Customer Reviews

Finding a Way to Win: The Principles of Leadership, Teamwork, and Motivation

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"Because it feels so good when you win," Coach Bill Parcells answered his wife, when she asked why he put up with the BS of pro football, and the demands to constantly top himself.

Parcells, accompanied by journalist Jeff Coplon, has written an interesting book telling us what it is like to win, and about all the painful preparation and organization, that comes first. The book is appropriate for a football fan, or even a non fan who wants to know more about the psychology of a successful and wily coach/director. The writing is a bit dry, even didactic, not fast food reading, but worth the time.

Parcells analogizes football and business, though there is far more football than business. No surprise there. The approach is both traditonal and modern, values and extremity, side by side. He comes across as a bit of an enlightened dictator with a sense of humor and also a skilled psychologist.

Parcells seems to understand his players, underlings and bosses. There are interesting examples of different players, each with their different quirks. Parcells talks tough to the tough, soft to the soft, and throws and catches barbs with Phil Simms, a Giant quarterback, who could take it and dish out, as Parcells can dish it out and take it.

The book is organized like an old fashioned Dale Carnegie primer. Various virtues are listed as chapter headings, integrity, flexibility, loyalty, and so on. Parcells with succinct vignettes, applies the ideas of "virtue" or "confidence" to day to day stress filled coaching (management) situations. The virtues are listed seperately, but Parcells argues that they are interdependent; all the virtues are needed to some degree, for a successful organization.

Parcells argues that if there is consistency of purpose, top to bottom, in an organization, then the individuals can do something together that they cannot achieve individually, dominate another team, or a particular business.

On a more personal level, the book reveals Parcell's all or nothing personality. He wants everyone on his team, including non players, intent on the same thing. But what is that thing? What ever Parcells says it is!

In some fascinating asides, Parcells, like Sun Tzu, describes getting to where he wants to go (individual victories and ultimately championships), by apparently going the opposite direction. On one occasion he purposely gave his over confident Giant squad a poor game plan and they struggled, in an exhibition game. He wanted that particular win, but more importantly he wanted his teams attention and re committment. These little tales demonstrate Parcells's intelligence. Like Vince Lombardi, another stone face with the mind of a sculptor, Parcells knows how to go softly, when hard doesn't work.

A reader fond of military histories might see a bit of Sherman or Jackson or Patton, in Parcells, who keeps track of every nuance but looks and talks like an ordinary working class guy.

Parcells is successful, as few are. He guided three seperate teams to a conference Championship game; two of these, the Giants and Patriots went to the Super Bowl, the Giants twice. He is still going strong with the New York Jets. But has success spoiled Parcells, with big money and big publicity? You decide.

Parcells writes: "I detest that mentality, because it's not about money. It's about achievement and winning and championships. It's about proving that you can do something better than the other guy."

A great book- Parcells knows how to motivate and lead like very few ever have, and he shows you how he does it in this book. highly recommended!

Why read a book on leadership?

Three reasons come to mind:
-Reseaching for an academic work on leadership.
-Personal development.
-Looking for vignettes for a presentation or lesson plan.

"Finding a Way to Win" is excellent for all three.

As an academic source, it certainly constitutes a primary source, being written by a man with decades of leading some of the most difficult personalities in a highly visible and intensely critiqued environment. Being a leader of football players and a leader in a multi-million dollar industry, Parcells may be less contentious as a source for scholarly reseach than military leaders, who seem (understandably) over-represented in works on leadership.

As a reading for personal development, it is understandable, engaging, and presents a balanced and complete discussion of all the major aspects of leadership. I was especially impressed that Parcells discussed humility and patience at length, when it is not obvious from his television appearences and gameday performance that these are traits he places a high value on. The emphasis on candor and accountability, especially from the leader, him or herself, was a refreshing change from the demonstrated practices of political and financial leaders.

As a source of vignettes for presentations or lessons; the book has two or three vignettes from football and business for every point that Parcells tries to make, and the entire book is rationally arranged so that a particular point can be found rapidly.

I liked that he started with integrity. This is consistent with my own belief that integrity is the foundation of character and any discipline or pursuit that is based on human personalities.

An excellent book on leadership. I loathe football, so it surprised me a bit that I enjoyed and got as much out of this book as I did.

E. M. Van Court

Parcells presents a fair amount of practical advice in this book that has shaped his philosophy of coaching and assessing personnel. This should come as little surprise considering Parcells has always been known as one of the more intelligent coaches as well as an incessant motivator.

Finding a Way to Win could have been even better had we seen more of the famous wit that Parcells always displayed during interviews. He has the ability to think very quickly on his feet and respond to near any personal attack with a comedic retort. Unfortunately, while solid on advice, this book did not have this sense of charm. Without question, however, Parcells delivers on content and one would be wise to follow the advice given.

This is a fantastic book if you want to know how to manage a football team, or even motivate a business team. Bill Parcells has obviously never worked in the business world, though, because his examples relating football to business were very weak and not helpful for use in the office. It is an enjoyable read, however.

I have read many motivational books by coaches and athletes, and I found this to be one of the best. This is not an "ego stroking vehicle" like I find many books by athletes/coaches to be. It has fundamentally sound career and personal advice using football situations to illustrate all of his points. It is a quick read that you will enjoy and benefit from.

Good book. Parcells isn't exactly a brilliant writer, but his concepts on various subject areas are useful in many business areas. The principles of a sound company structure are revealed here.

I want to buy this book. How can I possibly find It

This was more of a business and preparing for the battle type of book than a book about football. It was an alright book to read, but unless you are looking for some direction or you really like Bill Parcells, then I would not purchase this book.

i would like to read this book, but it is currently out of print/stock, and i cannot locate it anywhere. Can someone email me at bruciatir@remington-products.com and tell me where i can locate a copy