The Debrief Imperative
 I tried to tap into some of the Giants’ magic by readingThe Debrief Imperative: The Secret Tool that is Transforming Businesses the World Over. Written by former Air Force fighter pilot James D. Murphy, the book explains the value of a post-op debriefing meeting, and also explains how such meetings should be executed. Murphy and his Afterburner Inc., company give high level seminars on the subject, and they visited the Giants facility in early November to visit with coach Tom Coughlin, his staff and the players. They spoke about how a group could review a game in the most constructive manner possible. I asked Giants left tackle Dave Diehl what he thought of the seminar. “We all took something from it,” he said. “There is no better person to watch film with than your peers. Football is so much about accountability and selling out for the guy next to you. You don’t want to let the guy next to you down. When you can watch film as a group, people can stand up and say, hey, that was my mistake, I was responsible. That leads to a belief in one another.”The book stresses that a debriefing session should be nameless and rankless. That way, the truth comes to the forefront and egos are pushed to the background. For instance, when watching tape, any player or coach can point out anything he or someone else could have done better. Instead of just having a superior pointing out errors, players take ownership in the process, making it more powerful. “They use the term nameless and rankless, so when we watch the game and critique ourselves, I had to take off the title of defensive coordinator,” Perry Fewell told me. “[Justin] Tuck had to take off the title of captain. We had to be critical of each other, go in the room and hammer out what was the right thing to do, versus who was at fault. Once we were able to do that, we were able to communicate and we broke down some barriers that normally would be defense mechanisms.” Fewell said what the Giants learned that day has impacted their season. Maybe even to the point they won’t need a debriefing session after Sunday. --National Football PostBy: Dan PompeiFebruary 5, 2012www.nationalfootballpost.com Excerpt from NFP Sunday Blitz One Man Yelp: The Debrief Imperative