Bill Walsh Quotes & Sayings

Your attitude will unlock the mystery of success you seek! — Bill Walsh

The more you know about English, the less you're likely to think there are unbreakable "rules" for a lot of things. — Bill Walsh

There is a weird phenomenon where technology seems to be getting dumber in some ways as it gets smarter. — Bill Walsh

Victory is produced by and belongs to all. — Bill Walsh

There is another side [to ego] that can wreck a team or an organization. That is being distracted by your own importance. It can come from your insecurity in working with others. It can be the need to draw attention to yourself in the public arena. It can be a feeling that others are a threat to your own territory. These are all negative manifestations of ego, and if you are not alert to them, you get diverted and your work becomes diffused. Ego in these cases makes people insensitive to how they work with others and it ends up interfering with the real goal of any group efforts. — Bill Walsh

Machines aren't replacing proofreaders at all. Copy editors, who proofread and much, much more, use spellcheck as a tool but read every word that appears in the paper. — Bill Walsh

The ability to help the people around me self-actualize their goals underlines the single aspect of my abilities and the label that I value most - teacher. — Bill Walsh

Afford each person the same respect, support, and fair treatment you would expect if your roles were reversed. Deal with people individually, not as objects who are part of a herd-that's the critical factor. — Bill Walsh

Many people erroneously think they have only one chance to succeed, and if they miss that chance, they are doomed to failure. In fact, most people have several opportunities to succeed. — Bill Walsh

Everybody's got an opinion. Leaders are paid to make a decision. The difference between offering an opinion and making a decision is the difference between working for the leader and being the leader. — Bill Walsh

The minute you step away from the negative people in your life you will instantly see the beauty in your horizon. — Bill Walsh

Invest in great relationships, they will pay a lifetime of dividends. — Bill Walsh

The [best] coaches ... know that the job is to win ... know that they must be decisive, that they must phase people through their organizations, and at the same time they are sensitive to the feelings, loyalties, and emotions that people have toward one another. If you don't have these feelings, I do not know how you can lead anyone. I have spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out how I was going to phase out certain players for whom I had strong feelings, but that was my job. I wasn't hired to do anything but win. — Bill Walsh

My theory is that, just like with omitting a final comma in a list when not essential for meaning, publishers are trying to save paper and ink or pixels on-screen. — Bill Walsh

If you see players who hate practice, their coach isn't doing a very good job. — Bill Walsh

People thrive on positive reinforcement. They can take only a certain amount of criticism and you may lose them altogether if you criticize them in a personal way ... you can make a point without being personal. Don't insult or belittle your people. Instead of getting more out of them you will get less — Bill Walsh

Find a great mentor who believes in you, your life will change forever! — Bill Walsh

Your enthusiasm becomes their enthusiasm; your lukewarm presentation becomes their lukewarm interest in what you're offering. — Bill Walsh

If any sort of error is inexcusable, it's an incorrect phone number. One of the cardinal rules of copy editing is that every phone number published must be checked. — Bill Walsh

Consistent effort is a consistent challenge. — Bill Walsh

The dash helps to indicate that the two thoughts are intimately related, and it's less stodgy than a semicolon, which would have performed the same function (and who talks in semicolons?). — Bill Walsh

We all know gifs are pronounced "jifs," right? Their creator says so, damn it! — Bill Walsh

Strong leaders don't plead with individuals to perform. — Bill Walsh

Commit yourself to something you have a passion for. — Bill Walsh

You can only succeed when people are communicating, not just from the top down, but in complete interchange. Communication comes from fighting off my ego and listening. — Bill Walsh

The absolute bottom line in coaching is organization and preparing for practice. — Bill Walsh

If your why is strong enough you will figure out how! — Bill Walsh

90 percent of the time the terms are misused or unnecessary. Not every image obtained from a computer is a screen shot. — Bill Walsh

A harsh reality of newspaper editing is that the deadlines don't allow for the polish that you expect in books or even magazines. — Bill Walsh

Your path and purpose will become crystal clear when you begin to trust your vision. — Bill Walsh

Good talent with bad attitude equals bad talent, — Bill Walsh

One of the common traits of outstanding performers-coaches, athletes, managers, sales representatives, executives, and others who face a daily up/down, win/lose accounting system-is that a rejection, that is, defeat, is quickly forgotten, replaced eagerly by pursuit of a new order, client, or opponent. — Bill Walsh

Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise, and nothing is more lame than a cookie-cutter compliment. — Bill Walsh

Champions behave like champions before they are champions — Bill Walsh

Strength of will - is essential to your survival and success. The competitor who won't go away, who won't stay down, has one of the most formidable competitive advantages of all. In evaluating people, I prize ego. It often translates into a fierce desire to do their best and an inner confidence that stands them in good stead when things really get rough. Psychologists suggest that there is a strong link between ego and competitiveness. All the great performers I've ever coached had ego to spare. — Bill Walsh

If I have any talent, it's in the artistic end of football. The variation of movement of 11 players and the orchestration of that facet of football is beautiful to me. — Bill Walsh

Failure is part of success, an integral part. Everybody gets knocked down. Knowing it will happen and what you must do when it does is the first step back. — Bill Walsh

I caution against beginning or ending a quotation with ellipses. — Bill Walsh

Concentrate on what will produce results rather than on the results, the process rather than the prize. — Bill Walsh

"Extra effort," in whatever form it takes (mental, physical, emotional), cannot be sustained without eventual damage and diminishing returns. There has to be a very acute awareness on your part as to the level of exertion and the toll it's taking on those you lead. — Bill Walsh

The culture precedes positive results. It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they're champions: they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners. — Bill Walsh

As the leader, part of the job is to be visible and willing to communicate with everyone — Bill Walsh

To a winner, complacency and overconfidence can be destructive. To losers, desperation and despondency are just as harmful. — Bill Walsh

The proper use of commas is often more art than science. — Bill Walsh

Like water, many decent individuals will seek lower ground if left to their own inclinations. In most cases you are the one who inspires and demands they go upward rather than settle for the comfort of doing what comes easily. — Bill Walsh

Innovation involves anticipation. It is having a broad base of knowledge on your subject and an ability to see where the end game is headed. Use all your knowledge to get their first. Set the trend and make the competition counter you — Bill Walsh

When I give a speech at a corporate event, I often ask those in attendance, 'Do you know how to tell if you're doing the job?' As heads start whispering back and forth, I provide these clue: 'If you're up at 3 A.M. every night talking into a tape recorder and writing notes on scraps of paper, have a knot in your stomach and a rash on your skin, are losing sleep and losing touch with your wife and kids, have no appetite or sense of humor, and feel that everything might turn out wrong, then you're probably doing the job.' — Bill Walsh

Act like a VIP and become a VIP — Bill Walsh

For me the starting point for everything - before strategy, tactics, theories, managing, organizing, philosophy, methodology, talent, or experience - is work ethic. Without one of significant magnitude, you're dead in the water. — Bill Walsh

By instinct we-leaders-want to run hard all the time; by intellect we know this is not possible. Reconciling those two positions in the context of leadership is an ongoing challenge. — Bill Walsh

I've observed that if individuals who prevail in a highly competitive environment have any one thing in common besides success, it is failure - and their ability to overcome it. — Bill Walsh

Before you can win the fight, You've got to be in the fight. — Bill Walsh

I'm not one of those "omg texting kids rite bad" alarmists. I just think there's an interesting nexus where the Internet itself hastened language change when it comes to Internet terms. — Bill Walsh

Consistent motivation usually comes from a consuming desire to be able to perform at your best under pressure, namely, the pressure produced by tough competition. If a player needed me to light a fire under him by turning the other team into a demon, he was lacking something I couldn't give him. — Bill Walsh

We have a lot of players in their first year. Some of them are also in their last year. — Bill Walsh

Used properly a hashtag can be really cool. Hashtags provide an opportunity for sly editorial comment, for parallel and perpendicular trains of thought, in the limited space that Twitter and, to some extent, Facebook provide. — Bill Walsh

Writers' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call. — Bill Walsh

Flying by the seat of your pants precedes crashing by the seat of your pants. — Bill Walsh

When you stand and overcome a significant setback, you'll find an increasing inner confidence and self-assurance that has been created by conquering defeat. Absorbing and overcoming this kind of punishment engenders a sober, steely toughness that results in a hardened sense of independence and a personal belief that you can take on anything, survive and win. — Bill Walsh

I often think about the class differences involved in "jobs" vs. "careers." — Bill Walsh

Calculated risks are part of what you do, but the idea that something completely crazy will work just because it's completely crazy is completely crazy. — Bill Walsh

Writing headlines is a specialty - there are outstanding writers who will tell you they couldn't write a headline to save their lives. — Bill Walsh