I always enjoy the author's work and this was no exception. Read it cover to cover (virtually speaking). Learned more about a sport I enjoy watching, but never played. Many thanks for having this available on NetGalley, we will be purchasing at the library I work at.

Mr. Lombardi uses this book to talk about what he has learned about winning football teams. Of course most of the time is spent with the years he worked with Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick. Really you cannot go wrong with either one of those two men, but to be fortunate to have worked with both is truly amazing. You are taken through the guide of a team and how it starts at the top and what is expected of everyone including office staff, etc… There is a grading system of players before the draft and then another right before, and of course how both Walsh and Belichick would trade down in the draft and the value in receiving those extra picks. You are also shown how some of those picks helped form some of the better 49 niner teams. He spends little time speaking about his time with Al Davis and most of that is because Bill Walsh worked for him at one time and so he felt a lot of information was already passed on. I really enjoyed the time he talked about Cleveland and the men working for Belichick there and for taking us the readers behind the trades of the 49 niners when they were putting together those super bowl teams. Overall a good book which I found entertaining.

There’s no denying that Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick are among the greatest coaches in the history of football. One can argue about their relative placements in the pantheon, but it’s difficult to dispute either’s placement among the greatest of the greats. Meanwhile, Raiders owner Al Davis spent decades as the free-wheeling outlaw of the NFL’s leadership class, bringing his own unique ideas and passions to the game.

And Michael Lombardi worked under all of them.

Those relationships form the basis for Lombardi’s new book “Gridiron Genius: A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL.” It’s a chance for Lombardi to impart the myriad lessons he has gleaned over his decades of working with some of the finest football minds in history.

Dynasties are tough to come by in any sport – football is no exception. For a team to reach that sort of exalted, dynastic status, a lot of things have to go right. There have to be a few lucky bounces and some paid-off gambles. And more than anything, there has to be a strong leader at the top, one who is capable of not just maximizing performance on the field, but also creating a sustainable winning culture off it.

Lombardi offers a unique perspective on some of the men who have managed to cultivate that level of legendary success. He worked under Bill Walsh from 1984-1987, right smack in the middle of Walsh’s run of dominance at the helm of the San Francisco 49ers. After that, he worked for the Cleveland Browns for the next decade or so, where he first worked with then-Browns coach Bill Belichick. The next decade was spent working in personnel for the Raiders and Al Davis. After a couple of years as general manager of the Browns, he reunited with Belichick in New England from 2014-2016.

So yeah – he’s been around the block.

What he does in “Gridiron Genius” is expose the reader to the depth of thought that each of these men brought to the table. He talks about what it’s like to be around someone like Walsh, someone whose every waking moment was devoted to improving upon the vaunted West Coast offense that he developed and that led to his success. We’re offered a look at his relationship with Belichick and how the man never really changed from his relatively unsuccessful tenure with the Browns to his likely-never-to-be-matched success with the Patriots. And we get a chance to see the dynamic weirdness (and equal brilliance) of Al Davis in action as well.

There’s a lot that goes into becoming as successful as these men were. It’s not just about Xs and Os. It’s not just about film study and drills. It’s about leadership. It’s about finding ways to get scores of people with very different ideas and very different motivations to land on the same page and move toward a common goal.

According to Lombardi, the common thread is an unwavering eye for detail and a not-quite perfectionism that demands constant efforts toward improvement. It involves a willingness to script everything: not just the plays of the day, but daily practices and weekly meetings and annual player acquisitions and multi-year organizational directives. EVERYTHING. Walsh, Belichick and Davis all had these qualities to some extent. Yes, they were very different men and ultimately saw somewhat different results, but the fundamental principles were all the same.

There’s plenty of inside football stuff in “Gridiron Genius” as well; there are moments when the curtain is pulled back and we get an interesting perspective on some of the inner workings of the NFL, whether it’s game-specific or more general in an organizational sense. Either way, it’s a view that few have had – especially with these particular bosses – and any football fan will find it fascinating.

Lombardi also likes to offer up an occasional list, a breakdown of seven criteria for X or 11 reasons behind Y. These lists allow him to get a bit more granular, whether he’s talking about offensive and defensive ideas, a coach’s philosophies or even his own requirements for a franchise quarterback. These detailed explorations serve as a nice counterpoint to a lot of the more anecdotal material.

“Gridiron Genius” is a fun book, one that football fans are going to dig. Does it feel a little too fawning in some spots? A little too shallow in others? Sure. But mostly, it’s one man’s passion for the game and for the people who taught him the most about it laid bare on the page. Michael Lombardi loves football and deeply respects those who helped cultivate that love. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s a good one – and an undeniably honest one.

I've read a lot of Lombardi in articles and on social media so I was initially concerned whether there'd be anything new in this book. I was pleasantly surprised. This added in a lot of detail that shows the inner construction of a team and how that builds coaching success. While even the best coach can't necessarily take under performing and injured team to the super bowl, a good coach can help players' develop in a way that builds championships. There's been a lot written about Walsh & Belichick so some of this material I'd seen before, but most of Al Davis was new to me. This expands on a number of the coaching leadership titles already out there and was a really filler before football season began.

