Do it Like Deion: How We Build a Culture of Success Like Coach Prime

“It’s personal.” He said.

Excellence, after all, is tied up with the strings of our hearts.

Freshly minted Head Coach of CU, Coach Prime was about to lead his team into the second game of the season. Not just any game, but this week the team would face off against their longtime rivals, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The eyes of every college football fan in the country were on them, and the Vegas odds were still pitted against them.

So in that pre-game huddle, what was the story Coach Prime shared with his team? Sanders regaled the team with a tale about the guy who finally put a stop to Mike Tyson’s long 37–0 win streak. His name was Buster Douglas.

Douglas was a relative nobody. He was the guy meant to fight Tyson on his way the real showdown. No one thought Buster Douglas was a real threat. He was the place holder. And everyone assumed Douglas would be knocked out like the 37 fighters before him.

Everyone, that is, except Buster Douglas’ mama. Weeks before the fight Douglas’ mama sat him down. You can imagine the conversation: “You’ve got everything you need to win against Mike Tyson. You’ve done the work; you’ve got the talent. You will beat the odds and you will win.”

And then three weeks before the fight, Lula Pearl Douglas, the beloved mother of Buster Douglas, passed away. Douglas was devastated. Of course he was. But the world championship match was mere days away. And the underdog would face a fight with the most feared boxer in history, while carrying the weight of grief and burden of his mother’s prophetic words.

Coach Prime paused his tale, to deliver his punch line. February 11, 1990 Buster Douglas shocked the world by defeating Mike Tyson.

Coach Prime, stood before his team, and in a cadence and command all his own he paused, “It’s personal!” Deion Sanders went on to remind his team that for Mike Tyson the Buster Douglas match was just another fight. But for Buster Douglas that fight was personal. Sanders reminded the room of young men, that this game, this rivalry, and this season was and is personal.

The story of Buster Douglas is compelling, as so many of Coach Prime’s are. But this type of article is one you’d expect to read on the pages of a sports magazine. So what does it have to do with construction, CRE, and the changing dynamics of market? This is no boxing match, nor am I advocating the throwing of punches. But there is a reason Coach Prime told this story to his athletes, and that reason translates to business.

To read the headlines on commercial real estate is to know the industry will face adversity. Challenge is here; change is imminent, and for the victors, thriving in adversity will have to be personal.

Skill and expertise are just the price for entry. They, on their own, will never get it done. Those who navigate the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity will do it because they show up like the person their mama believed they could be.

At the end of the day, it’s the folks with integrity, it’s the people who rise to the occasion, and it’s the ones who do the work when no one is watching who will lead the way.

I’m the CEO of a boutique general contracting firm (CoBUILD Construction Services Inc.); we consult and specialize in life science construction. At CoBUILD we create environments for people to succeed. It’s what we are about because we believe that is what defines real leadership.

As an alum of CU, I’m fascinated and inspired by Coach Prime’s leadership. And I am thrilled to bring all that our team has learned about building for the future of life sciences back to Colorado. I grew up here. I graduated high school and college here. I got married here, and all my kids were born here. I’m proud of the team I’m leading with. We’re building great things, and for me, “It’s personal.”