A third purpose behind the trips didn't occur to me until I shared a beer with Mike McGrew one night in Iowa City. It was late at night, and I was marveling at the Hawkeye bacchanalia underway in the wake of our Wildcat's loss to Iowa earlier that day. Needless to say, we didn't have bars like this or celebrations with this abandon back in Evanston. "Grew" seemed to be depressed about something, and I assumed he was watching the ragging Hawkeyes and seeing what could have been if he'd chosen to play college ball at one of the other Big Ten schools that had recruited him. I shouldn't have been surprised me when Grew, a team captain and one of the few consummate leaders I've known, turned to me and said, "I wish I could find a job where I had the same kind of people around me that we had on our team. The people I work with don't get it. I wonder if we'll ever find that again?" That moment revealed the third purpose of the trips: to revisit, if only for a few fleeting hours over the weekend, the greatness that we had achieved together as teammates a few years prior. The trips were to remind us of the trust and faith we had in each other, which allowed us to defy expectations again and again.
That question, "I wonder if we'll ever find that again?" has been a general theme in my professional life too. One interesting read, and two recent documentaries reminded me of that question. In the context of that brief chat with Grew, it would seem we were only speaking about the right collection of people. It's true; the esprit de corps we experienced was in large part due to who was in that locker room. However, our unexpected success - well, we expected it... but that's for another blog entry - was a function of multiple variables: first, the right people, second, an understanding of and willingness to play a prescribed role and third, a competitive threat against which to measure ourselves. Our success wasn't just about having the right people, but also the right purpose with which to apply our talents.
I recently finished "The Tao of Wu", by RZA, the founder and producer of the famed hip-hop group The Wu-Tang Clan. As it's Amazon.com description suggests, the book is a "hodgepodge of memoir, spiritual advice and poetry, a sincere attempt to impart his accumulated life wisdom through the lens of hip-hop and idiosyncratic personal religion." Between discussions of Islam, Kung Fu and Mathematics the story of The Wu-Tang Clan's rise to fame unravels. It might as well have been written by Pat Riley or Mike Krzyzewski. Eight guys from the same neighborhood with one unified purpose... despite long odds and too many "haters" to count, they persevered, bending the world to suit their collective vision. It's a great reminder that when talented and motivated people organize to attack a common goal, there are few things that can resist their will.
"More Than A Game" is a great documentary about LeBron James' high school basketball team winning the national championship in 2003. The real story starts years earlier, when a few dads from the same Akron neighborhood organize a collection of kids into an AAU team. At a young age 5 kids embark on a quest to be the best team in the country. Sure, it helps that one of them may one day be named the greatest basketball player of all time. The interesting part of the story is how each member of the team learns his role, how the team thrives through various bouts of adversity, and who on the team provides heroics on road to the championship game.
"Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals" is an HBO Sports documentary about the historic rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. There are lot of sub-plots about racial tensions and Magic's HIV announcement, but the really interesting stuff is about how the two define the importance of the other. Both competitors had different ways to relate to their competition; Magic was open to camaraderie and Bird was not. However, the two shared one opinion: the presence of the other is what made them both achieve greater performances. The prospect of losing to a great rival compelled them both to push for greater results.
This recent book and two movies remind me of what I once had as an athlete, and what I seek to find in my career. There have been two instances when I've been able to create a culture like what we had at Northwestern, and it's no coincidence that they provided some of the fondest memories I have of "work." I think in the future, I'll use these and a few other great flicks to help illustrate what I expect of my colleagues, and what they can expect from me.
I recently finished "The Tao of Wu", by RZA, the founder and producer of the famed hip-hop group The Wu-Tang Clan. As it's Amazon.com description suggests, the book is a "hodgepodge of memoir, spiritual advice and poetry, a sincere attempt to impart his accumulated life wisdom through the lens of hip-hop and idiosyncratic personal religion." Between discussions of Islam, Kung Fu and Mathematics the story of The Wu-Tang Clan's rise to fame unravels. It might as well have been written by Pat Riley or Mike Krzyzewski. Eight guys from the same neighborhood with one unified purpose... despite long odds and too many "haters" to count, they persevered, bending the world to suit their collective vision. It's a great reminder that when talented and motivated people organize to attack a common goal, there are few things that can resist their will.
"More Than A Game" is a great documentary about LeBron James' high school basketball team winning the national championship in 2003. The real story starts years earlier, when a few dads from the same Akron neighborhood organize a collection of kids into an AAU team. At a young age 5 kids embark on a quest to be the best team in the country. Sure, it helps that one of them may one day be named the greatest basketball player of all time. The interesting part of the story is how each member of the team learns his role, how the team thrives through various bouts of adversity, and who on the team provides heroics on road to the championship game.
"Magic and Bird: A Courtship of Rivals" is an HBO Sports documentary about the historic rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. There are lot of sub-plots about racial tensions and Magic's HIV announcement, but the really interesting stuff is about how the two define the importance of the other. Both competitors had different ways to relate to their competition; Magic was open to camaraderie and Bird was not. However, the two shared one opinion: the presence of the other is what made them both achieve greater performances. The prospect of losing to a great rival compelled them both to push for greater results.
This recent book and two movies remind me of what I once had as an athlete, and what I seek to find in my career. There have been two instances when I've been able to create a culture like what we had at Northwestern, and it's no coincidence that they provided some of the fondest memories I have of "work." I think in the future, I'll use these and a few other great flicks to help illustrate what I expect of my colleagues, and what they can expect from me.
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