12. Leadership: Are You Playing The Right Game With Wrong Equipment?

Hey my friend, welcome back to leadership in a nutshell where we're cracking the code of the driven mind like you and I have. So thank you for being here with me. Episode number 12 where we're wondering about this right game, wrong equipment. That's the question today. Sometimes we end up playing a game that we're not well equipped to play play. And yet if we continue to play with that equipment, if we continue to play with the same rules that we think that exist for the game that we're playing, we're going to continue to not get the results that we desire. So today is about really diving into that in our overall lives and our leadership ability, where else this shows up. Remember, the way you do anything is the way that you do everything and nothing is different here. So, you know, when, how about this, we go back and you think about, you know, how many of us wanted to be some sort of a professional something when we grew up. Some of you wanted to be in art, some wanted to be musicians, some wanted to be athletes. You know, some wanted to be all kinds of different things. Generally, you know, if you're, if it's an actor, it's because you've seen somebody on a movie. If it's an artist, meaning, you know, a rock band or something like that in music, art. I'll say sometimes that had something to do for me. I wanted to be a professional baseball player. For whatever reason, I had a little bit of skill as a player. And as I say that out loud, let's not tell ourselves story. My father was a really, really good catcher. He played fast pitch softball back in the 70s, late 60s 70s when he was stationed in, excuse me, in San Diego at Camp Pendleton. As a Marine he got really, really good and became, you know, got on a state traveling and traveled all over state of California. So as I came up, my dad taught me skills of how to be a good catcher and I became a good catcher in baseball. And therefore generally, do we like the things that we end up being pretty good at? Absolutely. You know, we do. So I wanted to be a professional baseball player. Now, as a conscious human being at this stage in my life, you know what's amazing? I. I'm super grateful that I didn't, quote, make it as a professional baseball player. I don't want to be on the road seven, eight months a year, traveling away from my family, making a measly few million bucks a year, right? And you go, what? Stop it, Kenny. All of us want to make millions a year. What I know is that there's a quality of life that is desired at different levels. There's a thermometer, if you will. There's a thermostat, if you will. There's, you know, there's different things that create what you want in your life. For me, probably why I never became a professional baseball player. I didn't take it serious enough, remember? I didn't take it serious enough in order to elevate my game to get to what I said as a child that I wanted. Now this podcast exists. Our time together exists to talk real to you, to get some things on the table and go, it's okay. Guess what? It's okay. I told myself that in high school. It's okay that I, that I did that to. I lettered all four years of my high school career and I was one of the three freshmen to make the varsity team and I got a letter that year because I played enough. That's all great. What I learned was to how to perform at certain levels. What I didn't learn was how to perform at the highest level. Now I want you to think about that for your own life. The whole highest level in your business career. What does that mean? Perhaps you're playing the right game but you don't have the right equipment. And think about that in business for a moment. What if I have a manufacturing company but I'm playing the games of a service business? What if I own a fast food restaurant but I'm playing the same game that a high end steakhouse plays? There's going to be different everything from price point to food cost, to team member count to hours to location to marketing. Do you follow me a little bit here? You could say you're playing the same game I'm in, the restaurant game. However, the rules are very different. So maybe you're playing the right game, but you've got the wrong equipment. Meaning I don't have what I need in order to win and in that capacity. So I just want you to really take a moment and step back here and go, hang on. Now remember, I don't know what it's been six, eight weeks, the way time goes, who knows, maybe it's been a few months ago now. The Last Dance came out a little documentary series on the Chicago Bulls the last year that they won their sixth championship with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen and those guys and whatever. If you're not into sports, stick with me because this is applicable in chess. This is, you know, if you're playing chess and all you have are checkers. You're not going to be very successful. Right. You know, we could take a step back into all these different things. But I do want to hang on this last dance thing just for a moment because when you look at that, you realize that Michael Jordan was wired as a winner. I don't say Michael Jordan was wired as a happy individual. I don't say that he was wired in order to find fulfillment. I say he was wired as a winner in the game of basketball. Now I would also say he was wired to win in a lot of different capacities. Why did he like to gamble? Why did he become pretty darn good at baseball when he retired from basketball for that 18 months, whatever it was, right? Certain people go, this is what it takes to win. What happened when Jordan quit basketball? He, he had to completely change his regime for working out. Sure, he brought his personal trainer with him, but all of a sudden they said it takes a different body, it takes