People at my Super Bowl party were starting to leave. The ending was all but inevitable, as the Falcons were up 28-3 in the third quarter.
And then the game got interesting. The Patriots came back with a vengeance, winning 34-28 in the first-ever overtime in Super Bowl history.
We can glean a trite lesson like, “never give up.”
But the real lesson for us as leaders comes from the head coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick whose mantra is: do your job. Since 2000, he’s used this truism to coach the Patriots through 305 games (winning 225) and 7 Super Bowls (winning 5).
There’s no greater test for us as leaders than supporting our people from the sidelines, completely unable to rescue them.
What can we possible do from the sidelines? Cheer. Motivate. Yell. Scream. Scold. Cajole. Plead. Berate. Threaten.
Or we can do what Belichick has been successfully doing for 17 years: instill discipline.
“Do. Your. Job.” is Belichick’s philosophy that reminds his team to:
- worry about your own job, effort, results
- know the guy next to you is doing his job
- count on your peers and they’ll count on you
With this simple yet potent formula, Belichick calms his team in the midst of chaos and overwhelm. He uses it to focus them, eliminate distractions, demand readjustment, enlist improvement, and emphasize accountability.
No doubt at half-time, Belichick once again reminded his team to “just do your job.”
We lead when we coach our people from the sidelines, and we lead best when we focus them on the one thing that everyone on the team is counting on them to do… their job.