How Bill Walsh Unlocked the 49ers’ Potential
I still can’t get over the generosity of so many legendary leaders sharing their wisdom at the tail end of their careers. It’s what makes reading a super power. Here’s 40+ reasons to pick up a book this week!
What an incredible opportunity for us to soak in lessons from the best & brightest to ever walk the earth. That’s why I believe books offer the single highest ROI investment in life. Twenty bucks for a book that might reshape your life. That’s an asymmetric bet I like to make quite frequently. (The reason lots of amazon packages wind up at my front door.)
This Bill Walsh book, The Score Takes Care Of Itself, we discussed last week is full of gems.
Bill Walsh: The Steward of a Dynasty
Bill Walsh played the long game with long-term people. He inherited the worst team in the NFL and turned it into a dynasty. And here’s the kicker: The year after he retired, the 49ers won another Super Bowl. That’s the definition of leaving something better than you found it. From worst to best even without his presence on the team.
So how did he do it?
Last week, we talked about his unrelenting commitment to push through the suck. That cannot be overstated. Doing the work and showing up is the foundation.
But beyond that, Walsh had a three-step approach to leadership that stuck with me:
Listen. Learn. Lead.
Let’s break it down.
1. LISTEN
“Good collaboration begins with big ears.”
Walsh took the head coaching job for a 2-14 team and didn’t come in guns blazing. He stepped in with big ears. He wanted to know every player’s name, understand their mindset, and meet them where they were—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. He wasn’t just listening to respond; he was listening to understand.
Great reminder for us: Be the person who makes others feel seen. Seek to understand before being understood. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.
2. LEARN
Walsh was obsessed with process improvement and fundamentals. All he would ever talk about was improvement. The connection between preparation and performance were welded together. Game-level focus was the price of admission to practice at the 49ers facility. Sloppiness was an intolerable for Walsh.
He believed preparation and performance were inseparable. You didn’t “turn it on” for the game—you practiced at a game-day level every day.
Joe Montana (Hall of Fame QB): “I would work with him on basic fundamentals that would bore a high schooler to death.”
Jerry Rice (Greatest WR in NFL history): “Practicing a slant pass pattern at 6AM over and over with nobody within a mile…”
Just simply COMPOUNDING the learnings and sharpening the fundamentals.
The connection between intelligent, directed hard work and achieving your potential? It’s real. And it compounds.
3. LEAD
Walsh shared, "A defining characteristic of a good leader is the conviction that he or she can make a positive difference."
Walsh had clarity. He created a Standard of Performance and repeated it daily. He was a master at communicating the what, while letting his team figure out the how.
He took an hour or two with every employee to make sure they understood exactly what was expected of them. No guessing. No ambiguity. Everyone knew the standard—down to how the receptionist answered the phone.
This wasn’t about micromanaging. This was about compounding the fundamentals. All the details mattered because over the course of the long haul, the 49ers would eventually find themselves with larger points on the board than the competition.
He transformed a culture of losing into a culture deserving of championships
Final Thought: Mastering the Inner Voice
Walsh believed that great leaders have the most powerful and positive inner voice.
But what hit me hardest?
He didn’t just master his own self-talk—he taught his team how to master theirs.
"The leader... teaches the team how to talk to themselves. An effective leader has a profound influence on what that inner voice will say."
That’s profound.
We’ve talked before about the “monkey mind” and not dimming your light—that voice that can either build us up or tear us down. Think about Katherine Graham. Imagine leading an organization where everyone’s inner voice was an asset, not an anchor.
We’ve also talked about how belief precedes ability. When everyone on the team believes, amazing things happen.
The Big Takeaway
After two weeks reflecting on Walsh’s leadership, here’s what I see:
He focused. He inspired. He taught.
And in doing so, he transformed minds, spirits, and habits until the 49ers became an organization worthy of winning.
Walsh was a steward. He left the team & staff of the 49ers better than he found it.
You and I have the same opportunity this week—to make situations and people a little better than we found them.
Onward,
Matt