[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_137":-5,"_138":-5,"_139":140,"_141":142,"_143":144},"routes/clips.$id.$slug",{"_9":10,"_11":12},"clip",{"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":-5,"_18":19,"_20":-5,"_21":22,"_23":24,"_25":26,"_27":28,"_29":30,"_31":32,"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":45,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5},"canonicalUrl","https://howleaderslead.com/clips/1837/lean-into-opportunities-however-small-they-seem","id",1837,"title","Lean into opportunities, however small they seem","subtitle","transcript","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.800\nI used to, it was a bad mentality\n\n2\n00:00:02.800 --> 00:00:04.100\nwhen in my first couple of years\n\n3\n00:00:04.100 --> 00:00:07.000\n'cause they're trying to get a lot of people ready to play.\n\n4\n00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.320\nAnd I was always the one getting the fewest amount of reps,\n\n5\n00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:11.440\nthree reps, two reps.\n\n6\n00:00:11.440 --> 00:00:14.080\nThere's 50 reps in practice and I'm getting two.\n\n7\n00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:16.040\nI'm sitting here going, how can I show them what\n\n8\n00:00:16.040 --> 00:00:18.000\nI'm capable of if I'm only getting two reps,\n\n9\n00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.040\nor only getting three reps, or only getting four reps?\n\n10\n00:00:20.040 --> 00:00:24.080\nAnd I started working with a psychologist in college\n\n11\n00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:25.360\nand a guy named Greg Harden,\n\n12\n00:00:25.360 --> 00:00:27.440\nwho still works from University of Michigan,\n\n13\n00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:29.480\nhelped a lot of great athletes.\n\n14\n00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:33.240\nAnd he said, quit focusing on that bullshit.\n\n15\n00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:37.640\nIf you're gonna get two, do the two as best you can,\n\n16\n00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:40.440\nand make them the two best that anyone else could do.\n\n17\n00:00:40.440 --> 00:00:41.440\nAnd that's what I did.\n\n18\n00:00:41.440 --> 00:00:42.760\nAnd after that, I got three reps.\n\n19\n00:00:42.760 --> 00:00:44.660\nAnd he goes, if you're gonna get three reps,\n\n20\n00:00:44.660 --> 00:00:46.560\ndo the best you could do with those three.\n\n21\n00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:48.600\nDon't bitch it, you're only getting three.\n\n22\n00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.440\nAnd I started getting four, and then I got in five,\n\n23\n00:00:51.440 --> 00:00:54.480\nand I was getting 10, and I was getting 20.\n\n24\n00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:56.680\nAnd it was like, wow, you could focus on,\n\n25\n00:00:56.680 --> 00:00:59.520\noh poor me, I'm not getting the opportunity,\n\n26\n00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:02.040\nor you could say, whatever I'm getting,\n\n27\n00:01:02.040 --> 00:01:03.040\nI'm gonna make them great,\n\n28\n00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:04.560\nI'm gonna bring energy enthusiasm,\n\n29\n00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:06.080\nI'm gonna do it for the team.\n\n30\n00:01:06.080 --> 00:01:08.000\nAnd that starts to wear off on other people.\n\n31\n00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.560\nAnd then before you know it, I was the one getting the most.\n\n32\n00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:12.920\nAnd I always thought, wow, that's a great thing.\n\n33\n00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:17.480\nSo to this day, I think when I go on the practice field,\n\n34\n00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:18.880\nyou gotta prove it every day.\n\n35\n00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:20.200\nYour teammates wanna see it every day.\n","pretty_transcript","start_time",927409,"end_time",1004679,"keywords","Mindset, growth mindset, fixed mindset, motivation, opportunity, victim mindset, complaining, energy","slug","lean-into-opportunities-however-small-they-seem","origin","cms","mux_playback_id","uqpBTT01Ean74uEKBN02zTjO7UifxKQpAZTI029EmRBbJI","mux_asset_id","Kvn1dmMOrPZrD6FNMQHJqsXAnjGb6IUIDbQPJLIF9f00","leader_id",87,"episode_id",277,"updated_at","2025-02-26T19:45:59.000000Z","meta_title","meta_description","og_image_media_id","web_url","https://www.howleaderslead.com/clips/1837/lean-into-opportunities-however-small-they-seem","og_image_url","leader",{"_13":36,"_101":102,"_103":104,"_105":106,"_25":107,"_108":109,"_62":110,"_59":110,"_111":112,"_69":113,"_39":114,"_115":-5,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_116":117,"_89":118,"_44":119,"_120":121,"_122":123,"_46":-5,"_124":125,"_126":127,"_93":128,"_51":-5},"episode",{"_13":38,"_15":52,"_27":53,"_17":54,"_55":56,"_18":57,"_20":58,"_59":60,"_61":-5,"_62":60,"_63":-5,"_64":65,"_66":67,"_68":-5,"_69":-5,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":-5,"_35":36,"_39":75,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_76":77,"_78":79,"_80":81,"_82":83,"_84":-5,"_85":-5,"_86":87,"_88":-5,"_89":-5,"_46":-5,"_90":91,"_92":-5,"_93":-5,"_51":-5},"og_image_media","Part 2: Back Up Your Goals with Disciplined Action","part-2-back-up-your-goals-with-disciplined-action","In the second part of our conversation with Tom Brady, learn more about how Tom’s upbringing influenced his leadership. Take a deep dive into the mentality leaders need when the going gets tough. Plus, the bonkers story of how Tom got trapped in the Notre Dame stadium.","summary","

Listen to the second part of our conversation with Tom Brady, quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

If you haven’t heard the first part yet, find it on the podcast feed – you’re going to want to start there.

In the second half of our conversation, we talk about Tom’s upbringing, which is where his incredible discipline really starts.

Tom also talks in depth about the specific mentality shifts that helped him break through the ranks in college – and this was despite being a pretty dispensable sixth round pick in the draft.

Oh, and apologies to Atlanta fans, but yes, he talks about what was going through his head in that epic Super Bowl game against the Falcons when he and the Patriots were down 28-3 and came back to win it all.

In every story, in every answer, Tom is teaching us a huge leadership lesson: if we want to lead well, we have to back up our goals with disciplined action.

It’s not enough to just set a goal or want to succeed. We’ve got to show up and make the choices that will actually result in hitting those goals.

That’s the kind of walk-the-walk leadership that people actually follow.

You’ll also learn:

Tom’s advice to parents for how to talk to their kids
The inspiring question Tom asks when things don’t go right
The key advice Tom got that helped him move up the ranks even when opportunities were scarce
The #1 ingredient your team needs to navigate day-to-day conflicts as they arise
The mentality you need to muster up when you’re down (and what Tom used in the epic Super Bowl comeback against the Atlanta Falcons)
The time Tom got locked in the stadium at Notre Dame and what he had to do to escape

Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources:

The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go

Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day

Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.880\nWell, here we go, everybody.\n\n2\n00:00:05.880 --> 00:00:09.530\nWelcome to Howl Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I\n\n3\n00:00:09.530 --> 00:00:10.160\ninterview\n\n4\n00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:12.440\nsome of the very best leaders in the world.\n\n5\n00:00:12.440 --> 00:00:15.960\nI break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have\n\n6\n00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:16.560\nsomething\n\n7\n00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:20.360\nsimple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.\n\n8\n00:00:20.360 --> 00:00:23.040\nThat's what this podcast is all about.\n\n9\n00:00:23.040 --> 00:00:26.940\nThis week we're back for the second part of my conversation with Tom Brady, the\n\n10\n00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:27.600\nquarterback\n\n11\n00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.040\nof the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.\n\n12\n00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:34.610\nIf you haven't heard the first part yet, find it on the podcast feed, episode\n\n13\n00:00:34.610 --> 00:00:35.440\n10, and you'll\n\n14\n00:00:35.440 --> 00:00:36.960\nwant to start there.\n\n15\n00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:41.580\nBut if you have already listened to episode 10, you know what to treat your end\n\n16\n00:00:41.580 --> 00:00:42.000\nfor.\n\n17\n00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.520\nThis time we talk about Tom's upbringing, which is where his incredible\n\n18\n00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:46.720\ndiscipline really\n\n19\n00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:47.720\nstarts.\n\n20\n00:00:47.720 --> 00:00:51.650\nTom also talks in depth about the specific mindset shifts that have helped him\n\n21\n00:00:51.650 --> 00:00:52.040\nbreak\n\n22\n00:00:52.040 --> 00:00:56.800\nthrough the ranks in college and become the top ranked quarterback he is today.\n\n23\n00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:02.300\nOh, and I'm sorry Atlanta fans, but yes, he talks about what was going through\n\n24\n00:01:02.300 --> 00:01:02.640\nhis\n\n25\n00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:07.140\nhead in that epic Super Bowl game against the Falcons when he and the Patriots\n\n26\n00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:07.420\nwere\n\n27\n00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:11.920\ndown 28 to 3 and came back to win it all.\n\n28\n00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:17.640\nIn every story, in every answer, Tom is teaching us a huge leadership lesson.\n\n29\n00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:22.480\nIf we want to lead well, we have to back up our goals with disciplined action.\n\n30\n00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:26.400\nIt's not enough to just set a goal or want to succeed, we've got to show up and\n\n31\n00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:26.800\nmake\n\n32\n00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:30.720\nthe choices that will actually result in hitting those goals.\n\n33\n00:01:30.720 --> 00:01:34.640\nThat's the kind of walk the talk leadership that people actually follow.\n\n34\n00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:39.980\nI've met with a lot of leaders and I admire a lot of leaders, but Tom is the\n\n35\n00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:40.760\nvery best\n\n36\n00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:43.840\nexample of it that I have ever seen.