Add Best-Selling Author to Mayberry’s Improbable Journey
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - For Matt Mayberry, former Indiana football head coach Terry Hoeppner’s 18-year-old message retains the power of a punch.
Or, if you prefer, a Nostradamus-like prediction.
“When you’re done playing football, you’ll be more successful outside the game than you ever were playing it.”
It might lack Field of Dreams’ build-it-and-he-will-come cinematic impact, but it’s helped propel Mayberry, a former Indiana linebacker, to best-selling author status with his just published Culture is the Way: How Leaders at Every Level Build an Organization for Speed, Impact, and Excellence, as well as help establish the foundation for his successful speaking and consulting business.
“You find something that you’re so passionate about that it sets your soul on fire,” Mayberry says. “You learn the way forward.”
Flashback to the winter of 2005 and Memorial Stadium’s windowless football head coach’s office. Hoeppner was recruiting for his first class. Mayberry, a promising linebacker out of Illinois, was a top target.
“Coach Hep looked me in the eyes,” Mayberry says, “and said, ‘If you come to Indiana, you’re going to get a world-class education; you’ll probably get the opportunity to play at the next level, but more importantly …’”
The message followed, and if it didn’t resonate much with the 17-year-old Mayberry then, it does now.
“Football is what you do, not who you are,” Mayberry says, repeating a Hoeppner mantra.
In the book, Mayberry combines his athletic experiences with business-world examples to help companies build successful cultures. It involves a five-step process: Define your culture; Discover through collaboration and inspiration; Launch, cascade and embed; Drive long-term impact; and Leaders blaze the trail.
“I think the best culture builders in the world are football coaches,” he says. “It’s about creating a compelling vision of the future.”
Culture Is the Way debuted at No. 6 on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list earlier this month, and was selected as a 2023 must-read via Canadian journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell’s Next Big Idea Club.
“The true definition of culture,” Mayberry says, “is what is the daily behavior of your people when the coach or the CEO is not around.”
The book’s quick success has surprised him while affirming his belief in the importance of the right culture in business and athletics.
“It’s more prevalent now than it’s ever been,” he says.
The book’s genesis came during 2020’s COVID-caused shutdown. The pandemic didn’t change the world, Mayberry says, but “it accelerated shifts that were already happening.”
Companies need new approaches in an environment of remote work and potentially four-day work weeks. Mayberry’s leadership consultant work provides the necessary experience to show the way.
“Every company in America and really the world wanted to improve its culture,” he says. “For employees, it was more important to them than ever before. Companies were losing their top people because of a poor culture. The goal of this book was to fill the void.”
Mayberry’s book answers two key questions -- What is the importance of culture; how do you build a strong one?
What makes his book unique, he says, is his sports background that allows him to use sports examples, referencing coaches such as Hoeppner (who passed away from brain cancer in 2007), Indiana’s Tom Allen, Michigan State’s Mel Tucker, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck, and Alabama’s Nick Saban.
Mayberry again mentions the importance of a compelling vision of the future. He says Hoeppner was “unbelievable at it.” He sees similar traits in Allen.
“His passion and love for Indiana football is greater than anything I’ve ever seen,” Mayberry says.
An effective leader, he adds, needs passion to build a better environment and culture.
“Your vision has to be greater than the past challenges you’ve been through.”
Mayberry was a good linebacker at IU, totaling 251 career tackles, 10.5 sacks, and three interceptions before graduating in 2010. He played on the 2007 team that beat Purdue to earn its first bowl bid since the early 1990s. Those Hoosiers (7-6) lost to Oklahoma State in the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz.
He signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent, blew out his ankle in the first exhibition game (he totaled five tackles and broke up a pass against the San Diego Chargers) and faced the reality his football dream was over.
“I deemed that as a failure. It was a terrible time for me. I didn’t know what I’d do with my life.”
He’d met Stedman Graham, an educator, author, businessman, and public speaker who also happened to be the long-time partner of Oprah Winfrey. Graham convinced him to speak at a Chicago leadership event, and a career was launched.
“It catapulted me to what I’ve done for the last 12 years.”
Mayberry has evolved from a self-described shy speaker to one who travels up to 200 days a year while giving speeches all over the world. That will include an August business event in Singapore set to draw 25,000.
“That will be one of the largest events I’ve ever spoken at.”
Consulting clients include the FBI, Allstate Insurance, JP Morgan Chase, Fifth Third Bank, Lowe’s, and more.
Mayberry’s leadership and business-performance insights have been showcased by ESPN, NBC, Fox News, Business Insider, Forbes, and Fortune.
Mayberry previously wrote Winning Plays: Tackling Adversity and Achieving Success in Business and in Life. He hopes to write a book a year from now on.
It has been, he says, a most improbable journey.
“When my (Indiana) teammates found out, it was like, what the heck is Mayberry doing? No part of me was a public speaker.”
Now, it’s a big part, with no end in sight.
“I apply what I learned playing football and take it to corporate America. Those same strategies apply to business, and to the game of life.”