Three Leadership Lessons from Texans GM Nick Caserio | The GM Journey

What a fun conversation with Houston Texans General Manager Nick Caserio on the latest episode of The GM Journey. Nick and I go way back - we overlapped in the New England Patriots' front office for a few years - so it was great to catch up with him and hear about his new GM role in Houston and what he's striving to build with the franchise. Listen to the full episode here.

Here are three of my favorite insights from my convo with Nick - let me know which parts of the episode you enjoyed the most!

1. You have to be both realistic and aggressive with your expectations.

I was looking forward to getting Nick's take on transitioning from the Patriots, and one of the NFL's greatest dynasties of all time, to the Texans, a franchise that is going through a rebuild. Nick acknowledged that winning can be intoxicating and consuming, but he also noted the importance of taking a step back and realizing just how hard wins are to come by. With such small margins of error in the NFL, Nick's focused on maintaining both realistic and aggressive expectations in order to build a strong framework for the Texans heading into the future, and to avoid getting too caught up in every single win and loss.

"Whenever you go into a new situation, there's a good chance you're going there because things aren't going the way that everybody hoped. You're kind of restarting to some extent. And it's not that you reset expectations, but you kind of have to be realistic and pragmatic about what we're going into. And I think that's the most important thing, is to not get too consumed, and understanding it's difficult, it's hard, and it's going to take a series of repetitive actions over the course of time in order to get to a certain level. So I would say be realistic and pragmatic about your expectations, but again, establish the foundation, establish the culture, establish the standards, and then work toward achieving that, understanding that wins are very difficult to come by."

2. You have to know your belief system because your belief system is your reset button.

When you're a GM, you will of course be faced with plenty of high pressure, high stress, high stakes moments. Nick had great perspectives on keeping morale high in the front office and making sure that he remains in a position to thoughtfully lead the organization and navigate through whatever difficult situations may arise.

"When you're in a position of leadership, whatever that looks like, you have no idea what's going to come across your desk on a day-to-day basis. So how we respond to that, ultimately, is the most important thing. Whatever conviction you have, and whatever your belief system is, you have to resort back to that because that's kind of your reset button. And then [you have to] be able to disseminate that message throughout the entire organization, because everybody's looking at you for direction. How do you handle a situation? How do you respond?"

3. Every day is a new opportunity to learn and grow - there is no end to that.

One of my favorite moments with Nick was when I asked him if there was anything he would have done differently in his journey toward becoming a GM. His answer: Not getting so caught up in the final destination, and instead focusing on what he can learn and how he can be great every single day. Many of us get caught up in the end goal and forget to focus on and take advantage of the opportunities each day presents, which is why I loved Nick's response.

"I would say we get caught up sometimes. And everybody has a goal like, by this point, I need to be at this level. I think the big thing is just to try to focus on how can you be great that day with your feet on the ground, and then be the best version of yourself. Each day is an opportunity to learn whatever the role is, and I would say just being flexible, being malleable is important."

He also offered some words of wisdom for any aspiring front office executives out there.

"Advice to people that are working their way through the profession, those are some things that we probably should keep in mind, and not get so caught up in 'what's the end game? What's the end goal?' Because when you reach that end goal, okay, well then what? Is that the end, or is it the start of something new? So just being able to not necessarily worry about what the end goal is, and then just focus on being the best version of yourself, whatever you're doing at that particular time."

Big thanks to Nick for joining the podcast.

Coming up this Friday on The GM Journey: Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach! #ChiefsKingdom

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