#Winning in 2011

Yeah, I did it. I pulled out the lame Charlie Sheen hashtag reference for a title. But it's retro now so it's okay to bring it back. Hear me out...

I was privileged enough to win a free pass by Karine Joly to attend the Worldviews Conference thanks to a contest on Karine Joly's collegewebeditor.com. It has been a great conference on the blend of social media, PR and #highered. For something this close, I planned my flight end of day so I could get the most out of the workday, but also be settled in time for the first day of sessions..Unbeknownst to me when I submitted my comment entry and won the free pass, the Boston Bruins would not only make it to the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup finals, but they would be in Game 7! As a lifelong Bruins fans since my Dad starting taking me to games when I was a kid in single digits, this was a BIG deal for me.

My flight was to arrive in Toronto at 8:15 p.m., right around the time the puck would likely drop after the introductions and anthems. Unfortunately, Air Canada customer service agents decided to strike this week. Delays were expected; and they occurred. Flight was delayed 50 minutes and we didn't land until midway through the second period. After being stuck on the tarmac even longer thanks to the limited staff, I raced my way through customs and to the baggage claim. Big kudos to Toronto's Pearson Airport for having flat screens at the baggage claim. Loved it.

Thankfully, we now have technology and platforms that allow me to share this experience with my family, friends and connections. While in Toronto, I was able to text with family back home in Massachusetts and with friends in Chicago and Pennsylvania; I was able to check in on Foursquare and engage with friends where they were geographically located on this special day; I was able to interact via Twitter and not only get updates about the game when I was missing the first half of the game stuck on a tarmac in Toronto, but i was also able to converse with so many long-time and new friends about this likely, once-in-a-lifetime experience; and I was able to engage on Facebook with an entirely other subset of friends around how lucky we are as Boston sports fans.

It is an amazing time to be alive and engaged. If this was 20 years ago (the last time the Bruins were in the Stanley Cup Finals), and I was stuck in a Toronto airport bar during Game 7, I would have not been able to connect with all of these individuals...unless i had lots of dimes, quarters or whatever it cost for pay phones at that time. I feel lucky to not only have been part of this experience as a sports fan, or lucky to be engaged in the digital marketing space, but I feel extremely lucky to have been able to engage in this experience as a human being.

Try not to forget how far we have come...and how lucky we are to be able to connect with each other in this way.

Brady and Belichick Are Overachievers

Just like Benjarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead, the two icons of the Patriots organization can also be considered overachievers. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were underdogs early in their careers and are still driven by that fact. It's no coincidence their team revels in the underdog role. 

We all know Brady was a sixth round pick, drafted 199th overall. He wasn't always the starter at both University of Michigan and early in his career in New England and he had to repeatedly prove that he deserved to play. That motivation from being overlooked still drives him today. Just take a look at the quote below by Tom Brady from a recent Bill Simmons article on the Brady and Manning rivalry.

"Being someone that many teams passed over," he explained, "there was a reason for it, you know? They didn't think I was a very good player, and they were probably right. I wasn't doing a good enough job listening to my coaches, I wasn't working at it hard enough, I wasn't good enough.
Going 199th, it forces you to be critical of yourself. That ends up being the best thing for you."

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAfter playing football at Wesleyan University in Connecticut , Bill Belichick didn't have the talent to play professionally, but went right into the NFL as a $25-per-week assistant for the Baltimore Colts head coach. I'm sure oaching in a sport that you played colleagiately is a dream, but the fact you are not playing must motivate you to succeed as a  coach. Despite his success rising through the coaching ranks, Belichick was not a sought after head coach after his four losing seasons during his five-year run leading the Cleveland Browns.

This season, Belichick was surely driven by the fact that his team was supposed to finish in the middle of the pack, considered too young to even make the playoffs. He knows how to take advantage of the underdog situation, whether it's his team or individual players. He is a master motivator. Whatever the hell they are, his motivating tactics are able to pull the best out of everyone.

These two icons are created in the same mold. They are driven by the fact they were not expected to succeed at this level, perhaps even considered overachievers. It was a perfect marriage that is the foundation that the past 10 years of New England Patiorts success has been built on.

