Every once in awhile I come across a quote that makes me sit up and take notice. Such is the case with something that quarterback Tom Brady told Terry Bradshaw of Fox Sports in an interview before Super Bowl LI.
Now that New England won the game in the most dramatic come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl history 34-28 -- and in the process won his fifth Super Bowl championship ring and his fourth Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award -- Brady’s comments take on even greater significance.
“You get in the huddle and you call those plays, you have 10 other guys feelin’ your energy.
And when they get in the huddle with me, I want to look in their eyes, and I want them to feel a belief that we’re gonna do it.”
And what are you putting off? Are you putting off confidence? Are you putting off fear? You know they can feel that.
Unpacking this quote is instructive for anyone who aspires to be a quarterback on the field, but more importantly for anyone who wants to “quarterback” his/her team. So let’s dissect what Brady said.
“You have 10 other guys feelin’ your energy,” says Brady. Employees look to their managers for more than direction. They also look for emotion, that is, how a manager is feeling at any given moment. For this reason, managers are on stage. Like it or not. They are not on the playing field but they are in the game along with their employees.
Brady continues by questioning what emotions a quarterback is projecting. Is it “confidence” or “fear”? Players, like employees, can feel such emotion. A manager who is nervously pacing and seems too paralyzed to make a decision makes people feel uncomfortable. Who wants to follow that guy? At the same time, if a manager projects aura of self-control, and more importantly confidence, he or she makes it easier for employees to pay attention.
Now Brady gets to the heart of the matter. “I want to look in their eyes” when he is huddled as he calls the play. Most important, he wants his teammates “to feel a belief that we’re gonna do it.”
This statement is powerful. Managers need to know the hearts and minds of their employees. Not to the degree teammates on sports may do so, but it is important to understand what each person is capable of doing. And importantly to trust him to do it! When this occurs the “belief” -- as Brady calls it -- takes over and players want to it their all. Very importantly, players understand that their leader believes in them. Confidence inspires confidence.
As a side note, the confidence Brady projects led him to cut a commercial for a local New England health care facility in which he talks about his “fifth ring.” In short, Brady was guaranteeing victory – at least to himself and the video production crew. Victory was palpable for Brady and no doubt that was a sentiment he conveyed in the huddle.
Look, management is not a do or die enterprise the way we pretend professional sports are. For one thing, a game lasts sixty minutes or so; employees work for decades. Players too spend years practicing but their moments of glory come down to minutes or an hour-long highlight reel. The rest of us spend years adding to our own highlights.
That said, the highlights will be made brighter when we have leaders like a Tom Brady who inspire us with their example and understand that part of their job is to radiate confidence that inspires us to excel.
