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“Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles?”
I recently watched the movie Miracle again. This film is a staple of Minnesota culture depicting the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team that defied all odds and beat Russia in the finals, going on to win the gold medal. The movie primarily focuses on the head coach Herb Brooks, who was an exceptional mentor, leader, and hockey mind.
One part of the movie especially hit home for me. After only the first day of tryouts, Herb already has his team picked out. Upon seeing the roster, assistant coach Craig Patrick tells Herb, “You’re missing some of the best players,” to which he responds, “I’m not looking for the best players, Craig, I’m looking for the right ones.”
The reason I feel so connected to this quote is because I’m also going through a sort of ‘tryouts’ right now. Searching for a candidate to fill our new outside sales position, it’s been quite difficult narrowing the list down. Unlike Herb, I’ll need more than just one day. But I find myself not always liking the candidate with the most success or credentials, but the one that just feels right.
It’s the intangible and underrated characteristics of a person that make them a great member of a team – even a sales team. And make no mistake, we are a team. I’ll borrow from Herb again when I say that while my team might not be the most talented team, they are the right team, which is all the more important to winning, as proven by the group of misfit college hockey studs who won the gold in 1980.
“Do you believe in miracles?” My answer is “YES!”
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Derek Kropp is Bluewater's EVP of Business Development, and has seen the Bluewater strategy through since the beginning. An avid athlete, outdoorsman, and artist, when he's not at his desk, you can catch Derek setting the lineup for his Fantasy Football team, or at his kids' lacrosse games.
Loved that movie too! Especially the part where Brooks kept asking “what team do you play for” and didn’t let them stop doing the crushers (or whatever it was) until they all “got it” and finally answered USA (instead of U of M, etc).
Nice post, Derek!
I’ve seen the movie too! Really an incredible story! It reminds me of a book I read several years ago; Endurance the real life story Ernest Shakleton, the adventure and survival of over a year on the ice bound Antarctic seas. He and his team of 28 survived. It’s an inspiring story of courage, leadership & endurance AND having the right team of people on board!
In my “previous life” when I was looking for new employees- I experienced the same problem as you; on paper they looked perfect but in person, not so much. I had more success and less turn over in the team when I went with my gut and hired the person that didn’t necessarily have all the bullet points of experience, but something else. Its the “something else”, that uniqueness that can make them more attractive as a candidate! Winking
Shelly – Name on the front of the jersey vs. the name on the back?
You see it all the time in professional sports when assembled “dream teams” fall flat on their faces due to lack of teamwork and leadership …. eventually they figure it out.