Another year, another Super Bowl. As the planet knows by now, the New York Giants did it again. They beat the New England Patriots again. They had a late 4th Quarter winning drive again. Their team did just enough to beat an opponent that was every bit their equal. Yet post-game media was focused on the losing Quarterback's wife, super model and business star Gisele Bundschen, and her comments after the loss.
Here is the quote: "My husband cannot f------ throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times," the supermodel and wife of the famed quarterback said in a video captured by theinsider.com, a gossip website.
On the surface, this is just more unimportant gossip we are used to in our media. However what stood out to me was the lesson in between the story. I'm not going to talk so much about the comment, whether its right or wrong, or the silly reactions across the internet. Thats all irrelevant. But the lesson I'm talking about is one we can use everyday in our business and lives.
Teams win together and lose together. This is something I learnt at a young age when I switched from an individual sport in tennis to a team sport in football (American Football for you soccer fans). Coaches taught us the importance of 11 men on the field doing their job perfectly in order to win. "Every play is designed to be a touchdown," our coach would say at practice. "Its just a question of every man doing his job."
What I learnt on a football field I have used all my life. My sophomore year in high school I missed a block and the guy hit our running back for a fumble on the last drive of the game. I went home knowing I had lost the game for us. My coach called the house that night to talk to me. "You missed your block, Shar, but you didn't lose the game for us. We lost the game." It didn't do anything for me at the time, believe me.
But years later his words rang in my ear when I was leading a team that spent 9 months on a complex and strategic sales cycle only to come up short in the 11th hour. Management called for a few heads to roll and I fought against this. We lost the deal as a team and our people did a heck of a job getting us to the last round against bigger and better known competition. The client gave us pointed feedback about why we lost and they hit on our weak points which, like Gisele, we could have said let us down. But this is false justification and ultimately the team went on to win other deals and be successful.
I don't know the first thing about Gisele Bundschen but based on her reaction I would assume she hasn't really played competitive team sports. Why should she, she is on track to be the first billion dollar super model. I'm guessing team sports were not in the plan when she was modeling at an early age.
Over the years I have managed and worked with thousands of people. There is a difference in professionals that have played competitive team sports, or been in team situations like the military. This is a generalization and before you misinterpret my comments, its not an absolute rule - I have worked with plenty of folks who never played a sport or took part in a team activity, and they have been great. I've also worked with team players who were not up to par. But there is a difference in thought process, communication and the basic acceptance that we are as strong as the weakest link in our chain.
Successful people know they have to depend on others to be successful. Those who think its all about them are not successful for long. Teams learn to leverage their strengths, and they don't dwell on failure. Great leaders understand this and optimize their teams with the best talent they can find, as long as that talent can work together.
Working and playing in teams has taught me it doesn't matter if you have the league MVP on your side, if one part of the team fails we all do. You have to analyze failure and fix what needs to be fixed, but the objective is to move on and win the next one. Individuals have to understand their role as contributors as well as team members.
It sounds so simple yet we have created an environment that doesn't take into account the importance of competition, winning and losing, and team effort. For example, I can't understand the concept of giving a trophy to everyone that participates because we don't want them to feel left out. What planet do these people live on? Fairness is not about rewarding or recognizing failure. Fairness is about creating competitiveness equality so the best win. If that sounds unfair then good luck to you.
On the surface, this is just more unimportant gossip we are used to in our media. However what stood out to me was the lesson in between the story. I'm not going to talk so much about the comment, whether its right or wrong, or the silly reactions across the internet. Thats all irrelevant. But the lesson I'm talking about is one we can use everyday in our business and lives.
Teams win together and lose together. This is something I learnt at a young age when I switched from an individual sport in tennis to a team sport in football (American Football for you soccer fans). Coaches taught us the importance of 11 men on the field doing their job perfectly in order to win. "Every play is designed to be a touchdown," our coach would say at practice. "Its just a question of every man doing his job."
What I learnt on a football field I have used all my life. My sophomore year in high school I missed a block and the guy hit our running back for a fumble on the last drive of the game. I went home knowing I had lost the game for us. My coach called the house that night to talk to me. "You missed your block, Shar, but you didn't lose the game for us. We lost the game." It didn't do anything for me at the time, believe me.
But years later his words rang in my ear when I was leading a team that spent 9 months on a complex and strategic sales cycle only to come up short in the 11th hour. Management called for a few heads to roll and I fought against this. We lost the deal as a team and our people did a heck of a job getting us to the last round against bigger and better known competition. The client gave us pointed feedback about why we lost and they hit on our weak points which, like Gisele, we could have said let us down. But this is false justification and ultimately the team went on to win other deals and be successful.
I don't know the first thing about Gisele Bundschen but based on her reaction I would assume she hasn't really played competitive team sports. Why should she, she is on track to be the first billion dollar super model. I'm guessing team sports were not in the plan when she was modeling at an early age.
Over the years I have managed and worked with thousands of people. There is a difference in professionals that have played competitive team sports, or been in team situations like the military. This is a generalization and before you misinterpret my comments, its not an absolute rule - I have worked with plenty of folks who never played a sport or took part in a team activity, and they have been great. I've also worked with team players who were not up to par. But there is a difference in thought process, communication and the basic acceptance that we are as strong as the weakest link in our chain.
Successful people know they have to depend on others to be successful. Those who think its all about them are not successful for long. Teams learn to leverage their strengths, and they don't dwell on failure. Great leaders understand this and optimize their teams with the best talent they can find, as long as that talent can work together.
Working and playing in teams has taught me it doesn't matter if you have the league MVP on your side, if one part of the team fails we all do. You have to analyze failure and fix what needs to be fixed, but the objective is to move on and win the next one. Individuals have to understand their role as contributors as well as team members.
It sounds so simple yet we have created an environment that doesn't take into account the importance of competition, winning and losing, and team effort. For example, I can't understand the concept of giving a trophy to everyone that participates because we don't want them to feel left out. What planet do these people live on? Fairness is not about rewarding or recognizing failure. Fairness is about creating competitiveness equality so the best win. If that sounds unfair then good luck to you.
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