different conditioning, it takes different rules of the game, if you will, to win at baseball than it does basketball. Jordan was smart enough to know what it takes to win at a particular game. He knew what equipment you needed to show up in in order to win. Now, was he going to be the greatest baseball player of all time? Nobody knows when we probably go, well, I don't know. However, he didn't make his high school basketball team either. He wasn't highly regarded his freshman year of college. So different things kind of take place as we look at how maybe he could have really caught on and figured things out. What they did say is if there wasn't a strike that year, that he probably would have ended up in the major leagues. Think about that greatest basketball player in history at that time. And then all of a sudden now he can become a pro baseball player. Why are you talking about sports, Kenny? I'm not talking about sports. I'm talking about how you're wired to perform. And as a business leader, as a leader in your church, as a leader in your community, as a leader in your family, why ever. You're joining us listening today, listening to this podcast, listening this time together, I want you to realize that it takes a winning mindset that to accomplish what you want. So I like to use the angle of game. One of my favorite books called the Great Game of Business, written by Jack Stack many, many years ago, talking about a manufacturing company where he gets team members involved in playing games for a year or for a three year strategic plan and then he breaks that down into mini games. People like to play Games. If you don't believe me, look at network TV right now @ the time that we're recording these. There's all kinds of games and competition. People love that. So what if you had a little game in your business where you decide what's the game that I'm playing now? Let's make sure I've got the right equipment. What are the rules that I need to know about? Because every game, what we do know, whether it's chess, whether it's a board game, whether it's one of the sports, there are certain measurements, there's a scoreboard, there's statistics. I wanted to be a pro baseball player. Guess what? I would have had a baseball card and on the back of that card would have had my batting average and my on base percentage and my slugging percentage and all these different things like that on base, all those things. Where does that show up in your life? And that can show up in your relationships. That can show up how well you are at taking free time, that can show up how often you take your kids to school, that can show up how often you actually turn your phone off and have a technology free evening with your family. There's all kinds of different measurements here. This is not just about business, it's about leadership, my friend. And when we look at that and you go, hmm, you're right, Kenny. There are some different measurements, there are some different ways where we keep score, where we kind of look at. Where do I want to do that? So here's what I would ask you to think about for a moment. I said earlier I didn't become a major league baseball player because I didn't take it seriously. Could I have developed the skill? Jim Abbott was a one handed pitcher. There's a chance that you can develop a skill. Michael Jordan, everybody says using his God gifted talent, what about his God given drive? And I'm not saying, like I said, it's not about him being happy. He had such a winning thing. That's why he got, you know, whether whatever you want to call it an addiction, you want to call it a fun, you want to call it a side. Not here to debate anything. I think MJ did a lot for a lot of people. However, what I do want you to realize is he's in tears at the end of the documentary. Why? As a behavior expert, as I study the human mind, there's some things that were left on the court, there's some relationships that were left unmended. Possibly there's some different things. I'm not Here to whatever. It's an entertaining thing. I take what I can from the parts of Michael Jordan that I go, wow, that is a winning mindset. That doesn't mean Kenny Chapman has to show up and scream and yell at his teammates. And that just means that I get to realize if you're going to play at the highest level, your highest level, you've got to take it seriously. So the main thing that I would leave you with here as we wrap up today, you know, it's like, where in your game are you not taking it seriously when I say maybe I'm playing the right game, but I don't have the right equipment? Maybe it's the right game, wrong equipment, Maybe my equipment needs to change. With my mindset of how serious it I'm taking this game that I'm playing, I want to improve my health. How serious am I taking my health if I want to improve my finances? How serious am I taking my finances if I want to improve my recruiting program? Same thing. Marketing reach. Same thing. Everything we do has to do with measurement and getting statistics. One of the statistics that I get in my podcast here are how many downloads I get, how many subscribers I have. If you enjoy our time together, do me a favor, hit that subscribe button. Would be honored if you would leave me a rating and a review as well. Please do me a favor, help me out there. Why? Because Apple's checking my statistics. YouTube's watching how many views I get? Right. I'd say that jokingly. No, really, do go ahead and please subscribe. But in all seriousness, take this seriously. You're playing the game of life. You don't know how long you've got. Why not play full out? You're playing the right game. Let's use the right equipment. This has been episode number 12, Leadership in a nutshell, Cracking the code of the driven mind. I'm Kenny Chapman, your host. Can't wait to see you next.