For most of my adult life, when guys talk talking sports. I check out.
Part of it is because I’m into cooking, entertaining and weddings.
Which doesn’t make good fodder for man conversation.
But mostly it’s because I detest pretty much all organized sport.
I’m not into:
– Hours away from home
– Drinking beer and doing dumb stuff in public
– Memorizing stats and important sports moments
– Talking controversial plays the next day
– Glorifying testosterony fighting and garbage attitudes
(I know this is the worst of sports and there’s wonderful lessons to be learned.
I’m also highly supportive of playing actual sports )
I was mentioning this to my wife who was explaining a work world cup pool she was in and she replied “yeah but you are into a sport”….
Networking.
Crap.
As always, she’s right.
I have always said that networking is a contact sport
and I’m an addict – hook, line and sinker.
People often marvel at my time spent networking.
The parallels:
– Hours away from home
– Drinking too much coffee and consuming boxes of mints
– Memorizing career wins and skills of people in my network
– Learning about the secrets of every good career search expert
– I literally cheer when good things happening to good people
– Glorifying leaders of integrity who makes moves to change the world
I don’t idealize Kobe Bryant, Sidney Crosby or Chris Bosh
My superstars are Seth Godin, Robin Sharma, Marcus Buckingham and the Shepa team
( I should make trading cards!! )
I track careers.
I watch good managers turn into game-changing directors.
I study leaders without title who inspire by crushing challenges with sweat and work.
I mentor young people who reject entitlement and prove they’re here to contribute.
I invest in entrepreneurs who work smart and not just hard.
So yes I have a beer belly. It’s just not from a couch.
Thanks to an inspirational leader Steve Foran who through his video blog and great book have reminded me that it’s through my daily steps to improve the lives of those who accepted the challenge of being part of my network, what I call my “army of the passionate” that I can change the world.
Or at the very least feel a little better about the beer gut.
Confession 1: Many people who know me know that I frequent Blue Jays games. Confession, I know nothing about baseball. I just like being trapped with someone I respect or care about for four hours with a chance to talk because you could fall asleep and read a whole book at a baseball game. It’s a networking goldmine!
Confession 2: I’m an overweight bookworm who knows that sports and a healthy lifestyle are actually good for you period. I know that some of this is a way to explain away my inactivity. I know that many of the best in my profession are big on sports, specifically some running fetish.
Two of the best networkers I know are die hard sports participants and they meet more business and personal contacts in a year of intramural sports than I meet in two years of networking.