Winning teams — How to build winning teams deliberately

Roger Federer, considered by many the greatest tennis player of all time, only won 54% of the points he played.

Think about that. GOAT. 82% win rate. One hundred and three career titles. Twenty Grand Slams. But any given point? Little more than fifty-fifty.

Winning teams don’t focus on the win.

They focus on getting better.

In competition—golf, rugby, Formula One—the same holds true. They follow the same pattern. The same six rules:

#1. Winning is a lagging indicator.

#2. Greatness comes from marginal gains.

#3. Moments matter; some more than others.

#4. Failure becomes fuel.

#5. Practice. Deliberately.

#6. Loyalty to the mission.

These aren’t just rules, they’re a system. The system that made Federer great, the All Blacks legendary, and Mercedes dominant.

So, why, in business, do so many teams focus on the win?

Winning isn’t the goal, it’s the outcome.

An outcome built not by chasing the win, but chasing the work. The reps. The refinement. The relentless pursuit of better.

Here’s how it breaks down.

#1. Winning is a lagging indicator.

Federer, speaking at Dartmouth’s 2024 commencement, shared a surprising truth: he only won 54% of the points he played. Even at the pinnacle of tennis, he lost almost every other point. Perfection wasn’t the goal. The next point was.

The outcome depends on not dwelling on the past but focusing on the future with clarity and determination.

So too, in business. A “win” is measured in outcomes—quarterly profits, market share, successful products. But outcomes are the result of many things: preparation, adaptability, mindset, execution, and perseverance.

They aren’t something you can directly control.

You can’t decide to “win” any more than you can choose to “have a great quarter.” You can control the process that leads there.

You don't win by aiming at the scoreboard. You win by aiming at the work.

🤔 Ask yourself: Are you chasing outcomes—or building habits that make outcomes inevitable?

#2. Greatness comes from marginal gains.

Elite teams don’t wait for breakthroughs. They engineer them. They obsess over fundamentals. The All Blacks rewatch their training footage in slow motion—not to admire their form, but to fix the tiniest flaws in their footwork.

A 1% gain may not seem like much. But stacked across systems, processes, and habits, it’s unstoppable.

Winning businesses don’t bet everything on a moonshot. They focus on small, systematic improvements—shorter handoffs, clearer priorities, tighter meetings, sharper decisions.

Marginal gains in performance, process, and culture compound over time. Relentless refinement disguised as overnight success.

You don’t find greatness. You build it—one small improvement at a time.

🤔 Ask yourself: Are you stacking small gains—or standing still, waiting for a breakthrough?

#3. Moments matter; some more than others.

In F1, pit stops are pivotal. Monaco, 2021. Valtteri Bottas brought his Mercedes in for a tyre change. The right front mechanic stripped the nut, irreversibly jamming the wheel on the car. Bottas’ race ended—not on the track, but in the pit lane.

Great teams understand: it's not about winning every moment, but about executing flawlessly when the moment matters.

In business, most moments are recoverable. Some—key pitches, product launches, high-stakes negotiations—are not.

You can’t always predict when the critical moment comes. You can only prepare to execute when it does.

You don't rise to the occasion. You fall to your preparation.

🤔 Ask yourself: Are you practicing for the big moment, or hoping you’ll rise to it?

#4. Failure becomes fuel.

New Zealand’s All Blacks. An island nation that expects rugby dominance. But they were knocked out of the 2007 World Cup in the quarter-finals. Not just a loss—a national crisis. The team re-examined everything: leadership, coaching relationships, mental preparation, identity. They re-centered around humility, clarity, and culture.

Four years later, on home soil, they lifted the World Cup.

Setbacks don’t break great teams. They sharpen them. So too, in business. High-performing teams fail. And they use that failure. They turn missteps into mirrors. They fix weak systems, upgrade processes, and harden culture.

Failure becomes a catalyst for change.

The best teams don’t fear failure; they metabolize it.

🤔 Ask yourself: When failure hits, are you alibiing or adjusting?

#5. Practice. Deliberately.

Before Tiger Woods, there was Nick Faldo.

In the 1980s, the young English golfer had a stylish, swooping swing. But it was unreliable. In the heat of major contention, Faldo knew it would break down. He took the radical step to totally rebuild his game. Two years. Up to 800 balls a day in the Florida heat.

The method wasn’t to practice until he got it right. It was to practice until he couldn’t get it wrong.

Through deliberate practice, Faldo found precision. Six major championships. And a reputation as one of the most mentally tough and technically sound players in history.

Great teams—and great players—don’t just practice. They practice deliberately, every move dissected, every detail sharpened, all in pursuit of mastery. High-performing teams don’t wing it. They rehearse. They run drills. They practice under pressure before it matters.

Deliberate practice isn’t doing the work once. It’s building muscle memory for when it counts.

The best don’t prepare until they get it right. They practice until they can’t get it wrong.

🤔 Ask yourself: Do you build deliberate practice into your team’s work?

#6. Loyalty to the mission.

Some people love the Patriots. Some hate them. Some don’t care.

But there’s no doubt they won. They did this by staying loyal—not to players or personalities—but to the system. Under Bill Belichick, they constantly reshaped the roster. Letting star players go. Letting fan favorites walk. Integrity of the mission mattered most of all, summed up in three words, “Do your job.”

Great teams aren’t loyal to the parts. They’re loyal to what the parts are there to build.

High-performing teams are built on loyalty—to each other, to the work, to the mission. But loyalty must be earned and aligned.

When someone stops pulling their weight—or when an old system or familiar process stops serving the mission—high-performing teams make the hard call.

High-performing teams are true to what matters most: the mission, the team, and the trust that binds them.

Loyalty strengthens the team—when it strengthens the mission.

🤔 Ask yourself: Is your loyalty strengthening your team—or slowing it down?

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