The legendary football coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) changed a losing culture into a winning culture in the small-market, frigid Wisconsin town of Green Bay.  The packers were perennial losers before Lombardi took over as head coach, coming off a 1-10-1 season and having 11 straight losing seasons.  Lombardi led the Packers to three championships in his first seven seasons during the 1960s and early 1970s.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame said “Lombardi is arguably the greatest football coach of all time and is on the short list of history’s greatest coach, regardless of sport.  A few quotes from Lombardi reveal his basic strategy for winning, which was based on was building character, commitment, and setting an exemplary example:

1. Winning is not everything, but making the effort to win is.
2. The objective is to win – fairly, squarely, decently, by the rules, but to win.
3. The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength and not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
4. Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts, they become your beliefs.  Watch your beliefs, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions.  Watch your actions, they become your habits.  Watch your habits, they become your character.

Source:  Based on Michael Mink, “Coach Vince Lombardi Set A Superb Standard,” Investors Business Daily, February 5, 2016, A3.