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The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership

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Offers insights and best leadership principles from the successful coach of the San Francisco 49ers, explaining how he motivated people, crafted winning teams, and his words of wisdom such as “Believe in people,” and “Keep a short enemies list.”

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2009

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About the author

Bill Walsh

13 books26 followers
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name


William Ernest Walsh was an American professional and college football coach. He served as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers...
(source: Wikipedia)

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 345 reviews
Profile Image for Yevgeniy Brikman.
Author 4 books651 followers
November 12, 2017
The good: it's a fun tale of how Bill Walsh helped turn the San Francisco 49ers from the worst team in football into one of the NFL's greatest dynasties. The strongest parts of the book are those that feel like Walsh's memoir, where he shares gritty, down-to-earth stories of success and failure which allow you to extract lessons for yourself.

The bad: the story is awkwardly twisted into a "business book" format, which just doesn't work. The weakest parts of the book are when it relies heavily on managerial-speak, full of dry "top 10" lists, empty platitudes, and "try it in your office" style advice. These parts of the book feel like they were tacked on as an afterthought to broaden the market for the book, and it just doesn't work. In part, that's because the writing in the "business parts" is poor, and does not convey the message nearly as well or as memorably as Walsh's storytelling. In part, that's because much of what worked for Walsh and the 49ers simply does not apply to other types of businesses. The fact is that most of us are NOT dealing with the world's top athletes, or the demands of physical performance, or the kind of command structure you see in sports franchises.

Despite that, there are a few gems in here:

* The key to winning is not to focus on winning, but to focus on getting better. You can't completely control the outcome of a game, but you can control the effort you put into your training, and if you relentlessly focus on improving, you increase your chances of success. Focus on continuously bettering yourself, and the score will take care of itself.

* It's best to keep your competitors faceless and nameless. That way, you won't be distracted or intimated or focused on them at all and can instead focus on yourself and what you can do to get better.

* Create a standard of performance—an extremely high standard of performance—that applies to every detail of your work and spend every day trying to move a little closer to that standard. Great results come from small improvements made on a regular basis over a long period of time.

* Copious planning, playbooks, and preparation are essential for success. As an introvert, I find planning to be essential in all aspects of life: I simply need to give my mind time to get used to things and then I can perform well. It turns out this same trait is essential in football and many other aspects of life. No one performs as well under extreme stress, so being able to prepare in a pressure-free environment beforehand, and having your plan of attack ready to go before the stress kicks in, is essential, both in football, and in many other aspects of life.

* Inspirational speeches are rarely useful. Most of them don't have much of an impact, and even if they do, the impact doesn't last long. Real motivation must come from within. It comes from the inner voice: the voice that each person hears inside their head every day, all day, that produces the long-lasting motivation you need to accomplish great things. Great leaders don't motivate through fancy speeches; they motivate by helping people build and grow that inner voice.

* The ending of the book, and the ending of Walsh's career, is tragic. Many of us work hard, assuming that when we achieve success, life will be easy and worry free. But Walsh's career, which was one of the most successful in NFL history, shows that success alone is not enough. Despite his incredible accomplishments—or perhaps because of them—Walsh found himself under extreme stress to always succeed, and eventually, this relentless pressure broke him down. The book preaches over and over again that you should focus on improvement rather than success, and that you should tie your identity to how you went about getting results rather than the results themselves, but it's clear that Walsh wasn't able to do this himself, and it cost him dearly. It's a sad and powerful lesson.



As always, I saves some of my favorite quotes:



"The culture precedes positive results. It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they're champions: they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners."

"Sometimes you snarl; sometimes you bite; sometimes you smile and give thumbs-up. There’s a little bit of the actor in all good leaders."

"When the audience is bored, it's not their fault."

"Concentrate on what will produce results rather than on the results, the process rather than the prize."
33 reviews
March 22, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. It was a slower read, but very informative and helped me think about another aspect of leadership, teaching. I don't follow football, so I didn't know anything about Bill Walsh before I read this book. I picked it up because I read an article on the Harvard Business Review blog talking about his leadership style and it mentioned this book. I wanted to get a "non-corporate" perspective on leadership and coaching.

There were a couple things that really stood out to me in the book.
- A big part of leadership is teaching. He spent a huge a amount of time teaching everyone what he wanted done. I think (and he admits at the end of the book) that he didn't delegate enough. However, he reinforced for me that a good leader is always teaching.

