Former Raiders Owner Al Davis would say, “The greatness for any organization is to anticipate problems, not react.” 

Davis wanted to be proactive and stay ahead of the competition, which required him to understand why winning occurred — and why losing happened. 

The scoreboard didn’t matter to Davis. Completely understanding what took place, then fixing the problems for the future was far more important than celebrating a victory.  

Every leader must break down his/her wins into three categories to further understand what must improve in the not-too-distant future if a championship is the goal: 

1. Dominating Wins

Even though we can never reach perfection, a dominating win is when we have executed the strategy and followed the plan as close to perfect as possible. There were no missteps from start to finish. Are there areas for improvement? Yes, but on this day, the outcome was never in question. 

2. Dictating Wins

This is a game of back and forth, the opponent is talented, offers challenges that must be overcome and eventually, the outcome works in your favor. Most wins are placed in this category because it takes a change of strategy, an adjustment of the plan, and mental toughness in game to become the victor. In this category the strength of the team is used to overcome the weaknesses in the opponent. 

3. Dangerous Wins 

Some teams can play poorly but gain a lucky bounce and win. These wins are dangerous, in part because as the leader, you must pivot from everyone feeling contentment, to understanding improvement needs to be a priority. 

When a team has a dangerous win and doesn’t understand the dangers that lie ahead, the entire season becomes perilous, and the aspirations of winning a title can soon vanish. 

For leaders and problem solvers, it becomes vital to fix these issues immediately. 

They can be caused by a wrong design that needs to be altered or a lack of the right personnel. Understanding the dangers, understanding the weaknesses in your team as they apply to future opponents’ strength is how good teams inch toward greatness.  

Waiting for the off-season to understand and fix problems is too late. One of the greatest mistakes any leader can make is being "too late” to recognize, too late to understand and too late to react. We never want to be in the “too late” business, which is why we must spend time understanding why we win and why we lose. 

The Philadelphia Eagles, for example, started the NFL season 10-1, then went 1-6 over their last seven games. While they accumulated the 10 wins, there were clear signs of problems that were averted but never addressed. Naturally, these issues festered and ultimately derailed their season.

Now, they are left understanding what went wrong and why were they “too late” to fix.  

Being a champion takes daily honest assessment, requires constant maintenance — and a leader with a vision to understand how to anticipate the problems. 

On Building Trust: Foster trust by actively listening, consistently delivering on promises, being a team player, and prioritizing the mission over yourself.

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