Episode 35: Daniel Coyle – Secrets to Building and Sustaining a High-Performing Culture

Outperform with Acceleration Partners

Our guest on this episode of Outperform is bestselling author, Daniel Coyle. Daniel has looked inside some of the world’s highest performing groups, including U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six, Pixar and the San Antonio Spurs, and lays out what their success has in common in his newest book, The Culture Code.

Daniel is also the New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code, The Little Book of Talent and The Secret Race, a book he co-authored with former professional road bicycle racer, Tyler Hamilton.

Coyle and Hamilton also won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Prize in 2012.

When he’s not churning out award-winning, best-selling books, he is a contributing editor for Outside Magazine and works as a special advisor to the Cleveland Indians.

Show Notes

• Why Dan switched from wanting to become a doctor to pursuing a career as a writer
• How writing The Talent Code inspired Dan to write The Culture Code
• How a tennis ball sent Dan on a journey looking at great cultures around the planet
• Three signaling behaviors that all high-performing groups follow
• Why a flock of birds is a great visual of The Culture Code
• What San Antonio Spurs coach, Gregg Popovich did to create a safe environment for his players
• What Daniel discovered about culture from studying Pixar, Navy Seal Team Six, etc. that surprised him
• What “magical feedback” is
• Things that surprised Daniel about Navy Seal Team Six
• The most important four words a leader can say
• The one thing any group can and should do once they finish a project/action/operation, etc. to be more successful and high-performing
• The real story behind the Osama Bin Laden raid
• What “plussing” is and how Pixar uses it within their organization
• Why culture can’t be dictated from the top down
• A time when Daniel failed at culture- building

Hear more Outperform podcast episodes at http://www.accelerationpartners.com/resource-center/our-podcasts/.