You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 Cs to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life (Jon Gordon) by Mike Smith

You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 Cs to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life (Jon Gordon) Reviews

• 
  Rick Marcello

  Solid read on Leadership
  
  This book follows a similar format to the Hard Hat. It was short and easy to read. My only issue with the book is that it will not wow you in terms of material. With so many sports leadership books out there, this does not stand out.
• 
  Logan Thune

  Not a huge fan of books like this (read it for work), but this one was pretty good—and I’m pretty sure Scott Frost has read this book, so....
• 
  Katherine

  A short, to the point book on leadership written by former NFL Head Coach Mike Smith and Leadership guru Jon Gordon. Smith and Gordon guide the reader through the core areas they focus on as leaders, with various examples from Smith's NFL past and Gordon's business consulting. A lot of the advice is similar to what you'll find in other books, but the passion with which Smith speaks about his players and his goal to shape them as men rather than just on the field players would make anyone ready to suit up.
  I listened to the audio, and I think I would have preferred to read a physical version. First, because I would appreciate having the book to refer back to now and then, and second, because at times the performance from the two men was a little flat. Book itself gets 4 stars, performance gets 2.5-3.
  
  Recommended for anyone looking for leadership/management advice or anyone interested in learning how a top-level NFL coach motivates his players. (Also recommended for any PMPs who are football fans and need to gain PDUs to maintain certification...)
• 
  Linda

  John has picked this book to do a presentation on leadership. I really liked the book and the information is spot on about leadership.
  
  Great read!!
• 
  Ryan Morton

  The world needs better coaches, and I'm not talking just for sports. The coaching mindset of helping others, of believing in others, and even dedicating their lives helping others pursue their goals, is lacking in our current society. This book highlights the need for winning the locker room as a coach in sports, business, and other organizational settings.
  
  If you read leadership books, aspire to be a better leader, are a coach, or find yourself wanted to get more of the people with which you interact, then this would be a good book to read.
  
  The book is certainly not perfect. The sports analogies brought the lessons into the real works, to lessons I could directly understand and even visualize. However, some readers don't have the sports background to appreciate this book. If so, read another book. My main gripe with this book is that the authors often drawing large conclusions from seemingly isolated events (both good and bad outcomes). Yet, overall it was a quick read with some valuable insight.
  
  The book will go in my shelf of books to give to other leaders that are looking for a book to inspire themselves.
• 
  Eric Lee

  This book was a great reminder of the importance of the team and leadership. Even as I listened to it, I felt myself challenged in my leadership and the planning that needed to go into effect for a team, and the ownership I had to have.
  
  It was a timely book to think about the 7 C's - Culture, Contagious, Consistency, Communicate, Connect, Commitment, and Care.
  
  Each C made me think about where I stood with it, and how much effort I have invested (or how much more I could pour in), and I definitely can see moments where I've fallen short because I wasn't able to uphold one or more of the C's.
  
  2020 felt like a theme of Consistency/Commitment, but this 2021 feels a lot like Communicate, Connect, and Care to work on.
  
  I'm excited to take these values and embed it more into how I lead teams whatever context I find myself in!
• 
  Tom Erik Frydenlund

  Denne havnet i MUST READ kategorien.
  
  Utrolig bra bok i å sette ord på hvor viktig det er å jobbe med kulturen i ett selskap eller idrettslag. Får du orden på kulturen er mye gjort på veien til å skape ett bra lag/team.
  
  Mange gode historier om hva man bør gjøre og hva man ikke bør gjøre.
  
  Historien går rundt en trener i amerikansk fotball som skapte ett lag som vant super bowl og som senere fikk sparken da de begynte å gjøre ting feil.
  
  Det at man får være med på reisen til suksess og senere til "fiasko". Gjør at man får god tillit til historien. Det at man velger å si hvorfor det gikk feil er en stor styrke i en slik bok.
  
