Blog on Nick Saban Didn't Change Alabama's Culture. He Deepened It.

Nick Saban Didn’t Change Alabama’s Culture. He Deepened It.

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How Culture Change Works

JCPenney was in decline and desperate to modernize. In 2011, the board hired Ron Johnson, the Apple executive who had helped create one of the most successful retail experiences in the world.

It seemed like an inspired choice.

Johnson moved quickly. He eliminated coupons and constant markdowns, redesigned stores, and tried to transform JCPenney’s relationship with its customers.

There was only one problem: the customers did not want the relationship he was offering.

For generations, JCPenney shoppers had enjoyed hunting for bargains. Coupons and sales were not merely pricing tactics; they were part of the experience. Johnson tried to replace that experience without understanding what it meant to the people who valued it.

Sales collapsed. Johnson was fired after 17 months, and JCPenney brought back his predecessor to repair the damage. But some damage cannot be reversed simply by restoring the coupons.

The Pattern Behind Success and Failure

We’ve seen versions of this story in businesses, sports teams, nonprofits, and government agencies. A new leader arrives with fresh ideas and a mandate to shake things up, only to crash into a cultural wall.

Sometimes people simply resist. Other times, the culture appears to change, but something never feels quite right. The new behaviors seem forced. The values sound imported. The organization loses a piece of itself.

What’s going on, and how can you create culture change that works?

Culture graph in Nick Saban Didn't Change Alabama's Culture. He Deepened It. blog.

Culture is the set of norms that govern behavior. Those norms develop from all three layers: Context, Concept, and Content. Culture-change efforts falter when leaders overlook any one of them.

Context is what makes your company or team unique: it’s the intersection of history, identity, geography, mission, shared experiences, and deeply held beliefs.

At JCPenney, bargain hunting was woven into the company’s identity and its relationship with customers. Removing it did more than change prices. It disrupted a ritual. For loyal customers, the change felt less like modernization and more like betrayal.

Concept identifies the principles that embody your unique context and advance your mission. It answers: Given who we are and what we are here to accomplish, what values and standards should guide us?

Content translates those principles into behavior. What does this value look like when we are making decisions, serving customers, resolving conflict, or responding to mistakes? What behaviors do we want, and what behaviors are unacceptable?

Where the Layers Meet

The intersection of Context and Concept is Authenticity.

Values feel authentic when they grow from the organization’s identity and aspirations. Culture-change efforts often fail here because leaders try to graft someone else’s values, language, or practices onto their organization. The words may sound impressive, but people know they do not sound like us.

When you honor the context, change feels like growth. Ignore it, and change feels like treason.

The intersection of Concept and Content is Accountability.

Institutionalizing culture often fails here. Leaders announce new values but never define the behaviors that express them. People ignore what is written on the walls and watch what happens in the halls and on the calls.

What gets praised? What gets tolerated? Who gets promoted? What happens when a high performer violates the values?

Without clear examples of what right looks like and what is not acceptable, people interpret the values however they please. Conveniently, those interpretations tend to justify whatever they’re already doing.

Successful culture change, therefore, comes from alignment.

Context: Is this true to who we are?

Concept: Does it embody who we want to become?

Content: Does it express how people should behave?

When all three align, culture change does not require people to abandon their identity. It invites them to become a better version of it.

Saban’s Magic

Nick Saban’s transformation of Alabama football is a powerful example. He honored the program’s championship tradition, built the culture around discipline, relentless improvement, and doing ordinary things extraordinarily well, and translated those standards into “The Process.” He got players to focus on executing the next play correctly rather than obsessing over the scoreboard.

Accountable daily behavior turned aspirations into championships.

The 3 Layers process works magic when you want to strengthen your existing culture rather than change it. The authentic clarity boosts buy-in and makes accountability easier and more supportive.

Ready to strengthen your culture? Let’s talk.

Blog on How to Empower Without Losing Control.

How to Empower Without Losing Control

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Today’s complexity and volatility prompt leaders to assert control. Here’s the problem.

I don’t believe the hype that leaders are facing more complexity and volatility than ever. Few today have had to deal with the business or military implications of existential threats such as sudden workforce exposure to incurable diseases, the need to find and ration drinkable water, famine, and unpredictable weather events. The logistics of sustaining a 100,000-person army marching through unmapped, hostile territory entail staggering complexity. Could today’s leaders build Luxor under the conditions 6,500 years ago?