It is the most wonderful time of the year for football fans. Football season is starting and football books are being released. Gridiron Genius by Michael Lombardi (no relation to Vince) is a behind-the-scenes look at what makes some NFL teams so great. I had the opportunity to read an advance review copy via Netgalley so I can't quote from the book but there are a few lines that are just genius/borderline snarky in the humor. I hope they made it to the final edition. The book would be great for all football fans and students of the game. Gridiron Genius is available for preorder now and will be released September 11, 2018.

Bill Belichick's introduction to this book includes this perfect description: : "A lot of people write books about football. But only a few of them have Mike Lombardi's credentials."

Truthfully, if you think this is just a book about football you are missing out. All of the lessons in this book can be applied to any business and will bring great success. Michael Lombardi has spent a lifetime studying leadership and innovation through the lens of professional football with some of its preeminent teachers, chiefly Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick. Lombardi recounts many of the valuable lessons he's learned in this book as well as detailing his journey as a student of the game.

Often times, traditional business books are boring. This book packs at least as many valuable business lessons as any best-selling traditional business book but it is also incredibly engaging as it also features a look inside the inner sanctum of one of the most successful teams in one of America's most popular professional sports.

Even in the highly competitive world of pro football, there are some coaches who figure out a way to find that edge that helps them win games consistently.They might not be smarter than everyone else, although brainpower doesn't hurt, but they mix it with a strong work ethic and good organizational abilities.

Michael Lombardi has worked with two of those "geniuses" in Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick. You could argue that he also spent time employed by a third, Al Davis - who certainly is proof that the word unique describes someone who is one of a kind.

Lombardi, who had a number of jobs in pro football including a stint as general manager of the Cleveland Browns, was smart enough to take notes along the way. Now he's put together a book on why those football men were successful. He's called it "Gridiron Genius" - and no, it's not an autobiography.

Lombardi (no relation to that fellow who did pretty well with the Green Bay Packers) rips through the various parts of a football organization, chapter by chapter. The chapter headings are: The Organization, the Coach, Team Building, Special Teams, Offense, Defense, Game Planning, While I Have You (my biggest peeves), WWBD, and Fearless Forecast.

If there's one point that gets hammered home, it's that the best head coaches are prepared for just about anything to happen in a game. That's not by chance; it's because the staff covers just about every possible contingency before a game. You want to know why football coaches are legendary for sleeping in their office? It's because there's always something to do. Belichick would do things like assign a staff member to full break down each player on an opposing team, looking for tendencies and facts that might be helpful. There are some good stories told along the way, like the one about how Malcolm Butler happened to be in the right place in the right time to make the most famous interceptions in Super Bowl history.

A couple of interesting points come out right away in this book, which mixes general observations with personal experiences. Let's look at one that covers my part of the football world, the Buffalo Bills. Lombardi was assigned to come up with a tentative list of people who might be good picks to be a head coach if a team decided to make the change. He eventually discovered that the best coaches often had been somewhere else first. Someone like Bill Parcells had some success, while Belichick's record in Cleveland was mixed. But the odds improve with a good coach who has learned lessons along the way.

Interestingly, this was a list made up in the 1990s - and one of the names on the list was Chan Gailey. Bills' fans might remember that Gailey came on as head coach, and left after a rather undistinguished run in Buffalo. Perhaps he wasn't up to the job, or perhaps he wasn't able to push the organization as a whole in the right direction. Judging by the team's play in that era of the early 2000s, the latter may be more likely. By the way, Lombardi is quite critical of the Bills' hiring of Rex Ryan, saying that his research indicates that coaches who specialize on one side of the ball usually fail. Ryan might be the poster boy for that type of philosophy.

Speaking of coaches, Lombardi's chapter on the coach has a long, long list of interview questions for potential coaches. The one that made me laugh was "What do you do with fat guys?" But most are very serious, and all touch on a wide variety of aspects - from discipline to salary cap structure to time for the media. The pay to be an NFL head coach is good, but do you really want to try it? You have to be obsessed with it, apparently.

Lombardi might do his best work in going over the Patriots' run-up to a playoff game. The Baltimore Ravens were coming to town, and the author takes us through the day-by-day preparation of the Pats as Belichick stresses certain aspects of the game. Of course, nothing ever goes completely to plan during a football game - as they say about warfare, plans get thrown out when the bullets start flying - but Belichick and company figure out a way to get it done.

Lombardi obviously had a vision for this book when he started writing it. It's fair to say he fulfilled it. Maybe the bigger question about it is, will you want to read it?

That's a tougher one. The book certainly has the ring of authenticity to it. But it's tough to say if this book will appeal to those who are rather casual about their support of their favorite football team. It's not a dull book for the most part, but it has its dry spots. For those who want an true "inside look" at the NFL and a couple of its best coaches, this will do nicely. Just be warned that it's not for a general audience.

A fantastic look at how championship teams are built from the ground up. Lombardi pulls insights from several luminaries in the sport of football over the last several decades. However, this book is not just about how to build a team, but also how to watch the game and sound more intelligent, and some subtle changes coaches can employ to create more wins on the field. This is a must read for any football fan out there.