Chris Petersen - What you do is who you are

I started reading Ben Horowitz’s new book, What You Do Is Who You Are this past week. I am only through maybe the first 8% of the book, but the it’s been fantastic so far.

I’ll report back once I’ve finished and give a full review, but the title of the book is pretty self explanatory. Your company’s culture is defined by what you do.

Chris Petersen was a successful football coach because of many reasons, but I would argue that the culture he cultivated on and off the field was the biggest contributor to success. He lived by this mantra and sought to create a culture where team always came first.

Coach Pete was always focused on team unity and building. From walk-on to 5 star recruit, everyone on the team was family and had a place. Knowing someone’s name was just as important as being able to make a block, and Petersen lived that by forcing the team to participate in name games.

He ensured that locker room was kept neat and tidy at all times, not by forcing janitors to clean, but by picking up trash himself.

An individual was never bigger than the team and he lived that when he kicked off star player and now NFL pro bowler, Marcus Peters, off the team his first year as head coach.

Watching the evolution of the culture that Petersen was setting was a thing of beauty as a husky fan. Since he took over in 2013, the team just kept on getting better every year. We made 3 New Year’s Six bowl games in a row from 2016 - 2018 including the College Football Playoff in 2016.

Your culture is created by what you do. Chris Petersen lived this day in and day out and created a team culture that won big on and off the field.