
Then he got put in charge of a losing team, and he turned them into winners. Dan Quinn is Head Coach of the Washington Commanders. He was fired from the Atlanta Falcons back in 2020, then signed up for a “360 review” where he solicited feedback...
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Foreign.
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This is the 10% Happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey gang. Today we are talking to a dude who got fired from his extremely high profile job and then received a ton of critical feedback about his performance on said job and then turned it all around and staged what has been a remarkable comeback. Dan Quinn is head coach of the Washington Commanders. I hasten to add that if you're not into sports, don't worry about it. This is not really a conversation about football. It's about a guy who, as I mentioned, got fired from the Atlanta Falcons back in 2020 and then signed up for a voluntary 360 review. That's where you solicit feedback from your bosses and peers and direct reports. In this case, he solicited feedback from former players and PE and his bosses. And then he brought all of the stuff he Learned from the 360 review to his new job at the Washington Commanders, where last year, in his first year, he created a really interesting culture and they had a surprisingly great season. And so we're posting this interview on what is the opening game for the Washington Commanders? A personal note. You might be wondering why do I, a guy who has historically not given a shit about sports, why do I care about the Commanders who play in a city where I don't even live? The reason is that my brother in law, my wife's much younger half brother, Jack Qualiarello, is a pro scout for the Commanders, which has turned my family into rabid fans. Shout out to Jack, by the way, for helping me set up this interview. And speaking of this interview, in it we talk not only about how to solicit and handle tough feedback, by which I mean not getting defensive, actually hearing the feedback and then making real change. But we also talk about how to give clear feedback without being an asshole. Secrets for getting the best out of people and and strategies for recovering from defeat and other flavors of setback. A couple of notes before we dive in here. First you're gonna hear Dan mention somebody named Arthur Blank. Just for context, Arthur Blank is the founder of Home Depot and the owner of the Atlanta Falcons. He's the guy who fired dan back in 2020. Also to say this episode is part of our ambitious month long series called the Reset where we talk about how to get your shit together in various aspects of your life, from your nervous system to your career to how do you talk to yourself and more. I also quickly want to add some cool stuff we're doing over@danharris.com the bespoke companion meditations that we've been offering with every Monday and Wednesday episode are now here to stay every month. We've got a new teacher ushering us through these meditations. This month it's Vinny Ferraro, who everybody loves. So become a paid subscriber today and you'll get a fresh meditation in your feed tomorrow morning. Also, we're now doing weekly live meditations and Q&As. The next one is a solo session with Vinnie on Tuesday, September 9th at 4pm we'll be doing these on Tuesdays at 4pm Eastern henceforth. So sign up and join the party. Okay, one one truly final thing to say. I've got a pair of in person events coming up if you want to meditate with me IRL. The first is on Sunday, September 21st. It's in the afternoon. It's at the New York Insight Meditation center in New York City. You can do it online or in person. I'll be with a meditation teacher named Leslie Booker, who's also a friend. It's about the dharma of depression and anxiety, which doesn't sound that fun, but it's very useful. And I'll In October at the end of October, I will be with my friends 7A Slassie, Jeff Warren and Ofosu Jones Corte at the Omega Institute in Upstate New York for a weekend long retreat October 24th through 26th. I will put links in the show notes for both of those events. Okay, we'll get started with Dan Quinn right after this. I am recording this from a house at the beach where I'm with lots of friends staying in a big house together and I love doing this when I'm on a family vacation and I want to spend some really intimate time with my family and our family friends. There's nothing like an Airbnb. You put a lot of love into your home. I assume for many of us when we travel, our place is just empty. So while you're away it may make sense to host it on Airbnb. And that's a way to make some extra cash so you can kind of offset some of the costs for going on vacation. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much@airbnb.com host foreign as we switch from summer to the fall and the weather's starting to cool down a little bit, I really want to squeeze all the juice out of my outdoor space. I want to make it warm and cozy and Wayfair is a great place to do this as your trusted destination for all things home. Wayfair's got everything you need to cozify your space this fall, from comfy recliners to warm bedding and autumn decorated. Wayfair even has espresso makers so you can make that latte at home. They've got great stuff not only for your outdoor space, but also your indoor space. My wife has been on a binge of ordering these beautiful translucent bookshelves, these kind of modular bookshelves with wheels that you can really easily move around the room. And she's got this expanding collection of books that she places in these bookshelves and they look really beautiful in her home office. Cosify your space with Wayfair's curated collection of easy, affordable fall updates. Find it all for way less@wayfair.com that's W A Y-F A I R.com Wayfair every style every home Coach Dan Quinn, welcome to the show.
