A Stanford Professor helps 49er leadership revamp their vision, setting a positive tone of cohesion for the entire organization to follow.

“I’m so tired.” My brother texted me right after the 49ers’ heartbreaking Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs last night. 

We’d just finished watching one of the most intense Super Bowls in history (only the second ever to go into overtime.) While I was hoping to be celebrating a Forty Niner win today, I think it’s important to take a moment to celebrate the team itself—not just who they are and what they’ve accomplished together—but how they got there in the first place. Because it is worth noting. 

When John Lynch stepped in as General Manager in 2017, the Forty Niners had four different coaches in four years and were coming off of a 2-14 season. Lynch had no prior experience in NFL front offices and was working with another new coach in Kyle Shanahan. 

Lynch and Shanahan initially sat for hours watching game tape, talking, evaluating, trying to connect with each other, then Lynch realized that they should try to capture their “confluence of knowledge” and figure out a way to harness it so they could communicate it to the rest of the organization—particularly the scouts. 

Lynch turned to his former Stanford Professor, Burke Robinson, for help. Robinson taught a graduate-level course called “The Art and Science of Decision Making”, which gives students “common-sense rules and decision-making tools [that] provide the essential focus, discipline, and passion we need for clarity of action on big, important decisions.” Lynch said it was one of the best courses he’d ever taken and was excited to apply it to his team. 

With Robinson’s guidance, the 49er leaders crafted a vision framework that has become the “guiding light for the organization”. They believed that by combining “49er Talent” with “49er Spirit” they could recreate the processes that led to success in the 80s and 90s, taking them “back to the top of the NFL”. They were not just looking for players who were competitive, and not just those who exhibited contagious enthusiasm, but those with “contagious competitiveness”, which is a perfect description when you think of their top players. They absolutely love the game… and it shows. 

Robinson has used the same principles to guide Silicon Valley businesses to help them craft a vision framework. He says, “It’s the same in companies and a football team. If you’re on a sailboat, you have to know which port you’re headed for.” 

A vision framework sets a “tone of cohesion” in leadership and offers guidance to every single person in the organization. When employees understand it and buy into it, not just the front office or the C-suite, but every single employee, then they all have what they need to make more informed decisions. If you also hire people who also align with that vision and make it come alive every day—the positive culture builds itself. 

When Kyle Shanahan spoke to his team in the locker room after their NFC Championship win against the Lions, you could hear the emotion in his voice. “We’ve got a lot of good teams around here. A lot of talented teams. But the character of this team…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to. Everyone understood exactly what he meant. It’s not the talent, the strength, or the skill that makes the difference in building a championship team. Many of the NFL teams have that. It comes down to the culture, the intangibles, the vision… the character. 

So thank you to the 49ers for a great season. Although the people in the Bay Area are all a bit tired today, your vision of “contagious competitiveness” seems to have permeated your fan-base as well, and you’ve built a team that is a lot of fun to root for. 

Go to the full article on The Athletic.

By D. E. Richards