Creating a culture of winning paves way for success

In any competitive arena – not just sports … but also politics and sales – there is the never-ending quest for the key to success. Those who find it, get showered with rewards. Those who don’t, wallow in mediocrity … and eventually fade into oblivion.

Every once in a while we get a vivid reminder that one of the most important keys to success is creating a culture. And getting everyone on that team to become a passionate, fully-immersed part of that culture. It’s not a new idea. In the world of cosmetics sales, companies such as Avon and Mary Kay mastered this idea many years ago. They got their sales associates to buy into an all-consuming beauty culture. And they successfully passed that culture on to their customers. Beauty became the be-all and end-all … and it worked.

In the world of politics, there is no better example than Donald Trump. He created a culture that revolved around the common man and pitted all who ascribed to that culture against “the swamp” in Washington, the “fake news” propagators in the media, and the intellectual elitists on the college campuses.

There was a grass roots movement across America and the supporters truly believed they were finally uniting against the establishment. All he did was pull off the biggest upset in American political history.

In the world of sports, in many ways, it is more difficult to create a culture that leads to championships.

On the professional side, coaches are dealing with athletes who are making millions of dollars each year. They have already reached a financial level that stretches beyond their wildest dreams. The normal methods of motivation are ineffective.

Getting millionaires to buyin to a common culture is extremely difficult. But not impossible.

Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, found a way. He uses the “us against the world” mentality. He constantly preaches to his players that the rest of the world is uniting against them – trying to take away their victories, their championships. He recites it until they start to believe it … and the anger rises … and so does the win totals.

It has worked for almost 20 years.

Conversely, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson tried a very different approach. Shortly after his arrival in South