\n\n37\n00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:49.140\nSo here is part two of my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours\n\n38\n00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:49.920\n, Tom Brady.\n\n39\n00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:58.920\nYou know, I know you're so close to your mom and dad.\n\n40\n00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:03.810\nTell me a little bit about your mom and dad and tell me about what each one of\n\n41\n00:02:03.810 --> 00:02:04.640\nthem really\n\n42\n00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.200\ntaught you about leadership.\n\n43\n00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:07.200\nYeah.\n\n44\n00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:11.040\nWell, I was so I grew up the youngest of four kids.\n\n45\n00:02:11.040 --> 00:02:15.880\nI had three older sisters and our family was very into sports.\n\n46\n00:02:15.880 --> 00:02:19.820\nSo at least three or four nights a week, we were at the baseball field, that\n\n47\n00:02:19.820 --> 00:02:20.480\nsoftball\n\n48\n00:02:20.480 --> 00:02:25.690\nfield at the soccer field at night, eating dinner at pizza parlors and just\n\n49\n00:02:25.690 --> 00:02:26.240\nthat was\n\n50\n00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:27.240\nour time.\n\n51\n00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:29.760\nI went to school, I'd get home, I'd go to practice or I'd get home, I'd do my\n\n52\n00:02:29.760 --> 00:02:30.160\nhomework,\n\n53\n00:02:30.160 --> 00:02:31.720\nI'd go watch my sisters play.\n\n54\n00:02:31.720 --> 00:02:33.360\nAnd it was a great upbringing.\n\n55\n00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:37.220\nIt was a totally different time than it is now and there wasn't all the things\n\n56\n00:02:37.220 --> 00:02:37.560\nthat\n\n57\n00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.720\nthere are now for kids and TVs and iPads and so forth.\n\n58\n00:02:40.720 --> 00:02:42.240\nThere was a lot of outside playtime.\n\n59\n00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:43.400\nI played in the neighborhood.\n\n60\n00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:45.360\nOn our street, we'd play in the street.\n\n61\n00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:47.960\nWe had 40 or 50 kids that lived on our block.\n\n62\n00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:51.080\nSo if you want to do something fun, like play football, we'd go out and we'd go\n\n63\n00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:51.280\nand play\n\n64\n00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:52.280\nin the middle of the street.\n\n65\n00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:56.530\nAnd I'd go over my best friend's house at 7 a.m. on a Saturday and knock on the\n\n66\n00:02:56.530 --> 00:02:56.720\ndoor\n\n67\n00:02:56.720 --> 00:02:58.920\nand can David play?\n\n68\n00:02:58.920 --> 00:02:59.920\nAnd that was my upbringing.\n\n69\n00:02:59.920 --> 00:03:03.560\nAnd it was just, it was a very, I wouldn't have changed it for anything.\n\n70\n00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:07.640\nAnd I think it taught me a lot about, you know, kind of being a part of a\n\n71\n00:03:07.640 --> 00:03:07.800\ncommunity.\n\n72\n00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.980\nPlaying with the older boys, you know, was always a great maturation thing for\n\n73\n00:03:10.980 --> 00:03:11.360\nme.\n\n74\n00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:14.000\nThey would always say, all right, Tommy's playing.\n\n75\n00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:18.160\nAll right, so, you know, Tommy, go deep as far, go, go, run down, down, down.\n\n76\n00:03:18.160 --> 00:03:20.120\nAnd they would never throw me the ball, you know.\n\n77\n00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:22.890\nAnd I would get mad, I'd get so mad that they would tell everyone else, all\n\n78\n00:03:22.890 --> 00:03:23.120\nright,\n\n79\n00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:24.120\neveryone else could even throw at the Tommy.\n\n80\n00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:27.400\nBut, you know, it was just, it was a great way to grow up.\n\n81\n00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:30.520\nAnd I think my mom and dad, you know, they're still living in the same house\n\n82\n00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:31.600\nthat I grew\n\n83\n00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:32.800\nup in.\n\n84\n00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.120\nThe neighborhood's changed a little bit.\n\n85\n00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:37.160\nYou know, the family's come and go a lot more now than ever.\n\n86\n00:03:37.160 --> 00:03:41.100\nBut you know, my mom and dad were so supportive of me, so supportive of my\n\n87\n00:03:41.100 --> 00:03:42.480\nsisters and everything\n\n88\n00:03:42.480 --> 00:03:43.480\nthat we did.\n\n89\n00:03:43.480 --> 00:03:48.260\nAnd I always tell people with their kids, you know, don't ever put limits on\n\n90\n00:03:48.260 --> 00:03:49.200\nyour kids.\n\n91\n00:03:49.200 --> 00:03:53.220\nDon't ever say like, wow, that's going to be tough, you know, or try to manage\n\n92\n00:03:53.220 --> 00:03:53.480\nyour\n\n93\n00:03:53.480 --> 00:03:54.480\nexpectations.\n\n94\n00:03:54.480 --> 00:03:55.480\nOh, you can't do that.\n\n95\n00:03:55.480 --> 00:03:58.520\nIt's a hard thing to do, you know, because they always encouraged me.\n\n96\n00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:01.790\nMy mom would always say, you can do it, you know, you, you know, you got all\n\n97\n00:04:01.790 --> 00:04:02.600\nthe ability,\n\n98\n00:04:02.600 --> 00:04:06.480\nyou got all the talent, you know, and I was, I clearly didn't.\n\n99\n00:04:06.480 --> 00:04:09.720\nBut you know, I had the encouragement from a mom and dad who said, yes, you do.\n\n100\n00:04:09.720 --> 00:04:13.730\nAnd my dad was always available to me to, if I wasn't hitting the baseball\n\n101\n00:04:13.730 --> 00:04:14.320\nright, he'd\n\n102\n00:04:14.320 --> 00:04:15.440\ntaken up to the ballpark.\n\n103\n00:04:15.440 --> 00:04:18.600\nHe'd have his, you know, he'd have his collared shirt on.\n\n104\n00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:22.590\nHe'd roll his sleeves up and he'd go up and he'd hit me ground balls, you know,\n\n105\n00:04:22.590 --> 00:04:23.080\nand he'd\n\n106\n00:04:23.080 --> 00:04:24.320\nthrow pitches to me.\n\n107\n00:04:24.320 --> 00:04:26.400\nAnd you know, we go out in the golf course, just he and I.\n\n108\n00:04:26.400 --> 00:04:29.520\nAnd it was just so supportive of what I wanted to do.\n\n109\n00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:31.480\nThey always encouraged me.\n\n110\n00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:33.160\nAnd I think that's why I'm such a positive person.\n\n111\n00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:35.800\nI grew up in an environment where my parents always said, go for it.\n\n112\n00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:36.800\nDo your best.\n\n113\n00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.800\nAnd I had three older sisters who were great athletes in their own right as I\n\n114\n00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:40.320\nunderstand\n\n115\n00:04:40.320 --> 00:04:41.320\nit.\n\n116\n00:04:41.320 --> 00:04:44.110\nWhat was it like being the little, the little one with three big sisters around\n\n117\n00:04:44.110 --> 00:04:44.280\n?\n\n118\n00:04:44.280 --> 00:04:47.300\nIt's amazing because when I grew up, they'd always say, oh, you're, you're Ma\n\n119\n00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:48.120\nureen's brother,\n\n120\n00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:51.290\nyou're Maureen's little brother, or you're Julie's little brother, you're Nancy\n\n121\n00:04:51.290 --> 00:04:51.680\n's little\n\n122\n00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:52.680\nbrother.\n\n123\n00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:55.680\nAnd, you know, obviously now things have turned in the family because they're\n\n124\n00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:56.200\nalways like,\n\n125\n00:04:56.200 --> 00:04:57.640\noh, you're Tom Brady's sister.\n\n126\n00:04:57.640 --> 00:04:59.800\nYou know, so we always joke about that.\n\n127\n00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:04.080\nYou know, for the first 18 years of my life, I was, you know, Maureen Brady's\n\n128\n00:05:04.080 --> 00:05:05.240\nlittle brother.\n\n129\n00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:09.640\nAnd now for the last 18 years, plus, you know, they've been Tom Brady's sister.\n\n130\n00:05:09.640 --> 00:05:11.720\nSo, you know, I, they're, they're so great.\n\n131\n00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:16.040\nThey, I mean, they're in this sweet cheering for me, you know, they're living.\n\n132\n00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:19.790\nI mean, I got phone calls before, you know, preseason games going, good luck,\n\n133\n00:05:19.790 --> 00:05:20.360\nyou know,\n\n134\n00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:21.480\nkicks in butt new season.\n\n135\n00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:25.340\nSo support of the families, you know, family is so important, you know, and to\n\n136\n00:05:25.340 --> 00:05:26.040\nhave people\n\n137\n00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:28.600\nthat care for you that are always there for you.\n\n138\n00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:30.120\nI mean, it means the world to me.\n\n139\n00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:33.670\nAnd I don't think you could accomplish things in life without support and ment\n\n140\n00:05:33.670 --> 00:05:34.400\norship and\n\n141\n00:05:34.400 --> 00:05:36.120\nguidance and care.\n\n142\n00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:39.160\nAnd I think, you know, when you look at that, people need, they need to know\n\n143\n00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:39.760\nthat they can\n\n144\n00:05:39.760 --> 00:05:42.310\nfall back on something and they need that they can get a little bump when they\n\n145\n00:05:42.310 --> 00:05:42.920\nget themselves\n\n146\n00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:43.920\nout of a rut.\n\n147\n00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:45.520\nAnd I think I want to be there to provide that for people.\n\n148\n00:05:45.520 --> 00:05:49.250\nI have so many people provided for me, you know, whether it's for young players\n\n149\n00:05:49.250 --> 00:05:49.560\nthat\n\n150\n00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:53.880\nI play with, other quarterbacks, you know, I'm trying to give them a bump too\n\n151\n00:05:53.880 --> 00:05:54.480\nbecause\n\n152\n00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.040\neveryone needs it from time to time.