It's All About Teamwork!

An Internet Lesson from perhaps the Greatest Football Coach Ever...

Bill Belichick is the head coach of the New England Patriots. He is the only head coach in National Football League history to have won 3 Super Bowls in 4 years. How did he do it? His players, although talented, are not the big names in the sport. He is organized, that’s for sure, but other coaches are organized too.

I heard him talking one day when asked about his secret. He is modest and you have to listen between the lines. What I found especially interesting was his recruiting process. It seemed to me that the secret to his success was the way he selected players for his team.

When looking for players Bill looks for talent, no question about that. But talent is only part of the equation. What he is trying to ascertain in the interview is whether a player is in it for the love of the game or in it for what he can get out of it. For example, when interviewing a prospect and they start talking about what they want (in terms of compensation and special treatment) he knows things are not going in the right direction. If he detects their primary goal is what they can get out of it he will pass on that player, no matter how talented they are. He will opt instead for the player who loves the game, even if they have less talent.
He knows that great players are the ones who play the game because the love it, not because they are being paid!

When you look at a Belichick team you don’t find many blue chip, marquee players. The big ego, what can you do for me players have no place in his organization. Instead he surrounds himself with unsung, blue-collar guys that get the job done. These aren’t the type of players that bring a lot of hype. These are the guys that work every day, whether the spotlight is on them or not, improving steadily because they love the game. Put together 40 of these players and you’ve got a force to be reckoned with.

We applaud the Belichick approach because we’re the same way. People ask me, when did you begin programming a computer? The answer is when computers began. Then they ask me, when did you start on the Internet? Then answer is when the Internet began. We have been programming computers and on the Internet since the beginning. We do it because we love it. We’d be doing it even if we didn’t get paid. That goes for me and it goes for everyone working here. Like Bill Belichick, we ascertain an employee’s love of the game. That’s the determining factor for us. We have no use for the big ego hotshot. We want hard working, blue-collar types who love what they do.

What happens when you adopt the Belichick philosophy of passing on big name players? He is operating is THE most competitive field there is – the field of professional football. And guess what, his teams have risen to unprecedented levels of success. No team in the history of the league has had the success he has.

When it is your time to put an Internet expert on your team pause a second. Who do you want? Do you want the big ego, what can you do for me firm? Or do you want the blue-collar guys in it for the love of the game? We’ve learned one thing watching the New England Patriots - it’s the unselfish, hard working team that rises to the top!