You’ve surely noticed by now that the New England Patriots are currently in the midst of a perfect season in the NFL. Everything is going their way and the nation has taken notice. The media coverage is phenomenal and most sports shows are devoting a great deal of time to this amazing team. While watching the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday I heard John Madden mention that the Steelers have been studying tapes of the Patriots all week in order to find weaknesses. This happens for every game played in the NFL but it then made me think back to my own job and how I study our competition to find ways of exploiting their soft spots. Once the wheels were turning, I realized that the New England Patriots are just like any other business and we can see quite a few similarities between what happens on the field and what happens in our own lives. In no way am I a Patriots fan–even so, I think they are a fascinating team to watch and learn from. Let’s have a look.

Never Be Satisfied With Your Performance

The Patriot’s coach, Bill Belichick, always finds something that can be improved. In a 52-7 victory over the Redskins, Belichick mentioned that their special teams and open-field tackling needs to improve. With such a huge margin of victory, why not take it easy on your players and congratulate them on a commanding win? The answer is the same in football as it is in business and our personal lives; once we sit back and relish in our success, we stop getting better. There is always room for improvement but only if we constantly focus on our own development.

Successful Organizations Can Have More Than One Leader

Neither NFL teams nor businesses operate at the top with one person at the helm. Instead, it takes a full team of individuals to lead a group to success. The Patriots have a fantastic coach in Belichick and players such as Randy Moss or Tom Brady acting as leaders on the field. On the defensive side, it is hard to single just one player out as a leader. By having numerous people acting as leaders, pressure is spread out amongst the full organization and everyone takes ownership for their own performance. It has worked for the Patriots and it has worked for successful corporations as well.

You Don’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Incredibly Successful

The Patriots are fighting for a perfect season but the truth is that it isn’t entirely necessary. Even if they lose their next three games, the Patriots could still sweep through the playoffs and win the Superbowl. Of course, they won’t sit back and allow this to happen. Everyone makes mistakes–even hugely successful companies. Think back to New Coke which goes down as a huge imperfection from an outstanding company. Despite this terrible setback, the Coca Cola company persists and remains a model for other companies today.

When You’re On Top, Everyone Wants To Knock You Off

Take a look at the Patriot opponent’s sideline before the game. The other team looks as though this is the last game they will ever play. Why? Because it is very exciting to knock off the group on top. It is the David and Goliath story all over again. For years, Pepsi’s corporate mission was, “Beat Coke.” Simple, to-the-point, and focused. By attempting to rise above your greatest competitor, an organization sets a lofty goal that is easy to stay in focus.

When You’re On Top, Everyone Notices

Similar to my point above, take a look at the media coverage of the Patriots. There is no chance for them to quietly finish 16-0. People have been talking about it for weeks so everybody notices what they’re doing–especially the competition. Teams will try to replicate their success but the Patriots are good enough to innovate. They will constantly work on new plays so they always have something to throw at any team. Businesses do the same thing to succeed. Successful companies work to come up with new ideas and ways of thinking in order to have an ace up their sleeves. If you provide a model of success to your competition, expect them to follow it as well.

Organizations That Are Dynamic Remain On Top

We know that every organization has a soft spot. Eventually, this weakness will come to the surface and competitors will attempt to use it to their advantage. Teams have studied the Patriots and realized that Randy Moss is their shining strength. That must make the running game and the others a weakness (it really is hard to find a weakness on the Patriots). The Philadelphia Eagles thought they had the plan to beat the Patriots and attempted to shut down Randy Moss. Instead, the Patriots changed their game plan and began throwing to Wes Welker. 13 receptions and 149 yards later, Welker had helped the Patriots defeat the Eagles to keep their perfect season in tact. Any organization needs to focus on their “plan B” in case something arises. By knowing the competition and being quick to spot opportunities to succeed, winning will naturally follow.

Treat Every Project Like It Is Your Superbowl

An easy way for the Patriots to lose is to lose focus on the game at hand and begin thinking about their future too soon. Of course, everyone needs to think of the future and plan for it but the most important thing every Sunday is the game about to be played. In your own life, how many times have you thought of a great idea but didn’t finish it because you started thinking about the next one? I have a number of half-finished websites to my credit. Who knows; they could have been big hits but I got too excited about the next idea and moved on to let my current project fail. The Patriots treat every game like it is the Superbowl. In a post-game interview, Tom Brady was asked if he thought they could keep the perfect season alive. His answer was that they still have a number of games ahead of them and now it is time to start thinking of the Ravens.

Cover For The Weak Link

If you’re in college this next one may upset you. If you have a weak link on your team, you must pick up the slack. We’ve all been in groups where we work very hard on our project only to have someone on our team slack off and not put forth their best effort. The easy route is to simply let that person’s work slide and turn in a project that could have been better. The better route is for the leaders to simply pick up the pieces and do the work for them. Principle comes into play and we think, “Why should I do his work and let him get credit?” Unfortunately, we do it because it is the only way to have the entire team succeed. The Patriots live and die by this tenet. If the running game is not working, instead of allowing it to continuously fail, they start passing. Other players pick up the slack when someone isn’t having a good game. At the end of the game, the final score matters for everyone. Even if someone doesn’t contribute to that score the way they should, let your hard feelings go and pick up the slack so that everyone wins. Sure, that slacker is better off due to your work but you are as well.