Title IX: Lessons Beyond the Playing Field

This week marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation signed on June 23, 1972 to expand opportunities in higher education for women.  The discussion around Title IX typically centers on athletics, which fell under the educational programs umbrella.

Reading the stories this week from countless female athletes from different decades, they all pointed to the lessons sports taught them off the field.  Having spent all four years of my college experience at Michigan State on the tennis team, the message resonates.  A 2002 survey by Oppenheimer Funds found that 82% of female business executives participated in organized sports after elementary school.  This probably does not surprise most men, who have long realized how lessons learned early on the playing field translate later to the boardroom.

Sports teach us how to win and how to lose.  They teach us accountability, selflessness, time management, sportsmanship and resilience.  We learn how to work within a team- when to be a leader and when to be a role player.  Sports teach us how to bounce back from adversity and understand that calls won’t always go our way and that there will be bumps along the road to success.  We learn how to communicate and how to deal with different personality types and management styles.  It’s not hard to connect the dots and see why the lessons we learn in sports last us a lifetime.

Recovering from Adversity

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s remarkable turnaround has been the talk of the sports world this week as they advanced to their first NBA Finals in dramatic fashion.  The NBA Playoffs have been a great example of how we find lessons in sports that we can apply to our every day lives. 

How do we handle adversity, and on the flip side, how do we handle success?  The Thunder faced a Spurs team that had won 20 straight games.  Down 2-0, the numbers said they had no chance.  How did they respond?  By reeling off four straight victories, rallying from an 18-point deficit in the decisive game, and becoming only the third team in NBA history to win four straight in the conference finals after trailing 2-0.  You don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate their fight.  

Successful people—in sports, business and life—share a common trait.  They recover from adversity quickly.  They don’t focus on the negative and they control what they can control.  So what can we learn from the playoffs while we are enjoying the games?  Don’t let adversity unravel you.  Allow it to motivate you and propel you forward.  

How often do we hear or say...."I will" or "Sure, got it, I will call you Tuesday" or "Ill email you that..." or "Ill call then and follow up with you" or "OK, will do."  How many times do we hear these kind of "promises" and how many times do we make these type of promises?  How often does the intended behavior actually happen?  Imagine the energy you feel in that moment, the statement is real, the intent is there (and, by the way, if the words aren't said with intent to execute, don't say them at all).

By executing our promise, we live and behave with consistency.  Consistency is a key driver for being the best.  Coaches don't win championships without follow up, execution and consistency; athletes don't sniff the Hall of Fame without game after game, year after year being consistent performers.  Ask a coach, "would you rather have a athlete who goes out and strikes out four days in a row, but hits two bombs (home runs) on day four or would you rather have the athlete who gets you one hit a game day after day after day?" Easy decision.  Corporate leaders want the same kind of players.  Coaches want athletes they know will show up, who will do what they say they will do between games, who will make promises they can deliver on; no different then players want to play for a coach that delivers on the promises they make.

Take 20 minutes today and look back at your week, and ask yourself these questions:

Who did I meet with and/or speak with and what promises did I make?
What am I doing to ensure I execute against each and every promise (besides, "Ill remember")?
What is my plan to ensure I communicate and execute on my promises?

Executing against the promises we make is directly tied to consistent behavior and consistent behavior is a key driver for being the best. So, next time you say, "Ill send you that email..." or "lets get together...Ill email you to set it up...."   I recommend...

Do it or don't say it.

Jump Out of Line

We were all born with creativity, the ability to be innovative and imaginative.  We created characters and acted them out, we lived and played in pretend worlds with Smurfs and built awesome one of a kind structures with our Legos.  We played with dolls and built “clubs” behind our house.  

Then the world got a hold of us and we were asked to follow others instructions.   

We went to school where we sat at a desk, walked in a straight line without talking in the hallway, received assignments during the day and then a packet of homework with instructions to do after school.  We used a #2 pencil and even got a trophy for being #2.  And if we were good, we woke up and did it over and over until – God willing – we went to college.  To do more of the same.   