- His level of concern for the details was tremendous. He talks about paying close attention to the right details (and not the wrong ones). This is something that also seemed true to me from the Alan Mullay book (American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company) and the David Marquette book(Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders). All three of them dove very deep into the details as part of the turn around effort.
Profile Image for Willian Molinari.
Author 3 books120 followers
April 23, 2021
I'm migrating all my reviews to my blog. If you want to read the full review with my raw notes, check it here: https://pothix.com/scoretakescareofit...

It's a great book on leadership.
I confess that I was really bored in the first 15% of the book. The beginning is boring for those who don't give a f*** about football but keep reading, it worth the journey.
Bill Walsh took the San Francisco 49ers from a really bad performance (2 wins/14 losses) to an amazing one (13 win/3 losses) 2 years later. He applied his organizational philosophy to the whole organization and this is what this book is about, how he managed to do that, and how it works.

The conclusion for the book:

If you achieve your goal to create a great team and superior organization, the score will take care of itself
26 reviews2 followers
January 3, 2010
The late 49er's coach Bill Walsh and his leadership journey various football leagues are captured and descried inside. The late 49er's coach Bill Walsh and his leadership journey various football leagues are captured and descried inside. It's a unique compilation of his personal notes, interviews from peers and players all compiled by his son Craig and Steve Jamison.

This book provides a refreshing and unapologetic review of what leadership is all about; the good, the bad and often times ugly personal toll it can have on a person. Bill Walsh was a selfless hard charger man, who through his relentless pursuit for perfection, turned around a failed NFL team and turned it into a world class and competitive people oriented business from the Janitor through many star players (Montana, Rice etc) the GM. The concepts applied are those he learned from others and form his own experiences and mistakes.

He was not ashamed to
• Expect people to strive for perfection, to give 100%, to always be prepared.
• Provide clear direction and expectations from the leader all the way.
• Expect results and have high standards of performance and still treat people properly,
• Accountability in the how and the what.
• Ensure the right people were in the right places, and even when stars were not performing or support “his” team concept they were cut, traded or fired.
• When stars were plateau – he let them know and that they were going to be replaced.
• Describe his failures and lessons learned.

Great read – the concepts are transferable regardless of what you do or where you sit in an organization of any kind.
November 13, 2015
The Score Takes Care of Itself by Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh is in my mind the best book to read if you are a leader or someone of a high position in an organization. Bill Walsh was recognized as one of the highest and most esteemed coaches in all of sports history. His philosophy on leadership is unparalleled to that of any other coach or captain. That’s what this biography tries to depict his reasoning behind his coaching techniques and the insight that he has on being a successful master of management. The book goes through five parts of Bill Walsh’s strategies as a coach. Part 1: his standard of performance, which is just the dos and don’ts of being a leader and when you know you are doing your job right. Part 2: success is not spelled G-E-N-I-U-S, which means it’s all about your opportunity and what you do when you get it. Part 3: fundamentals of leadership, this is just the habits a leader has and the example he/she has to set. Part 4: essentials of a winning team, what a team must learn and do to overcome adversity. Part 5: looking for lessons in my mirror, which is just taking what you have and using that to your advantage and learning from your mistakes. As Bill claims, “once you master these 5 parts, you can become a great leader.”
This novel really got me thinking about what I have done wrong as a leader before, whether that be in sports or in my everyday life. I need to learn not to focus on criticizing everything that I or anybody on my teams have done, but focus on using what gifts they have to use to our advantage. Not only does it make the person who receives the praise confidence and a greater drive to win, but that would help my team as a result. This book definitely gave me an idea on how to lead a team and will help me for future teams.
Anyone who is a leader in a sport or even a work force, they should definitely find a way to read this book because it will give you a great idea on how to lead a team to success. It will give you a play-by-play on how to be successful while still being creative in your own way. That’s what made Bill Walsh such a great coach, he was creative while still sticking to traditional ways.
Profile Image for Jeff Beckham.
35 reviews1 follower
September 29, 2019
Very applicable to business

There's lots to learn from Bill Walsh, with the caveat being his real secret is being a genius who knows everything about everything. That allows you to instruct every coordinator, receptionist, and grounds crew member in detail about doing their job well. I have pages of notes and especially enjoyed the football stories as a long-time 49ers fan (although you don't have to be one to like the book). A bit repetitive in places but overall a great read.
Profile Image for Oleksiy Kovyrin.
84 reviews22 followers
February 4, 2016
Truly inspiring story, great leadership lessons! For many years throughout my career I had this idea, that everybody should be doing their best job and the results will come. That has been my default mode of operation for years now. It was so good to see, that the standard of performance idea worked for someone, especially in the situation like the one described in the book.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to work with other people on achieving a common goal: from CEOs, to middle and low level management and leadership. Even individual contributors may benefit from this story, since once again it touches on the old and very powerful idea of a strong connection between practice and performance/excellence.
Profile Image for Jane Dugger.
1,126 reviews48 followers
November 30, 2019
I love a book that makes me think. This one did in surprising ways.

