TB12 and Greatness: What Does it Mean for Compliance?

The Patriot Way

GOAT -- The Greatest of All Time

'If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.'

Next Man Up

No one can deny the string of successes, 9 Super Bowl Appearances, and 6 victories by the tandem of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

Suddenly this long-term relationship came to an abrupt halt last March when the NE Patriots decided to cut bait and move on from the at the time 42-year-old QB. Now the question is asked. Who was more responsible for this success Brady or Belichick? Or is it a combination of both?

Some people think a definitive answer was revealed last Sunday, February 7th with Brady’s 7th Lombardi trophy. Now the GOAT is 7 for 10 in Super Bowl championships.

This may not only be a discussion of individual accolades, but it also may be a larger discussion about compliance and more precisely culture with a capital “C”.

When we look at compliance in an organization, it is not only about following the rules, but it is also a subset of something greater of the culture that exists in the workplace. Sometimes this is born by tradition, other times it is directly the result of the Senior Management team and the Board of the Directors.

You’ve heard the pithy titles:

Tone at the Top

Mood at the Middle

Buzz at the Bottom

While you gotta love the alliteration. What does this all mean, and does it reveal any clues as to the relationship between Messiers Brady, Belichick and ultimately does it answer the question, who bears more responsibility or who contributed more to the mutual success?

Some people say that Brady is a “system quarterback” and that he was a creation of Belichick. One minute Drew Bledsoe is knocked out of the game by the NY Jets, with a sheared blood vessel, and the next minute Brady is on the field. Then Belichick took some dust from the sidelines, breathed some football magic into it, and voila, TB12 was born.

Over 20 years or so, Brady progressed from being the quarterback who follows a conservative playbook “not to lose the game,” and grew into an offensive juggernaut with a 50-touchdown season, throwing those beautiful dimes to Randy Moss, Wes Walker, and Gronk in 2007.

As Brady matured into his tenure in New England and his partnership with Belichick, they spent numerous late nights and early mornings watching film and coming up with myriad ways to decimate the competition. 

Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the architects about the Walt Disney Company’s miraculous turn around in the 1980’s was infamous for telling underlings, "If you don't come to work on Saturday, don't bother coming in on Sunday"--a quote he now says he meant at the time but which he doesn't espouse anymore. Katzenberg now says that "You learn that people are at their best when they have balance in their life," he says. 

Come to think of it, Katzenberg had his own troubles with his business partner Michael Eisner, leading to a Brady/Belichick breakup that played out on movie screens and theme parks around the world when Katzenberg left Disney to contribute his animated film expertise to the billion-dollar startup DreamWorks and DreamWorks animation. But alas, I digress on another Dynamic Duo.

In this article my goal is to speak about compliance and culture. So, which one is it?

Yes, we need corporate rules to follow and there certainly are ramifications for not following the rules.

Yes, our workplaces should be meritocracies and people should be encouraged to do the right thing. Additionally, they should be recognized and promoted for individual achievements. Okay, so far.

But we must also allow our employees to grow and contribute to our organizations. And this is where Belichick and Brady’s relationship starts to breakdown. In moving from “a don’t lose the game” to a “drawing up the winning play in the huddle” quarterback, Tom Brady grew into the 43-year-old 7-time Super Bowl GOAT.

Now Bill might be a crusty head coach, set in his ways, but when he let Tom Brady leave the New England fold, it set up the discussion we are having today. All Tom wanted to do was to contribute to the Patriots and help them win 10 – 14 games a year during the regular season, and then maybe a couple more Super Bowls, too! These two men were supposed a share a common goal.

Now the moment Tom showed up in Tampa Bay, he picked up his cell phone and encouraged some friends to join him – Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette. Tom said, “Hey guys, I’m putting together a football team. Where we are gonna have some fun.” I extremely doubt that this is the way that Belichick recruits new talent to the Patriots.

So, which is it? Nature or Nurture? Katzenberg or Eisner? Belichick or Brady? Each duo has its strengths, passions, and reasons why they worked so well together. So, I guess I am saying that it is both Compliance and Culture which matter, and those managers and board members who can successfully merge these two realms will be more successful. So, if I had to choose, TB12 you stay, Bill Belichick sashay away.