One day.
That’s how much time the Seattle Seahawks took to savor their dominating victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XVLIII before it was time to start thinking about the next season. On Sunday, head coach Pete Carroll hoisted the Lombardi Trophy amidst a sea of streamers; on Tuesday, he held a meeting with his team to officially begin its pursuit of a repeat championship.
“We really have an eye of what’s coming. We won’t dwell on what just happened, and we’ll take it in stride,” Carroll said. “We won’t miss the fun part of it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t set our sights on where we want to go.”
Before all the banners were even removed from MetLife Stadium — before the Seahawks marched the trophy down 4th Avenue in front of hundreds of thousands of coffee-swilling Seattlites, the team’s front office started piecing together a plan for the future.
Seems a bit rushed, right? Wrong. In a league like the NFL where success can be fleeting and everyone’s trying to find the secret sauce to long-term success, this type of urgency is most definitely warranted. In fact, with the draft just three months away, some might say the Seahawks are already weeks behind. While they’ve been tearing through the playoffs, other teams (like my beloved Giants) have been in meetings deciding which players they can re-sign, where their biggest gaps exist, and how to fill them.
Carroll isn’t resting on his laurels, and every other team in the league should take note. Because the fact is, if you want to do great things, there is no resting. And there’s always another laurel to pursue. It’s a concept that is becoming all too familiar to CIOs. As soon as your organization gets past Meaningful Use Stage 1, it’s time to start focusing on Stage 2. Earning HIMSS Analytics Stage 6 recognition means it’s time to set your sights on Stage 7.
There’s always another mountain to climb; another goal to reach, and it seems the more an organization achieves, the higher the bar is set, and the more pressure a leader faces to deliver. It’s enough to cloud anyone’s perspective.
One of the best examples of a leader who fell into the pressure trap was former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, whose desire to win World Series championships morphed into an obsession that consumed all those around him. In The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, Buster Olney described the impossible situation that general manager Brian Cashman and others found themselves in during Steinbrenner’s tenure:
“The only true acknowledgment Cashman might get would come in the World Series. And even if the Yankees won, the euphoria lasted only a few days. Then there would be more meetings, more discussions, the pressure ratcheted up for the season scheduled to start five months later.”
Let’s face it, in any fast-paced, competitive industry, it can be easy for the lines to become blurred; for leaders to become so consumed with winning that they fail to enjoy the moment — even briefly.
That’s why it’s critical to have balance. To be successful (or to even stay afloat), an organization needs leaders that are always looking at what’s coming down the road; always plotting the next steps. Savvy CIOs know that they can’t wait until the end of one season to start thinking about the next one. But at the same time, it’s important to savor the victories — both for your sake, and the sake of your team.
And take a lesson from the Boss. It’s one thing to always stay hungry — it’s quite another to never be satisfied.
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