My 20 Truths

I first saw this 20 truths post from Amber Naslund via Twitter. which not surprisingly was inspired by friend and former colleague, CC Chapman. I thought it was a great idea and figured I'd take a stab at what 20 truths were on my mind that day. Here we go:

1. I have historically not been a good listener, but I’m working on it.
2. Having kids really does change your life for the better. Whoever came up with all those cheesey sayings about it, they weren’t lying. 
3. Sometimes adults need babysitting too.
4. I wish old friends kept in touch better.
5. You grow fonder of your family as you grow older. I wish I knew that when I was younger.
6. People too often forget that marketing is all about the customer. If you're not listening to them, get off your high horse.
7. The world is full of great presenters and great thinkers. Unfortunately, the world has a very limited supply of great doers.
8. You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family...unless you’re a celebrity visiting an under-devoloped country. I’m still happy with mine.
9. I must really like both my job and my house because my commute really limits the amount of time spent with my daughter.
10. You grow much more comfortable with yourself the older you get.
11. If YOU are lucky, then YOU are involved in that luck. So i guess YOU actually do make your own luck.
12. Squirrels are an evil animal.This screaming squirrel has to scare you.
13. When I think about death, it scares me. That’s why I enjoy every day to the fullest and dont sweat the small stuff.
14. Everyone has secrets.
15. If you have been there a while and some people you work with don’t feel like family, there’s probably a better fit out there.
16. Not sure who or where I’d be without ever meeting my wife, but I’d definitely be worse off...and with a horrible wardrobe.
17. I really like making people laugh. When they don’t laugh, I don't like them.
18. I still think I had the talent that would have allowed me to play a sport professionally, if I truly had put in the effort and work ethic into the right one. That part is kind of important.
19. Life would be depressingly different if film and music were never created.
20. I don’t care if other blog posts inspire me to write a blog post. It’s called inspiration for a reason. 

Commitment & Will Power

Commitment is a funny word.  For years as a single male, I feared that word. Or did I pretend to fear that word when in fact I wanted commitment all along? Being in a fun marriage with a beautiful wife and the cutest daugther I could imagine, commitment is certainly not a thing to be scared of.

But what about commitment to work? Or better yet, commitment to working hard? Is that something people fear or are they just not willing to put in the effort?

A recent blog post by Kathy Hanbury discussed content strategy and her steps in how to make the process less difficult. The steps she outlined are the right process and if you actually take out the word content, they can work for any marketing, communications or related initiative.  What really stood out to me though was this quote:

"It's not hard to figure out what needs to be done. The challenge is in mustering the commitment and will power to do it."

This is so right on so many levels. Personally, I think it always comes down to effort.  Whether it's being successful in digital marketing and social media, in sports, in content strategy, in relationships, in  your work or in anything in life. Not everyone puts in the effort and nearly everyone has a lapse in effort at some point. Many times, commitment - an actual, real concerted commitment to make something better - and effort is what puts some people ahead on the depth chart. Are you putting in the effort and commitment?

Changing of the Guard

Many times in an organization or a sports team, there comes a time when new leadership is necessary to take your oganization or your team to the next level.  In start-up ventures, you see this moment of transition being even more important.  There comes a point where the business' founder realizes he or she does not have the skillset and expertise to bring the organization to the next level.  Some times, they purposely do not want to pass along the organization.  This could lead to a failed business or one with stagnant growth.

You know who needs a change in leadership?  The Celtics.  No, I'm not asking for Doc Rivers or Danny Ainge to get fired or to look for a new owner.  I'm talking about the entire team - ownership, general manger, coach and players - finally realizing that the true leader on this team is Rajon Rondo. 

When this team loses, it's not only because they look old, but they typically don't have one individual this year that rises above the others in terms of taking charge.  On many occasions, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce have all been that guy on this team and on others.  This year, that's not true.  Ray, while he's been the only healthy one this year, has not been shooting as years past.  With their injuries, Kevin and Paul are not the same players.  Rajon, despite hitting the floor more than anyone in the league, can easily take control of games and he's done so many, many times this year. His penetration, his defense and his passing are all-nba.  His shooting is certainly improving and that cannot be debated when you look at his field goal percentage this year of 53%. But it's time for his own organization to truly realize this is his team.  Don't just say he's the glue to the team.  Act like it.

He's been a quiet floor leader in the past, but he needs to be even more now with this particular team.  And what shows that he is becoming more comfortable as a leader is his willingess to call the team out with his words now.  I have no idea if he was referring to one individual or to many, but the fact alone that he said it shows his growing leadership skills. 

Yes, he plays with three future Hall of Famers.  But they are not at the top of their game at this stage of their careers. Rondo is by far their most imporant player. This entire organization, and even more so the New Big Three, needs to follow him and let him lead them to the finals. It is his team now. That is the only way this team goes anywhere this year...and likely the next couple years while all or some of the New Big Three are still in Boston.