Today’s complexity is challenging in different ways. AI is upending businesses and careers, creating new markets and destroying existing ones. Who wants to be a computer programmer anymore? Political, social, and economic volatility accelerates change and disruption as alliances fray, political parties radicalize, pandemics spread, wars disrupt economies, tariffs drive up costs, supply chains become shaky, and new and old bigotries tear people apart, to name a few.

Uncertainty creates fear, and safety is your first instinct. Asserting control is a common way to increase the feeling of security. Herein lies the risk.

Many leaders seek control by centralizing execution, decisions, problem-solving, and innovation. You feel safer that everything is in your capable hands. No chaos, no stray voltage, no freelancing. The instinct is understandable, but the response is damaging.

I know, because I’ve made the same mistake.

I was in charge of a challenging mission and wanted everything to go right. I thought I could reduce risk and increase control over outcomes by demanding more information, centralizing decision-making, and directing action.

It felt safe, and I felt like a good leader for taking on the excess burdens and risks. I was exhausted, but proud of myself for stepping up at a difficult time.

Mission accomplished, I surveyed people for their reactions.

Their responses floored me. People felt stifled, shut out of important information, micro-managed, frustrated at seeing missed opportunities, and that I didn’t trust them.

“You are the worst leader I’ve ever had.” Ouch!

Graph on How to Empower Without Losing Control.

What I learned from the experience was the difference between centralizing control of decisions and actions (what I call detailed control) versus asserting clarity over purpose, priorities, standards, and boundaries, while decentralizing decisions and actions to trusted, capable people (directive control).

This approach proved invaluable in Afghanistan, when our unit of 800 paratroopers was spread over seven remote outposts in a 6,000km square area with over 250,000 civilians in over 100 villages, and a deadly insurgency. Trying to exert detailed control would have undermined the mission and put people at greater risk.

Instead, we practiced directive control. An extraordinary network of aligned individual decisions and actions motivated a big insurgent group to stop fighting and become allies.

Business examples abound.

Netflix famously asserts control over standards, values, financial discipline, and strategic direction, while delegating hiring, vendor selection, and product decisions to the lowest capable level.

Toyota directs exacting safety, quality, and production standards, and empowers employees to stop production if they sense something amiss.

By contrast, Sears centralized decision-making and operational control in the wake of threats from Wal-Mart and Amazon. They became slower and less responsive to a dynamic market, ultimately going out of business.

Possibility

What if your entire organization could act with AI-like speed and disciplined judgment?

Imagine a business where people solve problems at the lowest level, make sound decisions that improve performance and reduce risk, and proactively create and seize opportunities to advance the mission. No chaos, no freelancing, no stray voltage.

Directive control unlocks your team’s energy to move your priorities forward without constant direction.

Instead of serving as the lone engine of progress, you become the architect of momentum, so that people throughout the organization take initiative aligned with your goals.

That’s the promise of the 3-Discipline Leadership System™: you can implement directive control safely and with confidence, creating team-driven momentum so you can spend less time managing execution and more time shaping the future.

Blog on American Airlines Shows That Customers Meet Your Culture on Your Worst Day

American Airlines Shows That Customers Meet Your Culture on Your Worst Day

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American Airlines had a bad day on Thursday. Here’s what that revealed.

I plopped down in my seat around midnight after a four-hour delay in Dallas. Exhausted and frustrated, I hoped to get a little sleep during the 1-hour-and-45-minute trip to El Paso. I vowed never to fly American Airlines again.

The day began so well. I’d given a workshop on Building an Inspiring Culture® that morning to senior military officials and defense business leaders. Thanks to working with my mentor, Nick Demos, my storytelling reached a whole new level of excellence, and it showed during the interactions and post-event surveys. I met a friend for lunch whom I haven’t seen since we served together in Afghanistan 19 years ago. I even sprung for business class on the return flight.

Everything was awesome until I landed in Dallas. I checked the app for my gate. Only a 6-minute walk! Arriving at the gate, I noticed the flight was delayed by two hours and would depart from a different terminal. I schlepped my bags onto the tram to Terminal B. I waited at the gate for a while, then received another gate change notification. I walked there, hoping this was it. We were to board in a few minutes.

