Ep. 8 - Bonus: Competitive Spirit (Solo)

BONUS: Recap #1 of Interview Through-Lines: Competitive Spirit 

We reflect on how to channel the competitive spirit into leadership that people choose to follow. We share why hiring is the first job, how culture grows from people, not companies, and how to build environments where growth is the real scoreboard.

• reframing competition from beating others to mastering systems
• translating sports lessons to professional pressure and coaching
• difference between positional power and lasting influence
• Why hiring and selecting leaders sets the culture
• companies don’t create culture, people do
• designing environments where performance and learning grow
• values as the filter when goals and politics clash
• preview of a deeper dive on values next time

Please shoot me a note. Let me know your thoughts and what else you want to hear about. Nick at timeandenergy.co. Check out the website www.timeandenergy.co

Keep Grinding,

NJL

Transcript

Reflecting On Recent Conversations

Defining The Competitive Spirit

Life After Organized Competition

Bringing Competition Into Work

Leadership Beyond Titles

Coaches, Standards, And Longevity

Influence Versus Positional Power

Hiring As The Leader’s First Job

Culture Grows People, Not Companies

Create An Environment To Grow

Values And What’s Next

Gratitude And How To Reach Us

Resources At TimeAndEnergy.co

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Sitting here tonight and just kind of reflecting a little bit on some of the last conversations that I've had over the last couple months. And as promised, wanted to come to y'all and uh have a little conversation about some of what I learned and some of what I believe to be true or some of the more important takeaways and things that we can think about when focusing our time and energy in certain areas. And so I first want to start off by talking a little bit about the competitive spirit. As I mentioned previously, in some of the conversations that I've I've had in the podcast, the competitive spirit is not only one of the key tenants that our team specifically looks for when bringing on new talent. And I have a couple stories about that too here, but it it's evident that you know the competitive competitive spirit does not necessarily have to fall just within the lines of a competitive sport per se. What's interesting about that is that for many of us, our most most formidable years, the years where we're learning the most is where we have the opportunity to compete in various things. So I think of you know some of my most formative years, you know, the ages of 15, 16, 17, 18. You know, I think of played baseball, I played high school golf, I played high school tennis. Competing all the time in those sports. And it really gives you an opportunity to, I at least I believe to be true, learn how to be coached, learn, you know, how to handle certain circumstances under, you know, pressure or stressful situations, how to best identify, you know, some of those things that that trigger you or or get you fired up. You know, I I certainly didn't, you know, maybe behave the best, but I think I did all right. And where I'm going with this is that after you get through high school, for for many of us, you know, some are able to go and you know play in college. And as witness from the pod, you know, visited with a few folks that have had the opportunity to go out and play, you know, college golf and and even more. But for most of us, you know, our our real competitive sports opportunities end, uh certainly at least organized sports, end after high school. And you know, I guess it doesn't have to be a sport, right? I mean, there's there's other activities and things that you know other individuals might might compete in. So I don't want to pigeonhole this to just a sports type of comment. But again, point being, when when you don't have the opportunity to what I'll say scratch that itch of competition, right? When you don't have that opportunity to keep, you know, just flexing that muscle of competition, it makes me think of a saying that's been brought up a few different times, which is and all of you know it, you know, idle hands are the devil's workshop. And if you have a competitive spirit and you aren't given the opportunity or haven't prioritized an opportunity to try to scratch that itch of competition, you have to try to find a way professionally to bring that competition out and to create a competitive atmosphere in some way, shape, or form. Now, I'm not talking about Michael Jordan from the dance here, right? I mean, that's a different animal. And there's a cost to that type of leadership. And he's not immune to that, nor is he naive to that. So, you know, I I certainly don't think that the way in which Michael Jordan led the 1990s Bulls is a a Bible for what should be done in the workplace today. That's that's not that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is, you know, utilizing that competitive spirit to do the do the things professionally that you got that charge out of when you had that opportunity to compete, whether it be in a sport or another activity. And so then what then what's required? Okay, so you you've you've got yourself in the situation as a leader, perhaps where you have this competitive spirit, you have a drive and desire, you clearly have you know leadership qualities, most likely, or you you probably would not have found yourself into a position of leadership, or at minimum, you might have the title of a leader, but you're really maybe just a boss or a manager. And we've had that conversation before. And you know, leadership transcends the walls of an organization. Leadership gives you the opportunity to lead others and not just those on your team, right? Is it easy? No. I I I know I personally I miss I miss all the time, but