We Don’t Succeed Alone
Come with me for a moment and reflect on a time when all your focus seemed to be on achieving one specific and important goal. You worked harder, longer, smarter than usual and you, ultimately, crushed it! Do you remember that especially accomplished feeling?
For many of us, recalling that feeling and then aiming to duplicate it is a great motivator that helps us focus on nailing future opportunities. These memorable achievements help us keep our focus which drives us to exert the necessary effort that will lead us to experience that feeling again and again.
That accomplishment you’re reflecting on may have been any number of triumphs and could include completing a successful project on time, securing a new client, earning a professional designation, settling a complex legal case, or delivering a game-changing presentation.
Now think beyond that feeling and consider how you achieved your success. What was unique about your approach? Who were the people that helped you specifically and directly? Did help come indirectly? Did your supporters stand right there beside you in real time or were they more behind the scenes? Might that influence or assistance happen sometime in the past and your project needs pulled such consequential influence back into your world? Finally, was your successful outcome impacted by a past experience; perhaps even an unsuccessful one?
Over my career, I can think of several business examples that fit my earlier call for reflection. In my formative and memorable days with American Re and as a member of the Facultative Underwriting team, we were consistently successful for three reasons. First, we were subject matter experts with diverse experience who built trusted client relationships and were passionately client focused. Second, we had the best process and technical support in the business. Last, the people that came before us paved the way by establishing our company’s enviable reputation and they showed us the path toward sustainable success.
Life’s lessons and those learned from sports are beautifully linked. As I’ve written before, I’m lucky that examples of this beautiful link are plentiful, diverse, and experienced over a fulfilling life of participating in team sports.
On the high school gridiron, our Cardinal O’Hara football team won the Philadelphia City Championship during my senior year. We had the “once in a high school player’s lifetime” opportunity to play at Veterans Stadium, home of our beloved Philadelphia Eagles! As you’d imagine, after the victory there were exuberant celebrations and recognition of commitment, sacrifice, and hard work by the team. Shortly following us congratulating ourselves, our Head Coach, Bob Ewing, took the timely opportunity to teach us another valuable life lesson that resonates so many years later. Coach Ewing reminded us that we didn’t achieve this outstanding accomplishment by ourselves. In fact, there would have been no City Championship without the love, support, and sacrifice of our parents, our teachers and administration, and, especially, those players who came before us and showed us how to handle ourselves in victory and defeat.
It’s been my experience that none of life’s successes are the result of one person’s effort exclusively. Even though it may not always be apparent, what we achieve is usually a result of more than you or me individually. There is always someone or a group of people who love and support us either directly or indirectly and show us the way toward success.
John Vasturia is a proud member of two Ivy League Football Championship Teams and a Co-Captain of the Varsity Baseball Team at the University of Pennsylvania.