Curiously, a flight to Las Vegas was still boarding at the same gate. There was no way they’d be finished before we were supposed to board a plane to El Paso. I stood near two gentlemen who were looking equally perplexed. We struck up a nice conversation. Saying hi to new people enriches my life.

The flight to Vegas was stuck at the gate, but the gate agent assured us we were in the right spot. The boarding time countdown reached 8 minutes. The Vegas plane was still there. The electronic sign turned off the boarding countdown and went back to “Flight Closed” on the Vegas flight. The gate agent was nowhere to be found.

American Airlines gate at airport.

Then, the 10- to 20-minute rolling delays hit, the air travel equivalent of Chinese water torture.

Every so often, the boarding countdown resumed, then reverted to “Flight Closed” for the Vegas flight (still stuck at the gate), followed by another delay notification. The countdown reached 7 minutes at one point, but we knew it was a fantasy because of the stuck Vegas plane. No gate agent, no explanation.

We’re now well past 11 pm and wondering if the flight will be canceled. One of the gentlemen, an American Airlines Platinum club member, received a food voucher valid only for that day. Of course, everything was closed.

The app pinged again, announcing a new departure gate in a different terminal. Everyone groaned. Over two hundred people hustled to the tram (which was running on a single track, infrequently, due to the late hour) and crammed aboard. We traveled the circumference of the airport through terminals C, D, and E, because the old gate was B17 and the new gate was A11.

Happily, the crew lined up at the gate, and a plane waited outside. After boarding, the well-meaning flight attendant announced, “I know you are frustrated by the delay, but we’re committed to your safety and had to fix the plane.” Using the term “but” dismissed everyone’s frustrations, adding insult to injury. We finally arrived around 1 am, and the car ride home took another hour.

I contrast that experience with a similarly long, late-night delay on United Airlines in Chicago. The gate agent provided us with routine updates, brought snacks to everyone, and answered everyone’s questions. He took personal ownership to make an awful experience as pleasant as possible. I felt totally abandoned by American Airlines.

I’ve written that the culture you create in peacetime is the one you take into combat. In business, the culture you create in stable times is the one you carry with you when things go wrong. American Airlines is sadly notorious for awful customer service and aircraft maintenance in normal times. It’s no wonder that challenging situations spiral out of control.

What do you want your customers to experience on your worst day?

Blog on What Do NASA and the NBA Say About Visual Models?

What Do NASA and the NBA Say About Visual Models?

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On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 meaning your employees are rarely on the same page, and 10 meaning your employees act and adapt to change in harmony, how would you rate your organization?

A recent NASA study noted that shared mental models are the main factor differentiating exceptional teams from average ones. Author and podcaster, Shane Parrish, likewise describes the importance of mental models in getting everyone on the same page.

The challenge with mental models is the extent to which they are actually shared. What if two people name the same model but visualize it differently? What happens when the situation is dynamic rather than static?

These questions are precisely why NBA coaches use diagrams, or visual models, and why I invite you to do the same.

Blog on What Do NASA and the NBA Say About Visual Models - Basketball Example

This sketch was built by my Chatbot.

A good visual model allows your employees to:

  • See the big picture,
  • See themselves in relation to it,
  • See themselves in relation to their colleagues, and
  • Envision how everyone adapts in dynamic circumstances.

Imagine if you and your employees had shared visual models not only for process flow but also for more intangible matters like communication, expectations, proactivity, accountability, and initiative?

What would having everyone on the same page allow you to do that you don’t have the time or energy to do now?

Let’s face it, when you are trapped in day-to-day management, you neglect doing what everyone relies on you to do: focus on strategy, growth, and building enduring prosperity. You try to do them at the end of the day or on weekends, when you are not at your best, and you sacrifice time for family, friends, and other priorities.

I know. I’ve been there.

The dependency trap sabotages your future. I learned that the road from feeling trapped to liberated is to get everyone on the same page about leadership skills, as well as strategy and operations.

Shared visual models unlocked self-reliant, proactive, and accountable teams that thrived in combat and business.

Across research (McKinsey, Gallup, Harvard Business Review), you consistently see differences like this:

  • 2X-3X higher revenue growth.
  • 20%-30% higher profitability.
  • 2X higher employee engagement.
  • 25%-50% lower turnover.

These visual models are so powerful that I’ve developed scores of them in my 3-Discipline Leadership System™.