We weren’t born to be order takers and followers, the world taught us to be.  If we were so blessed, we had parents and others around us that showed us there are a few ways to execute the same thing.   

I'm forty now, but when I was a kid, my Mom and I rarely crossed the street at the light, but rather we went the quickest route.  Sometimes it was like a real live game of Frogger, but we always made it across.  My Dad who, after my older twin brothers had picked on me all day, would say, “just hit ‘em when they aren’t expecting it.” And, so I did.   Or a Grandmother who taught PE in the 1940's and another with cracked skin on the tip of her fingers from working so hard day after day to provide for the family.  Or a Grandfather who took me fishing at age ten with alligators surrounding our wobbly boat then took me back to his Florida home and watched me mow his lawn with chewing tobacco in his bottom lip the size of a large lemon.  I am thankful, extremely thankful, for this type of influence.  I am confident it offset the “straight lines” I walked at school for twenty years.  I am sure, or hope, you had people like this in your life as well.   

If you were molded, like many of us, to extend your “follow the rules” program into your adult life, I want to remind you that now we all have a choice.  A choice to get a set of instructions each day or create our own set of instructions.  We can either fit in or stand out – but not both. We can choose to build our own maps or follow someone else's.   We can seek high levels of achievement and create a new bar or we can reach for the bar someone else has held up for us.  Meeting expectations - so what -  that isn’t about being the best.  Living without a map might require a tweak in your mindset.  It requires leaning into change and challenges.  It requires having so much passion for creating and building that it over comes your fear of failure.  It requires the same thing that is on a soda can, “no deposit, no return.”   You can build your road map with or without road blocks.  There are often several ways to get there.  Have the guts and the passion to find the route. Now-a-days we are all in sales, we are all in marketing.  We all have a voice and can be heard.  Find your voice and share your vision.  It might require a real life game of Frogger sometimes, but the journey is more fun, in my opinion, and on the other side you might be able to build a rewarding new play ground.

Do you want to create the life you want to lead or have someone else give you your instructions? It’s up to you.

Consistent - Why it Matters?

I asked my kids this morning what the word "consistent" means to them, they said, "to do it over and over again Mommy." I ask the best athletes and coaches what it means and they say, "it means you're going to control your destiny and likely find a spot in the Hall of Fame." Not to profound, right?  They are both right.  Lets dig a little deeper...

I had a very cool talk with Tom Izzo recently when I was at his house executing a production day....the crew was getting set up and as they did we got into a great discussion about consistency.  I think his passion for consistency is rooted with his Midwest roots.  Or, at least, as a Michigan gal, I'd like to think so.  Or maybe it's a passion for success and winning combined with his Midwest roots.  Tom shared, "consistency is what really matters, it's what makes what you do real, powerful and impactful - success gets you there but consistently executing keeps you there."  

I have seen athletes get a "call up" to the big leagues for a cup of coffee, and sadly, not execute and find themselves back down in the minor leagues.  Or a coach, get a "dream" job and not execute and find themselves fending off frustrated fans and rationalizing a "rebuilding year".  Or a golfer get his PGA Tour card or a win, but can't do it again.  And then their are the greats - who get there and stay there.

We can all find ourselves at various stages of the process of executing consistently. 
Maybe you have accomplished something and you want to accomplish more of it?  Is it repetable? If so, what is the formula to repeat it? What is the formula to not only repeat it, but enhance it?

Maybe you have yet to reach the bar which you believe is the benchmark for your consistent success. Do you have clarity on what your plan is to get to the bar you have created for youself?

Maybe you have executed consistenly at a high level over and over - in which case - knowing your type - you aren't through.

Reminder, this can be an emotion, an attitude also.  So maybe it isn't about doing but thinking differently.  Maybe it is a desire to be consistently positive?

