Bill Belichick just became the first head coach to win five Super Bowl rings. The success of the Patriots year in and year out, leaves the team with lower draft picks and in theory less talented players to choose from. Yet in spite of this they are perennially the benchmark team of the league. Much of their success is acclaimed to Belichick's management style and competitive strategy formula. Below are 8 business lessons you can apply to managing your business.
Lesson #1: Skills and performance matter more than tenure.
Tenure is not valued. Constant evaluation and ranking removes entitlement and institutes a meritocracy culture.
Lesson #2: Focus on being better organized than the competition.
The more organized you are, the more prepared you are to win.
Lesson #3: Always challenge the status quo.
Question why things are done a certain way, look for market inefficiencies and exploit them to your advantage.
Lesson #4: Effective team management matters. Invest in it.
Having people buy into a proven, winning philosophy or system wins.
Lesson #5: Don't let your ego get in the way.
To quote another Super Bowl winning Coach, John Madden. "Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble."
Lesson #6: Team > individual.
Belichick is all about the team first and individual second.
Lesson #7: Get to know your competition inside and out. (Perhaps the Most Important!)
Belichick's father was an assistant football coach at the Naval Academy. His main role there was to scout opponents. Belichick literally grew up looking at opponent film with his father. He became an expert at finding weaknesses in his opponents' offenses and defenses.
Belichick won five Super Bowls because he was better at understanding his enemy than anyone else. Not sure if he ever read The Art of War, but he's Sun Tzu's modern day poster child.
Lesson #8: Use data to drive your decisions.
Belichick uses a sophisticated information technology platform to help unearth counter-intuitive insights about his business to create competitive differentiation.
