'It's Not My Fault': Tom Brady Exposes Troubling Disease in Teams

"If we were truly going to have a culture of accountability, the coaches needed to be able to coach me and critique my play if it wasn't up to the standard, just like they would all the way down to the 53rd man on the roster," Brady added. "I had to be willing to accept their criticism, which I always was."

According to Brady, there have been several instances when there are "different sets of rules" for the "regular guys" and for the "stars or leaders." While it's something that teams can get away with when they are winning, he said it's "fatal" when facing "sustained adversity."

"This is also when the disease of 'it’s not my fault' comes into play," Brady explained. "It's so easy to point the blame at other people when things aren't going well and the culture is unaligned, especially the higher up you get in a sport or an organization or an industry."

He added, "You have so many people around who empower you–your agent, your parents, your significant other–and their instinct when you lose a game, let’s say, is to tell you that the blame lies elsewhere. It's the defense, it's the offense, it's the coaching, it's the refs. It's never your fault. And you’ll want to believe them. They mean well, they’re just trying to support you, but in the end, they’re helping to create a kind of organizational injustice."

Brady Offers Advice on Developing Culture

Discussing the application of what he discussed, Brady emphasized that building a strong culture should be the focus of teams in order for it to become "self-sustaining."

"Sure, in the beginning, the culture of an organization tends to be defined mostly by the people who have come together with the values you’re looking for," the 48-year-old legend said.

"But as the organization grows, and the culture matures, and people begin to move up or move out, what remains are the values. They become the defining characteristics of the culture, not the people."

Brady also looked back at his time in the NFL, sharing that he didn't want new players to join his teams because of him. Instead, he "wanted them to come in because we did things the right way."