The Three Levels of Respect
Respect yourself, your team, and your competition to sustain success
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 97%
Mike Eruzione explains Herb Brooks's lesson through three linked forms of respect: respect yourself, respect the people beside you, and respect the competition. Each level closes a different failure path. Self-respect demands personal standards; teammate respect protects coordination and trust; competitor respect forces serious preparation rather than complacency. Brooks reinforced the model after the United States tied Norway and later extended it after the gold-medal win by asking the players to respect their success, accomplishments, effort, and sacrifice. The mechanism is practical: define the conduct each form of respect requires, notice where behavior falls short, and correct it before the next performance. Respect is therefore not ceremony but an operating discipline that helps a team remain prepared, united, and grounded across both setbacks and victories.
Origin
Mike Eruzione learned the model from Herb Brooks after the U.S. Olympic team tied Norway and had to skate for an hour and a half.
Core principles
- 01Self-respect supports disciplined performance
- 02Respect for teammates makes collective execution possible
- 03Respect for competitors prevents complacency
- 04Success itself deserves respect after the result
How to run it
- 1
Respect yourself
Set and meet the personal standard required to perform successfully. Treat your preparation and conduct as your own responsibility.
Pro tip Translate self-respect into observable behavior before the work begins.
Watch out Confidence without preparation becomes complacency.
- 2
Respect your teammates
Recognize that the people you work with make your performance possible. Do your part reliably so they can do theirs.
Pro tip Make each person's contribution visible, including roles outside the spotlight.
Watch out Individual talent cannot compensate indefinitely for broken trust.
- 3
Respect the competition
Prepare for every opponent as a real threat. Avoid assuming that reputation or prior results guarantee the next outcome.
Pro tip Use the same preparation standard even when the opponent appears weaker.
Watch out Underestimating competition invites preventable failure.
- 4
Respect the result
After success, honor the collective time, work, and sacrifice that produced it. Celebrate without abandoning the values that made the result possible.
Pro tip Name the contributions and sacrifices behind the win.
Watch out A major victory can erode discipline if it becomes permission to act carelessly.
In the wild
After the U.S. team tied Norway 3-3, Brooks made the players skate for an hour and a half. Eruzione says the lesson was not about spectators, as the film suggests, but about respecting themselves, their teammates, and their competition. The team beat Norway 8-0 the next day and did not repeat the mistake.
→ A disappointing tie became a lasting team standard and an immediate improved result.
After winning gold, Brooks told Eruzione that Air Force One would take the team to the White House and asked him to keep everyone under control. Eruzione says Brooks never wavered from the principle: respect the success, the accomplishment, and the work and sacrifices behind it.
→ The same value applied after victory, keeping the achievement connected to disciplined effort.
Common mistakes
Respecting only strong opponents
Selective respect leaves a team vulnerable to supposedly weaker competition, as the Norway tie demonstrated.
Treating respect as politeness
The model is about preparation, responsibility, and disciplined conduct, not merely being agreeable.
Forgetting the standard after winning
Success still requires respect for the effort and sacrifice that produced it.
Is it for you?
Best for
Teams that need a simple behavioral standard before, during, and after high-pressure work.
Not ideal for
Situations where poor performance comes from missing resources or technical capability rather than conduct.
From the transcript
“If you don't respect yourself, you won't be successful. If you don't respect your teammates, people that you work with, people that you associate yourself…”
“Respect your success. Respect your accomplishments. Respect the time, the effort, the work, and the sacrifices we put in collectively and you put in individually.”
From the episode
The Making of a Miracle: Lessons from Mike Eruzione on Leadership, Legacy, and Belief