"the most important factor in any organization's success is its ability to draw on its peoples passions."
"Come on boys, get HUNGRY!"
How many hundreds of times have I heard that stated across countless NHL dressing rooms? During my 15 National Hockey League seasons as a player the hungry concept was referenced continually, especially in the playoffs, when everything was on the line. "Come on boys, we're not HUNGRY!" would resonate throughout the hallway as our team walked off the ice after a lacklustre period of play. Our team's deep desire to forge on towards the Stanley Cup finals increased our need for intensity and heightened our desire to muster our personal and cultural hungry spirit. We all understood this hungry thing intuitively.
In our minds it was about getting each other to the next level, increasing our desire to compete and somehow "finding a way to win." It had nothing to do with systems, yet everything to do with performance. It had nothing to do with team execution and yet everything to do with the emotional commitment that drives performance and execution. This is what intrigues me so much about the hungry spirit: you can't put your finger on it and yet without it nothing great happens. In general people know what to do and how to do it; the key differentiator between those who win or lose is developing a hunger to consistently create inspired performance!
For 15 NHL seasons a myriad of smelly, intense, ego-present dressing rooms continuously schooled me about the internal energy of the hungry spirit. I have since learned that talent and coaching and organizational structures between opposing organizations in today's marketplace are entirely similar. Being hungry often does become the difference-maker.
During the 1985-86 NHL season I played on an above average Montreal Canadiens team. Our team had its ups and downs but began to gain momentum during the ‘86 playoff run. We beat Boston in 3 games, Hartford in overtime in game 7, swept through New York with a hot rookie goalie by the name of Patrick Roy, and finally met the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup finals.
In 1986 our team's common heartbeat, articulated in the dressing room before game 5 by my teammate Bobby Smith, was simply, "Boys we better do it now; most of us may never get this chance again." Independent of what motivated us we had created an intense cultural hungry spirit. In 1986 we won the Stanley Cup in 5 games.
The next time we met Calgary in the finals, at the culmination of the 1989 Cup run, our team was up 2 games to 1 heading into game 4. If our Canadiens team wins game 4, our will team go up 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series and the odds of winning a second Stanley Cup increase 20 fold. During game 4 I was checked into Mike Vernon, the Flames' star goalie, and as I got up, Verny took a swipe at me with his blocker. In the heat of that battle I said some words that I have always regretted: "Verny, you're a loser and you're going to lose again!" What happened next was incredibly revealing. The fire or hungry spirit that I saw in Mike Vernon's eyes that night told me that we were in trouble; we were going to lose. The Flames won game 4 and game 5, and finally won the Stanley Cup in game 6 in our building.
The difference between winning and losing had little to do with talent or coaching, the difference often comes down to how leadership fuels and sustains its team's hungry spirit!
In 1986 we wanted that Cup so badly we could taste it.
In 1989 we wanted it badly too, but the Flames were hungrier.
From the NHL ice to the personal and corporate worlds the playing field and the team element is exactly the same!
The line between failure and success is so fine that we ... are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. A little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure, may turn to glorious success.
...Albert Hubert
The margin between winning and losing can be miniscule and the difference is often our team's ability to feed and sustain its cultural hungry spirit. This hungry atmosphere can be observed in the winning cultures that South West Airlines and Synovous Corp. are famous for. Erin Moore, a 20 year human resources veteran of DuPont explains, "I have seen all sorts of management fads come and go... by far, the most important factor in any organization's success is its ability to draw on its peoples passions."[i]
Professional golf is a great metaphor for our competitive world. Pro Golf tournaments are comprised of four rounds of 18 holes played over a four-day period for 72 holes in total. There are four major tournaments each year - The U.S. Open, The British Open, The PGA Championship, and The Masters. The average margin of victory between 1980 and 2004 in all tournaments combined was less than three strokes - less than a one-stroke difference per day. However, from 2000 through 2004, the winner across all tournaments took home an average of 76 % more in prize dollars than the second-place finisher! This is the amazing difference between winning and second place.
Many Olympic event winners are chosen by a measure of time or distance. In the majority of these events, the margin of victory between winning the gold medal and no medal at all is extremely small. During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the margin of victory between a gold medal and no medal at all was:
Men's Downhill Skiing 0.65 seconds
Women's Downhill Skiing 0.93 seconds
Men's Two-Man Bobsled 0.54 seconds
Women's Two-Woman Bobsled 0.58 seconds
Men's 500-Meter Speed Skating 0.26 seconds
Does this sound a little like the game that you're playing in? You are headed to the top of the hill, ready to compete against the best in your world... Let me ask the question: have you explored how to sustain your team's Hungry spirit or do you just assume that all cylinders are firing? We can laugh at Will Roger's witty comment, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there," but we know he's right! We are either taking ground and getting ourselves to the next level or losing ground to people who have figured out how to stay personally and culturally hungry.
Who is hungry?
After playing the final day of the 2006 PGA tournament in Medina with Tiger Woods, Luke Donald had this to say about Tiger: "That's why he's number 1. He has great mental belief in himself. He's obviously got a great game, but he just... he kind of WILLS [the ball] into the hole." [ii] If you happened to watch Woods on TV during those last 9 holes (or any game since) you got a great look at Tiger's hungry spirit and insight into how it was released under pressure to gain yet another tournament victory. If you were to ask me for examples of hungry people, Tiger would be one of them. During the final rounds when the game is on the line, Tiger Woods actually elevates his game! Despite having billions of dollars in the bank, he has found a way to stay hungry, to consistently be his very best.
Author Evan Thomas said of Bobby Kennedy in Robert Kenned y--His Life, "He was not a very good organizer, he was not good at follow-through, and he was not always realistic... he would say, ‘Let's have a tea for 500 people tomorrow in Worcester Mass.' Kennedy's failings as an organizer, his impatience, his amateurism, his predilection for going outside the channels - would become problematic. But his shortcomings were hidden by the sheer force of his DETERMINATION."[iii] The hungry spirit feeds and feeds off our determination, and it is connected directly with our personal and cultural will.
What are some of the common characteristics of people who rise to the top of their world? Think back over your own life to the times you watched less talented people and teams overcome all odds to win, when they had no business doing so. Why do certain individuals rise up to beat more established and talented politicians, businessmen and athletes? What ingredients are common among individuals and teams that consistently win? Why do movies like Miracle, Rudy and Invincible lift our souls? What is the cause that inspires our best? I believe that more than anything else, these people and teams have found the connection to their hungry spirit!
Don't ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.
...Kareem Abdul-Jabbart
The words hungry spirit sound a bit spiritual, but that's exactly the point. People who consistently live a hungry life connect to their deeper personal purpose, cause or passion. Martin Luther King Jr. understood that the root cause of our social problems was spiritual when he said: "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power, we have guided missiles and misguided men!" He also stated, "If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live." Early in our exploration of the hungry spirit we look at its root causes: purpose and passion.
One of the joys of my life has been performing in the NHL playoffs. Of all the major sports, winning the championship in the game of hockey may be the most grueling. Players and teams with passion and sustained purpose most often end up on top. As in the rest of life, people who create and sustain a HUNGRY spirit tend to see their dreams happen!
Haven't you often wondered why teams with more talent, a larger payroll and better equipment don't always win? When he was coaching, broadcaster Harry Neal used to say that, "talent wins over hard work if talent works hard."
I would add: with a hungry spirit.
