The 5 Things I Learned from Hockey

I grew up in the middle of the Midwest, where sports meant football or baseball.. We had no concept of Hockey. Sure, the University had an ice rink, but it was set up for speed skating. Hockey was only a "club" sport and only one guy I knew ever played growing up.

In the early nineties two things happened to introduce me to Hockey: we moved to southeast Michigan (Detroit) and the Red Wings began the longest streak of post-season play in professional sports (23 years). Soon after moving to Detroit, our son took up the game and I've been a fan and amateur player ever since.

Hockey's not just a great game, with fantastic physical benefits, it teaches some of the best life lessons I've ever learned. Here's are the top five things I've learned from Hockey:

1. Keep Learning:

Hockey, like life is a fast-paced activity. It favors those who try new things and who commit the attention to recognizing new skills and the time to learning them. Writing these posts is a great example from real-life. Most people who read this post have never posted anything more than a "Congratulations" to a colleague, but everyone has something important to teach Keep your head up, your eyes open and look for learning opportunities.

2. Take Care of Your Teammates:

There's nothing more important in hockey and in life as your teammates. You take care of them, they take care of you. But, to be able to do that, you've got to get to know them, really know them. This requires the same empathy as in sales, listening and understanding what's important them. Are they religious, are they having financial troubles, do they water ski, what books do they read, where do they like to vacation? Every bit you can learn about someone helps you to be able to help them how and when they need it. Here's a related tip: when you learn something about someone, record it as a note on their LinkedIn profile. It's easy to do. Just click on the relationship tab near their headline and you can save a note. It will help to remind you next time you speak.

3. Never Give Up:

How many hockey games are won or tied in the last minute? Tons! Do you know why that is? It's because the team is laser-focused and putting all efforts into winning. When you've taken care of your team, trained them, given them specific, clear marching orders, they can (and will) turn on the steam at the end of a project or sales pursuit. They will find a way to win, if you've prepared them well and taught them to never give up.

4. Leverage your Network:

Again, your team is your most valuable resource. Whether you're an individual contributor in a remote territory or part of a large, closely-knit team. I know a salesperson, who works in a a fairly remote Wisconsin town. He has Clients all over the state and one would think it's difficult to draw his company resources into his opportunities. However, he's on the phone with his network all the time. He organizes teams and sales pursuit calls, so when the time comes for him to ask for help, he's got all he needs.

5. Have Fun!:

After all the training, drills, scrimmages (role-playing) and games, won or lost, you've got to enjoy what you're doing. Remember to make time for fun. Schedule team events, happy hours, tell jokes once in a while. Years ago, when working for a company having some serious downturn in good fortune, my right-hand systems engineering counterpart suggested we form a monthly off-hours get together for all colleagues interested. The response started slow, but built steadily and kept the team motivated and bonded through a very tough time.

Sure, I've learned lots outside of the game, but none of those lessons more important than those above.

Bonus tip: You'll never have better friends than those with whom you've sweated, won, criticized, joked and loved. Ask them for any favor, you're bound to hear a "Yes", every time.