Robert H Myers

Nick Saban is universally viewed as the greatest college football coach of all time. His run, in the modern era, will never be rivaled. He’s won 7 national titles in 17 years. How did he do it?

In the clip below, Coach Saban mentions a fundamental schism that goes overlooked on most teams. Middling performers don’t like high performers and the same is doubly true in reverse. Curating and cultivating a team is vital to achieve greatness. The trust required for greatness is nearly impossible to acquire between low and high performers.

Why don’t more people do this? I suspect it’s because few want to label anyone as a low performer. Worse, using that lens opens the possibility for us to discover we’re a low performer, and what then? Plenty, if we’re committed to doing something about it.

Saban’s core philosophy sets the conditions for a winning program. Talent alone will take you far, but to be elite, you’ll have to outlast your opponent. You’ll have to do the kinds of things your competition won’t. We like to think of these as physically hard things. Enduring pain, exertion, long hours. And it is those things, at times. But it’s also the other things. The forcing ourselves to learn a new skill to get over a hump. Being willing to stay late to sharpen a system that will save you 2 hours every week. Being willing to look foolish. Saying the thing you know no one wants to hear but needs to be said.

If everybody doesn’t buy into the same principles and values of the organization and the same high standard you’re never going to be successful.” – Nick Saban

I’ve been talking about culture for two decades. Longer, if I had a name for it. As definitions go, I don’t know if you’ll find a better one than this: Culture = actions over time. That’s it. What actions are repeated here? Whatever they are, that’s the culture. If it’s a place of yelling, and blame, and low trust, that’s the culture. If it’s an environment of support, adherence to principles, and trust, that’s the culture. Every place has one even if they’ve never thought of the word. Whatever the prevailing behaviors are, that’s the culture. Not what’s said, what’s done.

Saban insists on proactively creating a culture of his choosing. He states, loudly and openly, what actions are accepted within his organizations and what actions aren’t. He polices his environment and removes actors that don’t exhibit the behaviors his culture demands. This isn’t cruel, it’s liberating. That’s not to say mistakes can’t be made. Saban is famously supportive of his players who screw up. But those unconcerned with living according to the culture? The high performers on the team won’t stomach them for long.

Finally, what I enjoy about Saban’s list, here, is that it highlights the pitfalls. These are the places people go off the road. I’ve seen it happen several times. Most poor performers suffer from one of these, but usually, a combination. Self-pity seems to be the prevailing curse of many of poor Gen-Z performers. Entitlement and complacency hit Boomers hard. No one is immune, regardless your age or background. Print the list below and hang it up somewhere you’re going to have to see it every day. Don’t fall into any of these holes.

1. Entitlement

• Success makes people think they deserve more – without doing more.
• Entitlement is the belief that past effort guarantees future rewards.
• Greatness only belongs to those who earn it again, every day.

“You get up every day, and you’re entitled to: Nothing…Nothing is acceptable but your best”

2. Lack of Discipline

• Discipline is doing what needs to be done, even when you don’t feel like it.
• Without discipline, talent becomes wasted potential.
• The smallest lapses – being late, cutting corners, losing focus – compound into failure.

“Run hard when it gets hard to run. Everything starts with discipline. Practice until you can’t get it wrong – not just until you get it right. If you don’t respect it enough to do it right, when it’s the right way to do it, how can you be trusted in a game?”

3. Circumstances over Vision

• Average performers let circumstances dictate their attitude and effort.
• Great performers stick to their vision, no matter the conditions.
• Your standard doesn’t change based on who you play, what the score is, or how you feel.

“If you want to be good, you really don’t have a lot of choices, because it takes what it takes”

4. Self-Pity

• The fastest way to lose is to feel sorry for yourself.
• Self-pity kills resilience and responsibility.
• No excuses, no complaints – just the next play.

“Everybody’s got to be responsible for their own self-determination. If you think that not confronting people who don’t do the right things is helping your organization, you’re absolutely wrong.”

5. Complacency

• The moment you think you’ve arrived, you start to decline.
• Complacency turns champions into ex-champions.
• Hunger and humility must outlast success if you want to stay great.

“Complacency creates a blatant disregard for doing what is right.”