—Systemic change begins with personal change—
Michael Lombardi is a former General Manager and three-time Super Bowl-winning NFL executive, after thirty years working for the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers, the Oakland Raiders, and the Cleveland Browns. He has a top-ten sports podcast, GM Street, is on the Ringer podcast network. Bill Belichick once said of Lombardi: "Mike’s one of the smartest people I know,” “He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with and was a huge asset to me for the two years that he was here. He studies football, and he knows it very well. I would say on probably all teams.”
Lombardi’s body of knowledge 35 years in the making. He has more than three decades of experience in professional football, as a coach, executive, and media analyst. His coaching and front office career have included jobs with the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns (where he was the general manager and director of player personnel) and New England Patriots. His television experience, CBS Sports, Showtime and the NFL Network. Also, he has written extensively for numerous print and digital media platforms, including NFL.com, Sports Illustrated.
Michael Lombardi noted, “I've worked for, coached alongside and managed men who have won 11 of those Lombardi trophies, many of them the immediate or delayed result of the kind of foresight, ingenuity and sheer force of will displayed by Belichick during that goal-line stand in Arizona. The story behind that now-legendary play is just one example of many that I have collected over my career. I could argue that no one in modern NFL history has had as much direct access as I have to the men who most changed the game of pro football. And I would argue that no one is better suited to highlight and explain the brilliant lessons and revelatory insights of these masters, on the field and off.”
Leaders who know how to lead and change culture know culture eats strategy for breakfast. This concept figures strongly in Michael's book, Gridiron Genius. When most people watch football, they see the game, maybe the game plan and strategy. We see it on the scale of a play, maybe a game involving twenty-two men on a field, maybe also the coaches and trainers. Michael sees each play in the context of the game, season, and overall culture of football as it evolves over decades. He knows the key players, coaches, owners, past players, their careers, their relationships, and their families if relevant. To understand and change culture doesn't come from just telling people what to do. It means listening, understanding, testing, trying, failing, coming back, succeeding, relationships, and using tools like stories, beliefs, images, role models, not just carrots and sticks or instruction. To hear Michael talk football reveals levels of leadership and culture beyond what most of us ever see, honed through decades of living and loving the game and everything in it. I hope the application to sustainability is obvious. You'll hear in his sharing what fans miss when television hides the full game why I can't stand people thinking they're leading in sustainability by coercing, cajoling, convincing, or seeking compliance. Give everything you've got because you love it. Reach your potential. Break past what you thought your potential was to new possibilities.