Yesterday’s game was no exception, and I have to share a few observations that I found particularly interesting.
1. LEADERS SHOULD NOT TAKE TOO MUCH CREDIT FOR OTHERS’ TALENTS
A few years ago, I read a book about the success of Patriot’s coach, Bill Belichick, and blogged about what I learned here.
The book was both very lengthy and meaty, but it turns out the entire book could have been shortened to only three words: Draft Tom Brady. 😊
What made yesterday’s Super Bowl so interesting to so many is that it sort of settled the debate about whether the New England Patriots were so good b/c of Belichick’s coaching or b/c of Tom Brady’s quarterbacking.
This season certainly seems to imply it was the latter, as New England did not even have a winning season (after Brady left for Tampa Bay).
Interestingly, we saw a similar situation with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s when owner Jerry Jones took too much credit for his coach’s (Jimmy Johnson’s) success.
Johnson promptly quit as a result and Dallas has never been the same since.
Lesson for Leaders: Never take too much credit for the talents of your team.
2. COMPANIES THAT ADVERTISED IN 2001 THAT ARE LONG GONE
Below is a list of companies that advertised during Tom Brady’s first Super Bowl in 2001 (from Twitter):
AOL
Blockbuster
RadioShack
Circuit City
CompUSA
Sears
HotJobs
Yahoo!
VoiceStream Wireless
Gateway Computers
All of these companies are either long gone or barely shells of their former selves – and nobody saw the freight train coming that was going to crush them all.
I wonder what behemoths advertised this year that will also be long gone in twenty years?
Here is a running list of all of the major Super Bowl ads, with the likes of Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Cadillac, Frito-Lay, Fiverr, Guaranteed Rate, Rocket Mortgage, Jimmy John’s, M&Ms (Mars), Pringles, Samuel Adams and many others.
Lesson: Expect change in ways that nobody expects.
3. ROCKET MORTGAGE ADVERTISES FOR JVM LENDING (SO NICE OF THEM)
Rocket Mortgage had two ads (one of which can be seen in the link above) touting Rocket’s “certainty,” technology and the power of local brokers.
I loved this b/c “certainty” and technology are two of the things we tout heavily at JVM and probably do much better than Rocket, if only b/c we get deals that blow up at Rocket.
Most interesting though was the fact that one of their ads showed somebody typing “Walnut Creek Mortgage” into a search bar (no idea why).
But, when you type in that query, no matter where you are in the U.S., JVM Lending dominates the organic results.
As a result, I would like to formally thank Rocket here. Thank you Rocket. 😊
4. SUCCESS IS FOR THOSE WHO ARE PATIENT AND PERSEVERE – NOT JUST YOUTH
This is not about Tom Brady being 43 but about Tampa Bay’s head coach being 68!
There are literally hundreds of coaches in the college and professional ranks who are in their 60s and 70s and who continue to toil away at their craft long past typical retirement age.
This alone is a great lesson – do what you love and you won’t want to retire.
But, what I love most though is how so many of the coaches don’t give up or get discouraged if they do not get a chance to grab the “brass ring” in their youth.
Many coaches continue to persevere until their opportunity comes – no matter how long they have to wait.
I love this lesson b/c I see all too many “youthful” business people get unnecessarily discouraged if they are not fabulously successful by age 30 or 40.
5. PERSEVERANCE/NOT GETTING DISCOURAGED
Leonard Joseph Fournette III is the Tampa Bay running back who had a standout game yesterday.
What is so interesting about Fournette though is that his former team (the Jaguars) cut him in August and put him on “waivers” b/c no team would take him in a trade.
Given his youth (he was only 25) and enormous potential, this had to be devastating for him.
But, we all know the rest of the story – he persevered and ended up starring on a championship team.
Jay Voorhees
Founder/Broker | JVM Lending
(855) 855-4491 | DRE# 1197176, NMLS# 310167
