You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 C's to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life

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NFL head coach Mike Smith lead one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NFL history. In the season prior to his arrival in 2008, the Atlanta Falcons had a 4–12 record and the franchise had never before achieved back-to-back winning seasons. Under Smith’s leadership, the Falcons earned an 11–5 record in his first season and would go on to become perennial playoff and Super Bowl contenders earning Smith AP Coach of year in 2008 and voted Coach of Year by his peers in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

You Win in the Locker Room First draws on the extraordinary experiences of Coach Mike Smith and Jon Gordon―consultant to numerous college and professional teams―to explore the seven powerful principles that any business, school, organization, or sports team can adopt to revitalize their organization.

Step by step, the authors outline a strategy for building a thriving organization and provide a practical framework that give leaders the tools they need to create a great culture, lead with the right mindset, create strong relationships, improve teamwork, execute at a higher level, and avoid the pitfalls that sabotage far too many leaders and organizations.

In addition to sharing what went right with the Falcons, Smith also transparently shares what went wrong his last two seasons and provides invaluable lessons leaders can take away from his victories, success, failures and mistakes.

Whether it’s an executive leadership team of a Fortune 500 company, a sports team, an emergency room team, military team, or a school team successful leaders coach their team and develop, mentor, encourage, and guide them. This not only improves the team, it improves the leaders and their relationships, connections, and organization.

You Win in the Locker Room First offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the most pressure packed leadership jobs on the planet and what leaders can learn from these experiences in order to build their own winning team.

Jon Gordon is the author of numerous bestselling books and his inspirational talks have inspired audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by countless Fortune 500 companies, school districts, hospitals, sports teams, and nonprofits. Jon invites you to visit and connect with him at JonGordon.com or on Twitter @JonGordon11.

Mike Smith is the former head coach for the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons, a position he held from 2008 to 2014. He is the all-time winningest coach in franchise history. In his first season as Falcons head coach, Smith was recipient of the NFL Coach of the Year Award by the Associated Press. He was also named NFL Coach of the Year 3 times by Pro Football Weekly (2008, 2010 and 2012).