Leaving Your Heart On The Field

Have you ever felt like you have given your all … walked away and thinking that there was nothing more you could have said or done? And then only to be overlooked, denied and turned away? First reaction is anger. Are you kidding me? Then we go to how we did and and we did only to be followed by trouncing the competition. Maybe they did better? Maybe they were more likeable? What ever the reason, after we trounce our competition and tell ourselves we are better off without it, there is that nagging thought in the back of our heads, maybe I could have done more.

Leaving Your Heart on the Field

Leaving your heart on the field is more than what you have done but more what you can do to improve. Maybe the guy next door does not have the best of the best but he relates better to the customers? There is something that attracts the people to them while shuns them from you. What is that something? Skill, knowledge, personality, appearance, they all come into play but the people who leave their hearts on the field are the promoted ones, the  a-listers, the successful companies as they were able to give more than what was expected.

We help our children to become the best that they can be. We tell them to do their best in school, sports and support them until we almost bleed but yet evaluate their performance. To us sometimes we believe they can do better and sometimes they can but yet are we always happy with their performance; especially when the parents next to us are giving the concerned look? I know with my son, he is not the best soccer player and sometimes he was in outer space but on his last game this season, he not only played better than any other kid on the field, he left his heart out there. He knew he was not going to be able to move up with the team before the game as he is younger and the league is enforcing ages this fall but he went out there and gave it  his all. The chubby little thumbs up when he kicked the ball half way down the field on defense or rolling around to make incredible saves as goalie got the roar of the crowd on both sides but, also, as a mom and the coach, had me not only looking for a tissue but showed me and everyone the heart of a 5 year old.

Learning from Others

We have an opportunity to learn from or be inspired from others each day with each interaction with people; especially people we have met for the first time. Their body language, their demeanor, their tone of voice. We are able to read and share inspiring stories about what others have done which have sparked an emotion within us. We see athletes who do exceptional things and we praise them when they win but yet question their ability when they lose. If Brett Farve lost that Monday night game after the passing of his father it would have been said that his mind was not in the game or that he was not ready – but no he played probably one of the best games of his life and on Monday Night Football (second to the JETS v Miami game, of course).

In business we look to be better than the competition which many times is measured in numbers. A higher ranking on Google or Bing, more mentions, fans, traffic and even sales. Yes, sales are what keeps a business in business but what about how you treat the customers? Do they come back over and over or are you looking strictly at volume of new? As you brand your brand, optimize your site, build your online community, do you think about where your heart is? When we open our doors or post our fist blog, our intentions are there as we will be the poster child for customer service, we will write in a way that helps people and share our experiences but yet we know that does not always happen or there would be no competition.

Leaving your heart out on the field in business is more than great customer service, a highly tweeted blog. It is being consistent though training your staff, the people around you, the customers to expect a certain level and the exceed it, treating each job interview as if the job is yours to lose, showing up each day ready to make someone else’s day better because they interacted with you.

I know with this blog and with each client we work with, there is not doubt that we leave our heart out there as when I cannot, the blog is dark. As far as new clients, they tell me as they choose someone else. When you’re leaving your heart out on the field, there is no failure. While some may disagree, I know we can look and dig deeper and just know we did not. While there are exceptions in certain fields for the most part, this is true.

Thoughts?

photo credit: vicdv888