Win Forever

‘I realized at the core of my being, I was a competitor.’

That is a direct quote from the introduction of Pete Carroll’s book, ‘Win Forever.’  It may seem ironic to choose this theme as a blog topic, since the Seattle Seahawks just got bounced from the playoffs by the Atlanta Falcons.  Win Forever?  They didn’t even make it out of the divisional round this year!

Pete Carroll was a successful assistant coach and defensive coordinator at both the collegiate and professional level, but for some reason he was a flop as a head coach. In 1999, after being fired by the New England Patriots, Pete was dealing with bouts of depression for having failed as a head coach for the second time in a row. The words of Monte Kiffin, one of his former mentors, began to echo in his ears. ‘In order to be successful you need a consistent philosophy. If you change who you are from year to year, you’re never going to be great at anything.’

He had been a productive coach for 26 years - even without a core coaching philosophy. However, major setbacks will tend to get your attention and set your focus on doing things differently. 

Maybe that is the situation you find yourself in right now. Obstacles facing your business have captured your undivided attention and you are ready to implement a new approach.  Or, perhaps, you have plateaued and you realize inertia will only get your business so far. Author Harry Browne states, ‘Everything you want in life has a price connected to it. There’s a price to pay if you want to make things better, a price to pay for leaving things as they are, a price for everything.’ 

In life and in business there is power in the written word. Writing down goals and a plan of action takes ideas out of the nebula and makes them concrete, identifiable, and most importantly – attainable.  Taking a focused time of introspection to synthesize your company down to its essence, its ‘why,’ could end up being the most important business decision you make as you finalize your plan for this year and help propel you towards the future.

At WMG we believe that everything we do helps business grow by harnessing the power of a captive audience.  That’s why we focus our efforts on providing you with in-business music and video signage for your customers when they visit, and on-hold advertising for when they take the time to call. You won’t find us placing print ads in magazines for our customers, because we specialize in helping you reach your captive audience.  It is a truly powerful advertising strategy and it is at the core of everything we do. That is our ‘why.’

Now it’s time to develop yours.

Pete Carroll was unemployed when he developed and wrote down his core philosophy based on competition and doing things better than they’ve ever been done before.  It was his sincere hope that if he ever got the opportunity to lead an organization again, this was the foundation on which he would build.  He got his opportunity later that year when the University of Southern California hired him as their head coach. The National Sports Media mocked USC mercilessly for hiring a ‘rah-rah’ guy as their head coach. Then, he did the unthinkable.  He won. 

From the moment he developed his core philosophy and the strategy to implement it, Pete has done nothing but win for 15 years - with two different organizations!  His resume as a head coach now includes seven consecutive PAC 10 titles, and two national championships with USC. Following his lead, the Seahawks have been to the playoffs for 5 consecutive seasons, racked up four NFC West titles, 2 NFC Championship trophies, and the only Super Bowl victory in franchise history. He is one of only 3 coaches to have won a National Championship and a Superbowl.  Not bad for a ‘rah-rah’ guy.

So what if they didn’t beat the Falcons last week!  Pete Carroll has built the Seahawks into a winning organization.  He has created a culture where it seems as if they could ‘Win Forever.’

Tom McTee, Super-Genius