A
Yeah, thanks man. It's good to be on with you, Dan and looking forward to to spending some time today and got some cool topics to hit on.
B
Yeah, I'm really grateful to you. I know how busy you are. I just want to communicate from the jump here that you're a big name in my house. We are die hard commanders fans and we will be traveling to Madrid to see you guys play this year. We, we are hardcore fans.
A
Love it.
B
So admire what you pulled off last season.
A
That's cool man. It's fun to talk about going to Spain. There are a lot of people that I've spoken to, including some of my own family members, like, yeah, I'm going. I think we'll have a pretty strong crew there at the game. It's certainly feeling that way.
B
Yeah, we'll be making some noise from the stands for you. No question about it.
A
Right on.
B
Let me dive right in because I'm not only a fan of your work in athletics. I'm really so impressed by the personal work you've done and that is of course the major focus of my career and this show. If you're comfortable with that, I'd like to ask you about the fact that you got a 360 review. I'd be curious to hear, like why did you decide to do that and what did you learn as a coach.
A
Kind of coming up. There's not evaluations that you get coming up so you just kind of keep coaching and keep going, but you're not getting evaluated and getting feedback on a regular. Oftentimes a mentor or another person that you're close with would give Feedback. So I was fortunate in Atlanta to be around Arthur Blank. That was the first time I'd ever heard what a360 was. He kind of explained how he used that as part of Home Depot and direct reports would give information. And so it was in my brain that I knew a little bit about it. When I had got let go in Atlanta. I'd like to create my own 360 that was customed really to me, the cross reference of people would be players that I worked with that it's going great, players that maybe I released, coaches I was currently working with, maybe some that I hadn't, some front office people and everything in between. So if we could find mainly like a cross reference of people, I wanted to find out some feedback and what were some things, any blind spots that I could find. And so I was fortunate that Laura Oakman, who at the time was working with Fox, I said, these are the names of all the people gave her, maybe 50 of them. I said, I'm not interested in any feedback of who it was. I just want to know what their feedback was. And then once we get done, then maybe we can find some things that on another lap as a head coach, think about doing this differently. So that's where it began. I think the hard part of getting let go as a coach during the season, like, it's lonely, it's time away. I've been on a team my entire life at three sports all the way through, probably over 70 teams in my life. So it's the first time I wasn't part of a team. But it also, maybe the silver lining was like, it created space to say, what have I done this had I not gotten fired? And I think that's the thing I want to share to people, is that it's worth it, man. Do it when it's going good, doing when it's not. But having that feedback helps. I can remember watching it with Laura because she also put in all the good things and we did the zoom together and I just went right past that. Either she said, whoa, what are you doing? Those are like the good things. I was like, I don't want to read that. She's like, no, no, I want you to read everything. So I went down to the bottom. I said, all right, let's begin. But I really appreciated it. And so that winter I got hired by the Cowboys. It's one thing that happened at 360 and have the information and then you want to what's the lesson and how am I going to apply it? And so there were definitely things that I got to Dallas, okay, how can I apply some things differently here? So I got the information. Now I want to be able to use it. So custom360. It was interesting because I wanted to find out what blind spots I had and how I could do some things differently. And so that's how it began.
B
I have enormous. Not only respect, but also empathy for the situation because I've had two 360s myself. And the first one was a daisy cutter bomb to my psyche. And I learned a lot of shit that I did not want to learn. And so I'm curious, what did you learn? And did you feel defensive? Were you surprised? Like, how did that go for you?
