The Importance of Having A Vision and a Philosophy

I slammed the book shut, stunned.

It had been six months since I'd been fired as the head coach of the New England Patriots.  I was reading a book by the legendary basketball coach John Wooden.

It took him sixteen years to figure it out, I told myself.  But once he did, he absolutely knew it.  After that, he rarely lost, and he went on to win ten of the next twelve national championships.  It seemed he won forever.

I reached for a pad of paper and started writing.  What Coach Wooden had done that so impressed me was to pull together his own vision, philosophy, and belief system into a detailed plan for winning.  Once he had it, he went on, year after year, to build teams that were almost unstoppable.  I needed to come up with a plan of my own.  I need to develop my own winning philosophy and design a plan for implementing it.

For the next few days, and weeks, I started to write about who I was, where I had been, where I wanted to go, and what I wanted the next program I ran to look like.  

I embarked on a process of discovering who I was, not only as a football coach but, more importantly, as a person.  At one point, I leaned back in my chair and smiled.  I couldn't believe that I had been coaching for the past 20 years and never stated my philosophy, let alone written it down.

The process of self-discovery that was necessary to formulate my vision, and the power of having a philosophy has given me a confidence I didn't have before.  One of the keys to success lies in knowing and believing in yourself.  When you are confident and you trust in who you are, you can perform to the best of your ability, and that is exactly what I plan to do.  All you should ever strive for is to be the best you can be.

Throughout this process, I sensed a newfound confidence and belief in myself.  I had never felt so prepared and well equipped to deal with the challenges of taking over a program.  Coach Wooden's example inspired me to create a vision and a philosophy that would become the foundation of the USC football program.

This post consists of passages from the Introduction of Pete Carroll's book, Win Forever

http://www.amazon.com/Win-Forever-Live-Work-Champion/dp/1591844169

Carroll, Pete.  (2011).  Win Forever.  New York: The Penguin Group.