Peak on Peak

February 6, 2025

Three days from now, the Kansas City Chiefs will attempt to become the first team in NFL history to “three-peat” by winning Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles. The term three-peat was first coined by Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Pat Riley in 1989 when the team was attempting to win their third consecutive title. He went as far as trademarking the term and charging royalty fees for its use.

Three-peats are rare in all professional sports leagues. Success often writes its own obituary. Mental and physical fatigue from a playoff run the year prior. Opponents who get up for their games against the reigning champs. Heavy media spotlight. Players who age out of their primes. The absence or reversal of good luck or variance that occurred in the prior season. The mental letdown that comes after achieving a goal. Collectively, these variables conspires to dethrone the champion.

The NFL layers on additional shackles to the would-be repeat winner. The Super Bowl champion is rewarded with the last pick in each round of the ensuing draft. Salary caps make it difficult to retain star players. Coaching staffs are depleted as other teams bid away talent. Schedules are loaded with prime-time assignments, throwing off preparation schedules and creating rest-day disadvantages. For a league that has generated many billions of dollars of franchise value for its owners, the NFL's muse seems less Adam Smith, more Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who would welcome the perennial pursuit of parity.

Thirty-one years ago, I found myself listening to an interview with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shortly before his team faced the Buffalo Bills for the second year in a row in Super Bowl XXVIII. He used the term “peak on peak” to describe the mindset of setting a fresh goal to extend your success rather than letting your guard down once you have achieved an initial accomplishment.

I was reminded of the term “peak on peak” recently while watching Bruce Koepka play golf on Rick Shiels’ excellent YouTube channel. He talked about his loss of meaning after achieving his goal of becoming number one in the world. He was able to reorient himself by setting a new goal of winning double-digit majors. Peak on peak!

An individual can reframe goals for themselves so that they always have something new to pursue. The late Rush Limbaugh described how early in his career he perceived goals as the equivalent of marching down a football field for a touchdown. Later, he came to realize that success creates new opportunities, so the better metaphor was one of a football field with a goal line that extended as you approached it.

For a leader, the challenge is greater. Effective mental tricks and reframing may be different from one individual to the next. Some of the personnel may have changed since the first goal was reached. Of Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid’s 22 starters (offense and defense), there are nine new players, and one player in a new position, compared to the last time they played the Eagles in the Super Bowl just two years ago. The leader can use this to his advantage since the new arrivals should be hungry to match the success of their teammates. The leader of any team of defending champions also has the advantage of experience. In sports, this should mean less nervousness when the spotlight is shining its brightest.

Done right, winning begets winning.