Super Bowl Sunday was a bit anxious in our house.
This post may seem gratuitous to some, however, since I like to relate life to LinkedIn, networking, personal brand and recruiting, the Super Bowl serves up some great comparisons and insight.
My husband, Geoff, is an Eagles fan. Like all sports fans in Philadelphia, he is deeply emotional, often frustrated and continually cynical and superstitious about the many good plays, and players and coaches deemed the latest savior. This year has been different, and then Carson Wentz got hurt. You know the story. Backup quarterback, Nick Foles comes in and has to help the Eagles finish the season, for good or for bad. And, what happens? He finds it’s his time.
In last week’s post, I outlined the 7 Lies People Tell Themselves about their brand and today, here are five ways to reinvent yourself, emerge from the shadows, and find your groove when you’re not sure you can.
I have a plan, and I practice every day. Take the play in the second quarter, when Fowles handed the ball to an undrafted free agent who flipped it to a third-string tight end who then, to the surprise of every person watching, passed it to a backup quarterback. What? It was startling and beautiful, bold and breathtaking. Why?
No one expected it, and no one saw it coming. It was a play call designed two weeks before the game and practiced every day. Everyday. In two weeks they mastered a play that some have now said was the best play ever called in any sport. How? They planned and practiced.
It was a direct snap to an undrafted free agent who flips it to the third-string tight end which passes it to the backup quarterback for a TD against the greatest coach in football.
What you focus on, you value. No investment, no gain.
I am ready. I know what I know, and I am ready to let others know what I know. Believe that. You have to be okay with sharing your insight, your experience and your passion for others. It separates you from your peers, and it’s what your colleagues, clients and partners remember about you. Holding tight to your own intellectual property is a missed opportunity.
What you give, returns in spades.
I am joyful. Loving what you do makes your work contagious. It becomes your mission, passion, ministry, forum. Call it what you may, it inspires, educates and informs others.
Enthusiasm and passion are contagious.
I know my time. At the beginning of the 2017/18 season, Foles may have dreamt of becoming an MVP, but realistically, it was a long shot. When he took over for Wentz, it was a bit scary to watch. He looked shaky and uneasy. And yet, in weeks, he became the quarterback you rooted and cheered for, you listened to and admired. He is a God-fearing, humble man who believes. I’m confident he realizes he was meant for a time such as this.
Appreciate the moment for what it is, unrepeatable and real. Own your place in your sport, company, industry, family and realize so many moments may be unrepeatable.
I find collaborators. Finding a team, a tribe, team members, a group of collaborators who have your back and are beyond valuable. They help you see yourself, define the moment, the experience and the memory. You inspire them, and they inspire you. You understand that your talent and skill shines brighter with the input of others. The collective is stronger than the individual. The awe-inspiring play called the Philly Special epitomizes a team that thinks big, dares to be great and is full of raw talent and cross-training.
Finding the right combination of players, teammates, advisors, coaches, and centers of influence helps you gain an edge that your peers can’t compete against. It’s your edge, your secret sauce.
Who am I to write about the Super Bowl? I’m a pretty keen observer, and married to a studied, sound-minded sports fan and Eagle devotee who has been in the front row watching the battle over the years. I see the correlation between athletics and business, the dance between raw talent and refined execution, the need to go big or go home, the beauty of building a team of depth rather than prima donnas.
Mosty, I am intrigued with how we all have to continually reinvent ourselves, personally and professionally. How every day should be additive. Take away what doesn’t work and add value in every place you can. Learn, strive, study, pray. It’s everything you remember hearing as a kid. And, now whether a CEO or a quota-carrying contributor to a team, we’re still students of the game.
Congratulations to Eagles fans everywhere, your victory is well-deserved.
Not an Eagles fan? Step back and consider what you can learn from this team that realized they needed to surprise and outsmart the smartest. After all, isn’t that what you need to do every day too?
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