\n\n153\n00:05:56.040 --> 00:06:00.040\nDid you have someone outside of your family or in your early days that really\n\n154\n00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:00.800\nhelped you\n\n155\n00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.300\nform the kind of work ethic and the discipline and the accountability you\n\n156\n00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:05.080\nproject every\n\n157\n00:06:05.080 --> 00:06:06.080\nsingle day?\n\n158\n00:06:06.080 --> 00:06:09.380\nI know that's a great question because I think a lot about discipline and I\n\n159\n00:06:09.380 --> 00:06:09.840\nthink a\n\n160\n00:06:09.840 --> 00:06:12.320\nlot about, you know, work ethic.\n\n161\n00:06:12.320 --> 00:06:17.680\nAnd like when I went to the NFL Combine, you can't measure those two things and\n\n162\n00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:18.160\nthey can\n\n163\n00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:22.800\nmeasure height, your weight, your speed, you know, you jumping, a lot of\n\n164\n00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.160\nphysical things.\n\n165\n00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:27.230\nAnd I think I was blessed with some things that you can't measure, you know, by\n\n166\n00:06:27.230 --> 00:06:27.680\nthe grace\n\n167\n00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.770\nof God, you know, in many ways that I just, this is what God said, all right,\n\n168\n00:06:31.770 --> 00:06:32.440\nyou're going\n\n169\n00:06:32.440 --> 00:06:35.320\nto be really disciplined because I don't know how much you can develop that.\n\n170\n00:06:35.320 --> 00:06:39.480\nI mean, I think you can and if it's in you, you can develop it to a degree.\n\n171\n00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:43.400\nBut I was always born with a lot of discipline and working out and hard work\n\n172\n00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:44.280\nand work ethic\n\n173\n00:06:44.280 --> 00:06:47.600\nand training, that stuff has never been very difficult for me.\n\n174\n00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:49.880\nEven in college, I was a pretty hard worker.\n\n175\n00:06:49.880 --> 00:06:52.360\nIt's never felt like I've had to go to work, so to speak.\n\n176\n00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:55.080\nIt's never felt like, man, that was a really hard workout.\n\n177\n00:06:55.080 --> 00:06:56.080\nI've always enjoyed it.\n\n178\n00:06:56.080 --> 00:06:58.000\nI've always tried to excel at it.\n\n179\n00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.500\nAnd I think that's a really fortunate thing because I know a lot of players,\n\n180\n00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:01.760\nprofessional\n\n181\n00:07:01.760 --> 00:07:03.520\nathletes, they just don't love working out.\n\n182\n00:07:03.520 --> 00:07:04.520\nThey don't love training.\n\n183\n00:07:04.520 --> 00:07:05.520\nAnd that's our job.\n\n184\n00:07:05.520 --> 00:07:08.810\nYou think this is basically in you and you might have had some people that\n\n185\n00:07:08.810 --> 00:07:09.720\nhelped it along\n\n186\n00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:13.960\na little bit, but you actually believe you're sort of like a God-given, natural\n\n187\n00:07:13.960 --> 00:07:14.920\nborn athlete.\n\n188\n00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:16.200\nI think I was a God-given leader.\n\n189\n00:07:16.200 --> 00:07:20.840\nYeah, I think I was naturally God-given, work ethic and some discipline.\n\n190\n00:07:20.840 --> 00:07:24.540\nI think as a leader, I've developed, I've tried to develop those traits, you\n\n191\n00:07:24.540 --> 00:07:25.960\nknow, and I think\n\n192\n00:07:25.960 --> 00:07:29.720\nthere's a lot of important aspects leaders need to focus on.\n\n193\n00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:35.670\nBut I think that's what I wasn't born as Tiger Woods or LeBron James or\n\n194\n00:07:35.670 --> 00:07:36.800\nChristiana\n\n195\n00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:39.680\nRonaldo or just a gift.\n\n196\n00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:41.960\nThese physical you could see right away.\n\n197\n00:07:41.960 --> 00:07:43.480\nI think I've had to just do it differently.\n\n198\n00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:47.190\nFortunately, my position in football doesn't necessarily require some physical\n\n199\n00:07:47.190 --> 00:07:47.680\ngifts.\n\n200\n00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.760\nIt requires a lot of mental gifts along with the ability to do the job.\n\n201\n00:07:50.760 --> 00:07:54.770\nBut a lot of great leaders I've met, there's a lot of people that got to figure\n\n202\n00:07:54.770 --> 00:07:55.240\nout how\n\n203\n00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:56.240\nto get the job done.\n\n204\n00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:01.720\nTell us a story that will tell us about the kind of person you are that really\n\n205\n00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:02.360\nshowed\n\n206\n00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:05.880\nyou the kind of motivation that you innately have.\n\n207\n00:08:05.880 --> 00:08:08.640\nWell, there's some funny ones when I was a kid.\n\n208\n00:08:08.640 --> 00:08:10.760\nLike, you know, I didn't play a lot of video games.\n\n209\n00:08:10.760 --> 00:08:13.680\nI played a little video games.\n\n210\n00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:17.590\nBut I had an intense competitiveness to me in that when I would play video\n\n211\n00:08:17.590 --> 00:08:18.200\ngames and\n\n212\n00:08:18.200 --> 00:08:19.640\nthey wouldn't go the way that I'd want.\n\n213\n00:08:19.640 --> 00:08:23.920\nI broke more remote controls, slamming them on the ground so hard, throwing\n\n214\n00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:24.480\nthem at the\n\n215\n00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:25.480\nTV screen.\n\n216\n00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:29.200\nYou know, to the point where my parents said, \"You can't play.\n\n217\n00:08:29.200 --> 00:08:30.400\nYou just can't do it again.\"\n\n218\n00:08:30.400 --> 00:08:33.080\nYou know, and I remember, I think I was 10 or 11 years old.\n\n219\n00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:35.600\nI went up to play golf with my dad.\n\n220\n00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:38.770\nAnd we went up to this golf course in the Bay Area and we were going to a\n\n221\n00:08:38.770 --> 00:08:39.400\nGiants game\n\n222\n00:08:39.400 --> 00:08:42.400\nafter because our whole team was going to go to the game.\n\n223\n00:08:42.400 --> 00:08:45.800\nSo if my dad's let's go play nine holes before and then we'll go to the game.\n\n224\n00:08:45.800 --> 00:08:46.800\nI said, \"Great.\"\n\n225\n00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:49.280\nSo I played about four or five holes and I wasn't playing good.\n\n226\n00:08:49.280 --> 00:08:53.760\nYou know, and I took the club and I lifted it up and I threw it so hard at the\n\n227\n00:08:53.760 --> 00:08:54.440\nground.\n\n228\n00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:56.040\nMy dad grabbed me.\n\n229\n00:08:56.040 --> 00:08:57.920\nHe said, \"Get your butt in the cart.\n\n230\n00:08:57.920 --> 00:08:59.480\nWe're leaving.\"\n\n231\n00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:01.440\nAnd I was, you know, I just pointed my dad.\n\n232\n00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.520\nI was so mad and he said, \"We're never doing this again.\n\n233\n00:09:05.520 --> 00:09:07.480\nI'm not bringing you up here for you to throw your clubs.\"\n\n234\n00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:09.240\nAnd we went to a Giants game.\n\n235\n00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:11.040\nI pouted the whole, you know, the whole card.\n\n236\n00:09:11.040 --> 00:09:16.240\nI was so sad in a way and then, you know, talked it through with my dad.\n\n237\n00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.180\nAnd the best part is, you know, after that, we went to the Giants game and went\n\n238\n00:09:19.180 --> 00:09:19.560\nback and\n\n239\n00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:21.760\nplayed nine more holes together.\n\n240\n00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:24.120\nAnd it was a great experience in my life.\n\n241\n00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:26.780\nI mean, I remember my dad holding me accountable and say, \"This isn't the way\n\n242\n00:09:26.780 --> 00:09:27.640\nyou're going to\n\n243\n00:09:27.640 --> 00:09:28.640\nact.\"\n\n244\n00:09:28.640 --> 00:09:31.030\nThat's such a great story because, you know, I actually thought you'd talk\n\n245\n00:09:31.030 --> 00:09:31.640\nabout, yeah,\n\n246\n00:09:31.640 --> 00:09:34.560\nyou didn't necessarily start early on in high school.\n\n247\n00:09:34.560 --> 00:09:38.690\nBut it shows that those other things really paid off though when you did get\n\n248\n00:09:38.690 --> 00:09:39.560\ninto football\n\n249\n00:09:39.560 --> 00:09:43.680\nand you did really start to take off in terms of your ambition and competitive\n\n250\n00:09:43.680 --> 00:09:44.200\nness.\n\n251\n00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:45.200\nYeah.\n\n252\n00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:49.120\nAnd I think so much for me over the course of my career, it's been, if things\n\n253\n00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:49.640\ndon't go\n\n254\n00:09:49.640 --> 00:09:52.120\nright, I think about what can I do better?\n\n255\n00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:55.640\nI don't put it on, I've tried never to put it on other people.\n\n256\n00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:58.890\nYou know, if the ball was slightly behind the guy, I got to make a better throw\n\n257\n00:09:58.890 --> 00:09:58.920\n.\n\n258\n00:09:58.920 --> 00:10:01.240\nIf we didn't get the job done, I got to be a better leader.\n\n259\n00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:04.520\nIf the practice wasn't good, I didn't hold the guys accountable enough.\n\n260\n00:10:04.520 --> 00:10:08.590\nIf I didn't, you know, make the right play, what do I need to help do with my\n\n261\n00:10:08.590 --> 00:10:09.240\ntechnique\n\n262\n00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:10.240\nand fundamentals?\n\n263\n00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:14.370\nYou know, I've learned by talking to lots of leaders, Tom, that the best\n\n264\n00:10:14.370 --> 00:10:15.320\nleaders, they\n\n265\n00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:16.800\nhold themselves accountable.\n\n266\n00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:18.040\nThey don't blame anybody else.