A
Yeah, Arthur Blanket told me a funny story because he had did one and think. He said to the person, no, this isn't me. Like, I think you sent me the wrong one. You sounded like you had the same experience. I'd had a good working relationship. So the ones that I wanted to see were really. I wanted to find some of the issues that I could solve, Dan. So one of them would have been taking on too much. I like to solve problems like a lot of us do. I can help you with that, and I can help with that, and I can help with that. And all of a sudden, like, I'm finding myself spreading myself too thin. And Amen. The main thing is, like, all the players, all the coaches, like, what do we need to do to help help them be at their best? And so it was this good lesson that was one of the biggest takeaways for me, is you think you're helping by helping this person, this person, but you're not. Like, you're actually taking less time away from the main thing. And go to Dallas. If I ever felt myself do that. No, no, no. Hey, man, remember, assign this. If you want feedback, let me know. Review it with you then. So it forced me to put it into practice because one thing to get the report, but then the next step is like, all right, how do you make it come to life and find these improvements? I still find myself making sure I stay connected to that. I kept a copy of it in my desk to make sure I didn't lose sight of those things. Like I said, I had no interest in trying to figure out, well, I know who said that. That didn't have anything to do with it. I did appreciate some people calling and friends, hey, somebody's calling me about this. Is that cool? Is that realistic? Yeah, it's real. Because I did want the information I definitely did.
B
One of the other pieces of feedback I think you got was to be more present.
A
Yep.
B
What was that a reference to? That you were too scattered?
A
I think so. I think it came back to, like, taking on too much. And I know I am at my best when I can really dig into the person and the thing that we're working on together. When it's spread too thin, it just allows you to be less present. And so I created some time. Okay. For the next 30 minutes of this schedule, you know, I'm not adding more onto a plate or pouring more into the cup that's already full. So I had to create time and spots in my schedule to be more present with people. And so once I started staying consistent with that, the relationships that I built with players and coaches, like, that's what I love about coaching the most. So why would I over schedule myself of everything else and take away from that? That would be my superpower, giving feedback and coaching and teaching. So doing less of that makes no sense. So I want to make sure, find the space and the time to do just that.
B
This idea of giving and receiving feedback, it seems like you have really knit this into the culture at the Commanders. And for the uninitiated here, Coach Quinn went from Atlanta, and then he referenced spending some time in Dallas, and then was brought on last season as the head coach at the Commanders with the new ownership and the new general manager, Adam Peters. And it was supposed to be like, just a turnaround year, but actually ended up becoming, like, an incredible year where they made it quite far into the playoffs. And you and Adam have spent a lot of time, my understanding is, and you'll correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, really trying to remake the culture on a team that was mired in some problematic stuff. And one of the initiatives you've launched is Tell the Truth Mondays. Could you describe that?
A
Yeah. And even before we get into that, you'd referenced Adam and starting somewhere together. There's a collaboration that goes with that, and I think the best of the best can do that, where you can lean in on parts of the relationships that are, like, benefit both of you, and you can do some things together that you wouldn't have been able to do if it was just yourself. Yeah. And so I really like collaborating with him and talking about ideas. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you just bent to talk about something, even if there's not the right answer. So I think what I've learned through the NFL and coaches, too, about Feedback, you have to give it. It doesn't mean you have to treat somebody like an. Or say it in a tough way. That's demeaning. But you do have to give it and you also have to be able to receive it. And if you're somebody that's always kind of right, fighting. No, no, what I meant was. Or what it was this meant. Just listen to it. Here's the message. Here's what I'm trying to say. And that's what I've learned through the years, that you do have to give the feedback. And we created a standard here about what a commander is and accountability. And if you don't have a standard and don't give that feedback, then, like, you really don't have a standard. So we do call it Tell the Truth. Monday, it's the day after a game. And did we do what we said we were going to do as a coach and as a team? This was the plan. This is what we said. We have to show film. Because if you don't do that or if you just. You don't show a negative of a star player and you only show one, that's somebody that's barely playing, that's not authentic too. And the same standards apply to everybody. The roles may be different, but the standards applies. I think if you really want a strong crew, then you shouldn't make different standards for different people.
B
How do you. You describe this a little bit, but I'd be interested to hear you unpack it a little bit further. How do you deliver feedback, especially when it's going to be critical without being an asshole?
A
First thing you want to make sure is that you're coming into this feedback and say, hey, this is what I'm seeing. This is the evidence of that to go. Because you do have to give it. And then I think at the end, a lot of times I'll ask the person, hey, let's repeat back what we said. Let's talk about this. So it's not just what I said. You heard it differently. I would much prefer that you get. Okay, so let me read this back to you. You'd like to see more of X, Y and Z? Yeah, that's right. Or you may have said to me, hey, Dan, I'd like to see more of X, Y and Z. No, no, just X, not Y and Z. You're doing good. Just X. So I think getting the response after giving the feedback is important because now make sure you guys are like aligned on the same page. This is what I said. You've heard it. You repeated it back to me. So that's one way that we give the feedback to one another. And then honestly, if it's something that keeps repeating, then I think you address that as well and say, hey, we hit this on Monday, here we are the next Monday, and the same thing happens. Can we talk through this again? Or what steps do we need? What do you need help with to identify that this doesn't happen?
