You Win in the Locker Room First

About the Author

Jon Gordon is a best-selling author and speaker whose books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been tested and proven by numerous Fortune 500 companies, professional and college sports teams, school districts, hospitals, and non-profits. Mike Smith is a former NFL head coach known for one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NFL history. Under Smith’s leadership, the Atlanta Falcons earned an 11–5 record in his first season, becoming perennial playoff and Super Bowl contenders. Smith was awarded AP Coach of the Year in 2008 and was voted Coach of the Year by his peers in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

Main Idea

"You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 C’s to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life" by Jon Gordon and Mike Smith provides a step-by-step guide to building a successful and cohesive team. The book emphasizes the importance of creating a strong foundation of culture, contagious enthusiasm, consistency, communication, connection, commitment, and care within an organization. By implementing these principles, leaders can transform their teams and achieve lasting success.

Table of Contents

1. Culture
2. Contagious
3. Consistency
4. Communication
5. Connect
6. Commit
7. Care
8. The Big C: Coaching

Culture

Culture is the foundation of any successful organization. Gordon and Smith emphasize the importance of engaging everyone in the organization, from the boardroom to the locker room, to know the vision, purpose, beliefs, and values of the team. Creating a strong culture requires continuous reinforcement and daily commitment.

"Once you know what you stand for, and you and your team know what your team stands for, decisions are much easier to make and require less in-the-moment debate or back-and-forth." —Jon Gordon and Mike Smith

The authors illustrate the significance of culture with the example of the Atlanta Falcons. Before Mike Smith took over as head coach, the team had a losing tradition and struggled to find consistency. Smith’s first task was to establish a strong culture that everyone in the organization could rally around. He involved everyone, from players to support staff, in defining the team's vision and values. This shared commitment to a common goal transformed the Falcons into a winning team.

fostering culture:

• Clearly define and communicate the team's vision and values.
• Encourage team members to live out these values in their daily actions.
• Consistently reinforce the importance of culture through meetings and communications.

Contagious

Leadership involves spreading positive ideas and attitudes throughout the organization. Gordon and Smith advocate for leaders to be a "dose of Vitamin C" instead of a germ, spreading enthusiasm and optimism. Developing a shared vision, mission, and purpose as a unit creates more buy-in and makes positive attitudes contagious.