PromoTheRobot Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 (edited) On 9/16/2019 at 1:59 PM, foreboding said: About six or seven years ago, I was in a lunch meeting with renowned Leadership Guru, John Maxwell. In addition to all of his books etc., he works with several sports teams, collegiate and pro to help GM's and coaches be better leaders of their organizations. I asked him, "John, why are the Buffalo Bills so bad, for so long?" He offered one word before explaining. "Leadership." He continued, "Show me a perennially losing organization, and I assure you it is the leadership and subsequent culture. Until that team changes its leadership, they will never be good. And it starts at the very top." There was a moment a long while ago when Marv Levy applied his leadership to the team despite the people above him, and we saw the results. Yeah our GM brought in good players, but he was not a growth mindset guy, no one could tell him anything. Then for decades, people ran the team who were more concerned about grabbing power and making sure they "looked good,"-- blaming the other guy as articulately as they could manage. In essence, the very opposite of good leadership. Sean and Brandon brought in the idea of "Growth Mindset." If you are not familiar with the term, it is the ideal that every experience exists to make you better, if you apply the mindset. For example, if you see yourself as an excellent run-blocking guard, then when coaches coach you or people question your ability, you have two choices. 1) Resist and justify to protect your precious self-image or -- 2) Look at the criticism, bad game, coaching, or whatever as a way to grow and get better, absorb, and learn from the experience. If the leaders do not accept the same mindset, though, their words eventually are become nothing but hot air. I don't need to name them all... Our guys (leaders) seem to believe in the growth mindset fully: every day exists to learn and get better. When you approach life that way, you never lose, because every single experience gives you something new to absorb. Learning becomes the most valuable commodity. This--in my opinion-- is why this team is getting good. Naturally, the FO must be good at picking players and managing money, but we already see they seem to have that part of the skillset down. Plus that is also something that must be approached with a growth mindset. If you make a mistake, learn, grow be better, not defensive. If you do not or unable to change your fixed mindset, you are removed. Growth and fixed do not mesh well. In a world of headstrong type-A jocks, it is not easy to find leaders like this. I am so glad we have a couple of them. There are some long-time media types that liked to mock and scoff at the concept of culture and "the process." It was good for some belly laughs in the offseason. I'm noticing they aren't laughing about it now. Edited September 17, 2019 by PromoTheRobot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 15 hours ago, foreboding said: Yeah, I would argue this is a good example of a A process. But, I think Carroll also has such an infectious personality that serves him well too. I do see one big difference, he does not go for guys that fit a growth minded system cause has had some loudmouth obnoxious dudes there. I do not think those types would last long in this system--that really focuses on growth mindset style learning and humility. I agree that Carrol has a great personality for a HC but he and McD both sell their love of the players.......it's not a dissimilar approach it's just that Carrol isn't doing it using christian ideology as the foundation. But my question to you is who have the Seahawks had that was decidedly not growth minded? Prior to achieving championship level success and wanting to get paid they were a model of constant improvement and achieved a stretch as close to perfection defensively as we've seen in the past 50 years. Fred Jackson was in awe of the dynamic of that locker room when he was there. For all the talk about Carrol being tolerant of loud mouths he sure got rid of those disgruntled with their pay situation pretty quick. You think if Jordan Phillips turned into a player like Michael Bennett he'd not want to re-do his contract? It's easy to be humble when you aren't exceptional. And what about Tre White? He's due soon and he has a very high opinion of his play. I wouldn't call him humble. I think that's probably going to be ground zero for McD and pay disputes. The Bills are just in a coaching happy place right now where the only people getting paid are veterans and everyone else knows they haven't proven anything yet and can't demand special pay or treatment. That dynamic always changes with success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 18 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said: That Pete Carrol has a system that's proven effective? Not at all. Averaging 11 wins and winning a SB over 10 years is legit excellent. That would be the high water mark for the Bills franchise. Marv Levy made it to the HOF with a lower win % in his first 10 seasons with the Bills(full or including the partial) and zero SB wins. shows he has been given a lot of talent for his roster Pete choked away a total gimme of a SB win, that's his legacy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevewin Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 I love that your first question to a renowned Leadership Guru was why do the Bills suck so bad for so long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreboding Posted September 17, 2019 Author Share Posted September 17, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said: I agree that Carrol has a great personality for a HC but he and McD both sell their love of the players.......it's not a dissimilar approach it's just that Carrol isn't doing it using christian ideology as the foundation. But my question to you is who have the Seahawks had that was decidedly not growth minded? Prior to achieving championship level success and wanting to get paid they were a model of constant improvement and achieved a stretch as close to perfection defensively as we've seen in the past 50 years. Fred Jackson was in awe of the dynamic of that locker room when he was there. For all the talk about Carrol being tolerant of loud mouths he sure got rid of those disgruntled with their pay situation pretty quick. You think if Jordan Phillips turned into a player like Michael Bennett he'd not want to re-do his contract? It's easy to be humble when you aren't exceptional. And what about Tre White? He's due soon and he has a very high opinion of his play. I wouldn't call him humble. I think that's probably going to be ground zero for McD and pay disputes. The Bills are just in a coaching happy place right now where the only people getting paid are veterans and everyone else knows they haven't proven anything yet and can't demand special pay or treatment. That dynamic always changes with success. Good post, and I love Pete. But TW is nothing like the loud mouth guys they had. Those guys got on their coach etc. To compare them is really not fair to Tre. There is a mile of difference between confidence and arrogance. I think Tre is the former. Edited September 17, 2019 by foreboding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaBu Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 On 9/16/2019 at 8:14 PM, Kelly the Dog said: If there is an exception to every rule there would be an exception to that rule and there would be one rule without an exception unless of course the one rule without an exception was the rule that says there is an exception to every rule. It’s pretty straight forward. Except the former is a postulation and not a rule unto itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 8 minutes ago, jabu said: Except the former is a postulation and not a rule unto itself. Hence the word "If." We are assuming that it is a rule not a postulation. It is stated as a fact, there is an exception to every rule, and not there could be an exception to every rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaBu Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 5 minutes ago, Kelly the Dog said: Hence the word "If." We are assuming that it is a rule not a postulation. It is stated as a fact, there is an exception to every rule, and not there could be an exception to every rule. True, but a fact itself does not make a rule, nor the statement of such. Thus it is a postulation. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 16 minutes ago, jabu said: True, but a fact itself does not make a rule, nor the statement of such. Thus it is a postulation. ? True, but a postulation is a "suggestion or assumption of the existence, fact, or truth of something as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief." We are not considering it a suggestion or assumption, we are imagining a world where it is true. That world may not exist. But we are assuming it does before we start. If there is a rule that says there is an exception to every rule... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaBu Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 9 minutes ago, Kelly the Dog said: True, but a postulation is a "suggestion or assumption of the existence, fact, or truth of something as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief." We are not considering it a suggestion or assumption, we are imagining a world where it is true. That world may not exist. But we are assuming it does before we start. If there is a rule that says there is an exception to every rule... Thank you for making my point! g'nite , past time for bedtime for bonzo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 1 minute ago, jabu said: Thank you for making my point! g'nite , past time for bedtime for bonzo But we weren't assuming. We were saying it was true. Ha. No assumption. That was fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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