Stay Tuned In

If there is something sports related on television, I change channels.  

But one Sunday morning the remote wasn't in my hand and ESPN Classic was on the television.  I was forced to pay attention, if just for a few seconds.

I got sucked in to the 1980 Olympic hockey game between the USA and USSR.  If you were alive then, you can recite Al Michaels saying "Do you believe in miracles?  Yes."  It's clearly one the highlights of American sports and culture.

But Al Michaels never uttered those words in this broadcast.  I waited for it and it never happen.  ESPN stopped the program at the last second before he could utter those spine-chilling, pride-filled words.  

The program was about this historic game from the perspective of the Soviets. They interviewed the Soviet athletes who are now decades older and they provided an opinionated vantage point on that moment in time.

These hockey players were the best in the world.  They were no match for the young American college hockey players.  Everybody knew the Russians would win. The Russians knew they would win.  But history tells a different story.

I thought I knew about that historic game.  I visited Lake Placid to try capture a bit of what that moment must have been like.  "Do you believe in miracles?"  Of course, I do, I saw it happen.  That story is amazing.  It makes me proud to be an American. I feel like I know some of those players.

As I watched that documentary, I realized our careers are much like that documentary.  There are moments of humiliation, defeat and disappointment that others will never understand.  The cheers for the other people on the other side will be so loud that no one will pay attention to you.  The other people will enjoy the thrill of victory and your agony of defeat will go unnoticed and without consolation.

When the  Soviet hockey players recounted their experiences it reminded me of those who fail at their own jobs.  Some do it very publicly as a fired CEO of a large company or professional sports coach, and others do it less noticeably as they pack up their things and leave the office.  

As much as we learned from Team USA, we can learn from the Soviet team.   They did their best.  They gave it their all.  They were highly skilled and they played as a team. But the score didn't reflect all of that, it reflected a defeat that is written in history books and celebrated as one of the most patriotic moments in our history.

I  believe we need to celebrate all the victories in our careers, but we also need to examine the failures.  It may take years to look back with bit more objectivity or it may never happen.  Perhaps it should never have happened. It may have been unfair or a wrong move for which you had no control. But as much as it's your victory, it's your defeat. What you learn from it, choose to remember or decide to release is yours.  I believe that.

Do you believe?