\n\n267\n00:10:18.040 --> 00:10:20.880\nIf something goes wrong on the team, they take accountability for it.\n\n268\n00:10:20.880 --> 00:10:22.480\nThey shoulder that for the rest of the team.\n\n269\n00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.520\nHow much pressure does that just put on you as a leader?\n\n270\n00:10:25.520 --> 00:10:26.520\nFeeling that.\n\n271\n00:10:26.520 --> 00:10:27.520\nYeah.\n\n272\n00:10:27.520 --> 00:10:28.520\nIt's there.\n\n273\n00:10:28.520 --> 00:10:33.040\nI mean, there's definitely an intense pressure to this environment.\n\n274\n00:10:33.040 --> 00:10:35.640\nI think as a competition, so tough.\n\n275\n00:10:35.640 --> 00:10:38.990\nAnd we had a guy come speak to us the other day, a former coach, and he used a\n\n276\n00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:39.520\nword that\n\n277\n00:10:39.520 --> 00:10:42.240\nI haven't heard in a long time, two words that I haven't heard.\n\n278\n00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:45.440\nAnd he said, competitive stamina.\n\n279\n00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:48.000\nAnd I was like, wow, that makes a lot of sense.\n\n280\n00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:50.800\nYou know, like anybody could get the job done for a week.\n\n281\n00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:53.520\nAnybody could get the job done for a month.\n\n282\n00:10:53.520 --> 00:10:58.640\nBut do you have the mental toughness to end the competitive stamina day after\n\n283\n00:10:58.640 --> 00:10:59.400\nday, week\n\n284\n00:10:59.400 --> 00:11:03.120\nafter week, month after month, year after year to get the job done?\n\n285\n00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.960\nAnd that's what you're still working at.\n\n286\n00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:06.960\nThat's still the challenge.\n\n287\n00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:10.470\nWe were talking a little bit earlier about how close your dad is and how much\n\n288\n00:11:10.470 --> 00:11:11.000\nhe really\n\n289\n00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:14.520\nhelped you along with your mother become who you are.\n\n290\n00:11:14.520 --> 00:11:19.570\nWhen you think about you're going to college, I understand your dad was a big\n\n291\n00:11:19.570 --> 00:11:20.360\nCal fan and\n\n292\n00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:25.320\nhe really wanted you to go to Cal so he could watch you play your collegiate\n\n293\n00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:26.160\nears and you\n\n294\n00:11:26.160 --> 00:11:27.640\ndecided to go to Michigan.\n\n295\n00:11:27.640 --> 00:11:31.680\nTell us a story about when you told your dad that this was your decision.\n\n296\n00:11:31.680 --> 00:11:34.720\nYeah, he was pretty heartbroken.\n\n297\n00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:40.720\nI had some offers and I always thought, man, going to Michigan, when I wasn't a\n\n298\n00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:41.200\nreally\n\n299\n00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:45.320\nhighly recruited person because I was, I think, a late bloomer.\n\n300\n00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:52.110\nAnd my dad put together a lot of cut-ups from the videotape that he filmed over\n\n301\n00:11:52.110 --> 00:11:53.600\nthe course\n\n302\n00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:58.400\nof my junior season to send other colleges to say, \"Hey, here's a tape.\n\n303\n00:11:58.400 --> 00:11:59.840\nThat's kind of how things got shared back then.\"\n\n304\n00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:02.690\nA lot of times people would come recruit you and they would see you or hear\n\n305\n00:12:02.690 --> 00:12:03.400\nabout you and\n\n306\n00:12:03.400 --> 00:12:04.400\nthey would come watch.\n\n307\n00:12:04.400 --> 00:12:06.200\nWell, I was really under the radar.\n\n308\n00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:08.960\nSo my dad was very involved in the process.\n\n309\n00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:12.680\nAnd I remember we made 50 tapes, VHS tapes.\n\n310\n00:12:12.680 --> 00:12:16.640\nWe were looking through a book of Division One colleges and he was like, \"Dad,\n\n311\n00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:16.960\ndo you\n\n312\n00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.280\nthink we should really send one to Michigan?\n\n313\n00:12:19.280 --> 00:12:22.040\nDo you think they'd even want me or get in there?\"\n\n314\n00:12:22.040 --> 00:12:25.040\nAnd he says, \"Yeah, what the hell, let's do it.\"\n\n315\n00:12:25.040 --> 00:12:28.750\nAnd we sent them a tape and they called, I think, a couple weeks later and said\n\n316\n00:12:28.750 --> 00:12:29.400\n, \"Wow,\n\n317\n00:12:29.400 --> 00:12:31.000\nwe're interested in you, recruit you.\"\n\n318\n00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:35.120\nAnd I was being recruited by them and a lot of other schools.\n\n319\n00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:38.910\nIt finally got to the point where these schools were really interested and I\n\n320\n00:12:38.910 --> 00:12:39.680\nplayed better.\n\n321\n00:12:39.680 --> 00:12:44.080\nI went to some camps, I got some more notoriety and Cal offered me a\n\n322\n00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:45.840\nscholarship, which was\n\n323\n00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:48.600\n45 minutes from where I grew up and I loved Cal.\n\n324\n00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:53.250\nBut there was something about Michigan that maybe it was just thinking about\n\n325\n00:12:53.250 --> 00:12:53.840\nbeing one\n\n326\n00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:57.840\nof the best schools in the country and one of the best football programs.\n\n327\n00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:01.560\nAnd I went there on a visit and I called my dad on the way home and I said, \"\n\n328\n00:13:01.560 --> 00:13:02.120\nDad, I\n\n329\n00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.600\nthink I know where I want to go to school.\"\n\n330\n00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:09.040\nAnd he was really, I think he was happy and he was sad.\n\n331\n00:13:09.040 --> 00:13:10.800\nHe was really happy but he was sad.\n\n332\n00:13:10.800 --> 00:13:13.560\nAnd I think it was just a cool, just a cool thing.\n\n333\n00:13:13.560 --> 00:13:19.320\nAnd he dropped me off and my mom dropped me off and they were so into Michigan.\n\n334\n00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:22.310\nThe first trip, they go to the Michigan Union, they buy the sweatshirts and all\n\n335\n00:13:22.310 --> 00:13:22.880\nthe parents\n\n336\n00:13:22.880 --> 00:13:26.760\ndo and they just spend the best supporters for me.\n\n337\n00:13:26.760 --> 00:13:29.400\nNow, you weren't the starter right out of the gates.\n\n338\n00:13:29.400 --> 00:13:33.080\nHow did you deal with not being the starting quarterback for so long?\n\n339\n00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:34.080\nIt was really competitive.\n\n340\n00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:37.480\nI was seventh on the depth chart when I started and that's how you're looking\n\n341\n00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:38.040\nup at a lot\n\n342\n00:13:38.040 --> 00:13:41.370\nof guys and a lot of guys that were older than me and they were truly better\n\n343\n00:13:41.370 --> 00:13:42.120\nthan me.\n\n344\n00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:46.200\nI hadn't developed, I was just behind athletically than a lot of other guys.\n\n345\n00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:51.300\nI was the youngest in my class and again, I think the work ethic and the\n\n346\n00:13:51.300 --> 00:13:51.920\ndiscipline were\n\n347\n00:13:51.920 --> 00:13:53.720\nhelpful at those times.\n\n348\n00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:56.410\nAnd I've always had to work really hard because I felt like athletically I was\n\n349\n00:13:56.410 --> 00:13:56.920\nbehind a lot\n\n350\n00:13:56.920 --> 00:13:57.920\nof people.\n\n351\n00:13:57.920 --> 00:14:02.290\nSo I never minded the work ethic and I just developed the competitiveness and I\n\n352\n00:14:02.290 --> 00:14:03.200\nfelt like\n\n353\n00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.560\nI chose Michigan to be the best.\n\n354\n00:14:05.560 --> 00:14:08.160\nI was going to go there to be the best.\n\n355\n00:14:08.160 --> 00:14:13.400\nAnd after a couple of years, I was still looking up at some guys and it looked\n\n356\n00:14:13.400 --> 00:14:14.320\ndaunting but\n\n357\n00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:17.790\nI just said, \"You know what, I'm going to compete and if I'm going to be the\n\n358\n00:14:17.790 --> 00:14:18.640\nbest quarterback\n\n359\n00:14:18.640 --> 00:14:20.960\nfor Michigan, then they're going to play me.\"\n\n360\n00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:21.960\nAnd that's what ended up happening.\n\n361\n00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:25.220\nI ended up beating out some guys in my fourth year and I played my fourth year\n\n362\n00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:25.760\nand fifth\n\n363\n00:14:25.760 --> 00:14:27.320\nyear there and we were successful.\n\n364\n00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:31.120\nAnd I think fortunately the competition was really good for me at that point in\n\n365\n00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:31.680\nmy life.\n\n366\n00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:35.680\nA lot of guys don't have to be that competitive in college.\n\n367\n00:14:35.680 --> 00:14:36.680\nThey're just the best.\n\n368\n00:14:36.680 --> 00:14:37.840\nThey don't have to be that way in high school.\n\n369\n00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:39.200\nThey're just the best.\n\n370\n00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:42.280\nBut being a professional is different than being an amateur.\n\n371\n00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:44.400\nBeing a professional is your job.\n\n372\n00:14:44.400 --> 00:14:48.400\nBeing a professional requires professional characteristics and traits.\n\n373\n00:14:48.400 --> 00:14:50.360\nIt's different than being an amateur.\n\n374\n00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:54.920\nAnd that's I think in some ways I excelled with my work ethic, my discipline.\n\n375\n00:14:54.920 --> 00:14:57.800\nI had great determination of what I wanted to be.\n\n376\n00:14:57.800 --> 00:15:00.560\nAnd even though it was a really challenging experience in college, I would\n\n377\n00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:01.000\nnever have\n\n378\n00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:04.700\nchanged it because I could never have fought through it the way that I did with\n\n379\n00:15:04.700 --> 00:15:05.240\nsupport\n\n380\n00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:07.160\nof a lot of people who were still supporting me today.