Core Values: USC Football (Pete Carroll)

Three Rules
Rule 1: Always protect the team
Rule 2: No whining, No complaining, No Excuses
Rule 3: Be early

Here's more.

How We Play Football In Seattle By Richard Sherman

I love The Players' Tribune. If you've never visited the site, you should check it out. It's a:

New media company that provides athletes with a platform to connect directly with their fans, in their own words. Founded by Derek Jeter, The Players’ Tribune publishes first-person stories from athletes, providing unique insight into the daily sports conversation. Through impactful and powerful long- and short-form stories, video series and podcasts, The Players’ Tribune brings fans closer than ever to the games they love.

Here's an article written by Richard Sherman called How We Play Football in Seattle. I especially like two sections. The first:

By the end of my second season, Coach Carroll’s philosophy had started to manifest
itself. You could tell, because it felt like college. When you’re getting ready to make the jump to the NFL, people tell you that it’s a business. That you’re not going to make friends. That everybody is trying to butter their own bread, trying to feed their families. That it’s every man for himself. Then, you get to Seattle and play for Pete Carroll and ... 

Nah. It ain’t like that. Not here.

I've heard a lot of the same thing since moving to Pittsburgh: basically, "this isn't college"; "pros are selfish"; "you can't force them to think that way"; "you can't build a really great team culture at the professional level." I disagree with all of it. I love reading about what Pete Carroll (long time college coach) has done in professional football.

The other section is about Earl Thomas:

If you’re having a tough day at practice, Earl [Thomas] might come over and clap his hands together — SMACK! — right in your face. “C’mon. Wake up!” On another team or in another camp, a guy might see that as a sign of disrespect. His machismo might kick in and he might get defensive like, Why you comin’ at me like that, bro? But in Seattle, when somebody like Earl does that, there’s no conflict or confrontation because you know he’s coming from a place of love. He’s trying to wake you up and get you to where you’re supposed to be. Everyone knows Earl is the energy — the spark plug in our practices — and that you can depend on him to be flying around, giving it 100% every day. If there’s a day when you feel like you just don’t have it, you can look to Earl and find it. He’s a guy who’ll break his back to help you, and he expects the same in return. Nothing less. You respect that.

High performance teams need Earl Thomas.

III. We Grind

I'm using grind as the verb form of grit, a term popularized by psychologist Angela Duckworth. After several years teaching middle school, Duckworth left teaching to study what characteristic most accurately predicted student performance. In a popular Ted talk, she reveals the answer is not social intelligence, good looks, physical health or even IQ; the answer is grit. Duckworth defines grit: "Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint." Here's the full video:

The definition of grind (grit) I've chosen to use is: "working longer without switching objectives;
hard work plus concentration."

For more on grit, there's a great article about Duckworth visiting Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks organization. For even more, check out her book Grit: The Power and Passion of Perseverance. I have not read it yet, but it comes highly recommended and it's on my list. 

Related to the topic, I came across this line in Eugene Peterson's Run with the Horses: "The mark of a certain kind of genius is the ability and energy to keep returning to the same task relentlessly, imaginatively, curiously, for a lifetime." Peterson made that statement in 1983 about the prophet Jeremiah. Grit may be a newly popularized term, but it's certainly not a new idea.