Though he has never blown a whistle in practice or made a substitution on the field, Josh Isner, president of the public safety company Axon, is part of Bill Belichick’s coaching tree.
For Isner, who believes companies should operate like pro sports teams, to succeed in his role as Axon’s head coach, he knew he should seek out the insight from the mentor of all mentors. So, that’s just what he did.
Famous for his phrase, “Do your job”, the six-time Super Bowl-winning Coach Belichick underscored the idea to Isner when the two sat down to talk.
Success, the coach told him, is about mental toughness in the most trying of times.
“It’s about your ability to play your role when it’s noisiest and block out the noise,” Belichick explained to Isner, who relayed the story to me on a recent episode of the Corporate Competitor Podcast. “Do what you are good at often.”
If you’ve ever seen body camera footage used to increase transparency or technology that helps law enforcement and first responders do their jobs more safely, you’ve seen Axon’s impact firsthand.
And Isner knows that to lead the company into the future, he will have to navigate some inevitable ups and downs. Every team goes through streaks and slumps. But to get through those—that’s when you’ve got to keep your focus.
“Those are the moments you have to be the most mentally tough,” Isner noted. Coach Belichick would approve.
Isner talked about all that and more on the podcast, including:
• Invest in people. Isner has benefited from mentors throughout his career. Sometimes the best lessons come from those who’ve already seen a situation. He remembers being pulled aside and given a critique that included, “It’s not what you say, it’s what they hear.” Isner believes it’s important to continue investing in these relationships.
• Be around winners. Isner played golf at Harvard. He was good at the sport. But he didn’t know how good a player he could be until he had the opportunity to play with some of the best pros, like Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark and others. “You don’t know how to win until you’re around winners,” he told me. “It’s a mindset.”
• Constantly improve. For Isner, each day is a new opportunity to get better than the one previous. In fact, that’s his general philosophy in and out of the workplace. He sums it up succinctly: “I don’t understand what life is about if you don’t want to push yourself every day.”
