The Impact of Sports

I’ve talked before about my love for sports. I played lots of sports growing up, soccer, basketball, and baseball. I never played football, and I really didn’t watch much football until high school. I did pay attention to Iowa football from a young age though. That also meant that I paid attention to Nebraska football also. More on my hatred for that later.   So, what does this have to do with doing your job all these years later? Growing up, I didn’t read. We also didn’t have the internet. Even if I did have those things, I don’t think I would have been reading about something that would have to do with business or interacting with people. I just would have read about sports. I didn’t have access to the great business leaders of the day, so how do you shape your leadership style when you don’t know anything about leaders? You watch sports and you take from that? Everyone my age knows and watched Michael Jordan. For people my age, there is no debate on who the greatest of all time is. It’s not a list of three to five people. It’s not a conversation about what generation someone played in. The list of the greatest all-time basketball players is a list of one, Michael Jordan! Two things I learned from Jordan watching him as a child, winning and having a killer instinct. Watching mostly baseball growing up, you had clutch players. Players who if they were up with the game on the line, they always came through. The difference between being clutch and having a killer instinct is that in baseball the game might be on the line and the ball never gets hit to you or you never get to bat. That means that you never get to show that killer instinct. Great athletes in other sports always get the ball when the game is on the line, then they go for the kill. Two other athletes come to mind when I think of my childhood and who impacted me. Most people either don’t know or they forgot, but Deion Sanders was “Neon” Deion Sanders, outfielder for the New York Yankees before the football world knew him. He was flashy, arrogant, and everyone knew who he was. That brings me to the most surprising name on the list, Brian Bosworth. Most people probably have no clue who that is. Brian Bosworth was a linebacker for the University of Oklahoma in the mid-eighties. I hated Nebraska, and Nebraska hated Bosworth. He was cocky, he was mean, and he was very flashy. The image I have of Brian Bosworth is this muscular young punk with spiked hair that had lines on the side. The Yankees project this image of professionalism with a history of having players who behave a certain way. Brian Bosworth was the exact opposite. I LOVED IT! When I was younger, probably around sixth grade, I remember going to a relative to get my haircut. She said I could do whatever I wanted. So, I got my hair cut short on the sides with a few lines on the side and I spiked it on top. It was a time when I showed the world, I’m not like the rest. But again, what does this have to do with being an adult in the real world? I want to focus on three things, one for each person. These three people all represent something that at certain times you need to have. Jordan – Game on the line, you need to have that killer instinct. Everyone in the arena needs to know if the game is on the line and you have the ball in your hands, the game is over, and you are going to win. When Jordan had the ball, his teammates and his opponents knew the outcome. Do the people you work with have that confidence in you? I think I have some work to do. Brian Bosworth created an image, today what we would call a brand. Everyone knew who he was and what they were getting with him. I may not always agree with that image, but he changed the room. When everyone was down, he could lift the whole team all by himself. He had the ability to change the momentum. Do you have the image or reputation that if the chips are down, you can walk in the room and change the momentum? If people are feeling down and out, can you walk in the room and then all of a sudden, they reach down and pull themselves out? You don’t have to say a word! Again, I have work to do. Last but not least, “Neon” Deion “Primetime” Sanders! When he was a player, he was a game changer. He is the only player that I know of whose team won a championship, and one of the teams that they beat to win that championship knew the only way that they could win the next year was to sign him. They signed him away from his previous team, and then they went out and won the championship. Who are you that you can do that?  Crazy enough, that’s not the point I want to make with him. Currently in 2024, Deion Sanders is a name that gets mentioned so much, that some people are sick of hearing it. What are they saying about him? What an amazing coach he is! He now has a reputation for being one of the best at teaching people how to play the game. He has a reputation for showing and telling his players how much he loves them. He just wrote a book, I have purchased it, but I haven’t read it yet. In the end, I want to be someone who can teach. I want to be someone who isn’t afraid to show love to others. I will be working on all of these things as I go forward!