B
Just to build on what you just said. And this is me going off of the research I did going into this interview with you. I would imagine a crucial aspect of being able to deliver tough feedback and have it be heard and acted on is to have a foundation of a good relationship with the player and with the coach. And I. I've read that you've said if you have a superficial relationship, then it's going to be superficial coaching. So maybe say a little bit about that.
A
Yeah. I think for a lot of people, all of us, myself included, sometimes how you think you have to give the feedback in your head, it's like going to be so much more difficult than it is.
B
Yeah.
A
Oh, I don't want to say this. I don't want to bring this up. What's the old saying? Like, bad news doesn't get better with time. So, like, in your own head, you're like, I don't know if I should say this or not. Should I show that bad play of that player? I don't want him to be upset. No. Like, this is the standard and this is what we said. They shouldn't be upset. We're not coming at them from a point of view or we're attacking them, but we are pointing out the truth. I think that's an important piece to it. But if you have a relationship with the person before the ball player or before the employee, that makes all the difference. And so finding out what somebody's why is, who they are, why they're playing, why they're competing, why they're doing what they are. It helps you connect better. And I also ask for feedback on myself. And sometimes as leaders, we get less of it. We often give feedback to the people that report to us, or in my instance, the other coaches, the players. But I also want it in return. And so how do you frame that to say, give me an example of something that could have been done better today. What's something that went well, what's something that could have been done better, whether it be at a meeting, at practice, and that way they're not saying, I'm correcting the coach. It's just like in general, like, what's one thing in this meeting that could have gone better? Make people feel comfortable about giving feedback. And if the small groups that you work with start collaborating more, then the feedback just becomes part of how you're talking. And it's not, hey, man, worry about yourself or I'll take care of that. Then you're not very close. So I've been on teams that way too. Amen. Worry about what you do. Then you're like, man, you got no shot. So finding ways to collaborate and give each other feedback is good. You also have to give when it's good too. Amen. That was excellent demonstration of X, Y or Z. So to me, standards, you have to point out when they're really good, you know, when they're not as good either. But you have to do both. Many times you can just, I don't like that. Then you go on to the next thing. I don't like that. Tell the person, without ever being the person that says, this is exceptional work and this is why it's exceptional. So I try to find the balance of both. Some people need more than less, but you have to know that too.
B
A few moments ago you referenced, in the context of getting to know your players and your staff, knowing what somebody's why is, I'd be curious, and this is a two part question. If you forget one of the parts, I'll remind you. What is your why and why? Is having a why important?
A
Yeah, having a why is important because, like you'll know who the heroes of somebody's story is. Why is this so important of what you're doing, where we're at. So like knowing their background, what they stand for, what they've overcome, that helps because now you know what they are fighting for. My why? I love coaching and competing, playing against the best teams in the world. And so those times in the game, like where it's at the highest points, that's when I feel most alive knowing that I love doing that part. The competition, the games, all of it. Knowing full well you could get your heart broke if it doesn't go your way. But the joy of coaching and being in that environment, like it's the best. So that's the why. I can almost live with any result as long as preparation, the practice, the mindset, all the things that went into the game, we did and we nailed it then. I love that one because you lost it. I can come back from that. But it was a joy of being in that spot. That's the why. And I love doing those kind of things, like with the group and being in tight games with people, because the fight, that's the funnest part of it. So that's the why. That's why I love it in the NFL. Like, we get to play for and coach for and against the best teams in the world. In football, competition's high. People are really skilled. But it's fun as hell.
B
And it's fun to watch you specifically, and your team has been. I almost had a heart attack about 75 times last season watching you guys.
A
Yeah.
B
I'm curious if the why for you is those heightened moments, can you also enjoy the preparation and all of the work that goes into making those, increasing the odds that those heightened moments go your way?
