Lessons from Sports, Entertainment, and Politics
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I love it when shows come together like this one is has! You know, most of what I do is short little discussions on different topics that all kind of pull together into one cohesive theme. And the first thing really well, this is really a show about sports and media.
I was watching playoff games this weekend. And there was a very compelling story that was embedded in the Los Angeles Rams win over Dallas. They’re well known, running back is a man named Todd Gurley. He’s been playing with injuries for the latter part of the season and they signed a running back who was cut by three other teams. He had been successful, a Super Bowl champion previously, but, now, he was on the way out professionally. He’s now signed by a playoff team and he’s playing their first game of the postseason, the second round of the playoffs and he has a great day.
You know, it would have been so easy for him to give up. It would have been so easy for him to quit because he’s been cut by some of the worst teams in football as not having a place anymore. And there he is being interviewed at the end of the game. And he says, “the only way your dreams die is when you give up on them.”
Folks don’t give up on your dreams so easily. You’re just running into roadblocks sometimes. And don’t forget, there still opportunities out there for you
A Management Lesson from Coach K
Segment 2. The pitching coach for the New York Mets is Dave Eiland. He used to be a picture with the Yankees before George Steinbrenner watched him pitch one day and had him immediately traded elsewhere. He’s been a very good pitching coach and helped turn around the Kansas City Royals rotation before joining the Mets as their coach a little over a year ago.
Going into the new season, he likes to set a theme for his pitchers and the theme became public. I think it’s a good lesson for all of us. And the theme for this year is, “Make pitches. Not excuses.”
Folks, A lot of us like to explain our failures and give rationalizations for them. But if we make the pitch, we don’t have to give an excuse for why it wasn’t delivered properly. We’ve hit them corners, we’ve struck out batters, we’ve gotten them to hit into ground balls. The fact of the matter is, most of us don’t put our mental effort into being excellent, being world class. Every pitch as is demanded of pro athletes.
How can you make your pitches instead of making excuses
Segment 3. A podcast interview I listened to with Smokey Robinson, yielded two fabulous stories that yield life lessons I think all of us can take.
The first one included an episode where he met Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown. He was there auditioning with his band for the managers of another artist. It didn’t go all that well. But Gordy heard him and asked him if he had any other songs that he had recorded that he thought were worthwhile. Eventually, Smokey signs with Gordy. They become part of the Motown launch. Smokey tells a story about how Gordy had this philosophy that said, “competition breeds success.”
The way that expressed itself at Motown was that any artist could write for any other artist. It was the idea that no one was really siloed. They could cross pollinate the music and their ideas with one another and the best ideas would always surface.
Smokey Robinson wrote some of the great songs for the Four Tops as well as for his own acts. AI’m not going to go through a lengthy list. Just look for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and just recognize that competition breeds success.
There’s another story that he tells where he speaks about a time in his life where he was doing drugs and he was isolating and not performing particularly well. And one of his friends came over to him and spend some time and ask them how he’s doing and where he’s been recently.
“I’m doing okay, doing okay, man. The friend challenged him and said, “No, you’re not.”
We need friends who can really challenge us at times. We need to be challenged and, in this day and age so many of us just want to be complimented and praised and never hear the harsh “cut” that comes with a real friend, wanting to put everything on the line because they really love us.
Segment 4. As I record this parts of the US government are are furloughed people are not being able to work. Non essential workers are not working and its comes about because politicians have this weird idea of negotiating.
Let me just read the definition of negotiation
Negotiation. A discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.” Do you see anything in there about that the word, “capitulation” or does negotiation involve a given take? We don’t have to replicate our politicians in our dealings with one another. We can listen to and hear one another, make small accommodations that allow us to reach consensus, knowing full well that perfection is not the goal but consensus really is.
Now, some of you hold the belief that your way is absolutely right. . . And so does the other side. How are they ever going to change things if you hold that . . . and we’re not talking about matters of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender issues. We’re talking about a political issue here we talk about office issues here where people to man and insist upon complete capitulation. That is what negotiation means and it never will.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
Website: www.TheBigGameHunter.us
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter
Courses: www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses
Main YouTube: www.JobSearchTV.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/jeffaltman
Facebook: http://facebook.com/nobscoachingadvice
Podcast: anchor.fm/nobsjobsearchadviceradio
Video Podcast: Spotify
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffaltmancoach
Medium: jeffaltmancoach.medium.com
Resume & LinkedIn Profile critiques www.TheBigGameHunter.us/critiques
My courses are available on Skillshare
CareerFitter offers a free test and if you want career recommendations, upgrade to the paid version https://www.TheBigGameHunter.us/career
We grant permission for this post and others to be used on your website as long as a backlink is included to www.TheBigGameHunter.us and notice is provided that it is provided by Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter as an author or creator.
