3 Lessons from a Former Loser
Here is a question that I never thought I’d ask (at least not in a positive way). What can businesses learn from the Arizona Cardinals? For those of you that don’t know, the Cardinals have been a lesson in futilely, poor management, bad choices - and just plain bad luck. Yet here they are in the Super Bowl. How they made it the Super Bowl contains some insights that businesses can benefit from. For you non-football fans, I won’t go in to too much excruciating detail!
- Change the Culture. This is really a “no duh” - but knowing you need to change your culture and actually doing it are two separate things. Like many teams with a losing culture, the Cardinals have churned through head coaches, 1st round picks, etc. However, they last time they hired a coach, they did something better. They hired Ken Wisenhunt - someone from not just a winning culture, but a stable, team-first environment. Ironically, they hired him from the team they are playing the Super Bowl on Sunday - the Pittsburgh Steelers. Closely related to this, they brought in draft picks and veterans who simply hated to lose. These were people not content with just playing for a paycheck. They wanted to improve and achieve.
- Get an Old Guy. Several years ago, the Cardinals drafted Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart from USC. In separate but much quieter move they signed Kurt Warner to be Leinart’s back-up. Warner was a two-time MVP and a Super Bowl winner, but was considered to be in his final years due to concussions and weaking arm-strength. Today Warner is the starter and Leinart is on the bench. There are a lot of football reasons why this occurred, but that is not why it happened. Warner’s maturity and steadiness were exactly what the young team needed. The same is true for organizations. Youth is great, but experience is better - especially when that experience better matches the culture you are trying to build. To Leinart’s credit, he seems to have taken all of this in stride - likely because of Wisenhunt’s team-first culture.
- Faith and Perseverance. One of the worst things that can happen to an organization is not so much brain-drain, as hope-drain. This is where hopeful, positive people come to the organization but are drained of these characteristics by the environment and the results. This happened to the Cardinals for years - drafting talent only to have them move on during free agency (or have bizarre, career-ending injuries). This trend started to change in the past few years - with guys like Adrian Wilson, Darnell Docket, Anquan Boldin, and Larry Fitzgerald. These guys were achievers and winners - and they stuck around. Organizations in transition desperately need people like this. Of course, talent is important but you want people that will stay with you when the fire gets hot.
It has been said that football emulates life. I think football emulates business more than anything. The similarities are striking - and the lessons are many. But learning something good from the Cardinals??? I’m going to see if they are selling tickets at the new ice skating rink called Hell.