A
Yes. And so it does give you more discipline for those times leading up to that, because you so want to nail it for everybody. So high standards, a lot of skill work, mindset to go. And so if you can just keep pushing. Can we go from here to here in our preparation? Can we go from here to here in our execution? I always know going in, man, I really feel prepared. There's always going to be things, like, in any competition that doesn't go right. And early on in my career, I'd always wanted this has to happen and then this. And I've since learned, like, that's not how competing always works. Sometimes things happen quickly and you're able to adjust. And now I'm almost, like, waiting for adversity, something to happen different. And it's never like, oh, the shoe dropped. It's like, okay, there it is. That's the one. Now we're ready to go and adjust and have to game plan this differently or whatever that might be. So I kind of look for it now as opposed to wanting it always to go one way when the moments happen. All right, this is the way it's supposed to be. So this is how we're going to go do it.
B
Okay. I just want to hone in on that, because that's really interesting. Recently, I had a guest, and I can't remember who it was on the show, who was talking about a myth that life will be an escalator, a smooth, unbroken upward trajectory, and instead the advice was to expect adversity.
A
Yeah.
B
And is. Is that what you're saying here? You've learned to expect and even relish adversity?
A
I don't know if I relish it, but I definitely expect it. And I think. Let's look at it. Like, no one goes through life without any obstacles. Let's give everybody the best tools to, like, when they come, that we're able to respond and go handle it in the right way. And so knowing that whether it's in life or a ball game, that, man, it's coming. There's something that's going to be adversity, and it allows you to kind of show some of that resiliency. And that's why we referenced earlier. Why is it important to know people? I want to know what caused some of that resilience, and some of that is their why. An upbringing, an event, a moment, doubted, fired, whatever that looked like. Most of the best competitive moments in my life have had to come from when you had to go prove it. And so I love prove it moments, because most of us, you got to stand, put your feet in the ground at some point, say, all right, I'm here to prove it. And I kind of love those moments, to be honest with you.
B
As you referenced sometimes prove it moments don't go well. Yeah, you've had many that have gone well and many that haven't. How do you coach your players and staff? And how do you coach yourself when something has gone badly wrong? You could have won, but you didn't, and you've got to pick yourself back up and do the next play or play the next game.
A
I think the first one you want to frame is, what's this here to teach us? What's the lessons we want to take from this? Otherwise the pain of that loss or the moment really isn't going to go for anything. It's almost like you want to make that count. Not to relive it all the time and go back through it, but to say, when we're in this scenario again, and how are we going to handle it differently? So I think if you're with a group or with a team, you talk about it and not just internalize it and work it out on your own. That's the fun part about being on teams like peer to peer, talk about it. What could we have done differently? What would you have thought of what if we had solved it this way or solved it this way? Okay, let's put that process in. And if, when we do get to that spot, we're going to try this. I've always been amazed when somebody has those moments. You hear people say, what would you do differently? And you're like, I wouldn't done a thing differently. And it's like when you had a loss, like, I'VE done a lot of things differently. You're like, why would we put ourselves in that spot? That's how I look at it, to say, all right, this happened. Acknowledge it. Sometimes in pro ball, it is the life of the competitor. You'd love to win every game. That's not how it goes. So that's why I felt like I could almost live with the results if the preparation was right, did the right steps, and we got beat anyway. They kicked a field goal at the end, but the game was right. It sucks, but, like, man, being in the fight for those three hours, there was still joy for me because that's what makes me happy. When we turn the ball over or don't do the right things, miss a bunch of tackles, why did that happen? What didn't we hit in practice? Those are the games that are hardest. Because what did we miss? Where was the blind spot for us? And so that's the ones that you want to look at again and make sure you're finding your own space to say, okay, what's the lesson for us and how do we bounce back? A lot of times in a loss, you might say, we're not a bad football team. We just played badly. And so this is how we have to go do the things. Right. But again, I keep coming back to, like, standards, Dan. Like, this is internally how you want to do things. And we try to operate from a standard versus, like, an expectations, outside talking heads, other people. Like, that's what they expect of the commanders. What we have are, like our own standards. That's way different than what comes from the outside. I like having standards together because everybody knows this is what we want to do. This is how we expect to behave and perform together. And then there's not a lot of, we should have done this or should have done that. No, this is what we said we were going to do and how we were going to get down.
B
Tell me if I'm close to understanding what you're saying. You may laugh at me, since this is, like, probably a serious football cliche, but in Friday Night Lights, the TV show, the coach always says to the team something like, clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. But essentially what I think. Take from what the coach said, which I never understood until I heard you say this is if you're confident that you're at your standards and you've prepared, there is no losing in the largest sense.
