Business Insights
YOU’RE NOT OWED ANYTHING. NOTHING. ZIP. ZERO.
I caught part of the radio piece on 97.1 today (Detroit) and had to do a little digging on Wilton Speight leaving U of M. On the radio they made it sound like Speight thought he owned the spot. I only did a quick search and here is what MLIVE had as a quote “Then the first spring practice happened, and I was sharing reps with the other quarterbacks,” Speight said. “It was another quarterback competition, all over again.”
Regardless of why he is leaving, it hit home with me as it’s something I tell people all the time. “You’re only as good as your last performance” And if your last performance wasn’t so good, well……….. And if your last performance wasn’t good and your pedigree isn’t good, well….. And while he got injured, the idea remains the same that you’re going to have to re-earn your spot every season. That is if, you even get a chance.
Nothing is owed to you. And if your performance history is bad, you’re not even going to get a chance to earn it so think twice about your actions now as they will have consequences later. This happens in sports all the time. Someone had a big year last year and expects more money or whatever the following season. But the problem is, no one really knows what you’re going to do next season until it happens. We see this in sales all the time. Someone crushes it the year before and they are sticking their hand out for more money. But can you do that back to back?
What you find out in sales is, most cannot string together winning years, year after winning year. Now there are a few great sales killers out there that do it, most don’t. In fact, the average of salespeople may have 1 good year for every 3–4. This goes the same way for careers in general.
If your last performance was poor, especially at your last job and you’re interviewing for a new one, you will be judged for that. What you did 5–10 years ago, no one cares about anymore. What you did last year may not even matter. It is about what you can do now. And if you cannot do jack shit now, then you are SOL….
