One of the most beneficial things that came from my football playing days is the ability to make and retain relationships. Football is truly a team sport and businesses are run like a team. I have made my best friends from the sport, and I am even close with the guys that I did not hang out with.
Attributed Abilities
- Ability to build relationships
- Ability to maintain relationships
- Ability to problem solve in relationships
- Ability to communicate clearly
These abilities were all taught to me by relationships that I had with coaches and players on my team. If you did not like someone for some reason, then you better go up to them and figure it out because at the end of the day they are your teammates and you are all focused on the sames goals.
I have had to mend relationships with some of my good friends because they played on offense during practice and I was on defense. There was a battle everyday, but everyday we would fix the problems because we were all one team.
The coaches taught you that you have to respect the people that were in charge, but also treat the guys on either side of the field with you with the same respect. It is way easier and you will be much more successful if everyone is friendly with each other and share common goals. If someone is having a down day, you better pick them up because they will just make it miserable for everyone else as well.
Transition
The transition the the business world is pretty simple. Again, everyone works together as a team in a business and it is very important to have relationships with everyone around you. There will be people of higher standing than you and people of the same standing as you. The right thing to do is treat everyone with the utmost respect. The ways we learned to maintain relationships and the importance of them will transition seamlessly to the business world.
Nik Koelblinger 