What Curt Cignetti Teaches Us About Leadership - On the Field and In Business

I graduated from Indiana University in the late ’80s, which means I’ve had four decades of character-building Saturdays. I’ve watched coaches come and go, hopes rise and fall, and seasons that tested even the most resilient Hoosier optimist. And yet, like many who stayed loyal, I always believed one thing: with the right leader, the right process, and a commitment to execution, IU Football could turn the corner.

Enter Curt Cignetti.

Cignetti didn’t arrive promising miracles (but if you Google him “he wins”!). He arrived promising process - a disciplined focus on doing your job, winning your play, and stacking successful reps. It’s a leadership philosophy that resonated instantly with me not just as a fan, but as a business leader. Because what he’s doing in Bloomington isn’t just rebuilding a football program; he’s demonstrating a blueprint for how leaders drive transformation when the environment looks bleak and the scoreboard says you’re behind.

And make no mistake, his philosophy mirrors what great business leadership looks like.

1. Attitude: The Foundation of a Turnaround

Cignetti walks in with a winner’s mindset - not bravado, but belief. That belief is contagious because it’s grounded in preparation, discipline, and clarity of purpose.

In business, teams feed off the leader’s attitude. A positive, disciplined attitude is what opens the door to learning, improvement, and change. As The Four Cornerstones of Success® teach us, attitude is the gate to the mind: nothing improves until attitude improves. Cignetti embodies that principle. He didn’t inherit perfect circumstances, but he inherited responsibility - and responded with belief, energy, and expectation.

That’s leadership.

2. Personal Accountability: No Excuses, Only Ownership

Forty years of watching IU football gives a fan thick skin and a deep library of “explanations” for why success didn’t come. But Cignetti doesn’t do excuses - and he doesn’t allow his players to, either. He simply says: “Win your play” (he may have lifted that from his mentor Nick Saban).

That clarity is refreshing and directly transferable to business leadership. As we know, in sales and organizational performance, people fail in direct proportion to their willingness to accept socially accepted excuses. When a leader removes the escape hatches and replaces them with accountability + support, teams rise to the standard.

Accountability isn’t punitive; it’s liberating. It removes ambiguity and allows everyone to focus on what they can control.

3. Perseverance: Turnarounds Require Grit, Not Magic

Cignetti’s not talking about trick plays or lucky breaks. He talks about daily improvement. He talks about stacking habits. He talks about persistence.

Turnarounds in business follow the same formula. You don’t become the only choice overnight. You get there through progressive improvement - more, better, faster than the competition. You get there by not confusing activity with progress. You get there by choosing learning over blame and execution over comfort.

Winning isn’t a moment; it’s the residue of habits repeated.

4. Habit: Excellence Is a Routine, Not an Event

When Cignetti talks about process, what he’s really talking about is habit architecture. The best programs - and the best companies - don’t try to “rise to the occasion.” They fall back on the habits they’ve built. And habits win.

In business, leaders who formalize process, expectations, meeting rhythms, and performance behaviors create stability. They make improvements repeatable. They allow individuals and teams to operate in a rhythm that compounds.

IU fans are already seeing the early signs of this: discipline, execution, confidence - the hallmarks of habit-driven programs. And NOW, BIG 10 CHAMPIONS for the first time since 1967.

5. Winning Your Play: The Universal Leadership Lesson

This may be Cignetti’s greatest contribution to leadership philosophy.

“Win your play” means:

• Don’t focus on the entire season. Win the snap.

• Don’t obsess about the scoreboard. Win the rep.

• Don’t get lost in what you can’t control. Win what you can.

In business, this is gold.

Sales teams win their play by planning every call, every meeting, every touch. Leaders win their play by setting expectations, coaching behaviors, and modeling the Four Cornerstones. Organizations win their play by turning strategy into consistent execution.

Success is not distant when you approach it one winnable moment at a time.

Why This Matters - And Why I Believe Again

As an IU grad who’s waited 40 years to feel genuine momentum, I can say confidently: this feels different. And it feels different because it is different. Cignetti brings a leadership framework built on clarity, accountability, process, and belief - the same framework great companies use to transform themselves.

His philosophy proves something powerful:

When the right leader establishes the right process, and when people commit to winning the play in front of them, turnarounds don’t take decades. They can happen fast - even after years of frustration.

IU Football is on the rise. Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!!!

And business leaders everywhere would be wise to take notes.

If you’re looking at your own organization and thinking, “We need our version of a Curt Cignetti,” you’re not alone and you don’t have to figure it out on your own. The same principles transforming IU Football - attitude, personal accountability, perseverance, and habit - are the ones we help leaders and teams build every day. At Butler Street, we equip organizations with the processes, coaching, and tools to “win their play” in sales, leadership, recruiting, and account management.

If you’re ready to turn belief into a blueprint and momentum into measurable growth, contact us and let’s start designing your turnaround…one play at a time.