Brian Kight and Focus 3 are frequently sought out for their knowledge and skill in culture development. Focus 3, the leadership company Kight’s father, Kight, founded – has helped Ohio State, Washington, Boise State, Houston, SMU, San Jose State and Texas State college programs, and even the NFL Chicago Bears, grasp often-elusive intangibles.

So how did Kight become the go-to leadership guy for the football community?

Back in the game

Toward the end of his time at NCAA Division III College of Wooster (Ohio), Kight developed a thesis paper on a unique concept – “Who is Coaching the Coaches?”

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“Anyone who’s played any sport has had good coaches and bad, and it dawned on me that there wasn’t a correlation between years of experience and quality of coaching,” Kight said. “I was curious how a coach could be 20 years in, in high school, college or the NFL, and be career .500 and not have any championships. I wanted to know how coaches get better at their job.”

Kight studied and visited programs at various levels. He formulated his plan, and after a brief post-graduation occupational detour as an information technology recruiter in Los Angeles, he returned to Ohio and shopped it to coaches.

“I got turned down by everyone I spoke to,” Kight said. “I reluctantly helped my dad in his business, which is our business now. I fell in love with the competitive side of business and helping people.”

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A moment of destiny came in mid-2013, when Tim attended a fundraiser at Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s home. The two chatted about the business, and Meyer extended an invitation to one of his leadership sessions, asking for feedback.

“We told him he had great content, lots of energy and good messages, but the fact that it doesn’t have a system, it’ll struggle to get applied in any meaningful way,” Kight said. “He asked if we had a system, and we said, ‘We sure do.’”

The Kights met with Meyer and staff, and spelled out their system on a whiteboard.

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“About three minutes in, Urban told me to stop, turned to the others in the room and said, ‘Get on board, because we’re going all in on this,’” Kight said. “We gave him a system to do what he was doing, better.”

How to coach coaches

Kight’s program is about developing culture – something that’s easy to say, but difficult to achieve.

“Average coaches use quotes, good coaches have a plan, but elite coaches have a system,” Kight said.

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Kight helps each program design a “culture playbook,” then teaches coaches and players how to live it, to build the culture they want and need. Just like its long-term corporate clients, Focus3 works with teams as they evolve, usually meeting with them four to six times a year.

“We observe where they are, what they need, and we, too, are evolving how we teach, constantly applying better applications,” Kight said. “Another thing is weekly messaging – teaching points that let coaches fold it into their weekly activities.”

Coming to Orlando

Kight will lead two seminars at the USA Football 2018 National Conference – “Lead Now for Coaches” and “The R Factor.”

“With Lead Now, coaches can expect to learn how to build trust that allows you to push people really hard for results,” Kight said. “R Factor revolves around our principle of E + R = O, or, Event + Response = Outcome. Disciplined responses win in individual matchups, games and in life.”

The "R Factor" presentation will take place from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. The "Lead Now" presentation is set for 11:15 a.m. to noon Sunday, Jan. 28.