I challenge you to get clear on what you want to execute consistently? And do three things with that clarity:

What is your plan to do it?
Is the process repetable? Hopefully so.
What is your plan to replicate and enhance it?

Lastly, might I suggest, you implement something I call the "two minute rule"...celebrate and enjoy your success, but if it is the first of hopefully many, move on and do it again, and again.  Then, like Tom Izzo, you will find yourself building and leaving a legacy.

Investors.com

Leaders & Success

Molly Fletcher Studies The Best In Sports, Business

By MICHAEL MINK 

To reach the top, follow the steps of those who've made the trek. Molly Fletcher, a sports agent dubbed the female Jerry Maguire, did just that — going into the locker rooms and boardrooms of upper-echelon performers in sports and business to find their commonalities. One result is her book "The Business of Being the Best."

• Be yourself. Top performers are real. That's what Fletcher found with legends such as college basketball title coach Tom Izzo, Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, Home Depot (HD) founder Arthur Blank and Cy Young-winning pitcher John Smoltz. "Be authentic and anchor everything you do against that," she told IBD. "Being the best is about being you, but the very, very best you can be."

• Tune in. Top performers are "always looking to learn and ask questions," said Fletcher. "They want to pull anything they can out of every experience, conversation and interaction."
Ken Kam, CEO of Marketocracy, which identifies top-flight money managers, advises people to ask why good decisions worked out. "That's how opportunities for value are discovered. Too many people aren't curious, so they never ask those questions. They're too willing to accept the way things are. Successful companies are all about trying to improve, looking for the ways things could be made better," he said.

• Be courageous. Fletcher found the best performers aren't afraid to fail or take risks. They want the most responsibility in the most important situations. Then "they have the ability to focus on execution," she said, and come through.

• Know your purpose. The best "understand that activity doesn't equal execution or success. Proper execution is what equals success," Fletcher said.

• Embrace urgency. Top leaders, Fletcher says, have a solid sense of it. While they can create an environment of calm, "they're proactively doing what they need to do to be the best," she said.

• Be exacting. Heidi Grant Halvorson, an associate director for the Motivation Science Center at the Columbia University Business School, says successful people are specific about what they want to accomplish and plan in detail how they will do so. "Knowing (precisely) what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there," Halvorson, author of "Succeed," wrote in a chapter in the book titled "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently."

• Develop grit. Top achievers are mentally prepared to overcome obstacles on the path to the top, says Halvorson.

Enneagram

People say you have to love your self to love someone else.  True. I believe you also have to know yourself to really be able to really know others.  You have to know your tendencies, your quirks, your strengths and weakness.  You have to know what depletes your energy and what strengthens your energy. You have to know what inspires you and how you best inspire others.  You have to know your WHY.  Why do you do what you do?

Through my YPO (Young Presidents Organization) I was asked to take an "Enneagram Type Indicator."  It is a "personality test."  But it is the the one I have found to be the best.  The best because so many people I work with in YPO who facilitate retreats for executives use this as their primary indicator for personality types. And I found it to be the most practical from my personal experience as well.  It is ten bucks and takes 30 minutes to take the test (and no I am not paid or asked in anyway to endorse this product).  I took my first one last week and within just a few minutes I had an email in my in box telling me all about myself.  I shared it with my husband and he said, "wow, freaky, this thing nailed it." The best part isn't that it tells you what you know, the best part is it shows you your blind spots.  I always say (as do many - I certainly didn't think of it) - our greatest area of exposure as individuals in not knowing what we don't know.

www.enneagraminstitute.com is their site. 

Not that you care, but I am a type 3 with my second highest score was a type 2.  At the risk of being a little vulnerable - which I always recommend to people, I thought I would be vulnerable myself and tell you just who I am.

If you can skip a latte for a couple days and spend that money on the Enneagram test, I am confident you will find it helpful.  It will help you know what you need to work on and better understand the formula for you to be your BEST!

Cheers!