The Birmingham Business Alliance recently presented a virtual business forum featuring University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who shared his candid insight and tips on a range of topics.
The event was sponsored by Red Diamond Coffee & Tea and was moderated by bestselling author Jon Gordon.
The legendary football coach discussed leadership, team building, creating a winning strategy and other lessons that can be taken from athletics and applied to the business world.
“To be successful in whatever you choose to do is probably pretty similar,” Saban advised. “I think culture is the most important thing. I think mindset is a very important part of culture. Obviously, whatever your business is you have to define the culture. To get people to have a vision for what they want to accomplish and what they want to do — to get them to understand the things you have to do to accomplish that, ‘here’s what you have to do to edit your behavior to be able to do it,’ and then having the discipline to execute every day is important in being successful in anything you do. And I think the hardest thing for most folks is the discipline piece.”
He defined discipline as “do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it the way it’s supposed to get done — do the right thing the right way the right time, all the time.”
“But self-discipline is really more about, you know we make hundreds of decisions every day that really boil down to two questions,” Saban continued. “Here’s something I know I’m supposed to do that I really don’t want to do, and you make yourself do it; and then here’s something I know I’m not supposed to do but I want to do it — can you keep yourself from it? To me, if you can make those choices and decisions the right way, you’re always going to be able to stay on the path of doing the things you need to do to accomplish the goals that you have. … I think the mindset, the culture, what it takes to be successful in business or in football or in any sport is probably very similar.”
Watch the full 38-minute video of the forum here or below:
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