For the CEOs and senior leaders I’m working with now, this System has given them the confidence to let go of day-to-day management because their direct reports are on the same page and have the skills to implement the System. These CEOs and senior executives focus on the future, knowing the daily tasks are in good hands.

If you recognize yourself in this blog and want to confidently and competently liberate yourself from dependency, it might be time to use visual models that get everyone on the same page and keep them there in a dynamic marketplace.

Just leave a reply below, and I’ll send through the information.

Blog on Hegseth’s Military Purge Shows the Value of Viewpoint Diversity.

Hegseth’s Military Purge Shows the Value of Viewpoint Diversity

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When you surround yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear, you develop a taste for silliness.

Army Chief of Staff Randy George became the last casualty in Secretary Hegseth’s war against uniformed senior leaders (Randy George and I served at the same time in Afghanistan in 2009 and have some friends in common, but we do not know each other well). In just over a year, at least a dozen three- and four-star officers have been dismissed from the services. It is a purge. I spoke about the matter on TV here.

As I’ve mentioned before, I want Secretary Hegseth to be successful and for the Department to thrive. The alternative is too troubling to fathom. I firmly believe in civilian control of the military, and Secretary Hegseth has the authority to promote, retain, and dismiss the Department’s senior leaders. It’s not a question of CAN, but SHOULD.

The pretext for George’s firing is a promotion list to brigadier general. Hegseth wanted five officers struck from the list, including two women and two black men. George, rightly fearing for the integrity of the Army’s promotion system, wanted to discuss the matter in person with Hegseth. The meeting never occurred, but the request brought about the firing.

What’s troubling is the very clear signal Hegseth is sending: disagreement is intolerable.

Strong Leaders, Strong People

Did you ever notice that strong leaders surround themselves with strong people? They have the self-confidence to seek out the best people for their team. They welcome respectful disagreement because it is the source of innovation and better ideas.

I remember getting into a substantial disagreement with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about Afghanistan. I did not know him well at the time, but figured that he deserved to know one of his assumptions was wrong.

An hour or so later, I received a message from his Chief of Staff. I opened it, fearing the worst. “There are 20,000 people in this building who will agree with anything the Secretary says,” his chief wrote. “He appreciates how you stood your ground and told him your point of view.”

Weak leaders, by contrast, surround themselves with weak people who don’t threaten the leader’s self-confidence. They seek out people who agree with them and do their bidding.

To curry favor, their subordinates tell the leader what they want to hear and how wise they are. The most savvy ones play to your impulses, dragging you into your own fever-swamp.

Soon, you are admiring your own clothes and aroma.

Avoiding the Hegseth Trap

The military culture is sound enough to withstand a short period of top-level viewpoint conformity, but I worry the Secretaries who follow will implement the same playbook as payback.

Ambitious senior uniformed officers will see the game for what it is, and curry favor, leading to a politicized military that no longer offers professional military advice. Such sycophancy undermines the profession and puts people’s lives at needless risk.

Here’s my question to you: Are you moving toward the Hegseth trap? How often do people disagree agreeably? How quickly do they flag problems and nip them in the bud? When did you last hear a fresh idea or example of someone trying new things?

You have to be intentional about creating a culture of respectful candor and vigilant in maintaining it. This is particularly true as your company grows and you become more senior. Left unchecked, you suddenly find that you are getting better looking every day, your jokes are funnier, and your decisions increasingly wise.

Blog on Small Ball; Big Wins

Small Ball; Big Wins

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It’s Opening Day for the 2026 baseball season, so I captured this interview with my friend, Kansas City Royals broadcaster Joel Goldberg.

Leaders tend to look for breakthrough strategies in moments of doubt. More often, it’s the fundamentals that decide the outcome.

Joel has spent more than 30 years watching this play out. As the voice of the Kansas City Royals, he’s seen championship teams and struggling ones operate under the same conditions with very different results. His lens is baseball, but what he really observes is how people perform together over time.

He captured these insights in his new book, Small Ball, Big Dreams.

Control What You Can Actually Control

Joel’s career didn’t begin with opportunity; it began with rejection … twenty-five times. He couldn’t control whether anyone hired him, but he could control whether they remembered him.

“I couldn’t decide whether they were going to hire me or not,” he told me. “But I could certainly decide whether they knew about me.”