There is much about Coach Bill Walsh's philosophy I applaud: his "Standards of Performance", his idea of everyone on the team/staff were connected "success belongs to everyone" no matter the job title, and his approach to leadership "listen, learn, lead".

I was also astounded about how much I learned about football. There is method (and appreciation) to the madness of men reenacting tribal warfare. As well as how it IS a business. Which led me to recall when I first learned libraries were also a business - how novel.

I especially enjoyed the chapter included at the end about his faults and what he "thought" (the book was written posthumously) were mistakes. It takes a lot of reflection and self-awareness to admit one's errors. I admire Coach Walsh (and his co-author) for including it. There is much to like about his philosophy of leadership but I can see his methods encroaching into micromanaging.

Like much in life and philosophy discover what works for you then cultivate those habits into your character. In my opinion Coach Walsh's philosophy is a good starting point.
Profile Image for Alexej Gerstmaier.
181 reviews13 followers
November 27, 2021
-Very careful planning [for|thinking through] all eventualities will greatly improve outcomes when push comes to shove. Similar to practicing speeches and rhetoric
-Strength of will is the common denominator of leadership. Balance this with not being rigid. "Being wrong for the right reasons" is key
-Look at intractable problems instead of dealing with busywork
-sees enemy team as nameless, faceless objects
-fires team up not by pleading with individuals but by fostering underdog image and necessity to prove oneself
-characterizing others (e.g. compliments) makes you build a "fake" character of them. Don't confuse yourself with the fake character
-surprise ("nobody will expect it") is grossly overrated
Profile Image for Emanuel Steininger.
43 reviews1 follower
October 30, 2023
If you’re looking for a philosophy of leadership that‘s strives through perfectionism, preparation, high work ethics and accountability, then Bill Walsh is the leader to study. Even though most practices are explained around football, there is so much that you can apply to the corporate world.

I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to get the most out of his teammates or employees.

As Walsh says: „Employees can thrive in an environment where they know exactly what is expected from them - even when those expectations are very high.“
Profile Image for Christopher.
Author 2 books56 followers
December 31, 2022
This is probably one of the most recommended books by Silicon Valley founders / CEO’s — including Dorsey of Twitter — so I had to see what the hype was all about.

Not just an excellent book on leadership, but an excellently written book in general. Walsh took pro football from checkers to chess, by bringing highly refined strategy and leadership tactics to an otherwise barbarian sport — and wiped out the competition year after year as a result. Entertaining and humorous throughout, even for non-NFL fans.
Profile Image for Seth Davis.
60 reviews4 followers
January 29, 2019
Really enjoyed this biography. Made me appreciate Bill Walsh and his perspective on coaching. My previous knowledge of him was no more than superficial. His diligence and style have much more to offer a business environment than most other sports coaches in my estimation.
Profile Image for Geraldine Carrillo.
12 reviews3 followers
August 23, 2019
Just a shame that I wasn't able to meet this great human being, at least being at one of his 49ers game. Bill Walsh is a clear example of perseverance and grit. I haven't been interested in football before, never thought how complex it could be. Leadership is not in business guys...
Profile Image for TΞΞL❍CK Mith!lesh .
303 reviews175 followers
September 16, 2020
In the book, the author talks about how being a leader has more to do with your mindset than your skills. Walsh speaks about how champions behave like champions before they are champions by obsessing about improving themselves and their team and focusing on the things within their control. When they do that, the score will take care of itself. Also, it’s a great book for sports fans!
Profile Image for Joshua Coon.
14 reviews2 followers
May 24, 2022
Quite simply the best leadership book I’ve read

My 400th book by goodreads count.
March 15, 2023
I did not finish this book. I’m certain there are good point but I was lost in all of the football.
Profile Image for Edwin Setiadi.
315 reviews12 followers
August 3, 2023
The blueprint of Bill Walsh’s philosophy

Bill Walsh is up there among the legendary coaches in NFL history. He managed to transform the 49ers from the worst team in the league to be the best team in just 2 seasons, from the most chaotic organizationally to get praises from the Harvard Business Review for organizational excellence.

