I’ve been an Auburn guy my entire life. My mom, dad, and I all attended the university, and I am a huge fan of their football and basketball teams to this day.

That being said, I also have a well-formed hatred for the University of Alabama. But their recently retired coach, Nick Saban, is someone I have an immense level of respect for. Whether you’re a football fan or not, there are 5 principles Saban did really well within the organization.

The five principles I identified from Saban’s leadership were process-minded thinking, culture, A-players, standards, and consistency.

Process-Minded Thinking

When Saban was coming into Alabama initially, he talked about process in every press conference. I would mock him and think it was so funny, until they won their first national championship in 2009 and then just went on to win many more thereafter. While he continued to talk about the process, they actually lived it out in everything that they did.

Culture

Coach Saban brought an obvious culture of competition to the team and the coaching staff.  While not everyone may thrive in this type of culture, it is inevitable that when you compete again 4 and 5 star teams there will be a high level of competition.

A-Players

When you compare the type of players recruited before Saban, vs. those recruited by him, there was a marked focus on A-players. meaning at the end of the day, you can look at the. Recruiting that

I don’t know if they finished outside the top five in recruiting in many years. Usually, they were the top two in recruiting each and every year. You can make a lot of mistakes with coaching and even decisions, but when you have, in football language, four and five star guys, you can go a long way.

Standards

When you compare the type of players recruited before Saban, vs. those recruited by him, there was a marked focus on A-players. meaning at the end of the day, you can look at the. Recruiting that

I don’t know if they finished outside the top five in recruiting in many years. Usually, they were the top two in recruiting each and every year. You can make a lot of mistakes with coaching and even decisions, but when you have, in football language, four and five star guys, you can go a long way.

Consistency

All of these principles take an incredible amount of consistency to embed into an organization. I would say that Saban’s career established an expectation of consistency with the other. 4 principles he upheld in their organization. As you reflect on this example, I hope you’ll be able to pick out one or two things that you can begin to enhance or add to your own organization.

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BRADLEY HAMNER

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Bradley is a Business Growth Coach and Value Builder consultant, empowering entrepreneurs to become architects of their own success. He shares his revolutionary BlueprintOS methodology, unlocking businesses’ true potential and driving remarkable achievements.

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