\n\n381\n00:15:07.160 --> 00:15:11.120\nAnd I ended up having a great career and a great college experience.\n\n382\n00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.800\nI remember you telling me a story about making every rep count.\n\n383\n00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:22.360\nAnd every play you got to play in practice, if it was three, make them count.\n\n384\n00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:23.360\nIt's a great story.\n\n385\n00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:25.400\nTell that story for our listeners.\n\n386\n00:15:25.400 --> 00:15:27.120\nYeah, I used to.\n\n387\n00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.580\nIt was a bad mentality when in my first couple of years, because they're trying\n\n388\n00:15:30.580 --> 00:15:30.880\nto get a\n\n389\n00:15:30.880 --> 00:15:32.960\nlot of people ready to play.\n\n390\n00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:36.800\nAnd I was always the one getting the fewest amount of reps, three reps, two\n\n391\n00:15:36.800 --> 00:15:37.360\nreps.\n\n392\n00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.520\nThere's 50 reps in practice and I'm getting two.\n\n393\n00:15:39.520 --> 00:15:42.940\nI'm sitting there going, how can I show them what I'm capable of if I'm only\n\n394\n00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:43.480\ngetting two\n\n395\n00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.120\nreps or only getting three reps or only getting four reps?\n\n396\n00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:50.870\nAnd I started working with a psychologist in college and a guy named Greg Hard\n\n397\n00:15:50.870 --> 00:15:51.440\nin, who\n\n398\n00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:55.000\nstill works from University of Michigan, helped a lot of great athletes.\n\n399\n00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:00.040\nAnd he said, quit focusing on that bullshit.\n\n400\n00:16:00.040 --> 00:16:04.240\nIf you're going to get two, do the two as best you can and make them the two\n\n401\n00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:05.040\nbest that anyone\n\n402\n00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:06.400\nelse could do.\n\n403\n00:16:06.400 --> 00:16:07.400\nAnd that's what I did.\n\n404\n00:16:07.400 --> 00:16:08.680\nAnd after that, I got three reps.\n\n405\n00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:11.470\nAnd he goes, if you're going to get three reps, do the best you could do with\n\n406\n00:16:11.470 --> 00:16:12.560\nthose three.\n\n407\n00:16:12.560 --> 00:16:14.520\nDon't bitch it, you're only getting three.\n\n408\n00:16:14.520 --> 00:16:18.570\nAnd I started getting four and then I got five and I was getting 10 and I was\n\n409\n00:16:18.570 --> 00:16:19.120\ngetting\n\n410\n00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:20.120\n20.\n\n411\n00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:23.520\nAnd it was like, wow, you know, you could focus on, oh, poor me.\n\n412\n00:16:23.520 --> 00:16:27.470\nI'm not getting the opportunity or you could say, whatever I'm getting, I'm\n\n413\n00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:28.240\ngoing to make\n\n414\n00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:29.240\nthem great.\n\n415\n00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:30.240\nI'm going to bring energy enthusiasm.\n\n416\n00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:32.200\nI'm going to do it for the team.\n\n417\n00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:33.880\nAnd that starts to wear off on other people.\n\n418\n00:16:33.880 --> 00:16:36.800\nAnd then before you know it, I was the one getting the most.\n\n419\n00:16:36.800 --> 00:16:38.800\nAnd I always thought, wow, that's a great thing.\n\n420\n00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:43.800\nSo to this day, I think when I go on the practice field, you got to prove it\n\n421\n00:16:43.800 --> 00:16:44.840\nevery day.\n\n422\n00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:46.160\nYour teammates want to see it every day.\n\n423\n00:16:46.160 --> 00:16:48.880\nI can't go, okay, well, like that one screwed that one up, but don't worry.\n\n424\n00:16:48.880 --> 00:16:52.360\nSo your attitude after all these years, the NFL hasn't changed on practice.\n\n425\n00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:54.480\nI think it's only gotten more intense.\n\n426\n00:16:54.480 --> 00:17:00.400\nI think there's an intensity that I need to bring in order A, to see where my\n\n427\n00:17:00.400 --> 00:17:01.280\nmental state\n\n428\n00:17:01.280 --> 00:17:04.200\nis and then B, to challenge my teammates.\n\n429\n00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:08.100\nBecause even though I've had a lot of years of experience with myself, I want\n\n430\n00:17:08.100 --> 00:17:09.480\nto know before\n\n431\n00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:12.000\nthe games on the line whether I can count on someone.\n\n432\n00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.800\nSo I've got to kind of press some buttons.\n\n433\n00:17:13.800 --> 00:17:16.000\nI mean, I got to figure out, can I count on you?\n\n434\n00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.880\nYou know, can I, are you going to be there when I need it the most?\n\n435\n00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:19.880\nCan I trust you?\n\n436\n00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:20.880\nAre you dependent or are you consistent?\n\n437\n00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:25.080\nAnd the only way you can do that is to demonstrate that in practice.\n\n438\n00:17:25.080 --> 00:17:29.070\nAnd I think if it's a lackadaisical practice or, you know, I see that in golf a\n\n439\n00:17:29.070 --> 00:17:29.600\nlot, a\n\n440\n00:17:29.600 --> 00:17:33.000\nlot of guys BS on the range, a lot of guys aren't focused.\n\n441\n00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.350\nMan, guys, you know, the guys who I'd worry about are the guys that are focused\n\n442\n00:17:36.350 --> 00:17:36.600\n.\n\n443\n00:17:36.600 --> 00:17:40.000\nYou know, the guys are going, Hey man, this is the, you know, this is a shot to\n\n444\n00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:40.200\nwin the\n\n445\n00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:44.790\nMasters, you know, get yourself in that mental frame of mind and see where you\n\n446\n00:17:44.790 --> 00:17:45.440\nexecute.\n\n447\n00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.680\nAnd if you don't, maybe it hurts a lot more than it was.\n\n448\n00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:51.360\nLike, Oh, you know, who gives a crap, it doesn't count.\n\n449\n00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:52.360\nThey all count.\n\n450\n00:17:52.360 --> 00:17:55.030\nYou know, if you push yourself to that and a lot of people don't have that\n\n451\n00:17:55.030 --> 00:17:55.600\ncompetitive\n\n452\n00:17:55.600 --> 00:17:56.600\nstamina.\n\n453\n00:17:56.600 --> 00:17:58.880\nYou know, I want to get to your professional career in a minute, but I do want\n\n454\n00:17:58.880 --> 00:17:59.200\nto just\n\n455\n00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:00.840\nstop for a second.\n\n456\n00:18:00.840 --> 00:18:04.350\nAnd I don't think many people know this, but you were an intern at Merrill\n\n457\n00:18:04.350 --> 00:18:04.960\nLynch.\n\n458\n00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:08.360\nI know, you know, so tell us about that experience.\n\n459\n00:18:08.360 --> 00:18:11.510\nAnd was there a leader there that you learned from either in a good way or a\n\n460\n00:18:11.510 --> 00:18:12.080\nbad way?\n\n461\n00:18:12.080 --> 00:18:13.080\nYeah, I did.\n\n462\n00:18:13.080 --> 00:18:15.160\nI saw that I was interning in college.\n\n463\n00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:17.200\nI interned at two places.\n\n464\n00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:21.810\nOne was the golf course, because I wanted free golf in the summer when I was\n\n465\n00:18:21.810 --> 00:18:22.320\nback in\n\n466\n00:18:22.320 --> 00:18:23.320\nMichigan.\n\n467\n00:18:23.320 --> 00:18:26.200\nThe other was at Merrill Lynch, because I always thought I wanted to get into\n\n468\n00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:26.720\nbusiness when\n\n469\n00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.000\nI was, you know, if I wasn't going to become a football player.\n\n470\n00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:35.760\nAnd I worked at just one of the brokerage at the Merrill Lynch in an Arbor.\n\n471\n00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:41.560\nAnd I had two guys, Mike Halpern and Owen, great guy.\n\n472\n00:18:41.560 --> 00:18:42.560\nAnd he was a golfer.\n\n473\n00:18:42.560 --> 00:18:44.160\nHe would take me out golf.\n\n474\n00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:45.560\nAnd we just had so much fun.\n\n475\n00:18:45.560 --> 00:18:47.360\nIt was just a great experience.\n\n476\n00:18:47.360 --> 00:18:50.640\nAnd I worked there for two summers.\n\n477\n00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:54.320\nI kind of just was there to help and learn a little bit.\n\n478\n00:18:54.320 --> 00:18:57.780\nAnd I put together my own portfolios and pretend like I had a certain amount of\n\n479\n00:18:57.780 --> 00:18:58.120\nmoney\n\n480\n00:18:58.120 --> 00:19:03.150\nand invest in a higher risk, medium risk, lower risk and watching the market go\n\n481\n00:19:03.150 --> 00:19:03.440\nup and\n\n482\n00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:04.440\ndown every day.\n\n483\n00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:05.440\nHow'd you do with that?\n\n484\n00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:06.440\nI know.\n\n485\n00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:07.440\nNot as good.\n\n486\n00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:08.440\nYou're a little bit better football player.\n\n487\n00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:10.440\nI'm a better football player than you play at a right profession.\n\n488\n00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:13.680\nBut I don't think 98 and 99 were good times in the market.\n\n489\n00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.840\nSo I don't think many things are doing that well.\n\n490\n00:19:15.840 --> 00:19:20.560\nBut I had a great time just to kind of be in there in that office setting.\n\n491\n00:19:20.560 --> 00:19:21.560\nIt was really fun.\n\n492\n00:19:21.560 --> 00:19:25.320\nNow you were drafted both baseball and football.\n\n493\n00:19:25.320 --> 00:19:27.080\nWhy football?\n\n494\n00:19:27.080 --> 00:19:31.320\nWell I got drafted out of college, excuse me, out of high school to the\n\n495\n00:19:31.320 --> 00:19:32.560\nMontreal Expos.