Steve Kerr shared something at the Aspen Ideas Festival that completely reframes how I think about performance management: “I had to learn to immerse myself in process vs. results.” This from a coach who’s won 4 NBA championships and worked with some of the most talented athletes in the world. Kerr explained that when you focus on results, you create anxiety. When you focus on process, you create conditions for results to emerge naturally.

The Warriors’ approach:

✔️ Daily habits over grand gestures
✔️ Consistent effort over perfect outcomes
✔️ System adherence over individual heroics
✔️ Long-term development over short-term wins

This connects to research from Stanford’s Carol Dweck on growth vs. fixed mindsets. When people focus on proving their ability (results), they avoid challenges. When they focus on improving their ability (process), they embrace difficulty. I see this everywhere in business:

✔️ Sales teams that focus on daily activities outperform those obsessing over monthly numbers
✔️ Product teams that focus on user feedback loops ship better features than those chasing launch dates
✔️ Leadership teams that focus on decision-making processes make better strategic choices

The counterintuitive truth: The more you chase results directly, the more they elude you. The more you perfect your process, the more results show up as a byproduct.

Kerr’s insight reminds me of Bill Walsh’s philosophy with the San Francisco 49ers. Walsh called it “The Score Takes Care of Itself”—focus on executing your system perfectly, and wins will follow naturally.

The question that challenges me: What would change in your leadership if you measured and rewarded process improvements as much as outcome achievements?

Steve Kerr’s championship success spans decades as both player and coach. Carol Dweck’s “Mindset” research shows the performance impact of process vs. outcome focus. Bill Walsh’s “The Score Takes Care of Itself” details systematic approaches to excellence.