Speaking Engagements

Racing to Win


Last week I started reading Joe Gibb’s book, Racing to Win: Establish Your Game Plan for Success. Joe Gibbs is the only coach in history who has won major championships in two world-class sports. His teams have won the NFL's Super Bowl three times and NASCAR's Winston Cup twice.

Two early impressions from the book are Gibbs focus on humility and teamwork.

While he was coaching the Redskins to Super Bowls, he was on the verge of bankruptcy because of some real-estate partnerships that went bad. He attributes this failure to being over confident in an area where he knew very little and not seeking the advice and involvement of his wife and financial advisors.

His focus on teamwork is the second impression that jumped out of me from the book. Gibbs success seems to be directly related to his ability to build effective teams. In the paper today, for example, it was described how he just worked through a conflict with his racing team. He said: “At times things are going to happen, but good teams and good teammates work through it.” TWP July 29, 2007, E3

Lessons for me from the book so far? A good dose of humility and teamwork will go a long way.

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