\n\n496\n00:19:32.560 --> 00:19:36.000\nBut at that point in time, I was in love with football.\n\n497\n00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.800\nAnd I wanted to go to college.\n\n498\n00:19:37.800 --> 00:19:40.440\nAnd I didn't play baseball in college.\n\n499\n00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:45.430\nAnd at that point, the reality was baseball was very taxing on my body, on my\n\n500\n00:19:45.430 --> 00:19:46.160\nknees because\n\n501\n00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:50.120\nI was a catcher and my right elbow was always hurting.\n\n502\n00:19:50.120 --> 00:19:54.390\nAnd I mean it's amazing that football could be less stressful on your body than\n\n503\n00:19:54.390 --> 00:19:55.200\nbaseball.\n\n504\n00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:56.680\nBut that was the reality for me.\n\n505\n00:19:56.680 --> 00:19:59.370\nAnd I fell in love with football just because the overall team sport and\n\n506\n00:19:59.370 --> 00:20:00.280\nplaying quarterback\n\n507\n00:20:00.280 --> 00:20:06.240\nand leadership component that had along with all the mental physical skills.\n\n508\n00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:08.080\nAnd it was just football became my love.\n\n509\n00:20:08.080 --> 00:20:12.010\nNow you were drafted in football obviously, but you didn't go until the sixth\n\n510\n00:20:12.010 --> 00:20:12.600\nround.\n\n511\n00:20:12.600 --> 00:20:15.880\nWere you surprised that you didn't go until the sixth round?\n\n512\n00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:20.260\nAnd how much did that really impact the way you thought about how you were\n\n513\n00:20:20.260 --> 00:20:21.880\ngoing to attack\n\n514\n00:20:21.880 --> 00:20:23.240\nyour professional life?\n\n515\n00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:28.620\nYeah, it was challenging because when you go that late in some organizations,\n\n516\n00:20:28.620 --> 00:20:29.160\nyou're\n\n517\n00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:31.120\nnot going to get as many chances as the other guys.\n\n518\n00:20:31.120 --> 00:20:33.630\nYou know, they're going to invest more in their higher picks, first round pick,\n\n519\n00:20:33.630 --> 00:20:33.960\nsecond\n\n520\n00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:34.960\nround.\n\n521\n00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:37.440\nThey really want those guys to succeed than their sixth round pick.\n\n522\n00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:40.120\nYou're relatively disposable if you're a sixth round pick.\n\n523\n00:20:40.120 --> 00:20:41.840\nYou better show something.\n\n524\n00:20:41.840 --> 00:20:46.410\nAnd fortunately I came to a team and a coach like Coach Belichick that really\n\n525\n00:20:46.410 --> 00:20:47.200\nonly values\n\n526\n00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:48.200\nyour performance.\n\n527\n00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:50.320\nHe doesn't care what round you were picked in.\n\n528\n00:20:50.320 --> 00:20:53.150\nHe doesn't care about whether you got you as a free agent, what you did last\n\n529\n00:20:53.150 --> 00:20:53.600\nyear, whether\n\n530\n00:20:53.600 --> 00:20:55.400\nyou were in the Heisman Trophy or not.\n\n531\n00:20:55.400 --> 00:20:57.200\nThe best guys were going to play.\n\n532\n00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:01.430\nSo I was just very lucky to get picked at the right time with a coach who\n\n533\n00:21:01.430 --> 00:21:02.400\ncouldn't mentor\n\n534\n00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:07.410\nme and teach me about football, about defense, about being a pro, about holding\n\n535\n00:21:07.410 --> 00:21:09.040\npeople accountable.\n\n536\n00:21:09.040 --> 00:21:13.280\nWhat would be the single biggest thing you think he's taught you as a leader?\n\n537\n00:21:13.280 --> 00:21:18.050\nWhat he's shown me is you don't have to worry about anything other than doing\n\n538\n00:21:18.050 --> 00:21:18.880\nwhat I expect\n\n539\n00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.560\nyou to do, which is play quarterback.\n\n540\n00:21:20.560 --> 00:21:21.720\nBe a great quarterback.\n\n541\n00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:24.600\nYou don't have to do offensive game plans.\n\n542\n00:21:24.600 --> 00:21:27.520\nYou don't have to worry about it on defense special teams.\n\n543\n00:21:27.520 --> 00:21:28.960\nYou play quarterback.\n\n544\n00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:32.480\nI'm going to coach and I'm going to have the offense coordinator Josh.\n\n545\n00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:37.130\nHe's going to call the plays and it's really allowed me to say, \"Look receivers\n\n546\n00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:37.800\n, do your\n\n547\n00:21:37.800 --> 00:21:38.800\njob.\n\n548\n00:21:38.800 --> 00:21:39.880\nRunning backs, do your job.\n\n549\n00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:40.880\nYou can't throw.\n\n550\n00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:43.400\nJust block or when I give it you run.\"\n\n551\n00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:46.400\nThey look at it like, \"What am I expected to do and how am I going to do as\n\n552\n00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:47.320\nbest I can?\"\n\n553\n00:21:47.320 --> 00:21:50.880\nWhat's the single biggest thing you've learned from Bob Kraft?\n\n554\n00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.000\nHe's very smart.\n\n555\n00:21:52.000 --> 00:22:00.640\nI think he has a lot of information and he's got tireless energy to be.\n\n556\n00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:05.260\nI remember when to Israel, he took me, he and his wife, Myra, took me to Israel\n\n557\n00:22:05.260 --> 00:22:06.480\nin 2006.\n\n558\n00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.240\nI remember I was so tired.\n\n559\n00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:12.650\nI'd fall asleep in the taxi cab to him talking to the taxi cab driver, asking\n\n560\n00:22:12.650 --> 00:22:13.720\nhim questions,\n\n561\n00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:19.680\nand wake up an hour later, him asking the taxi cab driver questions still.\n\n562\n00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:22.180\nWe'd be driving from one part of Israel to another and I'm like, \"How is he\n\n563\n00:22:22.180 --> 00:22:23.120\ndoing this?\n\n564\n00:22:23.120 --> 00:22:25.760\nI'm 30 years younger then.\"\n\n565\n00:22:25.760 --> 00:22:30.430\nHe's just got a great tireless energy for life and for people and he's so\n\n566\n00:22:30.430 --> 00:22:31.280\noutgoing and\n\n567\n00:22:31.280 --> 00:22:32.480\npersonal.\n\n568\n00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:37.290\nHe's got a lot of relationships and he knows exactly when he needs to insert\n\n569\n00:22:37.290 --> 00:22:38.200\nhimself and\n\n570\n00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:40.480\nwhat he needs to say to certain people.\n\n571\n00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:45.400\nHe tries to encourage communication and I think it's really remarkable.\n\n572\n00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:49.120\nWhen you came to the Patriots, you followed the legendary quarterback in his\n\n573\n00:22:49.120 --> 00:22:49.800\nown right,\n\n574\n00:22:49.800 --> 00:22:51.240\nDrew Bledsoe.\n\n575\n00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:53.840\nHe was injured and you took over the team.\n\n576\n00:22:53.840 --> 00:22:58.280\nWhen you went in to take over the team at that point, what were you thinking?\n\n577\n00:22:58.280 --> 00:23:02.230\nI always like to know what people are thinking when they get this moment of\n\n578\n00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:03.160\nopportunity.\n\n579\n00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:08.140\nDrew taught me a lot about toughness because Drew took some hits that I'd never\n\n580\n00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:09.600\nseen anyone.\n\n581\n00:23:09.600 --> 00:23:13.000\nProfessional football, it's a demolition derby out there.\n\n582\n00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.520\nThis is not like college.\n\n583\n00:23:15.520 --> 00:23:20.040\nThis is a different level of competition and it's more intense.\n\n584\n00:23:20.040 --> 00:23:23.080\nThe rules back then, hitting quarterbacks were a lot different.\n\n585\n00:23:23.080 --> 00:23:26.800\nDrew played with a thumb that was totally dislocated.\n\n586\n00:23:26.800 --> 00:23:32.800\nI mean, just showed so much toughness and the play that he got hurt on was\n\n587\n00:23:32.800 --> 00:23:33.720\nright here\n\n588\n00:23:33.720 --> 00:23:37.400\nand got pushed out of bounds, got hit going down and ended up having internal\n\n589\n00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:38.000\nbleeding.\n\n590\n00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:40.930\nI remember going to the hospital, seeing him that night and I knew he was going\n\n591\n00:23:40.930 --> 00:23:41.360\nto be out\n\n592\n00:23:41.360 --> 00:23:42.360\nfor a while.\n\n593\n00:23:42.360 --> 00:23:43.360\nYou know what?\n\n594\n00:23:43.360 --> 00:23:46.450\nIf I'm going to go in, I'm going to gain the trust of my teammates and I'm\n\n595\n00:23:46.450 --> 00:23:48.400\ngoing to go\n\n596\n00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.920\nhopefully never be taken off the field.\n\n597\n00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:56.500\nThat was my mindset because I worked really hard at Michigan and I felt like\n\n598\n00:23:56.500 --> 00:23:56.880\nwhen I get\n\n599\n00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:01.200\nmy chance, I'm never going to give it back to anyone.\n\n600\n00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:05.640\nMy level of competition is going to exceed whatever they can ever bring in.\n\n601\n00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:07.160\nIt worked well for me in college.\n\n602\n00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:10.360\nWhen I got to the pros, that was the same approach that I took.\n\n603\n00:24:10.360 --> 00:24:14.100\nI know those people ahead of me, but when I get my chance to go show what I can\n\n604\n00:24:14.100 --> 00:24:14.480\ndo, they're\n\n605\n00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:17.160\ngoing to say Tom Brady is the best one to lead the team.\n\n606\n00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:20.880\nWhen you took over the team, you had great success.\n\n607\n00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:25.860\nDo you still have that, I call it a healthy dissatisfaction for the status quo\n\n608\n00:24:25.860 --> 00:24:26.400\nor did you\n\n609\n00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:28.870\nfind that moment or is there a moment where you said, \"You know, I've really\n\n610\n00:24:28.870 --> 00:24:29.360\narrived.\n\n611\n00:24:29.360 --> 00:24:30.360\nI'm the guy.