Miracle spotlights the role of Brooks’ unique coaching style in the team’s success and features many of his celebrated quotes. Now, I realize that sports metaphors are overused — and often of dubious value — in the business world. And fast-growth companies are not necessarily the long shot that Team USA was in 1980 — though there are similarities. Nonetheless, some of Coach Brooks’ philosophy stands as good, solid advice for fast-growth company CMOs and CEOs.
Coach Brooks: You don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.
Everyone on Coach Brooks’ team had natural talent and an aggressive spirit, but they needed something more to reach the next level — and so do rapidly growing companies. Many fast-growth businesses reach an initial level of success based on the innate talent of a founder and a core group of employees. But long-term growth cannot be based solely on the talents of a few. To continue their advance, fast-growth companies need a unique value proposition (UVP) that is scalable and transcends individuals. A successful UVP must work as well with 100 or 1,000 employees as it did with 10.
Craig Patrick (Assistant Coach): You're missing the best players. Coach Brooks: I'm not looking for the best players, Craig. I'm looking for the right ones.
In addition to winning four consecutive Olympic gold medals, the Soviets also consistently beat the NHL’s all-star team. Brooks believed that all-star teams failed because they focused on the best individuals rather than the best team. The Soviets won because they harnessed individual talent to a system designed to yield the most effective team. Similarly, fast-growth companies must establish a system for managing and operating their business to get the most out of existing talent and to guide hiring as the business expands.
A management “Dream Team” doesn’t guarantee success. Imagine bringing together Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Warren Buffet. Without a thoughtfully designed structure in place, would these business superstars come together as a team? Or would they end up pulling a team in too many directions to be productive? Coach Brooks’ quote suggests that simply collecting “quantities” of talent is less effective than seeking out “qualities” of talent that complement each other within an established system. This does not mean that the system should be inflexible — any number of changes, including the arrival of new talent, may justify alterations. But setting clear goals and establishing a system to pursue those goals is a crucial step in assembling the right team to achieve those goals.
Coach Brooks: That look like hockey to you? [Pause.] To me it looks like two monkeys trying to hump a football.
In his own uniquely colorful way, Coach Brooks points out that winning hockey involves staying focused on certain techniques and strategies. Simply skating up and down the ice or wrestling with the nearest opponent falls far short of “hockey”, much less successful hockey.
Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and those in charge of marketing need to take a hard line like Coach Brooks. If it doesn’t sound like marketing, look like marketing, smell like marketing, or advance marketing objectives, don’t let it be called marketing! This is especially important given that CEOs are increasingly demanding hard ROI numbers for their marketing dollars. That’s perfectly understandable — so long as marketing dollars are actually spent on marketing. But abuse of the marketing budget — not uncommon among fast-growth companies — can make it impossible to post good ROI figures. CMOs should initiate a frank discussion with company leaders to identify proper items for the marketing budget — items whose ROI can reasonably be measured. So, country club membership dues — not marketing. Football or baseball season ticket packages — not marketing. Ski-lift passes, beach rentals, concerts, the symphony — all not marketing. Having that discussion, and delivering reliable ROI numbers, should also help alleviate what CMO magazine describes as a primary complaint among CMOs: lack of support from company leadership.
Herb Brooks: Red line, back. Blue line, back. Far blue line, back. Far red line, back. Get used to this drill. You'll be doing it a lot. Why? Because the legs feed the wolf, gentlemen.
Legs feed the wolf — and marketing feeds sales. Too often fast-growth companies think of marketing as a once-in-a-while activity: a direct mail piece this quarter, some updates to the Web site next quarter, and possibly an ad or two later in the year. That type of marketing practice won’t condition your company for additional sales and continued growth. Marketing is an activity that must be done everyday: disciplined tactics supported by sound strategy, repeated again, and again, and again.
One of my favorite scenes from Miracle takes place on an ice rink in Sweden six months prior to the Olympics. The young team had just tied the Swedish national team, but Brooks felt that their efforts during the game were not sufficient for Olympic competition. So rather than allowing his players to leave the ice and hit the showers, he pushed them through the red-line, blue-line drill over and over until the wee hours of the morning. Similarly, CMOs can’t let their companies be satisfied with a low-effort tie. Instead, they must get all key players, especially CEOs, to realize that winning marketing is built on daily red-line, blue-line drills. And if anyone asks why? Because the marketing legs feed the sales wolf.
Herb Brooks:Great moments...are born from great opportunity.
This one is as self-evident for business as it is for sports or just about anything else for that matter. And marketing plays a critical role in creating the great opportunities that produce a company’s great moments.
Like Team USA, fast-growth companies face unique challenges as they strive to reach higher levels of success. Individual talent, or the strength of a single product or service line, cannot sustain growth indefinitely. An established system is required to bring together the right players and get the best possible team results. An honest evaluation of and commitment to marketing is essential — and CMOs would do well to adapt Coach Brooks’ straightforward, hardworking approach. Team USA’s performance against the Soviets prompted broadcaster Al Michaels to utter the now famous line: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” Will you continue your miraculous growth? Yes!
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