So he picked up the phone, a landline back then, and started calling TV stations across the country, telling them he’d be “passing through town.” Once they agreed to meet, he made it true, driving across state lines to shake hands and deliver his demo tape.

That decision changed his trajectory. It also highlights something leaders often overlook: we spend too much time worrying about outcomes we don’t control and not enough time tightening the behaviors that actually drive them.

Joel put it plainly:

“When outcomes are uncertain, you have to control the controllables. You can control output. You can control effort. You can control the way you treat people.”

The problem with judging success by the outcome is that you often end up rewarding luck.

Joel Goldberg - Blog on Small Ball; Big Wins

Your “Perfect” Answer Can Be the Problem

Leaders often assume their job is to provide the best answer. In practice, that instinct can undermine the very performance you’re trying to improve. Your team’s decent solution is often better than your perfect one, because they own it. And because they own it, they will see it through successfully.

Joel’s story reflects the same principle from a different angle. He didn’t wait for someone to hand him an opportunity; he acted in a way that made people respond. That ownership mattered more than someone else’s perfectly scripted plan.

When people take ownership, you get commitment. Commitment leads to follow-through, which creates success.

Talent Helps. Fit Decides.

Joel has watched enough teams to recognize a consistent pattern. Talent draws attention, but fit determines whether that talent translates into performance.

“Having the most talented people is great,” he said, “but they better fit from a personality and culture standpoint.”

Joel has seen teams with strong talent gel and win championships. He’s also seen talent-packed teams come apart at the seams.

“I’d rather have less talent that fits than a little more talent that doesn’t.”

Misfit talent erodes trust, drains energy, and weakens standards until the effects become difficult to reverse. Fit isn’t static. It requires attention, curiosity, and a willingness to see what’s actually happening rather than what you hope is happening.

“Never stop asking. Never stop listening. Know your people.”

This Is a Relationship Business

Near the end of our conversation, Joel made a point that applies far beyond baseball:

“I’m in the relationship business, not the baseball business.”

Most leaders would agree with that statement. The challenge is living it consistently.

You spend a great deal of time on strategy and growth, but execution lives in how people treat one another, uphold standards, and do what’s right.

These are small things. They don’t always show up immediately on a dashboard, but they shape whether the larger strategy works. Your culture might not actually eat strategy for breakfast, but it can make your strategy unexecutable.

The Long Game Is Built Quietly

Signature successes are usually the result of small decisions executed well. You win by amassing the fundamentals: hitting, pitching, and fielding, rather than with the occasional home run.

The opposite is also true. Poorly executed fundamentals amass over time into bad habits that require enormous energy to correct.

One of the best ways to prevent crises and reduce over-reliance on you is to set and enforce clear standards on the fundamentals. As Joel tells us, small ball creates big wins.

Chris Kolenda and Joel Goldberg - Blog on Small Ball; Big Wins
Blog on How to Create Good Incentives

How to Create Good Incentives

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Interviewing terrific leaders and sharing their insights with you brings a special joy, and I’m delighted to bring you this interview with Amgen‘s Bryce Fennewald, who heads their Inflammatory Rare Disease Unit.

We explored what it takes to lead commercial teams that must combine deep scientific credibility, persuasive communication, and unwavering patient focus.

He offered leadership insights that apply far beyond biotech, especially for leaders navigating high-stakes decisions, complex stakeholder ecosystems, and fast-changing operating environments.

Bryce and his leadership team participated in an off-site with me at the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields in November. Their unwavering commitment to patient outcomes, desire to build an unstoppable workforce, and dedication to supporting each other and the mission stood out to me as evidence of an extraordinary team. I wanted to learn more from Bryce.

Amgen offsite - blog on How to Create Good Incentives

1. Rare disease isn’t “selling.” It’s a partnership.

Bryce started by explaining what makes rare diseases different from large population categories like diabetes or hyperlipidemia. In many therapeutic areas, providers constantly see and manage hundreds of patients.

“Rare disease is different. It could be 18 to 24 months before they see a patient. Maybe they’re managing one, maybe they’ve never managed any. So their openness to information is a little bit greater,” Bryce said.

That changes the posture required from the field team. This isn’t about showing up with volume. It’s about showing up with value.

“So it’s really more, in my view, a partnership between provider, office staff, manufacturer access, reimbursement care coordinators, all the surrounding support staff,” he said.

“Never underestimate the value you bring.”

