Dominance

Although basketball is a team sport, dominance begins with winning individual battles. When we think of dominating team performances, they often involve superior individual effort. 



Bill Walton's forty-four points against Memphis in the 1973 NCAA Championship stands out as one of these. This came before the three-point shot. Coach Wooden opined that Walton's greatness arose from a willingness to do the 'little things' like work on footwork that made him a prolific scorer. 



In 1970, John McKay's USC Trojans traveled to Alabama and annihilated the Crimson Tide, leading to desegregation of SEC football and some believe broader integration throughout the South. Sam Cunningham had 135 yards and two touchdowns leading USC to a 42-21 victory. In the Showtime documentary "Against the Tide", an Alabama coach remarked that USC could have made the score "whatever they wanted." 

Tiger Woods' dominance followed assiduous practice habits. One season, he finished practices by making a hundred consecutive eight foot putts. That season on the PGA Tour, he didn't miss a putt inside four feet. 



UCONN's Women set a contemporary standard for dominance winning their fourth consecutive national championship. 

Alabama Coach Nick Saban discussed dominance at great length in How Good Do You Want to Be? "Part of being dominant is believing that you are. If a team is undefeated but still believes they can be beaten, then they most likely will be...You can be dominant without disrespecting competitors or sacrificing what you believe in. You may be surprised how positive thinking impacts your performance." 

Moreover, David Wilkinson wrote in Capitalism and Human Values, "in the all important realm of the inner life, belief is just one species of habit among many." 

Of course, there are negatives to dominance in sports. Professional sports sometimes seek to "level the playing field" by using salary caps and scheduling techniques. 

Still, it's sometimes a "numbers game" when examining how teams succeed. ESPN looked inside the numbers to see how the Patriots won over fifteen seasons using superior quarterback play, limiting turnovers, rushing only three, and emptying the backfield. Pasteur's admonition that "chance favors the prepared mind" comes to mind. 

I remember two points above all from David Cottrell's Monday Morning Leadership: 

1) The main thing is the main thing. Everyone has to be pulling together on one goal.
2) People don't quit jobs; they quit people. People skills, the ability to inspire and add value determine whether your organization becomes dominant or also-rans.