If Nick Saban Ran Your Company

Monday Security Memo

Intellectual Firepower for Professionals

If Nick Saban Ran Your Company

“You don’t win because you do extraordinary things on game day - you win because you did ordinary things with extraordinary discipline every day before it.” — Nick Saban

Dear A,

If Nick Saban walked into your office tomorrow, would he be impressed - or would he cut half your team?

Championship coaches don’t care about excuses, market conditions, or what the competition is doing this quarter. They care about standards. They care about building a culture where everyone - from the star quarterback to the equipment manage - executes with precision every single day.

The scoreboard? That’s just the byproduct. The real work happens long before kickoff - in the preparation, the discipline, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.

Legendary San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh famously said, “The score takes care of itself.” He meant that if you commit to a system of excellence - meticulous preparation, relentless discipline, and unwavering standards - the wins will follow.

This philosophy applies just as much to business as it does to sports. Yet too many leaders focus solely on “scouting the opponent” (i.e., watching the competition) while neglecting the deeper work of scouting their customers. Yes, it’s valuable to know what your rivals are doing, but your greatest insights - and your greatest advantage - come from understanding your audience better than anyone else in the marketplace.

Now imagine for a moment that a legendary coach - Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, Pat Summitt, or Gregg Popovich - was suddenly given control of your company. What would they do differently? They wouldn’t just run a few flashy plays or copy what other companies are doing. They’d install a culture, a process, and a system that ensures excellence is the default. 

Sadly, most people go through life just trying to survive. Rather than pursuing big dreams, they keep a low profile and get by on minimum effort. Great coaches push you to maximize your potential and open your mind to what it takes to chase greatness and achieve things you never thought you could. 

Great coaches, from Red Auerbach to John Wooden, are keen on implementing a process that includes higher standards of excellence. This means:

• Relentless Preparation - A championship coach doesn’t just run the team through drills; they break down every detail of the game plan. In business, this means defining clear processes for how your teams operate - from sales calls to customer onboarding to crisis management. Preparation also means equipping your people with the tools, knowledge, and practice reps they need so that execution under pressure feels natural.
• Standards Over Slogans - Saban and Belichick don’t win because of inspirational speeches; they win because everyone in their program knows the standard and meets it daily. In your company, a system of excellence is built on non-negotiable standards of performance: how you treat customers, how you deliver on promises, and how you hold one another accountable.
• Film Room Mentality - Sports teams live in the film room. They analyze their own performance more critically than they analyze their opponents. In business, that’s your post-project review, customer feedback loop, and data analysis. The point isn’t to punish mistakes but to learn from them so the team improves every week.
• Scouting the Right People - Great coaches don’t just recruit talent - they recruit fit. In business, that means hiring for cultural alignment and growth potential, not just resumes. It also means “scouting” your customers deeply: understanding their frustrations, needs, buying triggers, and unspoken expectations. If you know your customer better than your competition does, you’re already halfway to victory.
• Game-Time Adjustments - Popovich and Summitt were masters of in-game adaptation. The plan matters, but so does the flexibility to pivot when conditions change. In your business, that’s your ability to adjust strategy based on market shifts, customer feedback, or unexpected challenges - without losing sight of your standards.

A winning coach would make your business less about chasing quarterly scores and more about building a daily operating rhythm where excellence is habitual. That way, when the “big games” come - major sales pitches, product launches, or market downturn - your people are already conditioned to win.

Focus on the system, scout your customers, and uphold your standards. Do that, and like Walsh said, the score will take care of itself.

Stay safe and vigilant!

Luke Bencie