In Part 1 of this series, I wrote
about how failure, as a result of trying new things and experimenting, is a key
to ultimate success. I pointed out how
Pete Carrol’s and Bill Belichick’s past failures, including while coaching with
the New York Jets, were part of the reason they were facing off in this year’s
Super Bowl. Ultimately, a failure is not
really a failure but a learning experience.
And successful coaches and small business owners take the knowledge
learned from a set back and treat it as a case study to take them a step closer
to success.
In Part 2 of this series, I will
address how failure provides another key building block for success by
providing motivation and how the New
York Jets again contributed to football perfection.
I know you are thinking that it is
odd to see the words “Jets” and “perfection” in the same sentence. However, Super Bowl III is the basis for the
Jets contribution to football perfection.
The Jets were not perfect that January day in Miami over 40 years ago
when “Broadway” Joe Willie Namath rocked the football world and put the
American Football League on the map when the Jets defeated the mighty Baltimore
Colts in Super Bowl III. The Jets were 17.5
point underdogs (the largest in Super Bowl history) and going up against one of
the traditional powerhouses of the NFL, led by their Hall of Fame Quarterback
Johnny Unitas. (Unitas was Joe Namath’s
idol growing up and Joe wore Unitas’ number 19 in high school.) Despite the overwhelming odds against the Jets
which was helped fueled by Joe Namath’s guaranty of a win before the game, Joe
and the Jets pulled off one of the greatest upset victories in the history of sports,
defeating the Baltimore Colts 16-7. (Since
the Jets have not made it to the Super Bowl since then, I often wonder if Namath made
a Faustian
deal to get the Jets the win like Joe Boyd in “Damn Yankees”.)
The story of perfection began with
the loss of Super Bowl III by the Colts, but not for the Jets or even the
Colts. However, it did start in the
Colts locker room and the feeling of embarrassment and failure that the Colts
head coach felt by losing to the upstart league . . . namely Don Shula.
While many a man would have viewed
the defeat as crushing and something that was impossible to overcome, the loss
to the Jets created a new fire in the gut for Don Shula. Years later he would say: “What I learned from that loss . . . was that
when you are there, it’ not good enough to be there, when you are there, you
better walk away with that ring.” Another interesting note is that Don Shula
lost the Super Bowl to his former coach when he played for the Colts, Weeb
Ewbank. Coach Ewbank had been fired by
the Colts and replaced with Shula who was only 33 years old, just like Pete
Carrol was fired by the Patriots and replaced by Bill Belichick.
Shula began to work harder than
ever to coach his teams. He started to
gain redemption when he joined the Miami Dolphins and brought them to the Super
Bowl in 1971 but lost. Then in 1972, Shula and
his Dolphins capped off the one and only undefeated season in the history of
the Super Bowl era by going a perfect 17-0 and defeating the Washington Redskins
in Super Bowl VII, 14 to 7. In four
short years, Shula went from football hell to the top of Mount Everest and he
and his team have accomplished something no other team has been able to match
since. Shula ended his NFL career with
347 wins and a .678 winning percentage and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1997.
I will leave you with this quote
from Coach Shula which applies to all entrepreneurs: “Success is not forever
and failure isn’t fatal.” Again, when you have a setback in your
business, and you will, remember it is part of the learning experience and
should fuel your motivational fire. Learn
from that experience and use it knowing that it will bring you a step closure
to your ultimate success!
