey Stengel, the greatest manager in the history of professional baseball, and get inspired. You will be ready to give that goal another try.
 
In 1949, Casey Stengel was 58 years old. He had had a good career as a Major League Baseball player (14 seasons, with a lifetime batting average of .284).
 
He had not been a success as a Major League Manager. His record in nine seasons was 581 wins and 742 losses. With two different teams, he had had one winning season (77-75 in 1938) and never had a team finish higher than 5th place. He had been fired once and resigned from the second team because he knew they were getting ready to fire him.
 
In the previous three years (1946-48), it seemed that Casey had found his calling as a minor league manager with the Oakland Oaks (321-236).
 
In 1949, his longtime friends George Weiss and Del Webb offered Casey the job of managing the New York Yankees. Casey accepted the job explaining: "I have to prove that I can win in the majors. I have that confidence in myself." He didn’t think he was too old.
 
In the next 12 seasons Casey’s Yankees would make baseball history by winning a record setting ten American League pennants and seven World Series Championships.
 
Casey became the only manager in the history of baseball to win the World Series five years in a row.
 
In 1960, his Yankees won the pennant and lost 10-9 in the bottom of the ninth in game seven of the World Series. Casey was fired because he was "too old". His response was: "Remind me not to turn 70 again." Casey wasn’t done yet.
 
In 1962 at the age of 71 he came back and managed the brand new expansion New York Mets for four years. They were the worst team in baseball but on the strength of a new ballpark and Casey’s promotional skills and enthusiasm, they outdrew the crosstown Yankees by more than 400,000 fans in 1964. The Amazing Mets launch had been another Casey Stengel success story.
 
Casey Stengel showed there is no stopping hard work and enthusiasm. He ate, drank and slept baseball his whole life. His home phone and address were listed and he welcomed visitors one and all to come on in and talk baseball. He talked baseball to security guards, janitors and strangers in the super market. His knowledge of the game and attention to detail was unmatched, as was his sense of humor and enthusiasm.
 
Knowledge requires talent to get favorable results. When Casey’s knowledge teamed up with the talented Yankees they made baseball history. His persistence, continuous improvement, enthusiasm and unsuppressed belief in himself had him ready for that moment. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have his first success until he was 58 years old.
 
Are you ready to start again on that goal you gave up on?

In his book Leading with the Heart, Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K.) wrote: "There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring, and pride. I like to think of each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable."
 
All five of these qualities start with relationships based on the truth. In his book The Gold Standard, Coach K. described how he brought this to life with the 2008 Olympic Team:
 
"Our Standards Meeting— July 20, 2008— Las Vegas, Nevada: Our team and staff had just gathered in Las Vegas for our first team meeting and practice as the United States Olympic basketball team. I started by presenting two standards that are vital to the formation of relationships, two concepts that are fundamental to a team dynamic: communication and trust. I said, "When we talk to each other, we look each other in the eye, we tell each other the truth, and we treat each other with respect."
 
When Coach K builds a relationship with you it is not because he wants something from you. You know you have a friend you can count on for support and the truth. No deals, no hidden agendas involved. With Coach K, you don’t feel you are being manipulated.
 
Communication is delivered through actions and words. Trust demands sincerity, honesty, reliability and integrity.
 
With Coach K. you have a relationship based on communication you can trust. He will look you in the eye.
 
How are your relationships? What are your relationships based on?