You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 C's to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life

Beyond the 7 C's

There's more to building a winning team than just the 7 C's. Other principles are just as important and, while they don't begin with the letter C, we would be remiss if we didn't share them. In this spirit, here are some of our key areas of focus and things to consider as you build your team.

Integrity

Jon Gordon

In 2014 I attended the Cornell Hall of Fame induction dinner, where I heard David Eckel, a cross country track and field champion, share a story from the fall of 1955 during the Heptagonal Championship in Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. David said he had led most of the race with his Cornell teammate, Michael Midler, right behind him in second place and Doug Brew from Dartmouth about 60 yards behind them. With about a mile left in the race, David and Michael took a wrong turn and headed down a path away from the finish line. Doug saw them going the wrong way and shouted to them, “You are off course! You are off course! You are going the wrong way!” David and Michael quickly got back on the right path and finished in first and second place while Doug Brew finished third. That year, Cornell won the individual and team championship, and if it wasn't for Doug's integrity, it never would have happened. David and Doug still keep in touch and Doug said he never regretted it. He felt it was the right thing to do and that the Cornell guys would have done the same thing for him. David told me that he spoke about Doug because he knew his induction to the ...