When I was in business school, my specialization was "Leadership and Management," which sometimes prompts people to poke fun at me and ask me how my MBA taught me to lead and manage people, as if that can't possibly be taught (I believe it can, but that's not the point).
Earlier this year I read Good to Great, a book that I'm pretty sure they should never let you out of business school without having read it first, but whatever. It's all about what differentiates good companies from great ones.
One of the things the book talks about is the difference between leadership and management, something that I don't think any of my MBA classes ever really touched on. The difference, to put it far less eloquently than the book does, is that management is about strategic direction, and leadership is about accomplishing tasks that fulfill that direction. The problem with a lot of companies is that they get so bogged down in DOING that they never take a step back to wonder if they're even doing the right things.
This resonated with me not in a business sense, but in a LIFE sense. And I have a stupid yet perfect example of it.
In early 2009 I was going through a rough patch, and so in order to distract myself from the things that were bothering me I started watching a lot more TV. I found television to be a convenient way to put my thoughts on hold for 30 to 60 minutes. During this period I became a fan of American Idol.
In 2010, having been so into American Idol the prior year, I added it to my spring TV rotation. I kept watching every week, only this time, things were different. I wasn't riveted to the screen. I would fast forward certain parts, or get distracted by Facebook during performances. I didn't even bother watching the results shows, opting to just find out later who got kicked off.
Yet I kept watching. Because I HAD to. I'm a fan of American Idol now! I watch this show! Must check this off the weekly TV to-do list!
One day, I had a realization.
I FUCKING HATE AMERICAN IDOL.
And so, just like that, I stopped watching. I have no idea what happened for the rest of that season or any season since then.
When it came to my television habits, I was leading my life, but I wasn't managing it. I got so caught up in the shows I thought I liked and stressing myself out about whether or not I had actually seen that week's episode that I was completely ignoring the fact that I wasn't even getting enjoyment out of it anymore.
TV is unfortunately not the only area of my life where I feel like I'm going through the motions but not actually thinking critically about whether what I'm doing even makes any sense. So I'm going to try to be more cognizant of the things I do, particularly the routine ones, and think about whether I'm doing them because I've always done them or because they're really helping me achieve some sort of goal or purpose. Results TBD! Or you know, not.
And in an unrelated (or possibly related, if I gave it some more thought) note, I'm quitting drinking for a month. Extra extra, read all about it.
The joy of sports
Monday, April 2, 2012
Labels:
Stratejoy,
Volleyball
For someone who doesn't like sports, I actually really like sports.
Wait, what?
Seriously. I don't follow any sports. I say I like the Mets and the Knicks, but that's mostly because I grew up with a brother who does. I haven't paid much attention to baseball since high school, and I haven't REALLY cared about the Knicks since 1996. I don't care enough about football to even pretend I have a preference for one team over another.
That being said, I love playing sports. LOVE IT. Unfortunately for me, my sport of choice as a child was gymnastics, which means that while I can still do a perfect cartwheel, I never really learned how to play basketball, baseball or soccer, all of which are more common for someone to play as an adult than, you know, walking across a balance beam.
I thankfully picked up volleyball in high school, and this has been my one saving grace of sports because that actually IS something you find yourself doing casually, at least on occasion.
The reason I love volleyball, and why I imagine I would love soccer or basketball or whatever other sport if I played any of those, is that allows me to have a shared understanding with someone without even knowing them.
The volleyball community in New York City is surprisingly small, I've learned. Over the years I've played for a number of different leagues, as well as at the YMCA. Almost every time I play at the Y, someone shows up wearing a t-shirt from one of the leagues I've played in. A few times, someone I've played with in a league has shown up at the Y.
Volleyball players know volleyball players, and every so often I'm asked to step in and help a team that needs an extra player or 2 on a given night. A few of these times, I've gone to courts around the city to meet up with a team where I don't even know anyone, because the person who referred me was one of the players who couldn't make it that day. And while I'm not normally super comfortable with strangers, I'm so much better meeting someone on the court than, say, at a party. There's a shared language that comes with any sport, and once we start passing the ball around, discussing who plays what position and what kind of rotation to use, it stops feeling like a struggle to find common ground with new people and starts feeling like home.
It's amazing, when you think about it. How sports allows you to bond with people over a shared set of rules that temporarily governs your actions. I love it.
And in other sports news, I won my March Madness pool!! BOOYAH. $90, all for me.
And in other unrelated news, I am baaaaaaack at Stratejoy today. Read about how I got to write my own job description and then found out it wasn't actually for a real job at all.
Wait, what?
Seriously. I don't follow any sports. I say I like the Mets and the Knicks, but that's mostly because I grew up with a brother who does. I haven't paid much attention to baseball since high school, and I haven't REALLY cared about the Knicks since 1996. I don't care enough about football to even pretend I have a preference for one team over another.
That being said, I love playing sports. LOVE IT. Unfortunately for me, my sport of choice as a child was gymnastics, which means that while I can still do a perfect cartwheel, I never really learned how to play basketball, baseball or soccer, all of which are more common for someone to play as an adult than, you know, walking across a balance beam.
I thankfully picked up volleyball in high school, and this has been my one saving grace of sports because that actually IS something you find yourself doing casually, at least on occasion.
The reason I love volleyball, and why I imagine I would love soccer or basketball or whatever other sport if I played any of those, is that allows me to have a shared understanding with someone without even knowing them.
The volleyball community in New York City is surprisingly small, I've learned. Over the years I've played for a number of different leagues, as well as at the YMCA. Almost every time I play at the Y, someone shows up wearing a t-shirt from one of the leagues I've played in. A few times, someone I've played with in a league has shown up at the Y.
Volleyball players know volleyball players, and every so often I'm asked to step in and help a team that needs an extra player or 2 on a given night. A few of these times, I've gone to courts around the city to meet up with a team where I don't even know anyone, because the person who referred me was one of the players who couldn't make it that day. And while I'm not normally super comfortable with strangers, I'm so much better meeting someone on the court than, say, at a party. There's a shared language that comes with any sport, and once we start passing the ball around, discussing who plays what position and what kind of rotation to use, it stops feeling like a struggle to find common ground with new people and starts feeling like home.
It's amazing, when you think about it. How sports allows you to bond with people over a shared set of rules that temporarily governs your actions. I love it.
And in other sports news, I won my March Madness pool!! BOOYAH. $90, all for me.
And in other unrelated news, I am baaaaaaack at Stratejoy today. Read about how I got to write my own job description and then found out it wasn't actually for a real job at all.