Eagles GM Howie Roseman, Nick Saban & Josh Waitzkin
Plus: ENOUGH
“To learn from the past is good, but to live there is a waste. To plan for the future is good, but to live there is a waste. You are happiest and most productive in life when you are living in the present.” - Kenneth Blanchard
Hey Coaches,
Here you go!
✍️ Articles
Why Did ‘Woj’ Take a 99% Pay Cut? To Save the Team He Loves: Good story on someone choosing to pursue what makes them happy or purely money, and insights into the future of college athletics.
Kurt Vonnegut on the Secret of Happiness: An Homage to Joseph Heller’s Wisdom: I never thought I’d share a poem, but I wish I thought about this more, and I already think about it a lot.
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!
🎙️ Podcasts
The Pivot Podcast - Nick Saban Hall of Fame Coach opens up on his journey & reveals what he’d do differently. The first 20ish minutes are a little slow, but I this was a great interview with Nick Saban and gives a look into the mind of one of sports' greatest leaders. [1/22/2025 - 79 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
Huberman Lab - Josh Waitzkin: The Art of Learning & Living Life: Waitzkin is a former child chess prodigy and the subject of the movie and true story Searching for Bobby Fischer. Josh is also a world champion martial arts competitor and the author of the book The Art of Learning (which I also highly recommend).
The episode shares his approach to learning, including how to address flaws and mistakes and how to harness the subtle and overt energies of the learning and peak performance process. He also discusses how he structures his life and makes decisions related to career and family. [1/27/2025 - 197 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
💭 Miscellaneous
This goes along with the poem above:
📺 Video
Howie Roseman with Cade Massey | 2018 Wharton People Analytics Conference (30 minutes)
I think I’ve shared this before but it feels timely given the Eagles recent Super Bowl victory. Here are some highlights:
On The Challenge of Staying Motivated
“We had this whole perspective of like, we’re gonna win a world championship, and it’s gonna be the best thing we ever did, and we’re not gonna care anymore about anything else once we win. And what I found is that’s just not true at all. You just—you want more and more and more. And I think that’s probably the hardest thing for me personally, that I haven’t taken enough time to enjoy it because the moment we won, I immediately started thinking, ‘Okay, what’s next? How do we keep this going? How do we avoid being a one-hit wonder?’ Because I know how hard it is. You see teams win and then fall apart the next year, and that fear—maybe paranoia—drives you. And that’s what I felt in those first few weeks after we won. Instead of relaxing, I was already feeling behind because the league doesn’t wait for you.”
"I remember walking off the field, and it was an incredible moment, but then my mind went straight to free agency, the draft, all the things we were now behind on. The season ended for most teams weeks before it ended for us, and that’s an incredible disadvantage if you’re not prepared for it. So, as much as I wanted to enjoy it, and I did—I mean, the parade was something else—I kept feeling this pull back into, ‘Alright, now we have to prove that it wasn’t a fluke.’ Because if you don’t, people are going to say, ‘Well, they got lucky. They caught lightning in a bottle. They had one good year.’ And that’s not what we want. We want to build something that lasts.”
Sustaining Success and Keeping the Competitive Edge
“So how do you keep that hunger? How do you keep that drive in a team that has already reached the top? That’s what I kept asking myself. And what I realized is, you have to change the dynamic. You can’t just run it back with the same team, the same mentality, the same approach. Because it’s natural for people to relax a little bit after success. It’s human nature. That chip on your shoulder that got you there in the first place? It starts to fade if you don’t actively replace it. So for us, we started thinking, ‘How do we bring in new guys who have something to prove? Who feel like they’ve been counted out? Who have that same fire that got us here in the first place?’ And that’s a big part of our philosophy. You bring in competitors, guys who have been overlooked, and what that does is it keeps the guys who were already here from getting complacent.”
“I think what happens when you have success in any organization, not just in sports, is that people start to assume, ‘Okay, we’ve figured it out. We have the formula.’ And that’s the most dangerous mindset you can have. Because the moment you think you’ve arrived, the league humbles you. This league is designed to bring you back to the middle. The salary cap, the draft system, everything is designed to create parity. So, if you’re not actively evolving—if you’re not finding ways to stay ahead—you’re gonna get passed.”
“The way I think about it is, we have to operate like we’re still chasing, even when we’re on top. We have to still have that underdog mentality. Because the minute you start thinking you’re the hunted instead of the hunter, you lose what made you successful in the first place. And that’s not easy. Because everyone around you is telling you how great you are. The city is celebrating, people are patting you on the back. But the best organizations, the ones that sustain success, they block that out. They don’t let that get in their heads. They stay hungry.”
Personal Growth and Leadership
“When I lost my decision-making power in 2015, it was tough. I’m not gonna lie. You go from having control of an organization to being sidelined. And for a while, I was bitter. I was frustrated. But then, I realized something. I could either sit there and feel sorry for myself, or I could use that time to get better. So I spent that year studying. I visited other teams, I met with leaders in different industries. I studied what made great organizations successful. I studied leadership, analytics, sports science—everything I could get my hands on. And looking back, that year was probably the most valuable year of my career.”
“What I learned is that leadership isn’t about control. It’s about empowering people. Early in my career, I wanted to make every decision myself. I thought that’s what leadership was. But what I realized is that the best leaders hire great people and let them do their jobs. They create an environment where everyone feels like they have a voice, where the best ideas win, not just the ideas from the top. And that’s something I’ve tried to bring into our organization.”
Career Advice
“The cream rises, man. It always does. If you keep doing the right things, if you keep adding value, people will notice. Maybe not right away. Maybe it takes longer than you want. But if you consistently bring value to an organization, it will be recognized.”
“When I first started, I did whatever I could to help. If they needed someone to drive a coach to the airport, I did it. If they needed someone to organize scouting reports, I did it. I didn’t care about titles. I just wanted to show that I could add value. And eventually, I got more responsibility. But I think a lot of people today want to skip that part. They want to start at the top. And that’s just not how it works.”
“You have to be patient. I wasn’t always patient early in my career. I wanted to move up fast. But looking back, I see that the best thing I did was focus on adding value wherever I was. And that’s my advice for anyone trying to break into a competitive industry. Find a way to help. Find a way to make yourself useful. And then, when the opportunity comes, you’ll be ready for it.”
Success
“Everyone thinks success is this straight line that just goes up. It’s not. It’s a roller coaster. There are ups and downs. And you just have to make sure that the peaks last longer than the valleys.”