When your team truly believes they bring insight that improves outcomes, they show up differently. They ask better questions. They listen better. They carry themselves with the quiet confidence that earns trust.

2. The credibility formula: competence + confidence

You can map credibility on a double-axis chart: competence and confidence.

“If you’re not in the upper right quadrant demonstrating both, then you’re probably not as impactful as you could be,” he said.

Why? Because in rare disease, trust is the currency, and trust erodes quickly when either dimension is missing.

If someone has high confidence and low competence, Bryce put it plainly: “Distrust, like they’re trying to pull a fast one.”

But the reverse can be just as limiting: high competence and low confidence. Those individuals may know the science deeply, but fail to influence provider behavior.

“We’ve had these instances with really good people. They know the science so well, but they’re having very little impact.” In those cases, the best answer isn’t always “try harder.” Sometimes it’s redesigning the fit: “Would they be better suited in the training capacity where we’re asking them to train up our sales staff?”

And when the fit can’t be solved? He doesn’t sugarcoat it: “We coach up or coach out if it’s not the right fit.”

Keeping someone in the wrong role isn’t kindness, it’s drift.

3. Incentives should drive the behaviors you actually want

One of the most interesting leadership lessons Bryce shared focused on system design.

“Sales incentive plans should be easily understood. They should drive the behaviors that you want, and be easy to measure,” he said.

Then he added the warning shot:

“If it’s convoluted, people don’t understand it, and people don’t know what good looks like, then it’s a failed plan.”

That principle applies in every industry. If your incentives reward activity instead of outcomes, or speed instead of quality, you’ll get exactly what you pay for.

Bryce also described how they maintain standards in the field by surveying physicians shortly after engagement: “Within 14 days, we’ll survey and ask your intent to prescribe, the value that this individual brought, and if good information was shared.”

Then he closes the loop by sharing the results with the team, reinforcing what excellence looks like in the customer’s eyes.

4. Ownership beats ambiguity

When we shifted to hiring and accountability, Bryce emphasized something many leaders say they want but don’t operationalize: real ownership.

“We look for people who want to own their territory and their performance and their results.”

He explained that their model isn’t a pod or matrix approach. It’s full accountability for a defined geography: “The performance of that geography is 100% on you and you alone.”

“Some people say that they want to live like that, but then they don’t.” The leadership takeaway is simple: clarity creates performance. Diffuse authority creates excuses.

I was also struck by his decision-making discipline: “I focus on the decisions that only I can make and delegate those that my regional and district leaders should make.”

We discussed the two models of delegation during the offsite, which Bryce and his team are putting to good use.

5. AI is “adapt or die,” but only if it serves the work

Bryce was direct about where he sees AI heading: “It’s one of those adapt or die situations. It’s inevitable.”

What I appreciated most was his clean framework for adoption. Amgen buckets AI value into three categories: “proficiency, efficiency, and intelligence.”

  • Intelligence: “How are we equipping the team to make more informed sales decisions based on all the data at our disposal?”
  • Proficiency: enabling better preparation and practice, “pre-call plan, role play, and preparation, with an agentic kind of interface.”
  • Efficiency: making time and routing smarter, “If time is my greatest commodity, how can I maximize it?”

He also offered a phrase that nails the shift happening across industries: “People are going away from a search engine and looking more for an advice engine.”

Providers are using platforms like OpenEvidence to get advice on patient care. How well are your products showing up?

The implication for leaders is huge: your customers are increasingly learning, deciding, and acting through AI-mediated responses. That’s not a future problem. It’s now.

“If you’re unable to communicate [knowledge] in a way that changes behaviors, what good is it?”

That’s the rare disease challenge. But it’s also the universal leadership challenge.

Competence matters. Confidence matters. Systems matter. Ownership matters. And in the end, what matters most is whether your leadership turns capability into outcomes that improve lives and create deep, enduring prosperity for the people who matter most to you.

Chris Kolenda and text - blog on The Olympics Show the Limits of Best

The Olympics Show the Limits of Best Practices

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U.S. Olympic speed skater Kamryn Lute is the daughter of a dear friend and mentor. She competed on February 18th in the women’s 1500m race.

The Olympics remind me of the limits of best practices. Do you remember the double axel jump in figure skating? Perfecting the move was once essential to medal. Now, athletes are hitting quadruples. Vaults in the 1980s gymnastics look basic compared to today’s double- or triple-twisting double-backs. Freestyle skiing and snowboarding often feature multiple corkscrews and 1440+ rotations (that’s four full revolutions in the air).

