Tom Brady marked the beginning of a new chapter in his storied NFL career today. After 20 years as New England Patriots’ franchise quarterback, Brady signed a two year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At the ripe age of 43, he will likely retire a Buccaneer. He has earned over $235 million dollars throughout his career and has won more Super Bowls than anyone in history. Not bad in a league where the average career of a quarterback is only three years. He has truly earned the title of GOAT (Greatest of All-Time). As a huge Jacksonville Jaguars fan, it was not fun watching him extinguish our Super Bowl aspirations a few years ago in the fourth quarter of the AFC championship game. Putting that aside, I have a lot of respect for the career he has built and his ability to win. He is widely considered the greatest NFL player of all time. So you might be wondering how to be successful like Brady. Well today I am going to share with you his top 5 career strategies that will help put you in the Top 1% of your field.
Consistently and relentlessly develop a talent…and then 3 more
Brady understands and has developed the right mix of talents that drive high performance in his field. It’s extremely difficult to develop a talent and be in the 99th percentile in your field. A great short cut to attain the same results is through building a talent stack. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, coined the term talent stack to describe how combining seemingly unrelated talents or skills enables extraordinary success. It’s a much better strategy to achieve success by becoming great at 5 to 10 complimentary skills than elite at just one.
Brady knows he isn’t the fastest runner or possesses the strongest throwing arm in the NFL. In fact he was quoted saying that everyone knows he isn’t fast and that he would never be fast. He recognizes these quarterback traits are more inherent and focuses on what he can improve. He has become a master at his craft by applying his fierce work ethic to developing areas of his game such as his throwing mechanics and footwork. By actively identifying and developing complementary skills, you too can be a top performer.
So while Tom Brady’s talent stack might look like this…
A data driven management consultant would look to build a talent stack like this…
A management consultant has to break down a client’s problem into understandable terms, derive insights from data and provide actionable recommendations. Being above average in the all seven areas of this talent stack enables a consultant to be one of the best in their field at solving a business problem from end-to-end.
Look for your own complimentary skills by asking leaders and high performing peers in your field what areas they have chosen to focus their efforts towards to achieve peak performance. You might be surprised where they are choosing to direct their energy.
Believe in yourself
Brady famously told the Patriots’ owner after being drafted that he was the best decision the organization had ever made. His unwavering confidence in his abilities coupled with his self-awareness of where he needs to develop his talent stack to improve is a powerful combination. To believe in yourself follows a positive attitude. This allows you to take action and understand that failure to succeed will be part of your success story. Start small, gain some momentum, learn from your failures and keep building on your wins.
Overcoming adversity adds fuel to his fire
While Brady is an elite quarterback today, his NFL story started with quite humble beginnings. Here is an excerpt of one of his scouting reports before the 2000 NFL draft:
Poor build, Skinny, Lacks great physical stature and strength, Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush, Lacks a really strong arm, Can’t drive the ball downfield, Does not throw a really tight spiral, System-type player who can get exposed if forced to ad lib, Gets knocked down easily
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
When he started his college career at Michigan State, he was the seventh string quarterback.
He was eventually drafted in the NFL draft but not until the 6th round. There were 198 football players who were drafted ahead of him and he was the final quarterback drafted that year.
In the 2008 season opener, he suffered a season ending ACL tear in his knee. He came back stronger than ever in 2009 and has won three Super Bowls since then.
No matter what obstacle he faced, Brady always chose to frame them as opportunities to prove his detractors wrong. He failed forward and found immense success.
You also can choose to look at any career situation as a potential learning opportunity that will move you forward rather than hold you back. It could be a rejection after an interview, a set back at work or a changing economic climate. Look at it as being part of the journey and embrace it. It’s always your choice how you use that experience to better yourself and your career. People will write you off – use it as fuel for your fire.
Love what you do
Brady has said the only thing he ever wanted to be was a professional football player. While that level of focused enthusiasm for 20 years is not going to be for everyone, you can certainly love what you do for an extended period of time before choosing to completely reinvent yourself or just try something new for a while. To be passionate about what you do, you first need to understand your purpose. Simon Sinek does a great job of mapping out in his TEDx Talk about how you need to start with your Why using what he calls the golden circle theory. Understanding your purpose takes time and is well worth the journey. Once you can discover your Why, what you do and how you do it in your career will become clearer as you can look at what positions align well with both your skillsets and purpose.
Build a brand
Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room”– Jeff Bezos
Many millennials inherently understand that you need to build a brand to build a successful career. Yet not enough look closely at how they are developing their own personal brand and how it aligns with their career objectives. Your personal brand will help differentiate you in a tight labour market and offer many opportunities you might not have thought were possible. Your personal brand is made up of the reputation you’ve developed through your accomplishments and associations as well as how you well represent yourself publicly (e.g on your LinkedIn profile, blog, at networking events and in your community).
Tom Brady has tapped into his experience as an elite athlete who is known for his very strict diet and performance regime to extend his brand by developing the TB12 method, a program to help people attain good health and peak athletic performance. He also owns TB12 Sports facilities that provides personalized fitness services and sells nutrition products.
Always think how to create and leverage your personal brand by aligning your accomplishments and past experiences with new and innovative opportunities.
Final Thoughts
Tom Brady built the foundation of his career on profound dedication to his craft and determination. He achieved being at the of his field through building his career intentionally and methodically. By developing his talent stack, believing in himself, using adversity as fuel and building his brand with something he could pore his heart into, he achieved immense success.
Now it’s your turn.
What are your career strategies that have led to your success? I’d love to know!