\"\n\n612\n00:24:30.360 --> 00:24:32.200\nI still don't feel like that.\n\n613\n00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:35.600\nI mean, I got so much to improve on.\n\n614\n00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:38.520\nI think that's just part of what has always fueled me.\n\n615\n00:24:38.520 --> 00:24:41.320\nI've never felt like, \"Man, this is it.\n\n616\n00:24:41.320 --> 00:24:42.320\nNo more to earn here.\n\n617\n00:24:42.320 --> 00:24:45.000\nNo one, everyone should just respect me.\"\n\n618\n00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:46.000\nI feel like, \"You know what?\n\n619\n00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:48.000\nI'm going to go earn it every day and I'm going to try to be the best leader.\n\n620\n00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.200\nI'm going to try to be the best performer.\n\n621\n00:24:50.200 --> 00:24:52.200\nIf I make a bad play, I'm holding myself accountable.\"\n\n622\n00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:53.200\nYou know what?\n\n623\n00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:54.400\nIf you mess up, I'm going to hold you accountable.\n\n624\n00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:57.560\nHow do you manage an inevitable conflict that's going to occur?\n\n625\n00:24:57.560 --> 00:25:00.920\nI think it's always a healthy respect.\n\n626\n00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:03.240\nYou can have things you don't agree on.\n\n627\n00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:07.300\nWe all have different ideas of what we need to do, but at the same time, you\n\n628\n00:25:07.300 --> 00:25:07.920\nrespect the\n\n629\n00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:11.400\nothers, the person opinion, and their decision.\n\n630\n00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:15.170\nI think when you have a healthy respect for one another, you know that we're\n\n631\n00:25:15.170 --> 00:25:15.720\njust trying\n\n632\n00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:20.280\nto win the game to have a great season.\n\n633\n00:25:20.280 --> 00:25:22.040\nThat's the trust that you have in each other.\n\n634\n00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:25.370\nShowing that respect to each other, you can have the tough battles, but you\n\n635\n00:25:25.370 --> 00:25:25.840\nknow where\n\n636\n00:25:25.840 --> 00:25:27.320\neach guy is coming from.\n\n637\n00:25:27.320 --> 00:25:28.320\nAbsolutely.\n\n638\n00:25:28.320 --> 00:25:30.880\nI think not only that, but that's marriage.\n\n639\n00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.040\nI mean, you're married to a certain person.\n\n640\n00:25:33.040 --> 00:25:35.000\nYou don't agree with everything.\n\n641\n00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:36.000\nMy wife...\n\n642\n00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:37.000\nYou don't agree with everything.\n\n643\n00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:38.000\nThat's a...\n\n644\n00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.000\nCome on.\n\n645\n00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:40.000\nYou don't.\n\n646\n00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:41.000\nBut you know what?\n\n647\n00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.020\nYou never say anything because words, once they're out, they can't ever come\n\n648\n00:25:45.020 --> 00:25:45.440\nback.\n\n649\n00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:49.800\nThey can leave some scar tissue.\n\n650\n00:25:49.800 --> 00:25:52.620\nSometimes when you want someone else to hurt to, and you say mean things, and\n\n651\n00:25:52.620 --> 00:25:53.400\nyou say hurtful\n\n652\n00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:54.400\nthings.\n\n653\n00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:57.560\nI learned that's not the way that I want to have a healthy relationship.\n\n654\n00:25:57.560 --> 00:26:02.250\nI try to do my best to never say anything that I would resent saying, because\n\n655\n00:26:02.250 --> 00:26:02.760\nonce it's\n\n656\n00:26:02.760 --> 00:26:04.960\nout, it's hard to take back.\n\n657\n00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:08.900\nDid your leadership change with the style of team or the cast of characters you\n\n658\n00:26:08.900 --> 00:26:09.240\nhave\n\n659\n00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:13.120\neach year, or do you just do basically the same things every year?\n\n660\n00:26:13.120 --> 00:26:18.000\nTo a degree, it changes and needs to evolve, because I think...\n\n661\n00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:19.000\nWhat are you trying to do?\n\n662\n00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:23.040\nYou're trying to get the best out of each guy, and you've got to find out what\n\n663\n00:26:23.040 --> 00:26:23.720\nmotivates\n\n664\n00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:24.720\nhim.\n\n665\n00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:31.230\nAnd some guys, you've got to find different tools to use, to bring them along,\n\n666\n00:26:31.230 --> 00:26:32.000\nto gain\n\n667\n00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.200\ntheir trust.\n\n668\n00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:36.880\nAnd you want them to excel, you need them to excel.\n\n669\n00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:42.020\nAnd if a guy's having a hard time, and he doesn't like some criticism getting\n\n670\n00:26:42.020 --> 00:26:42.600\nbeaten\n\n671\n00:26:42.600 --> 00:26:46.280\ndown, then why are you going to add more on top of that?\n\n672\n00:26:46.280 --> 00:26:48.280\nFind a way to chip away and be positive.\n\n673\n00:26:48.280 --> 00:26:52.360\nI think a lot of it is psychologically you trying to connect with people so\n\n674\n00:26:52.360 --> 00:26:52.880\nthat you can\n\n675\n00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:54.560\nsee the results from each other.\n\n676\n00:26:54.560 --> 00:26:58.240\nBecause look, I can't throw and catch.\n\n677\n00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:00.080\nI can't block and throw.\n\n678\n00:27:00.080 --> 00:27:01.320\nI can only do what I can do.\n\n679\n00:27:01.320 --> 00:27:04.200\nI need other people to do their job well.\n\n680\n00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:06.600\nIt doesn't matter if I do well, if I don't have others do well.\n\n681\n00:27:06.600 --> 00:27:09.000\nIt doesn't matter if they do well, if I don't do well.\n\n682\n00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:10.800\nSo a lot of it is just connecting with them.\n\n683\n00:27:10.800 --> 00:27:12.600\nA lot of that trust and commitment.\n\n684\n00:27:12.600 --> 00:27:16.930\nA lot of that is just psychologically being on the same page, the same\n\n685\n00:27:16.930 --> 00:27:17.960\nwavelength.\n\n686\n00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:20.360\nAnd I think that's a great part about the sport.\n\n687\n00:27:20.360 --> 00:27:26.680\nBelieve it or not, Tom, I read that you don't take losing well.\n\n688\n00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:33.230\nAnd you've admitted that you had to work on your body language to not be so\n\n689\n00:27:33.230 --> 00:27:33.880\nhard on your\n\n690\n00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:34.880\nteammates.\n\n691\n00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:38.600\nNow, what adjustments did you make with your body language?\n\n692\n00:27:38.600 --> 00:27:41.500\nAnd what advice would you give the leaders who struggle with their own body\n\n693\n00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:42.080\nlanguage?\n\n694\n00:27:42.080 --> 00:27:45.280\nI know that's a great aspect.\n\n695\n00:27:45.280 --> 00:27:46.760\nAnd I think about that a lot.\n\n696\n00:27:46.760 --> 00:27:48.960\nAnd I've got to continue to improve that.\n\n697\n00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:53.320\nNo one wants to see negativity when things are going well.\n\n698\n00:27:53.320 --> 00:27:57.110\nYou don't have to be the most positive, but you could be neutral because the\n\n699\n00:27:57.110 --> 00:27:57.800\nnegativity\n\n700\n00:27:57.800 --> 00:28:00.760\nisn't going to empower anyone.\n\n701\n00:28:00.760 --> 00:28:05.300\nSo I feel like if things don't go right, let's come up with a solution rather\n\n702\n00:28:05.300 --> 00:28:05.760\nthan let's\n\n703\n00:28:05.760 --> 00:28:07.600\nget negative and then figure out a solution.\n\n704\n00:28:07.600 --> 00:28:11.260\nSo I'm trying to skip the negative portion and just get straight to the\n\n705\n00:28:11.260 --> 00:28:11.960\nsolution.\n\n706\n00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:14.080\nSo it's a work in progress.\n\n707\n00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:18.000\nI mean, it's not like you can just forget about that.\n\n708\n00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:23.200\nI mean, you have to have people that show you, hey, man, change it.\n\n709\n00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:25.120\nIt's shitty now, change it around.\n\n710\n00:28:25.120 --> 00:28:29.240\nAnd I think that's part of it is I've got to always be aware of that, you know,\n\n711\n00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:29.800\nbecause\n\n712\n00:28:29.800 --> 00:28:30.800\nyou can see it too.\n\n713\n00:28:30.800 --> 00:28:31.760\nThere's 800 cameras here.\n\n714\n00:28:31.760 --> 00:28:35.120\nI mean, if you throw your water bottle or throw your helmet and everyone's\n\n715\n00:28:35.120 --> 00:28:35.560\ngoing to\n\n716\n00:28:35.560 --> 00:28:39.240\nsee it and I think being a positive leader, people want to be empowered.\n\n717\n00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:40.400\nThey want to be inspired.\n\n718\n00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:44.720\nThey want to show them the way and show them the way is a lot of times when it\n\n719\n00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:45.080\n's easy\n\n720\n00:28:45.080 --> 00:28:47.360\nto show the way when everyone's leading and giving you praise.\n\n721\n00:28:47.360 --> 00:28:49.770\nIt's hard to show the way when everyone's telling you how bad you are and you\n\n722\n00:28:49.770 --> 00:28:50.320\nguys suck\n\n723\n00:28:50.320 --> 00:28:53.160\nand you say, listen, let's, this is what we're going to do.\n\n724\n00:28:53.160 --> 00:28:55.560\nWe're going to solve this and we're going to, you know, make good things happen\n\n725\n00:28:55.560 --> 00:28:55.760\n.\n\n726\n00:28:55.760 --> 00:28:59.440\nEven your competitors, believe it or not, have great things to say about you.\n\n727\n00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:03.720\nI want to read some of the quotes and ask you some questions as it relates to\n\n728\n00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:04.840\nleadership.\n\n729\n00:29:04.840 --> 00:29:07.080\nNow, here's a quote from Dion Lewis.\n\n730\n00:29:07.080 --> 00:29:09.600\nAnd he said, there's no panic in the huddle.