As a native son of the great state of Indiana, basketball played an integral part of my childhood. It was instilled in me at an early age, because when mom and dad needed a sitter, or for Tyler to stop fussing as an infant; the solution to keep me calm was to put in the tape of the 1987 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship game. As so many of you know, Keith Smart famously hit a baseline jump shot to give the Indiana Hoosiers the title. Naturally, to this day, basketball still influences my household.
So, when my son recently started playing soccer against other kids his age who were on a different skill level than he was, he struggled with keeping a positive attitude, and felt he didn’t fit in. I was searching and thinking of what I could say or do to help him as practices went on. I happened to come across a Brad Stevens interview. Brad is the former Butler Basketball head coach and now Boston Celtics coach. Brad said something that stuck with me, he said, “You got a choice - you either come in and let your circumstances control your attitude - or you let your attitude control your circumstances.” Thinking of this, I was able to help Tyson control his circumstances by helping him focus on things that would control his attitude.
- Be a great teammate;
- Celebrate your teammate’s success more than your own; and
- Stay positive.
These are all pretty basic. But, because Tyson now tries to focus on being the first to congratulate a teammate, help them off the ground, etc. he has a more positive outlook. He has been able to focus on the positives, and in doing so, he’s been able to improve his physical abilities because he isn’t worried about the mental side as much.
How does that relate to our industry? Well, many of us work for small companies. Maybe you have a small handful of employees, and maybe you collaboratively work in a group to achieve sales goals. Sometimes getting back to basics and focusing on the little things it takes to be a part of a great team helps us achieve a greater level of success.
May brings with it a membership drive. Part of our strategic planning session resulted in a desire to grow our organization, and we have set a year end goal of 400 members. There are companies out there we want to be a part of what the HBA does, and a membership drive can help us focus on recruitment. Our goal for the May drive is to grow by 30 members. That would be a great jump start to help get us to our year end goal. When asking someone to join, remember to ask them to not just join, but get involved. We have several committees to be involved with; they can volunteer or sponsor an event. And once someone has joined, stay around as a resource for them when they have questions. Encourage feedback, celebrate their successes with them. Just like Tyson with soccer, the more we can encourage and do business with our members, the stronger our organization can become.
Best regards,
Tyler Kees
HBA President