In one of Kate’s recent columns, she mentioned watching an ESPN “30 for 30” film (30 films commissioned to celebrate ESPN’s 30th anniversary) about the first World Series game played in New York following the 9/11 attacks. I had heard great things about this series of films, and so with her recommendation adding to the general positive reviews, I decided to set my DVR to catch them.
So far, three had been collected. They looked interesting, but not enough to make me invest and hour or two, but the fourth one did the trick — “Chasing Tyson.” Those of you familiar with boxing history or the career of Mike Tyson will instantly recognize the subject of the film — namely who was doing the chasing. Of course it was Evander Holyfield, and both the film and its subject matter were fascinating.
Holyfield, by his own words, was raised in a very rough and poor environment, but he had someone special in his corner — a mother who instilled solid values in him. Unfortunately she was not the only voice in his ear, and his lack of reading skills invited some to tell him has was stupid and would never amount to anything. These are the voices that he would spend his would life trying to prove wrong.
His quest, thus, became one of seeking respect — “Get that respect!” his trainers would yell to him during a fight — and his concrete goal which would provide the desired respect was the boxing heavyweight championship of the world. And so he worked tirelessly — training, fighting — toward his goal, ultimately attaining it. But in a quirk of fate (or rather a quirk of how boxing matches get arranged), he did not get the respect that was supposed to come with the belt. You see, the only way he was going to get it was by beating the best — not by simply beating the heavyweight champ. And at the time he fought for the title, no boxing enthusiast thought the heavyweight champ was the best.
That’s because right before Holyfield was to fight Mike Tyson (indisputably the best at that time), Tyson had one more fight to get through, against Buster Douglass in Japan. Holyfield was in the audience and everything was set. He would be Tyson’s next opponent after Tyson dispatched Douglass. But all his dreams were shattered when, to the amazement of the boxing world, Douglass shattered Tyson.
Now, the champ (Douglass) was not the best. Nonetheless, Holyfield got a fight against Douglass, beat him and became world champ. After which he didn’t do himself any favors by fighting some questionable opponents in his first few title defenses. Yet he continued to tell himself, and the media, that he had what he wanted. He was not chasing Tyson. He wanted to be champ, he was, and so all was well. But all was not well. Holyfield had confused the issue. He had to fight Tyson to get the respect — his true goal.
Eventually, after Tyson got out of prison, Holyfield got his match, won convincingly, and just about became the revered icon he always wanted to be (there were always questions about whether Tyson was, at the time of the fight, what he’d been before prison). Their rematch, unfortunately, became a sad joke when a frustrated and Tyson quit boxing Holyfield and started biting him.
And this brings us to an important question: what is your goal? What are you working toward, what are you striving for? Do you want to be a CIO who has the greatest impact on patient care? Do you want to be CIO at the largest organization possible? Do you want to assemble the most supportive team and create the best work environment? Do you want lots and lots of money? Do you want to have a sound work/life balance? Do you want to be the best parent, the best spouse? Do you want to travel the world and do exciting things, or does the idea of growing old in quiet and tranquility sound much nicer?
If the Holyfield case teaches us anything, it’s that you might identify the goal in abstract, but place it on the wrong concrete objective. You might “get what you want but find that you don’t want what you got.” In his case, he was able to ultimately find and vanquish his white whale, but you might not be so lucky if you get the target wrong.
Keep in mind, your goal may be something you already have and want to maintain, or it may be something you need to effect a whole lotta change to make real. Either way, think about it. Live your life in a thoughtful and purposeful way that you chart. Know what you’re all about, what makes you tick and what makes you happy, then go out and fight for it.
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