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How to Build a Thick Institution
Coach Chris Cutcliffe & Dr. Hunter Taylor |
TEDxUniversityofMississippi
• March 2021
How did a New York Times article and Research Methods combine to facilitate a State Championship Team in just two years? According to Coach Chris Cutcliffe and Dr. Hunter Taylor, it's all about building a "thick institution." In the fall of 2017, Head Coach Cutcliffe and Dr. Taylor, a University of Mississippi Professor, began collaborating on ways to better shape Cutcliffe’s football program into a “thick institution,” a term from a 2017 New York Times article entitled “How to Leave a Mark on People.” The article highlighted how certain organizations “become part of a person’s identity and engage the whole person: head, hands, heart and soul.” Inspired, the two endeavored to turn Oxford Football into an organization that left a mark on its members. Using improvement science methods, they implemented plans to better foster a family culture, develop future leaders, and maximize the program’s on-field potential. After two years of working together, the 2019 Football Team captured the 6A State Championship and was named the #1 Team in the State by Max Preps.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx.