Drink it in and celebrate Tampa Bay. The Lightning are the 2020 Stanley Cup Champions! Just typing those words gives me goosebumps, and it’s only been 11 hours since the clock hit all zeroes. We all have a reason to be jubilant, to celebrate. Some would say this has been a long time coming, over sixteen years.
However, I would look at the team’s success and say this has been an upward climb since the moment the team restarted with Jeff Vinik at the helm in 2010. It’s been hard. It’s been really hard. This team had been punched in the gut time and time again. As Jimmy Dugan said in A League of Their Own, “It’s supposed to be hard. The hard is what makes it great.”
There are a lot of lessons in growth that this team endured on its way to hockey immortality, all of which are applicable to a startup. In a sense, the Lightning have been a startup, albeit a well-funded one, since the Jeff Vinik takeover. Here are my personal takeaways from watching the Lightning over the last ten years, going from the outhouse to the penthouse.
• Start Clean – Starting in 2010, the team was coming off some down years. It was time for a fresh beginning and the team needed a total reset from top to bottom. If you start with baggage, drama, and over-arching issues – those will only get worse as the stakes get higher.
• Have a Clear Vision, Communicate It, and Build to It – When Jeff Vinik said he wanted the Lightning to be a “world class organization on and off the ice”, he meant it. It is exactly what each individual in the organization lives by. Having worked directly with many people in the Vinik Sports Group, they all exemplify this vision. In a business, if you can live to your vision, you are well on your way to getting there. This also sets up a culture for success, which is pivotal.
• Hire Great People and Let Them Do Their Thing – Between Steve Griggs and Julian BriseBois - or prior to them Tod Leiweke and Steve Yzerman - the Lightning have brought in the best of the best and let them do amazing things. I love the story of Tod Leiweke sitting in different seats throughout the arena in year one to learn each fan’s experience, leading to Amelie Arena’s overhaul. As a leader in a business, you cannot be a jack of all trades. Find the best people and let them do their job. They will take you a long way.
• Play to your Strengths – Being a huge fan of hockey, I can tell you teams are built in different ways. The Lightning are built for speed and to score goals. Players like Kucherov, Point, Hedman, Stamkos, Palat (I can go on and on here listing players that fit this DNA) all are on the team to run the opponent out of the rink. There is no team in hockey that plays at this skill level. As a startup, know if your strength is your team, your product, your marketing efforts, and make sure to stand behind them. Having a core strength is a massive strategic advantage.
• Be in Position to Take Risk – The ones who are willing to do what it takes to win are the ones who actually can achieve greatness. The Lightning are in that position with having one of the best goaltenders in the world in Andrei Vasilevskiy. If the defense takes a risk, they know they still have backup. In business, if all you can do is go through the motions, you will be stuck in neutral. Sometimes you need to go for it, but to do so you need that backstop.
• Cater to your Weaknesses – The Lightning are fast, can score a ton, but in 2020 a difference maker was grit. They added players like Barclay Goodrow and Pat Maroon who would go into the corner and do the dirty work. This had been a weakness. While they didn’t change the complexion of the team, they catered to it. As a startup, if you are not so strong in one area or another, that is perfectly ok. Add support in those areas to build against a weakness.
• Learn from Adversity – The Lightning have been a team littered with struggles. In 2015 they lost in the finals. In 2016 and 2018, the Lightning blew 3-2 leads in the conference finals. In 2019, there was the first-round sweep against Columbus. In many of those times, the team could have started over and blown it up. Instead, they took a lesson, learned about what went wrong, and fixed it. You have to do more than just get back on the horse when you fall off, you need to learn why you fell and do something differently. In 2015, it was adding depth. In 2016, it was penalties. In 2018, it was learning how to finish. In 2019, it was being gritty. Any startup or entrepreneur who can learn from adversity has a chance to be successful. It is going to happen. There is no perfect company and no straight-line path to success. There will be bumps in the road. Be ready to adjust and improve continuously.
Many of these are known lessons, but it is refreshing to see them placed into action, even if it is in athletic competition. Each of these learnings matter. They are the difference between failure and success, outhouse and penthouse, hanging your head or lifting a trophy. This brings me to the last teaching from the Lightning: celebrate the wins. The Lightning had a big hairy audacious goal, and only one team achieves that goal – but they celebrated along the way.
Each win, a player put a puck in a cutout of the Stanley Cup. They took on a superstition and celebrated with the Prince of Wales Trophy for being Eastern Conference Champions. Last night, they partied like rockstars. As a startup, there will be small wins along the way. Make sure you recognize milestones. Enjoy them. They don’t happen enough and they can build momentum.
Follow this recipe, and your startup can strike like Lightning. Thank you to the Tampa Bay Lightning for paving the way and the lessons for us all. Congratulations on your second Stanley Cup Championship. It is an exciting time here in Tampa Bay. Now it is time to celebrate!