Best-practice thinking would have deprived us of these feats, because athletes would seek to perfect existing moves rather than invent better ones.

Sears’ catalogue-based sales were a best practice for a century until Amazon came along. Blockbuster’s brick-and-mortar stores and late fees kept the company profitable until Netflix began streaming. Kodak invented and rejected the digital photograph. Film was the best practice.

Chart on innovative behaviors - blog on The Olympics Show the Limits of Best Practices

Innovation is applied ingenuity. You improve or invent new practices instead of perfecting existing ones. A better-practices mindset requires Consistent Curiosity, Strong Standards, and Appropriate Adaptability.

Without curiosity, you will be content with best practices. Lack of strong standards means you’ll execute new ideas poorly. Poor adaptability results in resistance to change.

Hire for these behaviors and promote people who demonstrate them if you want your business to be driven by a thirst for better practices. You’ll be Quinting while others are perfecting the double loop.

In business, like sports, patterns don’t break by themselves. They break by design.

Sam Darnold Shows Why Culture Fit Matters

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I met Sam Darnold at the Jets training camp in 2019. The son of a defensive line coach introduced us; the young man loved the Jets’ quarterback.

The Jets, however, did not love Darnold. He bounced around the league for a few years and finally found a fit in Minnesota. After winning 14 games in his only season with them and then losing their first playoff game, the Vikings decided to part ways.

Darnold found the right fit in Seattle, a defense-oriented team that did not rely on quarterback heroics to win. They needed a steady field general who avoided the big mistakes. Darnold delivered, leading his team to win this year’s Super Bowl.

What does this mean for your business?

Hiring for the Right Fit – blog Sam Darnold

A common mistake I see many leaders (and athletic teams) make is looking for so-called top talent based solely on demonstrated skills or a university degree, without considering whether the person meets your behavioral standards.

If you are a sports fan, you’ve seen countless cases of teams hiring a signature talent only to find that person destroys the locker room and drags down everyone’s performance. It happens more subtly in your business. A highly skilled person who engages in gossip, hoards information, bullies co-workers, can’t get things done on time, and the like, degrades the performance of your company. People weary of the toxic environment or double standards begin to look elsewhere.

This chart illustrates the challenge. The lower left, poor skills plus poor culture fit, is the easiest to avoid, unless you are the type taken in by someone who looks, thinks, or acts like you, and you mistake them for the upper left: good culture fit but in need of skill training.

You can often find bargain talent in the upper left. This person buys-in to your behavioral standards, but does not yet have the skills to do the job. You have to determine if the skill deficit is bridgeable at a reasonable cost. If it is, you have a great hire.

The lower right is the seductive talent trap. This highly skilled person could damage your business even while delivering excellent individual results. Most adults have substantial challenges changing behavior, especially when the behaviors undermining your team are the same ones that have worked for the individual in the past.

The upper right is your right-fit zone. The biggest challenge to hiring and promoting there consistently is that most companies don’t describe their behavioral standards beyond platitudes. I facilitated an off-site recently for a company that has too many people in the lower right. We determined their operating values and identified the behaviors that illustrated what right and not-right look like. Now, they can hold employees accountable.

If your business is not realizing its full potential, it may not be a motivation, skill, or talent issue. It could be an internal culture clash. Breaking that pattern unlocks potential. Seattle unlocked Darnold’s potential and that of his teammates by assembling a team of talented players who shared the same behavioral standards.

In business, like sports, patterns don’t break by themselves. They break by design.

Reflected Reciprocation: Minneapolis Shows the Impact of Mirroring

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How can you attract the right people and prevent problems from escalating in your business? 

The most reliable way I’ve found is to follow the principle of reflected reciprocation. You get back what you put out. Your heart collects what your mind projects.

We are watching the opposite play out in Minneapolis.

Enforcing immigration law is the responsibility of the executive branch. Doing so with competence, respect, and common sense is the right standard.

ICE officials face constant harassment from people opposed to their mission. Peaceful protest is a constitutional right. Deliberately provocative behavior is something else. It heightens risk for everyone involved, and those who encourage it bear responsibility for the consequences.

