Written by The San Francisco 49ers are on a roll. They are piling up wins with the greatest of ease, just like the man on the flying Trapeze. This month, they have been traveling from town to town in pursuit of reaching the Super Bowl.
From Los Angeles to Dallas to Green Bay, they have taken their act on the road. However, the wins haven’t been easy. They came from behind in the second half to beat the Rams in the final week of the regular season. Last week, they held off a late surge from the Cowboys. This week, a blocked punt and a last-second field goal to put away the top-seeded Packers. Next week, they will load up and take their production back to Los Angeles to take on the Rams again.
But, according to reserve defensive lineman Charles Omenihu, they are no circus show. Omenihu, traded to the 49ers from the Texans earlier in the season, had been asked to compare the two teams.
His remarks described the contrast in cultures between his old and new teams. He observed how the 49ers have structure. There is no power struggle, it is clear what they want, and people are on the same page. There’s not much switching around like there is in the circus. You understand what you are doing here, and you get it done. By saying that his new team is not a circus show, Omenihu implied the Texans are.
The comments were a gut punch to the Texans because they rang true. While the 49ers are chasing a spot in the Super Bowl, the Texans are interviewing head coaches. Again. While the Texans continue to talk about building a thriving culture, the 49ers are demonstrating one on the field.
Culture is a confusing term, and it is hard to find a good definition. If you Google it, you get many different answers. The best one I saw was, “Culture is a set of beliefs and values about what is desirable and undesirable in a community of people, and a set of formal or informal practices to support the values.”
In assessing a culture using this definition, you have to rate it against its desires. If you look back at human history, you find two basic desires. One is success, and the other is purpose. A consultant would create a PowerPoint slide with a four-square chart to demonstrate this, with “win” and “lose” on one axis and “right” and “wrong” on the other.
Are you seeking championships, profit, or survival? Winning and losing are relative to your goals. Thanks to a salary cap, national television contracts, and a salary cap, NFL teams have an even playing field that allows them all to have the same goal: win the Super Bowl.
Right and wrong are relative to the moral code or set of ethics that govern you. Do you wear a white hat or a black hat? Do you hold the established system dear, or are you rebelling against it?
Where you fit on that chart is your identity. The role of the leader in the culture is to communicate an organization’s identity and align it with its stakeholders. Influential leaders understand its underlying nature and envision evolving and nurturing it accordingly. One team’s identity or culture is no better than another’s. However, left unmaintained, it can be the difference between success and failure.
NFL Teams that understand their culture and execute consistently against it do not talk about it. They don’t have to. The Steelers took on Pittsburgh’s identity and named themselves after the steel industry that their city was known for, going so far as using the US Steel logo on their helmets in 1962. Fifty years later, they have firmly established themselves in the top right of the four-square chart with their consistent success and adherence to their blue-collar code. Players from around the country know they must align their values to this identity to connect to their fans.
Other teams have mottos. The Cowboys are “America’s Team.” They reflect the culture and unique attitude of their city. They are very concerned with their image. You either love them or hate them, and either way, they are the center of your attention. The Raiders are outlaws who “Just Win, Baby!” Unfortunately, their place in the top-left quadrant was problematic for them this year off the field. To survive, they will need to adapt while maintaining their identity on the field.
Some teams take on the identity of their coach and key players. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were synonymous with the Patriots. Together, they went on a tremendous title run that took a historically losing franchise and made it the most successful in the Super Bowl era.
Lots of teams have talent, but not all achieve their goals. Teams with a functioning culture with a strong identity create an environment where players can give maximum effort. Combined with talent, it leads to success. In her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, psychologist Angela Duckworth discussed the importance of effort:
Talent x Effort = Skill
Skill x Effort = Achievement
Effort counts twice. We saw that this weekend, where eight teams played four awesome games, each decided on the game’s last play. All eight teams had strong identities, strong physical defensive teams like the Titans, Rams, and 49ers. The others featured great offenses led by the league’s best quarterbacks – Brady, Mahomes, Allen, Rogers, and Burrow. They were gritty, and it showed.
It was probably the best playoff weekend in the league’s history, providing us with the greatest show on earth. But it wasn’t the circus. That show is playing at the teams who were home watching like the rest of us, searching for new coaches and hoping they create a new culture.