Don’t you just love March Madness? Just to be transparent, I am a casual fan of basketball. I only watch it during the postseason. Somehow though, I lucked into an NCAA bracket challenge with some of the greatest minds in sports.
Long story short, my first job out of college was with a guy who loved the tournament & started a bracket pool (before it became super mainstream). Fast forward, he now works in analytics for a major professional sports team & the group is full of other professional sports data guys. I’ve remained in this group after all of these years for one sheer reason….curiosity. Every year, I pick my teams based on superficial reasons. And every year, I beat out half of the guys who study player & team analytics for a living. The one thing in sports that you have to remember is that sometimes it boils down to pure luck & passion.
Speaking of….. how did a 6-foot tall 22-year-old father become one of the top NCAA defensive players? Heart. Jose Alvarado, a Brooklyn born basketball player had all of the odds stacked against him. If you watched the amazing nail-biter ACC Championship game between Georgia Institute of Technology and Florida State University, you saw his passion and determination on full display. In the ACC-championship post-game interview, he said, “a lot of people doubted me. I wasn’t supposed to be in the ACC, and (head coach Josh Pastner) took a chance on me” This is a guy who played 40 minutes of a 40-minute championship game. …who practiced shooting in his backyard with a cheap basketball goal from Walmart so he could be home in the evenings to tuck in his daughter to sleep. It’s all about heart. Job seekers, remember: 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬. They want to stack their teams with the best “players” who want to win. In the interview, you have to demonstrate that you have heart Apply the brilliant Southwest Airlines corporate motto, “Heart sets us apart” to your leadership and work ethic. How does heart set you apart from your competition?
I’d love to hear from you this week.
Rooting for you,
Sarah
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