Service Mindset
I often like to conceptualize the sports playing field as a safer, more controlled version of a battlefield; the players are the soldiers, the captains: the commanders, the coaches: the generals, and the fans: the families that the soldiers are fighting for. While the combat in sport will pale in comparison to the combat of armies, I think athletes can learn a great deal from soldiers and commanders.
In the book Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek discusses a story that involved the U.S. Military — specifically a U.S. Air Force pilot. The pilot was recognized for his bravery and his willingness to sacrifice himself for his team. When asked why the pilot would risk his life to save others, his answer was the same as those of many military members: because they would have done it for me. Simon goes on to point out that in the Military, they give medals to people are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may gain. On the contrary, he points out that in business, they give bonuses to people who are willing to sacrifice others so that they may gain.
Sports, as a comparison to war, can benefit from adapting this service mindset — looking for ways to assist their teammates at every possible moment. Servant leadership is one of the most important character traits for leaders of any team to possess. As Simon points out, leaders take the risk before anyone on their team; they choose to sacrifice so that their people can be safe and protected. The magic of great leadership is that when leaders sacrifice for their team, the team will sacrifice for the leaders. This creates a ripple effect within the group; it creates a culture of sacrificing for one another and looking to serve one another. This service can take place anywhere and can be adopted by anyone: ensuring everyone has food before beginning to eat, holding the door open to allow others to more easily enter a room or a building, helping to carry equipment or bags when someone is struggling to get it all, playing through pain to ensure your team has the best chance of victory.
Furthermore, Simon is quoted, “There is an entire section in the bookshop called self-help, but there is no section called help others.” Imagine how far a team could go by adopting a culture of service. Geno Auriemma understood the importance of the service mindset while coaching the 11-time NCAA championship-winning UConn women’s basketball team. On his MasterClass, he says,
On a great team, everyone does whatever the team needs. But the team tries to do as much as they can for what each individual needs. And that’s when it works the best.
The biggest reward of being a great teammate is you’ll always have a team to be on for the rest of your life. Beause someone will always want you as a teammate. That in itself is the greatest reward. … You know that your peers, people that you respect, want you on their team. … That means that they value you as an individual, and they value your skill. Because if it was just skill, but you were a horrible teammate, they wouldn’t want you on that team.
Perhaps the best case of sacrificing oneself for others was put on display by one of my all-time favorite athletes: Kobe Bryant. In an interview with Ahmad Rashad, Kobe was asked why he played through so many injuries/illnesses in his career when other pros would sit out and rest. His response was, “I remember being a kid and going to games — expecting to see the players play. It never occured to me at the time that they might be tired, they might be sore, they might be sick. It never occurred to me, I just wanted to see them do what they do. You’ve got to think about that. It doesn’t matter if I’m sick, it doesn’t matter if I have a sprained ankle. The kid that’s sitting in there might be the next me sitting up there — watching and trying to get inspiration from that. I need to go out there and play.”
In another interview at Valuetainment’s Annual Convention, Patrick Bet-David asked Kobe how he tolerates the pain he goes through in his sport. Kobe’s response was, “When you have hamstring injury, you pull your hamstring really really badly, you can barely walk, let alone play anything. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, whatever it is. You can’t do anything. Doctor tells you to go home, sit on the couch, rest your hammy, stay off of it, don’t get up, no sudden movements. You’re at home, all of a sudden a fire breaks out in the home. Your kids are upstairs, your wife is wherever she may be, shit’s going down. I’m willing to bet that you’re going to forget about your hamstring, you’re going to sprint upstairs, you’re going to grab your kids, you’re going to make sure your wife is good, you’re getting out of that house. Hamstring be damned; you’re not going to feel your hamstring. And the reason is because the lives of your family are more important than the injury of your hamstring. And so, when the game is more important than the injury itself, you don’t feel that damn injury.”
When the service mindset is adopted, it becomes easy to be a team player. You will begin to offer your help and make yourself more valuable to the team. Additionally, the more you sacrifice yourself for your team, the more the team will be willing to sacrifice themselves for you. Why? “Because they would do it for me.” To create a cohesive and winning team culture, it only takes one person to make the initial effort before the mentality begins to shift away from “how can I benefit from this team?” to “how can I benefit this team?”.