And he would end up achieving what really matters in NFL, winning 5 Super Bowl championships in 14 years with the 49ers, as well as transforming the game with his West Coast Offense that has since been wildly imitated by other teams.

This book is about his blue print on doing that transformation. It is his philosophy, or what he called the Standard of Performance, broken down into easily digestible chapters that was revealed through extensive conversations with best-selling author Steve Jamison.

As Walsh remarks, “my Standard of Performance required not only maximum mental and physical effort, sacrifice, and commitment but also attention to such seemingly incidental requirements as “no shirttails out,” “positive attitude,” “promptness,” “good sportsmanship (no strutting, no posturing, no cheap shots),” “never sit down while on the practice field,” “no tank tops in the dining area,” “control of profanity,” “no fighting,” “treat fans with respect and exhibit a professional demeanor,” and many more, including “no smoking on premises,” which applied to all of us. Much of this may seem trivial to you, but it adds up and changes the environment.”

As a result, the 49er increasingly became famous for their businesslike and professional behaviour, even when they’re losing. And thus, Standard of Performance started to become appealing beyond the world of football and was attested by the many CEOs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere that sought for Walsh’s advice and invited him to speak about leadership.

This book also caters that angle from the business point of view. A little too much, in fact. In a bizarre way Steve Jamison, as the writer of the book, decided that it would be a great idea to turn Walsh’s footballing philosophy into a business book format, with all the corporate angles of leadership, teamwork, innovation, etc, complete with all those top 10 checklist of business cliches, which somewhat diluted Walsh’s core focus and stories on football.

Nevertheless, to be fair the many gems coming out of this book don’t take away the key messages from Walsh’s philosophy, regardless of the poor positioning to business genre. And they are indeed applicable in sports, business, and any other walks of life.

The followings are my favourites out of the whole bunch:

1. To succeed you must experience failure, and more importantly develop the ability to bounce back from failures. “I’ve observed that if individuals who prevail in a highly competitive environment have any one thing in common besides success, it is failure—and their ability to overcome it. “Crash and burn” is part of it; so are recovery and reward.”

2. Have a grand unifying principle, have a philosophy.

3. Before you can win the fight, you’ve got to be in the fight.

4. You’re part of the team, and everyone have their own roles in the team. Your role won’t succeed if it’s not supported by other roles.

5. Be professional in mannerism. “For example, how the players dressed at practice and the appearance they gave to others when taking the field was very important to me. I wanted our football team to look truly professional—impeccable. Thus, shirttails tucked in, socks up tight, and more were requirements.”

6. It takes time to rebuild, it’s not an overnight success. Achieving success takes time, patience and fortitude.

7. Focus on what you do best, be the master of it, until you’re comfortable even with the pressure. Thorough preparation and the training for it can only get you so far, and trying harder has its limits. Walsh cannot do what he’s done in football in other sports like tennis or golf.

8. Have a clear plan with meticulous details. “Meetings were held, and he would take an hour or two with every employee so they knew exactly what he expected of them, what he wanted them to do and how he wanted them to do it. He made it very clear. There was no confusion in their minds as to what he expected.”

9. Communication is very important. “Communication within the organization was extremely important to Bill, especially between coaches and players. Even though our headquarters at 711 Nevada Street in Redwood City, California, weren’t so good, he saw the cramped offices where we were almost sitting on top of each other as an asset. When somebody was talking on the phone or having a conversation, everybody could hear what was going on. In a strange way, it meant that everybody on the staff was in the loop.”

10. The importance of having the ability of making the most out of the situation or the hands you’d been dealt with. “Creating gold from dross is alchemy; making lemonade when you’re given lemons is leadership; making lemonade when you don’t have any lemons is great leadership.”

11. Get creative with your limitations, to turn it into a strength. “Instead of looking for reasons we couldn’t make it work, I sought solutions that would make it succeed.”

12. Respect the past but don’t cling to it.

13. Give credit where credit is due.

14. Always have a contingency plan. “Having a well-thought-out plan ready to go in advance of a change in the weather is the key to success.”

15. About 20% of all things we cannot control, such us luck, weather, etc. But we can control 80% of the things, and we should focus on what we can control.

