If You Want to Be a Game-Changer, You Have to Change the Game

Or, what organizations can learn from Indiana football.

We are SEC fans. My dad loved the Crimson Tide, and Bear Bryant’s photo lived in our living room as if he were a family member. When I enrolled at the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs), I was threatened with disinheritance. But the Bulldogs weren’t particularly stellar while I was a student, and—out of compassion, or maybe vindication—my dad welcomed me back into the fold. Imagine my surprise when, last January, I found myself rooting for Indiana. In football! As a fan, I was captivated. As an executive search consultant, I saw something else: an organization that had changed its culture and its performance in just two seasons.

Here’s what organizational teams can learn from Coach Cignetti and Indiana’s football program.

Dream it.

Before Curt Cignetti joined Indiana, the university already had a vision. They knew they wanted to do something different, and they were realistic that building a championship team would take time and resources. When we start a search at DRG, one of the first questions we ask our search committees is which organizations they look to as models of success. In December 2023, Indiana looked to the top Big Ten schools. The school recognized that the transfer portal was changing the game and that they needed a coach with a recruiter’s eye—someone who could bring talent to a school not known for football (they’d gone 3-9 in 2023) and shape that talent into a cohesive team.

Support the vision.

When Coach Cignetti stepped behind the podium at his first Indiana press conference in December 2023, he looked out at the reporters with his trademark deadpan and said, “Yeah…it’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.”

Indiana hired for the vision, and by all reports, they went all in for the coach.

Here’s where things tend to get tricky in organizations. Instead of hiring one person and expecting them to solve every problem, Indiana gave its new hire the resources he needed to start building toward their goal.

Resources look different across organizations. Sometimes what’s needed to succeed is financial investment. Sometimes it’s the space to pause, reflect, and build a new strategy. Sometimes it’s an organization-wide commitment to change. I’ve sat with hiring committees throughout a search process who insist they want something new—then they hire a changemaker and refuse to let the change take root through lack of support. Maybe staff decide they’re too busy to change their processes. Maybe the change requires professional development that takes staff out of the field, or conversely, the team needs to leave the office and spend more time in the community. Either way, the organization ends the year with the same kind of season as the year before, with the addition of a few frustrated new hires. Sometimes that frustration is enough to send the leader back into the portal—professionally known as LinkedIn—and the cycle starts anew.

Indiana hired for change, and then they committed to the process. They invested financially and gave Coach Cignetti the space to hire the coaches he needed for the turnaround. They recognized that Cignetti couldn’t do the work he was hired to do without support. He, in turn, aligned the university and his staff so everyone spoke the same language and moved in the same direction. This looks like trust, and trust is a make-or-break quality when you’re leading change.

Hiring a changemaker requires something of leadership, too. The new leader needs both support and authority. Staff need to understand that leadership is genuinely committed to defining and implementing change—and that everyone, without exception, will be accountable for their piece of the transition.

In Indiana’s case, they trusted the process Coach Cignetti laid out, and they gave him the authority to implement it.

Build the culture.

Coach Cignetti says he looks for producers, not untapped potential. He values consistency and a willingness to fit into a team culture. For organizations implementing new strategies, that often means getting back to basics: looking honestly at what isn’t working, defining how you’ll work together going forward, and holding each other accountable.

Cignetti wants coaches and players who are as committed to winning as he is, teammates who will put their talents toward the shared goal. In hiring, it’s tempting to value reputation above results. I encourage search committees to take a chance on people doing strong, consistent work at smaller organizations. Imagine what someone already making a real impact with limited resources could do with greater access. Drive and commitment are strong indicators—they might even lead to a Heisman.

Move forward, play by play.

Another lesson from Indiana’s playbook: they play one play at a time. Former legendary University of Alabama coach Nick Saban says that once the goal is defined, The Process is what matters. Saban asks his teams to “play each play like it has a life and history of its own.” The small moves matter. Each game, each play, is a stepping stone that builds the season: twelve regular-season games to reach the playoffs, then three more to the championship.

Well-functioning teams work the same way. There’s a defined North Star, but the team stays keenly aware that the smaller moves are what shape success. Each member understands their role in executing the vision, and they do their part.

Intentionality is key to changing a culture. Defining a goal matters, but weighing smaller decisions against the larger vision is what actually drives implementation. Staff need to ask whether a given initiative moves them closer to the objective. And there needs to be room to name unhelpful organizational habits and norms and to replace them with ones that support the new way of working.

After a regular season win, when everyone else was celebrating, Coach Cig’s stoicism told everyone there were going to be uncomfortable conversations in the locker room. Building into the process significant time to reflect and discuss needed changes is a healthy part of reaching a goal. In philanthropy, that might mean pausing after grants season to assess impact and process. In a nonprofit, it might mean stepping back to evaluate the efficacy of a current program before rushing into implementing a new one.

A dynasty requires commitment.

Indiana won the championship in Cignetti’s second season. Now what? Start over for the next one. New players, new pressures. When Coach Cig stood on the stage in Miami, he finally smiled and looked satisfied—for about an hour.

And that’s the thing: it’s never about just one season. If you and your organization are building toward a dynasty—and in the nonprofit and foundation world where I work, that means deep, often generational change in communities—the job is never finished. A dynasty doesn’t come from one championship season, and it doesn’t come from one person alone. Hire for experience, give them the resources to implement your vision, and then do your part to support the change.

May all your teams be champions this fall (unless they’re playing Georgia).