A
Yeah, there's an element of that. But we do keep score.
B
Right.
A
But I would say you don't go into the game thinking about losing because of the work that you put in. You trust that training. Now go let it rip. And that's how I think of our guys. To say put all the work in during the week and we go after it hard to get ourselves ready to play. Then, then we should be able to have confidence, performing, knowing, hey man, we are ready for this. And that's why those end of the game moments are big for us because we do them every single day at practice. So they might seem like some things that come up once in a while, but around here it's every day. So you could ask anybody on the sideline what we would call in that scenario and they all would have said the same thing because they've seen it done hundreds of times over the last six months. So I think preparation helps confidence, but that's really where the full heart clear eyes comes from. You did the work to be ready. If you don't and you get to that starting line and you're not quite sure, more often than not you get your ass kicked. Yep.
B
Coach, such a pleasure to talk to you today, to watch you and your team operate. It's been a real joy and yeah, big part of my family life now. So I really am grateful to you. I know how busy you are. So thank you for taking some time to to get down with us.
A
Well, it's important and I'm glad we can share this message together and we'll see you in our first game in Spain.
B
So awesome.
A
See you there.
B
All right, coach, thank you.
A
All right, see you guys. Thanks, Dan.
B
Pleasure. Thanks again to Dan Quinn. Go Commanders. He's an awesome guy. Amazing team. Before I let you go, don't forget to become a paid subscriber over@dan.harris.com unlocks a ton of exclusive content, including guided meditations that come with all of our Monday Wednesday episodes and weekly live guided meditation sessions. The next one is coming up at 4 o' clock Eastern on Tuesday, September 9th with Vinnie Ferraro. And if you want to meditate with me in person, I've got a workshop at the New York Insight meditation center on September 21st and then another one the whole weekend, October 24th through 26th at the Omega Institute. Links in the show notes. And finally, as always, big thank you to everybody who worked so hard on this show. Our producers are Tara Anderson, Ken, Caroline Keenan and Eleanor Vasily. Our recording and engineering is handled by the great folks over at Pod People. Lauren Smith is our production manager. Marissa Schneiderman is our senior producer. DJ Cashmere is our executive producer and Nick Thorburn of the band Islands wrote our theme. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses. Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. Shopify helps you sell at every stage of your business. Like that let's put it online and see what happens.
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Date: September 7, 2025
Host: Dan Harris
Guest: Dan Quinn, Head Coach of the Washington Commanders
This episode features Coach Dan Quinn, who recounts his transformative journey after being fired from the Atlanta Falcons in 2020. Rather than retreat, Quinn undertook a rigorous self-assessment, solicited tough feedback via a comprehensive 360 review, and implemented what he learned to spark an unexpectedly successful culture shift as Head Coach of the Washington Commanders. The conversation centers not on football tactics but on resilience, personal growth, leadership, receiving and giving feedback, and rebounding from defeat—making it valuable well beyond the sports world.
On Reading His 360 Review:
[07:53] “Laura [Oakman]...put in all the good things and we did the Zoom together and I just went right past that. ...She's like, no, no, I want you to read everything. So I went down to the bottom. I said, all right, let's begin. But I really appreciated it.” —Dan Quinn
On Feedback Culture:
[13:50] “If you don't have a standard and don't give that feedback, then, like, you really don't have a standard.” —Dan Quinn
On Coaching Relationships:
[17:33] “If you have a relationship with the person before the ball player or before the employee, that makes all the difference.” —Dan Quinn
On Relishing “Prove It” Moments:
[24:26] “Most of the best competitive moments in my life have had to come from when you had to go prove it. And so I love prove it moments, because most of us, you got to stand, put your feet in the ground at some point, say, all right, I'm here to prove it. And I kind of love those moments, to be honest with you.” —Dan Quinn
On Preparation and Confidence:
[29:13] “Preparation helps confidence, but that’s really where the full heart clear eyes comes from. You did the work to be ready. If you don’t and you get to that starting line and you’re not quite sure, more often than not you get your ass kicked.” —Dan Quinn
Dan Quinn’s journey is a poignant, practical guide to leadership, humility, and growth. His willingness to actively seek and respond to tough feedback, his emphasis on honest communication, and his resilient approach to adversity offer actionable wisdom applicable to any field. This episode is a masterclass in the modern playbook for self-improvement and team culture, delivered with humility and candor.