Playing To Win

In every mutual-fund prospectus is a line in fine print that you'd miss if you didn't look closely. As small as it is, it's extremely important: "Past performance is no guarantee of future success."

This is well worth remembering. As I often remind my players, it's easier to get to the top than to stay there.

[That's] why, on the first day of our spring 1998 minicamp, I assembled our team and informed them that success could be tougher to battle than any competitor we would face. I challenged them to be better than we had been when we won Super Bowl XXXII. I told them we had the foundation and the nucleus to be the best team ever to play the game. But I told them that for us to be the best team ever, the standard for our practices had to be so high, we couldn't falter, even when no one but us was watching.

I wanted to make sure we didn't let down one bit. Our players didn't. Knowing we had to work even harder than we did the season before, 38 players attended every one of our off-season workout programs. And not surprisingly, 13 games into our season, we were on pace to do what I asked, and expected, of them. We were a perfect 13-0.

But then, all of a sudden, we stubbed our toe against history and the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins. We lost back-to-back games. They would turn out to be the only games we lost during 1998. In the end, we couldn't say we were the best NFL team ever. But, after we beat the Falcons in the Super Bowl, we could say we were the best NFL team in 1998.

Moments after our victory, as our team huddled inside our locker room at Miami's Pro Player Stadium, I announced to them: "Off-season workouts start tomorrow. Because we're going for three!"

I was facetious when I said tomorrow, but I wanted to send the message that this isn't over. It never is. In the race to success, there is no finish line. It constantly outdistances us.

This article was originally published in the September 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Playing To Win.