Strategic Minds Podcast: Episode 1 - Gold-Medal-Winning Strategy

Gold-Medal-Winning Strategy

How does a winning Olympic coach approach strategy? In this episode, Rich sits down with Hugh McCutcheon, the Assistant Athletics Director and Sport Development Coach at the University of Minnesota. Hugh coached the US Men’s Volleyball team to the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic games, then coached the US Women’s volleyball team to the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic games. He shares his thoughts on coaching, competition, practice, and team building.

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Key Takeaways

“As a coach and a leader, we’re a service provider. The service we’re providing is helping the people who are investing the most precious resource they have, their lives, in our endeavor. We’re trying to help them to achieve this goal. And that’s a significant responsibility.”

“I’ve got nothing wrong with tradition, right? But tradition should only be the right reason for doing anything when it’s the right reason. We shouldn’t just keep doing stuff just because that’s the way we’ve always done it. We should be basing our stuff in best practice methods.”

“There’s not just a physical element to the moment of competition, but there’s a mental one, and even a social component that goes on in competition. And the mental is not just about performance and executing. It’s also about emotional control, which, by the way, is not emotional suppression. We all have emotions. It’s creating a space between the emotion and the action.”

Practice Makes Profit

At its foundation, a plan should answer two questions:

What are you trying to achieve?
How will you achieve it?

To answer these questions clearly and consistently I developed the GOST Framework, which stands for goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics. Goals and objectives answer the “What” question—goal is generally what you are trying to achieve and objectives are specifically what you are trying to achieve. Strategy and tactics answer the “How” question—strategy is generally how you will reach the goal and tactics are specifically how you will reach the goal.

Example:
- Goal: Build a culture of high performance
- Objective: Retain 90% of high performers (those rated 4s & 5s) through Q4 of this year
- Strategy: Significantly differentiate bonus compensation based on performance
- Tactics: Create a bonus comparison chart and share with teams; Design a quarterly performance scorecard; Communicate top performers’ results

League of Strategic Minds

Question: How often should we be looking at our strategy and making changes?
Answer: Use a Strategy Tune-up on a quarterly basis consisting of a 2-4 hour review of the current business situation and calibrate goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics accordingly.

Winsights: Ideas for Advantage

Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian General and renowned military strategist wrote: “There is no higher and simpler law of strategy than that of keeping one’s forces concentrated.”
Where is the single most important area for you and your team to focus your resources?

References

Time Stamps

(01:04) Deep Dive Interview with Hugh McCutcheon
(47:09) Practice Makes Profit
(50:17) League of Strategic Minds
(52:39) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage

Championship Behaviors: A Model for Competitive Excellence in Sports, by Hugh McCutcheon
Rich Horwath on LinkedIn
Rich Horwath on YouTube
Rich Horwath on Instagram
Strategic Thinking Institute Website
Inc. Magazine’s Top 4 book for 2024: STRATEGIC Book
New executive development platform: Strategic Fitness System
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About the Guest

Hugh McCutcheon
Assistant Athletics Director and Sport Development Coach
University of Minnesota
Former USA Men’s and Women’s Olympic Volleyball Coach (2008, 2012)
LinkedIn

About the Host

Rich Horwath, Founder & CEO
Strategic Thinking Institute

Rich is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking, including his most recent work, STRATEGIC, which was named a “top 4 must-read business book for 2024” by Inc. Magazine, and a national bestseller by USA TODAY. He has been the top rated keynote speaker on strategic thinking at national conferences for nearly 20 years.

This Episode Brought to You by the Strategic Thinking Institute

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