From Athlete to Executive: Founder Playbook

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1:02 They share a rhythm in the craft of making something timeless while being a part of legendary nights. From backyard jams to sold out arenas, there's a song in every toast. Please drink responsiblyresponsibility.org. Jack Daniels and old #7 are registered trademarks. Tennessee Whiskey, 40% alcohol by volume. Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, TN. And I really don't know the answer to this right now, but what I'm sure of, just like I know I can learn anything. I can find somebody who has the answer or find somebody who can implement for me or actually sit down and learn it for myself if I believe that is necessary.

1:42 There is a myth that goes around which is, you know, being smart is being correct most of the time or all the time nonsense. And you know, smart is fast. Well it varies. When I've worked with athletes, certain areas of the game they pick up incredibly fast and others are very slow to pick up. And then there's other areas where the same athletes 1 is suddenly faster than other thing and the the other athlete is slower. And so development is all at your own pace. And those 10,000 hours pretty much encapsulates what you have to go through to master anything.

2:31 Hi everyone, it's an absolute pleasure to be here again and thank you very much for listening to the show today. I'm going to talk about something that has really helped athletes in the past and that is what do Olympic champions and CEOs have in common as an example? Well, they all sucked when they started. Nobody starts an expert, Nobody is brilliant from the moment they pick up a tennis racket or the moment they kick a ball or the moment they decide to start a business or the first job that they have.

3:07 Everybody starts at the beginning. The other thing about it is wherever you are. So as a tennis analogy, if you know, you ranked, you know, 1000 in the world, well, the very best player in the world will have passed through the point where you're at now. They might have been 15 when when they passed this point. It doesn't matter how long or how quickly it took them to get there. The fact is they passed the point where you were at and they went on to do great things. Elon Musk did not start the richest man in the world at some point.

3:48 He went through wherever you are and went on to achieve whatever he's achieved. So never feel intimidated if you're effectively not good at something. Because that's another thing that has really comforted players and athletes that I've worked with and CEOs and C-Suite execs that I work with is the fact that whatever you need, you've proven you can learn. You don't get to a very high level if you can't learn what you need to learn. So whatever you don't know, it's fine. You can learn it all very importantly.

4:31 And and this I think is hugely beneficial in business. And that is to know who to delegate to your star people, the people that are gold dust, that can fulfil a lot of what you need done and happen to be very, very good at it. And you don't have to learn everything. One of the best learnings you can make is identifying who your star players are and that you can delegate to. So as a leader, you don't have to know everything. That's fine. It's easy to say, look, you know what, I need to reflect on this.

5:16 I need to find out who can help us with this. And I really don't know the answer to this right now, but what I'm sure of, just like I know I can learn anything. I can find somebody who has the answer or find somebody who can implement for me or actually sit down and learn for myself if I believe that is necessary. There is a myth that goes around which is, you know, being smart is being correct most of the time or all the time nonsense. And you know, smart is fast. Well, it varies. When I've worked with athletes, certain areas of the game they pick up incredibly fast and others are very slow to pick up.

6:11 And then there's other areas where the same athletes 1 is suddenly faster than other thing and the the other athlete is slower. And so development is all at your own pace, and those 10,000 hours pretty much encapsulates what you have to go through to master anything. You know the famous 10,000 hours and whether it's 9000 for some or 11,000 for others, it doesn't really matter. The fact is it takes a long time to master any subject, and therefore it's important to choose, well, you know what you want to master because if you're going to spend that much time mastering something, it better be something that you enjoy.

6:56 Smart actually, especially in today's age is failing faster. It's like, let's try this. If it doesn't work, boom, go on to the next thing. Let's try that doesn't work gonna that that's actually, you know, being smart. And you, you, you learn quickly what doesn't work and hopefully find what does work. And the last thing I want to say about everybody, you know, starting at the beginning and moving on from there to wherever, wherever you're going to go, a lot of it comes down to bravery. You have to make decisions in life that are brave in order to go forward.

7:38 Because even make your decision to try something knowing that you're probably going to fail is a pretty brave decision. And I've said this a few times on this podcast, and I've said it countless times in my career. The best tend to be the bravest because they stop actually being afraid of being brave. It's like, you know what? I just have to go for this and see what happens. See how it turns out. And that is a, a, a very useful attribute. And if you're going to be a leader, you have to be brave.

8:17 And the braver you are, probably the better leader you are. And that's not, you know, dumb bravery, just doing crazy stuff. It's really a bravery in understanding the decision that has to be made and take it on understanding also that it could fail. But that's OK. You'll learn from it and eventually get to where you want to go. Hope that helps. And that it wasn't repetitive. Sometimes when I'm sitting here talking, I think, holy moly, am I repeating myself because that's, you know, I, I, I really don't enjoy myself when people repeat themselves over and over again to me.

9:01 But I do know sometimes I have that tendency. So I apologize if I've repeated myself. And if you've enjoyed the show, please subscribe. Like do whatever that that you need to do. Whenever you listen to a podcast, you're asked to do these things. And I'm I would love it if you do the same for me. Thank you very much and speak again soon. Thanks for watching Locker Room Power with David Samuel. If you enjoyed the episode, hit subscribe and leave a comment on your favorite platform. See you in the next one.

9:44 This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.