Why Smart Teams Invest in Coaching, Not Just Talent

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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD You know the difference between teams that win championships and teams that stay mediocre? It’s not the salary cap. Every NFL team has the same amount to spend on players. The difference is where they spend their money. Mediocre teams blow their budget on big-name free agents and hope talent alone will…

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Why Everyone’s Looking at the Wrong End of the Grill

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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD You know what I love about Texas pitmasters? Everyone thinks their secret is in some magical sauce recipe passed down through generations. But watch a real pitmaster work. They’ll spend 14 hours smoking a brisket, and maybe 30 seconds applying sauce at the end. The real work happens before anything hits the…

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What Josh Heupel taught me about sales

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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD When Josh Heupel arrived at Tennessee in 2021, he inherited a program that had been struggling for over a decade. Players, fans, and even some coaches were skeptical of yet another “system” change. After all, they’d seen multiple coaches come and go, each promising their approach would be different. But Heupel did…

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The $50M Lesson from Narcos: Mexico

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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD  There’s a scene in Narcos: Mexico where Félix Gallardo gathers all the independent drug lords in a room. His pitch is compelling: “We’re stronger together than apart. One federation. Shared resources. Coordinated territories. Everyone makes more money.” The logic was sound. Each group had their own strengths, their own connections, their own…

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The Tennessee Problem (And Why Your Sales Training Isn’t Working)

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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD  Living in Texas, it’s painful when everyone talks about UT and it’s not Knoxville. But as a long suffering Vols fan, I’ve watched the same cycle for 15 years: Butch Jones, Derek Dooley, Lane Kiffin, Jeremy Pruitt… hire a coach, expect immediate results, get frustrated when it doesn’t happen, fire the coach,…

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Why Every Manager Needs a Coach (Even Lane Kiffin)

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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD  Last fall, Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels handed Georgia their first regular season loss in 42 games. The morning after the win, Kiffin did something that caught my attention. He praised his coaching staff. Not himself. Not his game plan. Not even his star quarterback. His coaches. The same man who once…

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On The Morality of Profit

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On The Morality of Profit Years ago, I worked with a boutique ticket brokerage. They provided a concierge service for high-end clientele, and they marked up the inventory to do so. Every now and then, one of the customers would ask about their fees. The reps never knew how to handle it, other than to…

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