  MÅ LESES, hvis du jobber med ledelse i både selskaper og av ulike typer lag I idrett.
• 
  Dave Hutcheson

  A book for everyone who wants to lead a team and develop people. Succinct, with multiple examples and stories. A quick read that is easy to digest and will give you the essentials needed to develop a team that delivers results. Note implementing the suggestions is always harder than just reading about it. People are complex and have different situations. The information in the book is a solid foundations to align your behaviours around. If you truly care and are committed to developing the best team possible, and if you embrace and live these principles with your team then your team will succeed.
• 
  Arynn

  I feel as though this is a must read for anyone who is a leader or coach of a team. The book reinforces several leadership concepts and also discusses some that are new to me.
  
  I enjoyed the dual perspectives of both Jon Gordon and Mike Smith. The discussion of each topic was very easy to understand and while I read I found myself thinking about how I would incorporate this into my work place.
  
  One of the most valuable pieces of this book for me is the last few pages: the action plan of the 7 c’s. This book is going to be a great resource for me while building my business team as well as the team I work with in the office.
• 
  Liang Gang Yu

  This book is a concise summary of sportsmanship and leadership principles from a renown NFL coach Mike Smith. 7 "C" principles guiding the off-court activities, starting from Locker Room, are critical to the success of sport teams, as well as business and life. The core ideas are well supported by example; however, the book might not wow you as many reads on the topic are out there.
  
  Overall, the book serves as a review of familiar principles of building lasting successful teams; yet, it fails to break the perception that successes are pretty much alike.
• 
  Kelsey Johnson

  I happened to listen to two of Jon Gordon's audiobooks (The Energy Bus and The Training Room) on a long road trip followed by reading this book. It was a lot of Gordon in a few days! He writes in fables, and I often rolled my eyes at times with the childish metaphors. You Win in the Locker Room First veered away from the fables and metaphors and used examples -- mostly from the NFL, which makes sense. I earmarked a few pages throughout of stuff to remember and bring to my own team. While I do not coach athletes, I do coach speech students and many of the ideas throughout are useful.
• 
  Tim Genry

  I'm re-reading this and taking notes because it was so inspiring to me. This book is both instructional and motivational and deals mainly with leadership of yourself and others. I appreciate Jon and Mike collaborating on this project. Sharing their wisdom on winning in life is something many of us need because what limits us - the pressure from outside or inside forces - can be controlled or even eliminated.
• 
  Lauren Winkler

  I found this book helpful. I like the coaching/leadership philosophies of the authors with include always putting the team before yourself as an individual player, staying positive, and trusting the process. It's a good refresher on how to be a good leader to any team and helps you stay aware of these principles at all times.
• 
  Jessica Jencks

  I really enjoyed this book! Lots of perspective and points of view about coaching and leadership. I love that the book breaks things down and gives you things to focus on and why. It’s not too heavy on the “coaching” part of it and makes it a point to encourage everyone to be a leader. I will be taking this one to work to pull things out of it to implement!
• 
  Andy

  Concise
  
  While this book does not really have any "Aha" moments, it does a really nice job of putting tried and true strategies in a concise and easy to digest book. Another solid Jon Gordon performance!
• 
  Mobolaji Olagbemiro

  A must-read book on good team leadership for every leader. There is a while lot to learn from Sports that is applicable to every other aspect of life and industry. Easy to read and/or listen to with a lot of interesting but true stories to illustrate and inspire readers. A worthwhile read.
• 
  Lori Unemori

  Excellent read. Love the 7 Cs to contribute to a winning team and creating a winning team. I don’t have a team yet but I’d love to use this for my team. But first I need to be that great leader that is a winner.
• 
  Jenn

  I think I would have ranked this higher if I hadn’t already read another one of Jon Gordon’s books. He repeats himself a lot. I have also read books by Wooden in the same subject which I liked better.
• 
  Colin Cerniglia

  I know Smith's coaching tenure didn't end all that well but he comes off very knowledgeable in this collaboration. You can tell he is genuine and a caring leader. There are many good lessons throughout this book!