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Copyright © 2015 by Jon Gordon and Mike Smith. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Gordon, Jon, 1971-
You win in the locker room first: 7 C's to build a winning team in sports, business and life / Jon Gordon, Mike Smith.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-119-15785-4 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-119-15786-1 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-119-15787-8 (ebk)
1. Teams in the workplace. 2. Leadership. 3. Success. I. Title.
HD66.G6725 2015
658.4′ 022–dc23
2015024259
To Julie, for always being there for me.To Logan, for all of your patience while I worked on this project with Jon.To my mom and dad, for all of your love and guidance.To all the coaches, players, and support staff that I have worked with and coached against. Thank you for helping me have a better understanding of the greatest sport of all
To Kathryn, thank you for being my lifelong teammate.To Jade and Cole, for helping me be a better coach and parent. To my mom and dad, for believing in me. To all the leaders, coaches, and teams who have shared your experiences and wisdom with me. This book would not have been possible without you
By Mike Smith
I've been a coach for 32 years and half of that time was in the NFL. I was on the staff of the Baltimore Ravens when we won the Super Bowl, and I was one play away from going to the Super Bowl as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. For five years we had the second most wins in the NFL – only Bill Belichick and the Patriots had more. I'm also a coach that was fired because during my last two seasons with the Falcons we only had 10 wins combined. Looking back, I can see clearly the difference between those first five seasons and the last two. I understand why we won and why we lost. In this book, Jon and I aim to help you build a winning team and avoid the mistakes made by too many leaders, including me. Jon and I often talk about the fact that success happens by focusing on the process, not the outcome. You win by cultivating the right culture, leadership, expectations, beliefs, mindset, relationships, and habits before you even play the game. You win in the locker room first. Then, you win on the field.
I've known Jon for over 10 years. We first met when I was the defensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars and our head athletic trainer Mike Ryan introduced us. Our team read his book The Energy Bus, and Jon spoke to our team during training camp. We had an incredible season, went to the playoffs, and beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh in the first round.
When I became the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons the next year, I knew I wanted to bring The Energy Bus and Jon to our team as well. I had all the guys read the book and Jon spoke to our team. We focused on implementing many of the principles in this book. We went from a losing record of 4 and 12 to 11 and 5 and we made it to the playoffs. I'll tell you more about that turnaround in a little bit, but for now it's important for you to know that Jon and I have spent eight training camps together and each year we have talked about using the seven C's to build a great team and win in the locker room first. I have my favorite C's and Jon has his.
