Tom Brady was speaking to about 200 CEOs, telling them how he became the greatest football quarterback of all time. He was recently. good luck Global Forum in New York City, but he made only tentative connections between his career and the jobs of CEOs. This was clearly fine with the CEO. He is a football god with a great story to tell, and it was a thrill to hear it.
Still, let’s hope the CEO listened carefully. Whether he knew it or not, the story of Brady’s football career was a detailed lesson in CEO excellence. Decades of research have developed a recipe for excellence in any domain, and Brady’s lifelong football experience fits that recipe perfectly. While everyone’s story is unique, the factors that shaped Brady’s prowess over the years are not. Research shows that these same factors are key to world-class performance. It’s not quick or easy; There is no magic. But what worked for Brady really works for all of us.
The gist of his story is that he was no child prodigy quarterback, no natural star — quite the opposite. Check out his journey to greatness and see if you spot a pattern:
· In high school “I was the backup quarterback on a freshman football team that didn’t win a game,” he said. “We suck so bad, and they still won’t field me.” He became a starter as a sophomore because the previous starter decided he would rather play basketball. Importantly, Brady “consulted with one of my mentors who taught me how to throw the football. Every summer I went to his camp. I would continue to work on mechanics and technique on my own.”
He became good enough for the University of Michigan to recruit him, but as a freshman he was the team’s seventh-ranked quarterback. By the end of the year he had moved to fourth place. The following year he finished third, then second. After that he was back up for a year. In his fourth year he had to compete against a new recruit to become the starter, and he won. Yet again in his fifth year he had to contend with another quarterback, eventually becoming the starter in the second half of the season. In his thrilling final college game, his team beat Alabama, coming back from two 14-point deficits.
· “Everybody should see now, at this point, I’m going to be a great NFL quarterback,” he recalled. “No. No way.” He was 199 in the NFL draft.Th Pick, go to the New England Patriots, which he joined as the fourth quarterback. In his first year he worked his way up to third, the following year to second. Then the starting quarterback was seriously injured and out for the season. Brady went in as the starter, “and I never got off the field after that.” At age 24, after ten years of struggling, he was the starting quarterback for 19 seasons with the Patriots and three with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning a record seven Super Bowls and becoming the undisputed GOAT, all of which was bigger than time
Brady was doing what researchers call deliberate practice. It is specifically defined and not practiced as most of us imagine it to be. Its main characteristic is that it constantly pushes you just beyond your current limits, but not beyond. You can’t improve if you only practice what you can already do, and if you go too far, you’ll lose. As you improve, your practice must change, so you’re always pushing yourself to do things you absolutely can’t do. That’s what Brady was doing as he steadily climbed the multi-step ladder from backup high school quarterback to starting NFL quarterback to greatest NFL quarterback.
Deliberate practice requires other elements as well. It should be repeated a lot, which eventually changes your brain, and you should get constant feedback. Brady met those requirements in high school with a mentor who taught him how to throw and then with high-level coaches at Michigan and the NFL.
Another thing about deliberate practice: it’s not fun. Hank Heaney, Tiger Woods’ coach for many years, says that Tiger was an example of deliberate practice, which Heaney called “the hardest and highest level of exercise because it required a lot of work on weaknesses.” is….Great improvers are willing to get restless and make the mental and physical effort to overcome a flaw.Brady was provided with ideal conditions to practice, but he is a powerful one One could not become great without an inner drive that one had to find deep within oneself.
Deliberate action can also lead to leadership, though not in the way people might imagine. Brady’s team leadership was as important to his career as his own performance. His Patriots teammates elected him team captain for 18 seasons, and he was a co-captain for two seasons with the Buccaneers. The reason goes to the essence of deliberate practice, the need to make yourself uncomfortable. “I played with a lot of players, and part of my role as a leader was to make those guys feel uncomfortable,” he said. “As great as they were, I always focused on making sure they were working harder than they thought they could do.”
That’s the message Brady wanted 200 CEOs to remember. “Hopefully you find people who you love to work with, you push each other to succeed, you push each other out of your comfort zone,” he told them. “It’s okay to feel anxious. As long as we don’t stress our mind, it doesn’t thrive.
