Leadership lessons from pop culture
The BIG Takeaway™
newsletter
July 11, 2022

​What leaders can learn from TV, sports and movies this week

Hello current and aspiring leaders! 

​Before we get into the BIG Takeaway here are some highlights from another great week in pop culture:

  • One: Hollywood legend James Caan died at age 82
    Where do we start? "The Godfather." "Brian's Song." "The Gambler" (not the foolish one with Kenny Rogers). "Elf." This guy had range.

  • Two: "Thor: Love and Thunder" premiered this week
    When I see this movie's title all I can think of is "NBC: Law & Order." How about a crossover show that combines the classic crime drama with Marvel superheroes? Imagine Thor as a judge and he carries a gavel. Cue this sound.

  • Three: Joey Chestnut won Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
    First, yes, that is his real name. It sounds like a character from "Goodfellas" to me. Second, this was his 15th win. Finally, he fought off a protester during the event. This guy rocks!

  • Speaking of Joey Chestnut...this week I am going to focus on why it is critical to put more energy into leveraging your strengths and less time into improving your weaknesses.

Let's go.

Rich Trombetta
@trombettarich
July 11, 2022
This week's BIG Takeaway:
Focus on your strengths
Image: Fanshare
A healthy diet of doing what you do best
​Put your energy into your strengths 

The context: Joey Chestnut is a 15-time winner of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

  • Chestnut also chows down on wings, hard boiled eggs and Twinkies to name a few of the other food contests he has won.

What we can learn: Leverage your strengths and go full speed into those skills and traits instead of trying to get better at your weaknesses.
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  • Remember when Michael Jordan, possibly the greatest basketball player ever, tried baseball? It didn't work out as well as his hoop career.

  • If Jordan had stayed with baseball it is believed he may have made it to the Major Leagues in about four years. Even then the odds were against him and he probably would have been an average player.

  • Instead he focused on getting even better at a sport he already dominated, came back to the NBA and won three more championships. 

My take: Leaders spend too much time trying to improve themselves and others in areas they will most likely never be great; this is all at the expense of maximizing their true strengths.

  • I know this may all sound counterintuitive but this is not simply my opinion.

  • My perspective is shaped by the book "Now, Discover Your Strengths" which has evidence and examples that this approach is a proven to lead to a successful career. 

  • Joey Chestnut doesn't cook the food. He doesn't taste test the food. He doesn't critique food. He EATS the food. That's it. He focuses on what he does best and works every day to get even better at his strengths.

The BIG Takeaway:
Be like Joey Chestnut and focus on your strengths​​
Let's put this into action
Image: Pexels
👉​What you can do on your own: 
📢​ What you can do with others:
  • USE OUR DISCUSSON GUIDES: Work with your team or other colleagues to dig deeper into this week's topic. Instead of a book club I like to think of this as our "movie-or-TV club." 
    ​This week: The report card​
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Before we end here's our weekly grab bag of quick links
😁 Smile: We can all learn something from this dog.

🎓 Learn: Read about the science behind Joey Chestnut. Bonus: he is compared to Michael Jordan in this story.
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🌷 Relax:  Try this "Everything is OK" button. I feel better already.
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That's all for now

​Thanks for reading and please remember:
  • We archive our stories and put them here for the world to read so feel free to have a look.
  • If you have any ideas or feedback Contact me with your thoughts.
  • We can create custom newsletters​ and training sessions on the topics we write about.
Rich Trombetta
​@trombettarich

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