Thoughts for the Day, December 13, 2024: A culture of long-term success has been developed by Sheila Hamp and the Detroit Lions
I normally don't post a blog on Friday, but today I am making an exception.
Over the past weeks, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News have published various articles about the Lions. Each article contained nuggets of information that has contributed to the Lions' success over the past three seasons. I have summarized those nuggets in the following.
These nuggets can be used by leaders in any organization in any field. They are not unique to football and sports teams
The Detroit Lions, a model for a well-run organization
Three years ago, the Lions were 1-6 and appeared to be heading nowhere. They were the Same Old Lions, but then something happened.
The work and vision of their owner, Shelia Hamp, their leadership team of Rod Wood, Chris Speilman and Brad Holmes, and their coaching staff of Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson started to kick in and take shape on the field. The Lions finished the season 9-8 as they went 8-2 in their last 10 games of the season.
The Lions record over the last forty games is 32-8, the best in the NFL.
The Lions are a model of a well-run organization that appears to be building a team of leaders and players that will allow the Lions to be successful in the long run. The Lions have built a culture that breeds success.
It starts at the top
Owner Shelia Hamp started the change. Holmes and Campbell have run with it. Everyone gets a voice, everyone is heard, collaboration is fundamental. So, too, is accountability. Think of it as a military base that welcomes hippies. Or a commune that houses soldiers.
Collaboration has been a core tenant of Detroit's approach since Hamp, along with team president Rod Wood and executive Chris Spielman, hired Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes in January 2021.
From owner Sheila Hamp to GM Brad Holmes to Campbell and coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, no one demands extra attention, no divas need apply.
One thing that comes from the top down, there’s zero ego involved with any of the coaching staff or any of the players.
Collaboration is a key characteristic of the organization
Every week during the season, Taylor Decker and his offensive linemates choose their six favorite run plays and give them to Hank Fraley, the Detroit Lions offensive line coach. Fraley shoots them up the ladder to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Johnson lays out a game plan and, in turn, loops in head coach Dan Campbell. The first 15 plays are scripted. “It’s a good bet,” said Decker, “that four or five of our favorite runs are going to be in the first 15 plays.” Those plays are scripted. And while Johnson scripts them, he uses input from nearly everyone who plays or coaches offense for the Lions, including, obviously, Campbell.
The same is true on the defensive side, where linebackers and safeties are free to make suggestions, and where position coaches run ideas up the pole to defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn all week.
Empowerment runs rampant throughout the organization
Campbell has done his best to empower assistants and that's led to those same assistants empowering their players.
That's what happens here. It's not just the players within the building, but the coaches as well. Brad Holmes, Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson have structured this thing to put you in leadership roles within your own, within your room.
Each week, for example, linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard addresses the entire defense. Glenn wants his input, along with the input of all his positional coaches. And Campbell wants all his coaches to learn to do some of the things a coordinator or head coach does.
You see the coaches are on the field just asking for feedback on plays.
Everyone is accountable.
Sheila is outstanding, man. She gives us everything we need, she is very supportive, and she speaks her mind and it is appreciated.
Our guys have ownership of this team, they have buy-in, they know it's their team. We try to honor that, we do. Our team speaks volumes. Our core has got something.
I listen, we listen, because that's the way it should be. For the most part, the core, the herd, it's fall in line, or it doesn't work out. We've got a good group.
Receiver Amon Ra Saint Brown said, ‘If I have to dig out a safety on a run play 50 times, I’ll do it.’
Show up on time, every time. And follow the consensus, even when the consensus is laid out by Campbell. Because sometimes the voice is singular, and it has to be. It’s just easier to trust when that singular voice comes out of all those other voices.
There are zero egos
Dan Campbell has a gift of vision. He understands what it means to be human. And he isn’t worried about getting credit.
And the evidence is on tape. It speaks to the right type of people being here, and the culture that Dan wanted to build. I’ve never seen anything like it in my nine years as far as selflessness and lack of ego.
He’s instilled that humility in his coaches. Or, more precisely, he’s hired coaches with a similar sense of self.
There’s zero ego involved with any coaching staff or any of the players around here. That comes from Dan, because he doesn’t have any ego about anything when it comes to anything in this building.
Campbell famously told Kelvin Sheppard not to cut his braids when he hired him to be his linebackers coach, for example. That may seem like a small thing. But Campbell wanted Sheppard because of who Sheppard was. That included his hair. He wasn’t worried about outdated societal norms, or some unspoken protocol, or that somehow the hair might reflect on him
It’s about the players and they make it fun
That’s one of the biggest things here and what makes it so fun to play here and to be a part of this winning culture that we have is that they listen to us, and they are collaborative
Being able to suggest plays is fun. They don’t always get used, but sometimes they do, and those are fun and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Ben Johnson — with the blessing of coach Dan Campbell, an iconoclast who has aggressively challenged the NFL’s conservative strategy — has tried anything and everything in his third season as the Lions’ play-caller. Reverses. Double reverses. Flea-flickers. Reverse flea-flickers. Touchdown passes to the quarterback. Passes by an offensive lineman. Passes to an offensive lineman.
“Obviously, we know he's a brilliant play caller,” Decker said, “but I think the way he can put players into positions to do what they're good at ‘It's about the players,’ or ‘I'm gonna have this guy run this route because he's good at it.’ Or just asking for feedback from guys on what they like.
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Quote of the Day: “I’m very appreciative of the way Dan, Brad (Holmes) and A.G. (Glenn) have structured this thing to kind of put you in leadership roles... they don’t have to do those things. I have friends in other buildings, and I know they're not afforded those opportunities, so I don’t take them lightly ... It’s an unbelievable opportunity to grow as a person.... It’s all raw and natural. That’s what I think is different here. Like nobody’s walking up in front of players with some (script). It's authentic, its genuine feelings, its honesty. Most coaches wouldn’t do that in front of their players, they’ll go upstairs and do it and then come down and smile in the player’s face. That’s where the disconnect happens in a lot of buildings. Whatever is said upstairs is said downstairs, that’s throughout every room.” Lions' linebacker coach Kelvin Sheppard.
Video of the Day: This is what a leader looks like.
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