How do I establish core values?

If you don’t know me, I’m Brian Smith.

As Head Wrestling Coach at Mizzou, I’ve spent years building a program around more than just talent. These athletes are some of the greatest men I know. They’re full of integrity, discipline, and grit.

“Are you livin’ it?” is a question I ask my athletes almost every day. It’s about living out Tiger Style, and more importantly, living a life you’re proud of.

Today, I want to discuss one big culture question and let you in on where I’ve been. 

Let’s get into it. 

FROM GOOD TO GREAT

How do I establish core values for my team?

This one is simple in concept, but hard in practice. 

Think about the lifestyle and attitude you want to instill in your team, and work backwards from there. Think about the major components that would lead someone to live that type of life, and make those your core values. 

Ultimately, I broke down Tiger Style into 4 pillars: 

1. Believe

2. Compete

3. One More

4. Expect to Win

These are the concepts I wanted to instill into my students, so I began to infuse Tiger Style into everything we did at Mizzou Wrestling. 

Of course, I didn’t form Tiger Style in a vacuum. I’ve been shaped and influenced by many people over the years. I’ve been inspired by great coaches like Vince Lombardi, John Wooden, Pete Carroll, and Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski. 

My dad played a huge role in shaping me, too. He taught me what it really means to coach. 

All that to say, I knew the values that I wanted to instill in my wrestlers not because I made them up, but because I’ve learned from expert coaches and leaders before me.

We called our values and our philosophy Tiger Style, and it became something that not only impacted our team, but our whole community. 

I’ve seen kids in the airport wearing Tiger Style shirts and received emails from people in our community praising the behavior and lifestyle of our wrestlers. Just the other day in my neighborhood I saw a father teaching his son how to ride a bike after work.  He looked up at me and said, “Hi, Coach! Just doing a ‘One More’ today.”

This is what a powerful set of values can do for your team or your organization: you begin to be known for something. 

So how do you establish core values?

• Identify qualities you want to instill in your team. When you know what you want to be, you can better guide behavior.

• Learn from other leaders in your industry what is important.

• Infuse the values into everything you do.

Bonus Tip: Create a Mantra

Here’s our Tiger Style Mantra:

This mantra gave us our “why” behind Tiger Style.

OFF THE MAT

I’ve mentioned that I’ve been speaking around the state and the country. I love getting to share the vision of Tiger Style and how it can impact an organization.

If you’d like me to come speak to your company or at an event, feel free to reach out on my website:

Thanks for tuning in.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn or respond to this email. I’d love to hear from you.

— Coach Smith