Culture Construction, Supply the Water

Culture matters...hard to define, harder to create and maintain.

I define culture as the entire program 'ecosystem'. It's ambience, perception, reputation and more. 

Kevin Eastman says, "fight for your culture every day." Culture demands that we hear and see all players. 

Consistent culture crafts the 'secret sauce' of MVB. An African proverb says, "It takes a village to raise a child." There's a corollary, "One child can destroy a village." 

Here's a graphic from Alan Stein, Jr. via Finch DeWayne David: 

MVB helps write narratives of friendship, fellowship, and memories that will last a lifetime. Culture lies at the foundation.

Don't make happiness dependent on your minutes, role, or recognition. Why? Much of our destiny lies beyond our control. Even minor injury or illness can derail progress. There's a saying, "you can play hurt but you can't play injured." 

Culture works when you love being with your teammates, love competing, love practice, love the whole MVB experience. If it becomes, "I'm not getting enough" (minutes, touches, recognition), that's a problem. 

The coaches create the structure for culture and players must take ownership. It's like cement. From Wikipedia, "A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete." Players supply the water.

Lagniappe. Be the 1%. 

6 Traits of the Top 1%

1. They are optimistic
2. They are very resilient
3. They have great habits
4. They have earned confidence
5. They finish and follow through
6. They are intrinsically motivated

What would you add?

— Greg Berge (@gb1121) March 3, 2024