Increase the Pace
By Jack Mixner 714 449 1040 www.mixnerstrategy.com
Halberstam writes about Bill Belichick's days coaching the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
He tells the story of Belichick's strategy to beat the Buffalo Bills at their own game. Late in a game with the Houston Oilers, the Bill's Coach Marchibroda dominated by running their "two-minute" drill and scoring more than once in the last two minutes by running play after play without a huddle. Marchibroda decided to call the two-minute drill in non-clutch situations, completely befuddling the opposition.
Belichick's response the next time the Giants played the Bills? Slow the game down any way he could. They practiced little things like taking longer to get up from piles after a play, messing up the ref's placement of the ball and taking longer to respond to injuries. Then they worked on actually letting the Bills get more mileage out of their runs, all so they would not go to the air (Halberstam, pages 285 - 287). Belichick also installed special defensive plays to confuse the Bill's quarterback Kelly.
It all worked. Slowing down the Bills allowed the Giants to dominate and win.
Years later, while coaching at the New England Patriots, Belichick watched the Philadelphia Eagles lose because they did not step up the pace at the end of a Super Bowl game with the Patriots. No urgency at the end of the game led to a defeat.
Strategic Implications
Pace is part of end game strategy.
If you are thinking of selling your business in the next three years, pick up the pace of your sales effort. The competition may not understand the new rule until it is too late and probably will not keep up. Valuation should increase as a result. It works in football. It will work for your company.
References
Halberstam, David. The Education of a Coach. Wheeler Publishing. 2005.