Policy & Practice February 2015

“Talk is cheap. Let’s go play.” —JOHNNY UNITAS, QUARTERBACK, PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME Johnny Unitas was a highly suc- cessful professional quarterback who’d have a hard time even making a profes- sional football roster today. His height, strength, speed, and throwing power did not, shall we say, statistically check the right boxes. Cut in rookie camp by the team drafting him out of college, Unitas recovered with great resilience and resolve against long odds, understanding that actions and results speak louder than perceptions or expectations. His general leadership philosophy is captured in his standard six-word pep talk to his Colts team- mates, made leaning against the locker room doorway before many games they would play together, including many hard-won championships. Championship-level change efforts are advancing throughout the health and human service system today. At the Kresge Foundation’s 2014 Human Services Grantee Policy Convening, a meeting of national health and human service associations, the group was commenting on the upbeat feeling in the room despite the environmental challenges we all continue to face. Our conclusion was that the well-conceived actions and innovations being driven today by real-world communities are defying the odds. We see improved performance and successful change being driven by well-planned, action- able product and service strategies, known in football as a “playbook.” But plays need to be diagrammed before they’re practiced and used on game day. So what’s supporting these winning efforts to develop better playbooks and drive actions and inno- vations around the country?

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February 2015 Policy&Practice