The Super Bowl is a game but, like sports in general, it offers useful life lessons that we can take with us . . . if we only look below the surface. As I watched the game, I saw a number of things. How many did you see?
1. As I pointed out last year, winning is a team effort. That was never more obvious than this year when the Steeler offense was going no where for most of the first half and the SeaHawk offense was moving the ball almost at will. All of the focus prior to the game was on the offenses and, in particular, the match up between the quarterbacks. But Pittsburgh’s Roethlisberger started horribly, piutting pressure on the defense. Seattle moved the ball against the defense but could not “seal the deal” with points as John Madden said diuring the game.
In his post-game comments, Coach Cowher spoke about the team effort that went into winning, in particular the coaches who put in an enormous effort all season long to adapt to the chages that kept occuring all season long.
Who are your coaches or are you trying to do everything by yourself? Champions take coaching
from the staff who are able to look at their performance and offer good advice that the pro adapts to. Wouldn’t that be helpful in your career planning?
2. Excitement is a great motivator; fear isn’t. Pittsburgh came out “jumpy” and unsettled. Penalties and poor execution on offense and on the defensive side of the ball almost put them ina big hole. Fortunately for them (but unfortunately for Seattle), each time Seattle moved the ball, the Steeler defense would hold. Pittsburgh scored right before the half making the score 7-3. Seattle had dominated the play through most of the half but was trailing.
When you interview, it is OK to be excited but arriving fearfully can cause you to make mistakes that can cost you the job you’re well qualified to perform. You don’t execute well on the interview and you go home to explain what happened. It’s a horrible feeling.
3. Critical mistakes will keep you from winning. Seattle arrived as a team who had not turned the ball over for several weeks and left as a team that dropped passes, threw a critical interception, fmbled at a critical juncture, committed costly penalties that cost them 14 points (or enough to win).
4. Try not to be predictable. The team that runs the same plays over and over again will be defeated. Pittsburgh buried Seattle with an end reverse becoming an option pass touchdown to Hines Ward. In their playbook all season, they only ran the play once all year.
5. Planning for next year started 72 hours after the teams left the field. That should be true oof how you start planning for your next career move. As someone once said, the person who gets ahead isn’t always the smartest and doesn’t always work the hardest . . . although those are great qualities to have. The person who gets ahead is the one who remains alert to opportunity. Sometimes that’s within an organization; sometimes it’s outside of it.
Good luck! Can’t wait for next year’s game. Giants vs. Indiana. That would be fun!
Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com
© 2006 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
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