Introduction: The Score Takes Care of Itself

Bill Walsh died before The Score Takes Care of Itself was published. The bestselling author, Steve Jamison, contacted Walsh several times about his idea for the book. They had several discussions and the author got lots of information from the renowned football coach. He captured what the coach had to say and allowed him to review what he’d written. Jamison secured a publishing deal for the book. But Bill Walsh got out of retirement, so things were pushed to the side.

Ten years later, the project was resuscitated. Before they got back into the project, Bill Walsh died. Craig Walsh, Bill’s son, read the manuscript, then gave Jamison access to additional resources such as lecture notes and tapes. Craig also promised to give him information from an unpublished manuscript that Bill wrote for coaches. Jamison also talked to five people who knew Bill Walsh well. Joe Montana was one of the people he talked to.

Have you read?

What Does it Mean to Be Relentless, Are You Relentless?

Summary of The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh

Having a talented team doesn’t guarantee success. However, a great leader will search for solutions to increase the chances of his team’s success. When you take this approach, the score will take care of itself. You pay a significant price for being the best. The most successful people operating in a highly competitive field have experienced failure. And they know how to overcome it.

When life knocks you down, you have to find the strength to pick yourself up and plan your next move. Allow yourself time to grieve, but the road to recovery and winning depends on getting back in the game. You have to think like this, otherwise, you’re lost.

“Failure is part of success, an integral part. Everybody gets knocked down. Knowing it will happen and what you must do when it does is the first step back.”

Getting Back in the Game: Five Dos for Mental and Emotional Equilibrium

1. Do expect defeat. When you play a high stakes game, failure is inevitable. If you’re surprised about ever getting defeated, you’re deluding yourself.
2. Do force yourself to stop looking backward. Misery loves company and that’s not what you want.
3. Do allow yourself appropriate recovery time to grieve. When you’ve had a major setback, you need time to grieve and reflect on what happened. Give yourself a time limit, then move on. Bad things happen to everyone.
4. Do tell yourself that you’re going to stand up and fight again. If you fall down seven times, you get up eight. Success is often closer than you think.
5. Do begin planning for the next serious encounter. Consistent baby steps move you forward on your road to recovery. Focus on the fix, the solution.

Getting Back in the Game: And Five Don'ts for Mental and Emotional Equilibrium

1. Don’t say “why me?” Bad things happen to everyone. Why should you get a pass?
2. Don’t expect sympathy. How will sympathy help you? You can turn it around. Be the comeback kid.
3. Don’t bellyache. Grieve and move on.
4. Don’t keep accepting condolences. At some point, you need to move on. Let it be sooner rather than later.
5. Don’t blame others. Take responsibility for the good and the bad.

Standard of Performance: High Requirements for Actions and Attitudes

“Regardless of your specific job, it is vital to our team that you do that job at the highest possible level in all its various aspects, both mental and physical (i.e., good talent with bad attitude equals bad talent).”

The key to performing under pressure is to develop a strong standard of performance and to always stick to it. Have a code of conduct and communicate it to your team, so they understand what’s expected from them. Your beliefs should become ‘characteristics’ of your team. Your beliefs comprise your philosophy.

“A philosophy is the aggregate of your attitudes toward fundamental matters and is derived from a process of consciously thinking about critical issues and developing rational reasons for holding one particular belief or position rather than another.”

Bill Walsh used the values and beliefs in his Standard of Performance to guide his work as a coach.

Standard of Performance

1. Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement.
2. Demonstrate respect for each person in the organization and the work he or she does.
3. Be deeply committed to learning and teaching, which means increasing my own expertise.
4. Be fair.
5. Demonstrate character.
6. Honor the direct connection between details and improvement, and relentlessly seek the latter.
7. Show self-control, especially where it counts most— under pressure.
8. Demonstrate and prize loyalty.
9. Use positive language and have a positive attitude.
10. Take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort.
11. Be willing to go the extra distance for the organization.
12. Deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation.
13. Promote internal communication that is both open and substantive.
14. Seek poise in myself and those I lead.
15. Put the team’s welfare and priorities ahead of my own.
16. Maintain an ongoing level of concentration and focus that is abnormally high.
17. Make sacrifice and commitment the organization’s trademark.

The elements of his Standard of Performance are also the basic characteristics of attitude and action, critical elements for success. It applied to everyone in the organization, not just players and coaches. The receptionist had to answer the phone a certain way. In addition, even the marketing had to reflect the standard of performance. It was truly entrenched in the organization.

Most football organization’s fundamental goal was winning. But for the 49ers, their fundamental goal was total implementation of the standard of performance. This makes perfect sense, because when everyone in the organization accepted this goal, the score would take care of itself. The processes would also be streamlined. What Bill was trying to do was to build a strong foundation.

The Score Takes Care of Itself: Checklist for Hiring Personnel

1. Talent.
2. Character.
3. Functional intelligence (the ability to think on your feet).
4. Eagerness to adopt his way of doing things — his philosophy.

The Score Takes Care of Itself: Establishing Your Standard of Performance

1. Identify the specific actions and attitudes relevant to your team’s performance and production.
2. Communicate your expectations of high effort and execution of your Standard of Performance.
3. Let everyone know exactly what you expect from them.
4. Teach your beliefs, values, and philosophy, so everyone is on the same page.
5. Teach individuals that “connection and extension” are important. Everyone in the organization has a role to play for smooth operations.
6. Make the expectations and metrics of competence that you demand in action and attitudes from personnel the new reality of your organization.

Common Faulty Reasons for Driving Decisions

1. Trying to prove you are right.
2. Trying to prove someone else is wrong.

4 Positive Inner Voice Messages of Leaders

1. We can win if we work smart enough and hard enough.
2. We can win if we put the good of the group ahead of our own personal interests.
3. We can win if we improve. And there is always room for improvement.
4. I know what is required for us to win. I will show you what it is.

As a leader, do the above messages resonate with you? How would you communicate them to your people?

The Score Takes Care of Itself: Ways to Kill an Organization’s Performance

1. Be very patient.
2. Delegate too little or too much.
3. Act tedious or overly cautious.
4. Become best buddies with certain employees.
5. Socialize excessively with superiors or subordinates.
6. Fail to conduct hard-nosed performance evaluations of people who are likely to relax and operate on cruise control.
7. Fail to actively participate in efforts to appraise and acquire new hires.
8. Trust others to carry out your fundamental duties.
9. Play the blame and abdicate your responsibilities.
10. Promote an organizational environment that is comfortable and laid-back where there is no sense of urgency.

Conclusion: The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh

I enjoyed The Score Takes Care of Itself because it’s loaded with a lot of leadership philosophy. The book is worth reading for yourself. While reading this book, I kept reminding myself of my purpose for reading the book. There’s a lot of information, that if you aren’t careful, you can go down the rabbit hole. As a leader, you owe it to yourself, to read to learn what you need to know.

Though the book has lots of solid information, do you need to pay attention to all of it? I don’t think so because not every piece of information will be relevant to your situation. I recommend that you read the sections of the book that align with your purpose and answer your questions.Think about this.

Next Steps

1. Buy and Read The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh
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