Utah Jazz Assistantcoach Gordon Chiesa is a quote bucket.
The other day I heard the informative basketball guru on a local sports radio station mention the "culture of winning" that permeates successful franchises. The context in which he spoke was Tracy McGrady's free agency and the challenge that faces college underclassmen coming out early for professional sports.
I love listening to the guy. He has that New Jersey "Sopranos" accent. He's Utah's Dave Feherty, the golf analyst for CBS who rolls out that Northern Ireland brogue.
Chiesa mentioned Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells and his approach at resurrecting America's team.
Invoking Parcells these days is pretty popular. Parcells represents something and has become a buzzword of sorts. This opened the door for me to dig into my files for Parcells' work in the Harvard Business Review, December 2000, titled "The Tough Work of Turning Around a Team."
This is an important sports document because it's Parcells' gospel of sorts. Apply it to any team you want. In fact, Harvard used it because it may apply to any business and about any profession.
For instance, how does Jerry Sloan embody these principles? How about other coaches or leaders you know? Remarkably, with Sloan, The Sporting News' NBA coach of the year, the blueprint sticks.
Here's the gist of Parcells' article: The coach says, "You have to be honest with people — brutally honest. You have to tell them the truth about their performance, you have to tell it to them face-to-face, and you have to tell it to them over and over again." If people don't want to listen, Parcells says, "they don't belong on the team."
Yoda Parcells turned around three NFL teams: the Giants, Patriots and Jets. Some say he's about to do it in Dallas.
With the Giants, after a three-win season in 1983, Parcells learned a lesson in taking charge. He had star players with big names and egos. He was tentative in dealing with them that losing year, and he thought he'd be fired. The next year, he decided he'd lead and players would follow. At training camp, he laid it on the line.
"I told everyone that losing would no longer be tolerated. Players who were contributing to the team's weak performance would be given a chance to change, and if they didn't change, they'd be gone."
Parcells found that frank, one-on-one conversations with everyone in the organization were key.
Parcells says it's all too easy to come into an organization that's been struggling and make blanket judgments about everybody — to think everybody's failing. "But that's a mistake," he says. "There can be many hidden strengths on a team, just as there can be many hidden weaknesses.
"The only way you can bring them to the surface is by watching and talking to each team member. You'll quickly see who's a contributor and who's an obstacle. And, for the good of the team, you'll want to move swiftly to get the obstacles out of the way. The hard fact is, some people will never change.
Here's Parcells' list to success:
Rule No. 1: Make it clear from Day 1 that you're in charge. Don't wait to earn your leadership; impose it.
Rule No. 2: Confrontation is healthy. It doesn't mean putting people down, it means getting things straight and getting a strong positive reaction from a strong positive message.
Rule No. 3: Set small goals and hit them. "In training camp, we don't focus on the ultimate goal of getting to the Super Bowl," Parcells says.
"We establish a clear set of goals that are within immediate reach: We're going to be a smart team; we're going to be a well-conditioned team; we're going to be a team that plays hard; we're going to be a team that has pride; we're going to be a team that wants to win collectively, and we're going to be a team that doesn't criticize one another."
Parcells cultivates winners. He sees losers who don't sign on with the program as a cancer that must be removed — no matter the name, personality or salary. It just makes sense.
There, that's an extended look into a Chiesa quote.
Love the accent. The message he referred to rings true.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com