It’s been nearly impossible to escape all the hype and round-the-clock media coverage before, during, and now after the Super Bowl. But even if you’re not a football fan, there are still valuable lessons to be learned about how to respond to unrelenting pressure and uncertainty. Take a few minutes to watch Bobbie LaPorte’s February 13 “Calling the Game” video for some key takeaways:
Insights for Executives on Maintaining Focus and Execution Amid Disruption
Hi, this is Bobbie LaPorte, back with another week of “Calling the Game,” where I share my own experience and insights while giving you valuable tools you can use to call your own game…and plan the best moves for you and your team.
This week’s vlog is a special Super Bowl edition. Let me share why.
Even if you are not a football fan, you’d have to be living under a rock to avoid the over-the-top hype and coverage in the media running up to Super Bowl Sunday. Just when I think they have covered it all and will run out of things to say, the media finds a new angle. From a painstakingly detailed analysis of every aspect of the teams to who has the best chance of proving the odds-makers wrong to who is better at staging a comeback, out-smarting, and out-coaching their opponent. And it goes on.
So why is this relevant to you?
Many of my clients are still experiencing the impact of a stalled job market, a slow-to-recover economy, and companies who continue to cut back lay off and take a very cautious approach to scale their business. Understandably so.
For many leaders, that means continuing disruption and uncertainty in the form of:
- Will my company be able to recover?
- When will they start to be a healthy enterprise and grow again?
- And if they don’t, what does that mean for me:
- will I have a job
- will there be more cutbacks in key projects
- will my manager change – again
And that is understandable as well. When we experience that much change and uncertainty, our default is to retreat, hunker down, and get stuck because there are so many things we just can’t predict.
Like the final score at the end of the Super Bowl game.
Leadership Lessons: Key Takeaways from Super Bowl Pre-Game Interviews
And how so do the players respond to all of the hype, conjecture, and uncertainty?
Everyone that I saw interviewed this past week had the same response:
- There are many things we can’t control.
- We can’t be distracted by the unknown.
- What we can control is our attitude, our focus, our preparation and execution – doing our job – on game day.
And that’s how you must approach your work if you are in a situation – like so many of us – where there are so many unknowns. Your focus needs to be on showing up each day and doing your best to execute what’s expected of you. And then let the chips fall where they may.
I know that may sound harsh, but it’s all you can do right now. With that, you’ll know you did everything you could to add value and contribute.
And, like the players added: just leave it all out there on the field.
OK, that’s it for this week’s “Calling the Game.” I hope this helps you gear up for a great week and navigate any curveballs that may come your way!