Nine out of ten times we play this team they would beat us. But not tonight, because tonight is our night. Tonight we win. -Herb Brooks (1937-2003) Coach of the US hockey team and winners of the 1980 Gold medal.
In his book, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber talks about the franchise prototype. A place driven by systems. A way of doing things that is replicatable, duplicatable. Successful businesses are often boring. They seem to just do the same-old-same-old over and over again. Rinse and Repeat; Rinse and Repeat. Gerber also talks about a place like McDonald’s where a bunch of kids are at the helm of a massive ship; an economical juggernaut! Literally billions served!
How can this be? How could it be that many successful businesses crank out such incredible results? Gerber calls it a place where ordinary people create an extraordinary result! If you look around you find it everywhere. How about sports? For years the Russian hockey team dominated international hockey following a system; of course until an upstart bunch of kids following another system knocked them off the podium! How in the world could that have happened?
If you study the story more closely you’ll learn that a guy by the name of Herbie Brooks taught those kids about discipline. The discipline it would take to be the best in the world. He also taught them about conditioning. He knew that their inherent weakness of youth could be turned into an asset. The young legs and hearts could be there in the end to carry the team to victory if he could only show them a system of how to get there.
You see many of us are in the same place whether we’re young or old. The first thing we do is underestimate what we’re capable of. We simply see the mountain and hide. The monster stares us in the face and it seems insurmountable. So much work; so much preparation; many failures on the pathway riddled with obstacles and demons. Success seems limited to the gifted, those with the God-given talent. Why even start down the path?
Because it’s right there for the taking. I’ve seen it firsthand. Right in front of my eyes I saw it happen just last week. Another bunch of kids that I’ve watched since they could barely stand up straight on skates. Kids from a suburb of Minnesota called Edina just dreaming of the day that maybe they could skate in a state tournament and just feel what it would be like. I can remember the stands filled with parents hoping against all odds. A crowd filled with former athletic superstars who knew the massive task at hand; true experts who had lived the struggle themselves. How could these kids even have the courage to dream so large and step from the shadows of anonymity?
The years went by like lightning and I only had a few occasions to visit from out of state to take my place and root them on. But there they were getting better and better. Not by leaps and bounds; but slowly and steadily. Grinding away and believing in spite of the setbacks and bad years. I can see the names on the backs of their shirts emblazoned in my head: Chapman, Taft, Cit, Cutshall and the rest of the boys.
Forever together, and maybe they didn’t even realize what type of journey they were on. Maybe they still don’t realize what they were doing; but I’ll tell you. They were fulfilling Ray Croc’s vision. They were systematizing. The passes were getting crisper. The shots more accurate. The checking even tighter yet. But there was something missing…the super star.
Where was he? When would he emerge? When would he take control? When would he show up to take this team over the top? How about never? You see this group of kids didn’t need a super star. They just needed to stick together and keep grinding. When one fell down they simply needed to pick him up. When one fell overboard they just threw him a life preserver and encouraged him. They were there for each other. They knew it was a game of inches so they fought for millimeters. Instinct told them exactly where to be for each other because they had wired themselves for teamwork over the years. So what happened…
Flash forward to the semi-finals when they won the game. A player of the game was named and the TV crew searched him out…nowhere to be found…instead they wrestled for one of them to say something to the audience about the victory. Stoically and humbly he talked about the team…the under-rated bunch of kids that nobody had picked to win or even be this far…he talked about each and everybody just playing their parts…no need for a super star.
In the finals they came out flying and by the time the opponent made its push, it was simply too late. The Edina Hornets had claimed the state’s greatest high school hockey honor. A victory that had started many years ago was finally realized. The taste of success was branded permanently on these kids. The conversations will never go away about the time they finally reached the summit.
For some of them, it might even be the last time they ever play the game again in a competitive setting. However, the life’s advantage they have gained will start to become more obvious as time wears on. These kids will realize that they have learned a lesson about “ubuntu”; that none of us is greater than all of us. Some of the greatest achievers of modern and ancient times alike understood this…together a bunch of ordinary people can get whatever they work for if they really want it!
This is dedicated to the boys of Edina Hornets hockey team. May you all take this experience and use it to lead the people you come in contact with the rest of your life…that is your new calling!!
Tags: Edina Hornets, Inspiration, Motivation, Self Help, Self Improvement, Systems, Team Work
Leave A Reply (No comments so far)