Last week, during a leadership development meeting, I was listening to a speaker discuss keys to becoming a successful person. He had a lot of great points and I loved what he said, but his material isn’t what stuck out to me. What stuck out to me was the fact that he continuously referred to the group as “sports fan”. I don’t know how much you know about Georgia Tech, but sports are not something that we are well known for. Video games? Engineering? Math? Robots? Yes. Sports? No. I mean, our band even performs a tribute to science and math every home football game. So, if I were talking to a group of Georgia Tech students, “sports fans” is not something I would refer to them as.
Even though we are not too well known in the sport’s world, occasionally GT will do something to end up on ESPN. During the GT vs Miami football game a couple weekends ago, Georgia Tech actually made it on ESPN for something other than a blown play. Our football chaplain, Derrick Moore gave the best pre-game speech ever. If you haven’t heard it yet, I’ve included it at the bottom of this post. (P.S. This video will get you pumped up even if you don’t like football or Georgia Tech.)
There are a few things that Derrick says in his speech that I think are really important to everyday life. One thing he points out is that most of the hard work the team had done to prepare for the game was done in the off season. For those of you that don’t keep up with GT football, before this game, GT was 4-0 and went on to beat Miami and ended up ranked at 22 with a record of 5-0. This is a big deal because Georgia Tech hasn’t beaten Miami in 5 years or been ranked in quite a while so after the victory all the students swarmed the field. The team worked hard for that win and every one of them was cheered for by all the people in the stadium. That win was a result of a lot of work off the field during the off season. The guys had to lift weights and run while no one was watching in order to celebrate with all of Georgia Tech that night. The same applies to life outside of sports. We all have to do our best when no one is looking. If we want to achieve our goals, we have to work those extra hours and stay up late after all of our co-works have left and our boss doesn’t know we’re still there. We have to do things we don’t like or don’t want to do knowing that it will all pay off one day.
The other thing that Derrick says that stood out to me was when he talked about sacrificing for the guys next to you. Getting ahead in life isn’t about stepping on people and pushing them down to achieve your goals. My first internship really emphasized the importance of team work. Our promotions to management were based off of the accomplishments of our team and not just on our results. We had to make sure our team was meeting their goals in order to meet our own goals. During my time there, my manager was always willing to meet with me when I was struggling and never looked down on me for asking questions. He made sure to keep in contact with me during the day to make sure I was doing alright and would answer my phone calls immediately. Between my last internship and the internship I have now working at Radius, I have learned firsthand the importance of team work in the office. There is a quote, “the sum is greater than its parts.” Just like Derrick was saying and what my last internship taught, to be successful, you have work hard and help the people around you. When people work together, they achieve more than any one of them could do individually. Georgia Tech’s running back is pretty good, but there is now way he would be able to win a game on his own. He requires help from the quarterback to give him the ball and the line men to take out the guys in front of them. Do your job to the best of your abilities and sacrifice every day to push your team toward success. If you do your job and remember to support the people that you’re working with, there is nothing that your organization will not be able to accomplish.
Sincerely,
Online Marketing Intern