16. Respect is earned and should be justified. “Declaring, “I am the leader!” has no value unless you also have the command skills necessary to be the leader.”

17. “There is no one perfect or even preferable style of leadership, just as there is no perfect politician or parent.” “Some leaders are volatile, some voluble; some stoic, others exuberant; but all successful leaders know where we want to go, figure out a way we believe will get the organization there (after careful consideration of relevant available information), and then move forward with absolute determination.”

18. Know when to quit, when to admit the plan is not working, and cut loss. Sunk-cost fallacy is a worse burden. “A leader must be keen and alert to what drives a decision, a plan of action. If it was based on good logic, sound principles, and strong belief, I felt comfortable in being unswerving in moving toward my goal. Any other reason (or reasons) for persisting were examined carefully. Among the most common faulty reasons are (1) trying to prove you are right and (2) trying to prove someone else is wrong. Of course, they amount to about the same thing and often lead to the same place: defeat.”

19. Stood your ground and protect your turf when your position or authority is being challenged. “Leaders who don’t understand what their territory is and how to protect it will soon find themselves with no turf to protect.”

20. Be prepared, be detail oriented, be organized, be accountable, keep everything in perspective while simultaneously focused fully on the task at hand, be fair, be firm, be flexible.

21. Sweat the right small stuff.

22. Beat em’ to the punch! Hurt your opponents before they hurt you. Strike first.

23. A leader needs to have a very hard edge inside. “It has to lurk in there somewhere and come out on occasion. You must be able to make and carry out harsh and, at times, ruthless decisions in a manner that is fast, firm, and fair. Applied correctly, this hard edge will not only solve the immediate difficulty, but also prevent future problems by sending out this important message: Cross my line and you can expect severe consequences. This will have ongoing benefits for your organization.”

24. Inner voice is more influential than outer voice. “The true inspiration, expertise, and ability to execute that employees take with them into their work is most often the result of their inner voice talking, not some outer voice shouting, and not some leader giving a pep talk. For members of your team, you determine what their inner voice says.”

25. “you don’t need to shout, stomp, or strut to be a great leader—just do the job and treat people right.”

26. Blend honesty and “diplomacy.”

27. Produce clear instructions and battle plan. “Use every means before and after combat to tell troops what they are going to do and what they have done.”

28. Be careful with flattery, don’t get it into your head and make you lose focus.

29. Don’t get influenced by outside opinion. “Believing your own press clippings - good or bad - is self defeating. You are allowing others, oftentimes uninformed others, to tell you who you are.”

30. Positive words work better than negative ones. “You demonstrate a lack of assuredness when you talk constantly in negatives. When attempting to help someone attain that next level of performance, a supportive approach works better than a constantly negative or downside-focused approach.”

31. Give constructive criticism rather than demeaning criticism. “If you’re growing a garden, you need to pull out the weeds, but flowers will die if all you do is pick weeds. They need sunshine and water. People are the same. They need criticism, but they also require positive and substantive language and information and true support to really blossom.”

32. Be crystal clear with direct communication that is clear, specific, and comprehensive without an ounce of ambiguity. Don’t beat around the bush.

33. Embrace uncertainties, in order to avoid mental comfort zone. “This comfort zone is dangerous because it creates an often almost imperceptible lowering of intensity, focus, and energy, which leads directly to reduced effort, additional mistakes, and diminished performance.”

34. Leadership needs poise under pressure.

35. On teaching: use straight forward language. Be concise. Account for a wide range of difference in knowledge, comprehension, and experience. Account that some are more receptive and more eager to learn than others. Be observant during your comment. Strongly encourage note taking. Use an unpredictable presentation style. Organize sentence using logical, sequential building blocks. Encourage audience participation. Use visual aids. And remember Sun Tzu: with more sophistication comes more control.

36. Money talks. Treating people right talks louder.

37. On motivation: Formally celebrate and observe the momentous achievement—the victory—and make sure that everyone feels ownership in it. Allow pats on the back for a limited time. Be apprehensive about applause. Recognize that mastery is a process and not a destination.

38. On situational character: “It’s worth remembering that some individuals have “situational character”—their attitude (and subsequent performance) are linked to results. Good results? Great attitude. Bad results? Bad attitude.”

39. Ego is good. “Here’s what a big ego is: pride, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-assurance . Ego is a powerful and productive engine. In fact, without a healthy ego you’ve got a big problem.”

