What Are you Doing on Sunday?

The NFL season has begun! I love this time of year and truly enjoy sitting down to watch a game or two on a chilly Sunday afternoon.

I like to keep my eye on the rookies, just entering the league, finally realizing their dream of playing for the NFL. Some of the guys really impressed in their first few outings.

In football, great teams have great mentors. It’s often the quarterback getting the young guys on the same page and into the rotation. In business, we need to think about bringing on new team members the same way. When a ‘rookie’ comes into our business, we need to set them up for success. They need mentorship.

They need to know the ‘plays’ or the process in which we do business. They need to feel welcomed and like they can come to us with any issues. They need to feel part of the team from day one and not set apart because of their lack of experience. They also need to feel supported and empowered. A rookie isn’t going onto the field without the proper padding and helmet and we shouldn’t send our ‘rookies’ into the game without the layers of support they need.

Something that always stands out is the amount of coaches on the sideline. There are coaches for every single position. We should apply this in our business lives. Delegate the tasks we can’t do to an expert. Sure, we are still the head coach of our business, the main decision maker, but when we have a team of experts working on our side, we get more wins. Delegate tasks like social media, writing, research, accounting or administrative work. You can think of your other coaches as your CMO, CFO, COO, etc.

I also love to see the fans in the stands. Whether it’s families enjoying the game together, friends that might only get together during this time of year or the fans that really go all out, expressing themselves in costume or face paint.

Express yourself and BE yourself in your business. I’ll share one of my secrets - If I am going on stage to speak I really love to wear a red dress and heels. There is something about that combo that makes me feel confident and powerful.

Let’s not forget about the referees. Can you imagine having that job? People either love you or hate you depending on your calls and what team those calls are against or for and you are simply doing the best you can.

That is how you should work every day in your business. Do the best you can. Call it like you see it and don’t apologize. Stand firm in your decisions. If you are wrong, someone will throw that challenge flag and then you’ll have the opportunity to review.

Football might not be everyone’s favorite sport and that is okay, too. Your business doesn’t appeal to everyone and it can’t. Work with the people who get what you do, love what you do and crave what you do.

The final lesson I think about when I think about football is camaraderie. There are 53 men on an NFL roster and they all need to come together as a cohesive team. That’s no easy feat. It’s the same in our place of business. We all come from different backgrounds, levels of experience, schools of thought, etc. Be open. Meet people. Talk. Learn. Grow.

Speaking of team, this newsletter was developed between myself and my copywriter, Tara, as we chatted about the first week of pro football the other day. Tara is a Steelers fan and I am a Jets fan.