Rausch eventually found his way into the sports world after connecting with Dan Quinn, then the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive coordinator, in 2014. One of Rausch’s teachings that Quinn immediately took to was the importance of specificity: providing players with exact instructions and information, instead of speaking in generalities.
Rather than telling athletes to “play tough,” for example, how could they play tough? Rausch learned from studying UCLA legend John Wooden, who still holds the NCAA record with 10 national championships. Psychologists who studied Wooden found that offering specific instructions, even ones as simple as grabbing rebounds with both hands, led to performance increases.
There’s a larger lesson here that we need to dust off in personal and professional relationships in 2025.