40. But egotism? Now that’s bad. “Egotism is something else entirely. It’s an ego that’s been inflated like a hot-air balloon—arrogance that results from your own perceived skill, power, or position. You become increasingly self-important, self-centered, and selfish, just as a hot-air balloon gets pumped with lots of hot air until it turns into some big, ponderous entity that’s slow, vulnerable, and easily destroyed. Unfortunately, a strong, healthy ego often becomes egotism.”

41. The bottom 20% may determine your success. “the so-called bottom 20 percent of our team—the backups, “benchwarmers,” and special role players, those who didn’t see much action during the regular season. In a sports organization this is the group that often determines your fate—they make the difference between whether you win or lose. In business it may be a customer-service representative or another less prominent “player” who fails to address a problem due to lack of readiness or a feeling that his or her particular job doesn’t really mean that much in the big picture.”

42. If it looks inevitable that you’re going to lose. At least lose with dignity.

43. Use the four most powerful words: I believe in you.

44. “Occasionally, when striving to go beyond conventional results, you must go beyond the conventional and against popular opinion. This means trusting your own judgment enough to be resourceful, innovative, and imaginative. It means resisting the herd mentality.”

45. The no enemies policy. “I instructed everyone in our organization—players, staff, and all others—to do everything possible to get along with people who interacted with us, even when it might appear they were treating us unfairly. We simply couldn’t afford to waste resources fighting needless fights, whether with fans, media, vendors, sponsors, other teams, or anyone else, including squabbles among ourselves. You can quickly find yourself doing nothing but chasing so-called enemies.”

46. “The most effective survival tools a leader can possess: expertise, composure, patience, and common sense.”

47. There’s no mystery to mastery, the connection between preparation and performance: training, training and training. “You never stop learning, perfecting, refining—molding your skills. You never stop depending on the fundamentals—sustaining, maintaining, and improving.”

48. The importance of work ethics. “For me, the starting point for everything—before strategy, tactics, theories, managing, organizing, philosophy, methodology, talent, or experience—is the work ethic. Without one of significant magnitude you’re dead in the water, finished.”

49. “When you make a mistake, admit it and fix it. Don’t let pride, stubbornness, or possible embarrassment about your bad decision prevent you from correcting what you have done. Fix it, or the little problem becomes a big one.”

50. And last but not least, the sentence that becomes the title of the book: Focus on the process, and the result will take care of itself.
Profile Image for Brad Carl.
Author 14 books196 followers
March 12, 2020
There are some good leadership lessons and practices in this book. That said, I'd be apprehensive about suggesting this book to a young and upcoming leader because there are portions of Walsh's ways that resemble micromanagement.

Towards the end of the book Bill Walsh's son, Craig, wrote several pages about his late father. Much of it was repetitive and unnecessary....book filler. But that's okay, I guess. The part that struck me most, though? Bill Walsh was apparently always bothered by the West Coast Offense being called the "West Coast Offense" instead of the "Cincinnati Offense" (where he developed it) or even "The Bill Walsh Offense."

Really?

This is a "great leader"?

Believe me, it wasn't the only part in the book that made me raise my eyebrows in confusion.

Profile Image for Enda Cahill.
2 reviews
November 5, 2021
Attention to detail, and relentlessness, exemplified to another level.

Last chapter shows the toll this can take on a person.
Profile Image for Eugene Gapon.
27 reviews5 followers
April 14, 2023
Набор неплохих историй про лидерство. Местами сложно соотнести спортивный контекст со своим опытом.

Отсутствует структура.
Profile Image for Rob.
4 reviews
November 3, 2019
Incredible book that not only applies to the game of football but to life and business.
63 reviews
December 28, 2023
As a Niners fan who was too young to really understand what was going on during this historic time, I appreciate this book providing context to the system, team, and man who created such amazing success, the book is a good biography.