the reality is you don't get to pick and choose if you want to be a leader when when you exhibit those traits, right? I just think of all the college football coaches right now. They're seeing a huge, huge number of, or excuse me, you're seeing a large number of individuals, college football coaches, big names, huge pedigree getting asked to step down from their jobs, i.e., getting fired. Now it's certainly a bit of a soft landing or a golden parachute when you get fired and they're gonna pay you$59 million or whatever the most recent one was for Brian Kelly down on LSU to not be on their team anymore. You know, clearly, as far as golden parachutes are concerned, that's about as good as it gets. So why why are those happening? I mean, the the best the best leaders, right, aren't coaches or only coaches, I should say. Okay. Why isn't why isn't what you know, why didn't Nick Sabin get run out of town? You know, I'm I'm obviously preferential to a guy like Kirk Ferrance, who coaches the University of Iowa and has for the last 27 years. They've had some issues, right? They've they've they've made a few mistakes, but I implore you to look back at some of the interviews of some of these guys that have come through some of these top programs. As, you know, much as I don't like the Minnesota Gophers, I just can't help but respect PJ Fleck. You know, he looks at things from a perspective above and beyond just simply what the football, the score on the scoreboard is at the end of a football game. And all of the best do that. And when it comes to leadership, at least in my personal opinion, that that is where the rubber meets the road, and that's where impact and influence can actually happen. Right. You're provided the opportunity of positional power, you're provided the opportunity by your organization to give you a title and an organizational chart that suggests that you know what you say goes in some circumstances, right? But it's not about that. That's not what is influence, that's not what can be influential. I mean, it can for a short time at least, but but again, that's just leading within the walls, that is managing within the walls. It's it's it's not it's not true leadership. And so the competitive spirit has to be scratched and it has to be done in a way that people want to follow. And I will go back to the belief that you know who you bring on the team is the most important part of your job as a leader. Who you choose to be the leaders on that team are the is is the most important job that you have as a leader. You know, companies companies don't create a culture, people do. Okay. There is no no no no company that creates a culture. Now, what companies can do is the same thing that really good leaders can do is facilitate an environment where things can grow. Right? That can be sales numbers, that can be culture, that can be people, that can be acumen, that can be you name it. Facilitate an environment where things can grow. If you do that, what could possibly go wrong? It might take time and it might take a little bit of coaxing to some of the people that you're either leading or you know that you are accountable to from an organizational perspective. But if you facilitate an environment where things can grow, humans have been doing that for for centuries, generations, forever, right? Try to create an environment where things can grow. And if you do that and you focus your time and energy on doing that, I have a hard time believing that there is too much that could go wrong. Now, it might not work every single time when you think of it from an organizational perspective, because of some of the things I just mentioned when it comes to perhaps some of the politics or just some of the organizational objectives that might not be aligned with who you are and what you have to offer. But that's where the values come in, and that and that's what I want to talk about a little bit next time as a through line for what I've been learning here in my first six episodes of the Time and Energy podcast. So thank you all for spending a few minutes with me here this evening. I look forward to getting back in touch with you all very, very soon. And thank you again for all the very nice comments, notes, emails, words of encouragement, as I mentioned before. Certainly humbling as it again, I sound like a broken record, but it but it really truly is humbling, as bucket-filling it is for me. It almost seems uh unfair at times. But please shoot me a note. Let me know your thoughts and and what else you want to hear about. It really, really means a lot to to know that we're hitting a few hitting a few ones square in the face here. So Nick at timeandenergy.co. That's nick at timeandenergy.co. Check out the website as well. Check out my blog. Well, we're we're having an opportunity to to spend a little bit more time here and you know, really utilizing a lot of what I've been learning here specifically this year from a professional perspective and trying to tie it together with some of the things that we've been talking about on the podcast and on the blog and and on the website. As a reminder, the website www.timeandenergy.co, not com but dot C O is a spot to go if you are a new leader, a new seller, or somebody that's just interested in trying to find a few uh good books to read or a good few YouTube videos to watch. It was just an again an opportunity for me to curate a lot of what I've been into and a lot of the things that have been influential to me, whether it's been books or YouTube videos, as I mentioned, other blogs, other podcasts, things that have have influenced kind of me and my way of thinking and and some of the concepts and and things I'm bringing to y'all here. So timeandenergy.co. Thank you again so much and look forward to connecting with y'all again here very, very soon. Take care and keep grinding.