Review of Bill Walsh’s The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership

‘The Score Takes Care of Itself’ is an account of Bill Walsh, the legendary San Francisco 49ers coach who took the team from a 2-14 record in his first year, to a Super Bowl in his third. Along the way he encountered a great deal of adversity, innovated a new style of offense and coached some of the best players to have ever played the game.  The book is a collection of interviews looking at Walsh’s philosophies of leadership. These philosophies and their applications for coaches and teachers make it essential reading.

The book is littered with snippets of his philosophy on leadership and how to increase the probability of success. Throughout the book, he makes the point that attitude is the foundation of everything an organization does “champions behave like champions, before they are champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners”. He is of the belief that performance on the field is simply a continuation of standards off the field “today’s effort becomes tomorrow’s results”.  This concept is the central tenet of the book and is what I see as one of the major educational benefits of sport in school. Whether it is the setting of high standards, encouraging hard work or showing the value of true team work.

Other themes that are also covered look at philosophy, innovation, development of camaraderie and communication skills. My favourite chapter in the book is the discussion of the importance of a leader being a teacher and the importance of influencing those around you.  The book covers at length the importance of setting an example through hard work and what he calls managing the ‘bottom 20 per cent’, making sure that everyone feels that they have a role. He also comments that it is not the fault of the ‘audience’ if they are bored and when they are excited, it is because of the person who is in charge.

His philosophies have widely influenced many top level coaches in world sport. This includes the former England rugby head coach Stuart Lancaster, who shortly after his appointment to the role commented that “The easy way for me would be to pick the most experienced side I could find against Scotland and hopefully get a win. But it’s more important I get the team culture and environment right….Ultimately, I do believe if you focus on those elements then the score takes care of itself.”

The real quality of the book comes from the linking of all these principles with real life experience, obstacles he has come across and his own struggles. The clarity with which Walsh approached his work is very impressive, knowing that whilst he is in a results based business, it is not the main focus of his work. Similarly, reading the book for the first time was a clarifying experience for myself and forces the reader to think about what the most important aspects of their work are.

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