I did not see much value in it as a how to leadership guide though. The guy worked himself essentially to the death at the expense of his health, his family, etc. these are not things I seek to emulate in my own leadership practice which means I may not be the best ever and may not achieve perfection but I am ok with that.
Profile Image for Max Nova.
420 reviews202 followers
December 27, 2018
Full review and highlights at https://books.max-nova.com/score-takes-care

"The Score Takes Care of Itself" exists at the intersection of the two worst genres in all of literature: business and sports. And yet, Bill Walsh's story of how he took the San Francisco 49'ers from being one of the worst teams in the league to three Superbowls in a few short years manages to transcend the typical drivel and self-glorification of these sorts of books. Walsh's perspective is thoughtful and self-aware and he actually changed my mind on a few things about management. I particularly liked his concept of a "Standard of Performance" - as he notes, "People are most comfortable with how they are being treated when their duties are laid out in specific detail and their performance can be gauged by specific metrics. The key is to document — clarify — those expectations." This may sound like a fancy way of describing a normal, boring job description, but if you read his Standard of Performance for the 49'ers, you'll see that it is far more focused on attitude and mindset (emphasis mine):
My Standard of Performance — the values and beliefs within it — guided everything I did in my work at San Francisco and are defined as follows: Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement; demonstrate respect for each person in the organization and the work he or she does; be deeply committed to learning and teaching, which means increasing my own expertise; be fair; demonstrate character; honor the direct connection between details and improvement, and relentlessly seek the latter; show self-control, especially where it counts most — under pressure; demonstrate and prize loyalty; use positive language and have a positive attitude; take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort; be willing to go the extra distance for the organization; deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation (don’t get crazy with victory nor dysfunctional with loss); promote internal communication that is both open and substantive (especially under stress); seek poise in myself and those I lead; put the team’s welfare and priorities ahead of my own; maintain an ongoing level of concentration and focus that is abnormally high; and make sacrifice and commitment the organization’s trademark.
Walsh brought an unusually academic and analytical perspective to football, an approach that made him an outsider for much of his early career. With his constant emphasis on teaching, he was a natural fit as Stanford's football coach before his ascension to the NFL. He also did away with a lot of the macho bullshit that still characterizes many football programs (including the middle school team I played for growing up in Kentucky!), forbidding "the traditional hazing of rookies" and demanding that all "demonstrate respect for each person in the organization and the work he or she does." But Walsh was also uncompromising in his insistence on continual improvement and tracking of results. In a way, he reminded me of David Allen (of "Getting Things Done" notoriety) - as the author notes, "Bill Walsh loved lists, viewed them as a road map to results."

I've read a lot of business books and 90% of them are completely useless (see Sturgeon's Law). This is one of the good ones.
Profile Image for Michael Huang.
892 reviews39 followers
May 3, 2020
If you pardon the length and unnecessary details at times, there are gems in this book. The author is a fan of Bill Walsh and interviewed him and put together this book. The key insight is that you can control certain things: in his case what he calls "Standard of Performance", which is everybody needs to measure up to that standard of excellence. With that you can control 80% of the game. Focus on that. The other 20% is outside your control. Accept it. In a big game, it's business as usual, no "try harder mentality". To better handle what you can't control better: 1. Do expect defeat. 2. Do force yourself to stop looking backward. 3. Do allow yourself appropriate recovery/grieving time. 4. Do tell yourself I am going to stand and fight again. 5. Do begin planning for your next serious encounter. Don't do this 5: ask "why me"; expect sympathy; bellyache; keep accepting condolences; blame others.

Nuggets of wisdom:
• Make everybody believe "success belongs to everyone". Jordan's post-game interview always credit Pippen, Rodman, etc. No showboating after touchdown.
• In his offense strategy he has 4 lessons: 1. Success doesn't care which road you take; 2. Be bold; don't fear the unknown; 3. Desperation should not drive innovation; 4. Be obsessive in looking for the upside in the downside.
• If your staff doesn't fully mobilized and energized until you enter the room, then your leadership hasn't percolated down.
• Praise can be more valuable than blame.
• Persistence is essential because knowledge is rarely imparted on the first attempt.
• Employ a somewhat unpredictable presentation style. "Droning on" is the most common, but is not effective.
• The element of dealing with egotism, arrogance, and the self-styled big shots is perhaps similar profession to profession.
• He relayed a personal confrontation when someone incensed about his earlier comment barked in his face. Walsh was very angry, but followed "no enemies" policy and wrote him a conciliatory letter explaining the comment wasn't aimed at him. Walsh said it wasn't an easy letter to write. But from that point on, he became a good friend and ally.
• For competitive people, losing hurts so much, they can't accept it. In his business, when he did well and win, he no longer experience joy, just momentary relief (of not losing). And he had nothing left in the tank. He shared some tips to avoid the trap he fell in.
○ Do not isolate yourself; develop a small trusted network whose opinion you respect and are willing to honestly evaluate.
○ Delegate abundantly.
○ Shake it (loss) off.
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