An investigation will clarify the facts surrounding the shooting. Perhaps the officer feared for their safety or the safety of others. Still, this situation should not have escalated to a needless loss of life.

Downward spirals rarely start with a single act. They grow through reflected behavior.

I have seen the opposite dynamic work powerfully in Afghanistan and in business. Going positive and going first invites similar behavior in others. What comes back is usually a mirror of what you put out.

The exceptions prove the rule.

You can enforce standards and serve customers in ways that build commitment, loyalty, and respect. In so doing, your company will be admired by citizens, employees, customers, partners, and even competitors.

Here are five low-cost, high-payoff ways to put reflected reciprocation to work.

Take Off Your Masks First 

Masks send the wrong signals. People hide their faces when they are ashamed. Masks increase apprehension and uncertainty about intent. They also foster a sense of impunity, increasing the risk of bad behavior.

In Afghanistan, our soldiers removed sunglasses and face coverings, and often helmets, when engaging locals. We believed that pointing guns at people and tearing through their homes would fuel resentment. Treating people with dignity would invite positive reciprocity.

We were right. Ninety-eight percent of the population responded positively. We built allies with them and handled the remaining 2% by exception. That approach motivated a major insurgent group to stop fighting and switch sides.

Business masks have similar effects. Anonymous employees are harder to hold accountable. Distant leaders care less about their people, which erodes performance, development, and retention. Bullying rises with physical and emotional detachment.

Outside of Hollywood, it is hard to think of anyone on the right side of an issue who hides their face.

You can protect employees from harassment while still making them visible and human to customers.

What masks are your people wearing? How clearly do customers and employees know who to turn to for help?

Be Accountable 

Samuel Johnson once said that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. He was deeply patriotic himself. His warning was about using lofty language to excuse corruption, incompetence, and moral failure.

Labels work the same way. Calling someone a terrorist or a fascist can become a shortcut that justifies bad behavior on your own side.

Leaders should back their people and give them the benefit of the doubt. The customer is not always right. Protesters are not always right. Officials are not always right either.

Treating citizens poorly breeds resentment. Provoking law enforcement is dangerous. Leaders on all sides should set the example.

Publish clear standards for how employees treat customers and how customers are expected to treat employees. Live those standards before expecting others to follow them. Do the same internally between managers and staff.

Clear standards reduce bad behavior across the board.

How well do your codes of conduct advance your mission?

Video: Supportive Accountability.

Hire for Common Good Fit 

Your common good includes your mission, goals, and standards. A wrong-fit hire damages morale, degrades performance, and accelerates turnover.

Organizations that carry weapons have an added duty of care. Most ICE officials want to serve honorably under difficult conditions. The risk is that authority and force can attract the wrong people if hiring is sloppy.

Clear performance and behavior standards act as a powerful filter. People who share your standards are drawn in. Misfits tend to self-select out.

How precisely do you define what right looks like and what is unacceptable?

Ensure Competence 

Mission pressure can push unprepared people into critical roles. The Wall Street Journal has reported extensively on how poor tactics at ICE checkpoints and traffic stops have increased danger for everyone involved.

The military does this well. Each rank has defined competencies. First-line leaders are trained, present, and continuously developing their people. Leader presence reduces error and accelerates learning.

Growing businesses face similar risks. Rapid hiring and promotion demand strong onboarding and on-the-job training. A common mistake is promoting your best salesperson to sales manager without training. That often ruins two jobs instead of improving one.

How intentionally are you preparing your managers for their current and future responsibilities?

Video: The 3-Discipline Leadership System™.

Build Relationships 

People give you the benefit of the doubt when they know you as a human being.

The mutual accusations coming out of Minneapolis are likely to fuel further escalation. Each side is mirroring the other.

I would welcome a joint statement that sets clear behavioral standards and a joint effort to curb threatening behavior. Protecting lives and property is shared ground. Disagreement is inevitable. Conflict is optional.

Relationships require investment. Community involvement builds reputation. Knowing employees as people increases ownership and discretionary effort. Treating customers and suppliers well turns them into ambassadors.

How invested are you in your community, your customers, and your people?

Video: Managing Workplace Conflict.

Reflected reciprocation is at work in Minneapolis and elsewhere. It will keep spiraling as long as each side waits for the other to change.

The spiral stops when leaders police their own ranks and build bridges for the common good.

Who will have the courage to go positive first?