\n\n731\n00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:11.160\nHe's confident and focused.\n\n732\n00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:13.720\nWhen we're in a pinch, he's there to get us out.\n\n733\n00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:18.390\nYeah. Now, Tom, leaders, leaders face the same things you face as a quarterback\n\n734\n00:29:18.390 --> 00:29:18.560\n.\n\n735\n00:29:18.560 --> 00:29:20.520\nYeah. The team seems to be losing.\n\n736\n00:29:20.760 --> 00:29:23.640\nPeople leave, you counted on, competitors are getting better.\n\n737\n00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:26.040\nHow do you stay focused and confident when you're behind?\n\n738\n00:29:26.040 --> 00:29:28.920\nThat's a, that's a great question.\n\n739\n00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:34.000\nAnd I think that it's, it's always a bit of a challenge when you're down\n\n740\n00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.480\nand you got to dig deep.\n\n741\n00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:41.680\nAnd I think, you know, as a good example, when we were losing the Super Bowl a\n\n742\n00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:42.680\nfew years ago\n\n743\n00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:48.080\nto the Falcons, 20, eight, three, it couldn't get any worse at that point.\n\n744\n00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.320\nAnd I think we were, we were going to lose.\n\n745\n00:29:51.320 --> 00:29:53.880\nAnd we just all looked at each other.\n\n746\n00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:58.480\nWe said, look, we got to just, you got to make one play and one play turns into\n\n747\n00:29:58.480 --> 00:29:58.800\ntwo\n\n748\n00:29:58.800 --> 00:30:00.400\nand two turns into three and four.\n\n749\n00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:01.920\nYou know what? You got the momentum.\n\n750\n00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:04.120\nAnd I think that's a great trade.\n\n751\n00:30:04.120 --> 00:30:07.440\nI'm never going to be in a game for the rest of my career where I don't think\n\n752\n00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:07.960\nwe can win\n\n753\n00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:10.280\nbecause of some experience that I've had.\n\n754\n00:30:10.280 --> 00:30:12.840\nAnd it's not like it can be false.\n\n755\n00:30:12.840 --> 00:30:14.720\nIt's not a false confidence.\n\n756\n00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:15.840\nIt's a real confidence.\n\n757\n00:30:15.840 --> 00:30:18.720\nAnd I think, you know, we feed off each other.\n\n758\n00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:20.640\nWe're very energetic souls.\n\n759\n00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:26.200\nAnd I think when people feel confident, when they feel the desire to win,\n\n760\n00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:28.520\nI think that's it flows.\n\n761\n00:30:28.520 --> 00:30:30.040\nAnd when you get that, it's it's magic.\n\n762\n00:30:30.040 --> 00:30:33.280\nYou told me once, I think we were playing golf and actually behind you,\n\n763\n00:30:33.280 --> 00:30:35.040\nsaid you can't win if you're not behind.\n\n764\n00:30:35.040 --> 00:30:37.480\nYou can't come from behind if you're not behind.\n\n765\n00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:38.000\nI know.\n\n766\n00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:40.080\nYou relish being in that position.\n\n767\n00:30:40.080 --> 00:30:43.040\nI do. And I think that it's, if you overcome that,\n\n768\n00:30:43.040 --> 00:30:45.560\nthink what they're going to be talking about tomorrow.\n\n769\n00:30:45.800 --> 00:30:47.200\nIt's not a great story.\n\n770\n00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:50.240\nIf man, you know, you got ahead, you stayed ahead, you ran away with it.\n\n771\n00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:52.480\nPeople love the stories when you come from behind.\n\n772\n00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:54.280\nEveryone loves those underdogs.\n\n773\n00:30:54.280 --> 00:30:58.280\nIt's almost like when you watch Phil Mickelson play, he hits a bad shot,\n\n774\n00:30:58.280 --> 00:31:02.410\nbut he's almost excited, more excited to hit the shot that no one else could\n\n775\n00:31:02.410 --> 00:31:03.160\npull off.\n\n776\n00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:05.960\nThen, you know, rather he'd be in the middle of the fairway, you know,\n\n777\n00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:07.520\nit's just a different mindset.\n\n778\n00:31:07.520 --> 00:31:10.200\nAnd I think you just got to shift the mindset sometimes.\n\n779\n00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:14.350\nI think, you know, sometimes if it's not a perfect situation, people go, Oh,\n\n780\n00:31:14.350 --> 00:31:14.760\nGod,\n\n781\n00:31:14.760 --> 00:31:15.640\nhow could I succeed?\n\n782\n00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:16.840\nAnd they look for excuses.\n\n783\n00:31:16.840 --> 00:31:20.360\nI think other people, they go, well, don't give it to me perfect.\n\n784\n00:31:20.360 --> 00:31:21.480\nI want it rainy.\n\n785\n00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:22.280\nI want it windy.\n\n786\n00:31:22.280 --> 00:31:23.160\nI want the calls.\n\n787\n00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:25.240\nYou know, I want to beat them at their best.\n\n788\n00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:29.040\nWhat's your attitude when you have to, when you have to play when you're ahead,\n\n789\n00:31:29.040 --> 00:31:32.040\nyou know, when you're actually winning, I mean, which I think that's more\n\n790\n00:31:32.040 --> 00:31:33.160\nchallenging for me.\n\n791\n00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:36.740\nI mean, if we got a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter, I mean, I think in\n\n792\n00:31:36.740 --> 00:31:36.880\nsome\n\n793\n00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:41.960\nways that's more challenging because, you know, you're play with a degree of\n\n794\n00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:42.480\ncaution\n\n795\n00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:45.280\nbecause you have a, you have a lead.\n\n796\n00:31:45.280 --> 00:31:51.080\nAnd I think sometimes when you have a deficit, you cut it loose and sometimes\n\n797\n00:31:51.080 --> 00:31:54.480\ncutting loose, it's, it's, it's a real benefit to cut it loose.\n\n798\n00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:55.480\nNow it's been both.\n\n799\n00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:58.080\nAnd I think you got to learn, I think the reality is you got to learn to do\n\n800\n00:31:58.080 --> 00:31:58.440\nboth.\n\n801\n00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:02.080\nNow when you're, you're so confident, was there ever a time in your life where\n\n802\n00:32:02.080 --> 00:32:02.200\nyou\n\n803\n00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:03.600\nstruggled with your confidence?\n\n804\n00:32:03.600 --> 00:32:07.840\nI wouldn't say a deep struggle with my confidence.\n\n805\n00:32:07.840 --> 00:32:09.520\nI've always had an inner confidence.\n\n806\n00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:13.800\nI think that inner confidence always ebbs and flows.\n\n807\n00:32:13.800 --> 00:32:17.720\nI don't think I wake up out of bed thinking like, man, I'm going to go dominate\n\n808\n00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:18.040\ntoday.\n\n809\n00:32:18.040 --> 00:32:22.200\nI mean, I think I think I'm going to get my process right and I'm just going to\n\n810\n00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:22.320\nput\n\n811\n00:32:22.320 --> 00:32:24.120\nme in a great position to be successful.\n\n812\n00:32:24.120 --> 00:32:32.720\nWe'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Tom Brady in just a moment.\n\n813\n00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:36.240\nAs leaders, we can't just be people who talk to talk.\n\n814\n00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:37.840\nWe need to walk the talk.\n\n815\n00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:42.320\nIn my conversation with the Neil Buschree, the co-founder and co-CEO and\n\n816\n00:32:42.320 --> 00:32:43.360\nchairman of Workday,\n\n817\n00:32:43.360 --> 00:32:47.720\nyou're going to hear how he walks the talk, especially around their company's\n\n818\n00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:48.400\ncore values.\n\n819\n00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:50.960\nYou know, there are a lot of companies that have number one as customers.\n\n820\n00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:54.230\nDave's view was, if you don't have happy employees, you're not going to have\n\n821\n00:32:54.230 --> 00:32:55.040\nhappy customers.\n\n822\n00:32:55.040 --> 00:32:56.840\nAnd to this day, I see that in spades.\n\n823\n00:32:56.840 --> 00:33:00.360\nI've never seen happy customers and unhappy employees that appear together.\n\n824\n00:33:00.360 --> 00:33:01.160\nIt just doesn't work.\n\n825\n00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:04.160\nGo listen to the rest of my conversation with a Neil.\n\n826\n00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:07.960\nEpisode 67 here on How Leaders Lead.\n\n827\n00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:17.240\nWhat advice can you give up and coming leaders on how to display more\n\n828\n00:33:17.240 --> 00:33:18.240\nconfidence?\n\n829\n00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:24.480\nI think, again, it's some degrees, I think you fake it till you make it.\n\n830\n00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:28.530\nAnd I think you can show enthusiasm and confidence even when it's just\n\n831\n00:33:28.530 --> 00:33:29.000\nbeginning.\n\n832\n00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:32.510\nI don't think you need to wait for it to be this roaring sense of confidence\n\n833\n00:33:32.510 --> 00:33:32.800\nbefore\n\n834\n00:33:32.800 --> 00:33:35.520\nyou can display any emotion toward it.\n\n835\n00:33:35.520 --> 00:33:37.360\nBut life is about emotion.\n\n836\n00:33:37.360 --> 00:33:42.080\nYou know, you have to bring energy and enthusiasm as a leader to motivate and\n\n837\n00:33:42.080 --> 00:33:42.600\ninspire.\n\n838\n00:33:42.600 --> 00:33:48.920\nYou have to have a healthy drive to get people to bring them along with you.\n\n839\n00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:52.640\nAnd you've got to be leading the, you know, you've got to be leading the way.\n\n840\n00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:56.640\nAnd I think if you're willing to do that, there's great benefit.\n\n841\n00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:59.520\nNow it's work and it's a commitment.\n\n842\n00:33:59.520 --> 00:34:01.160\nIt's no days off.\n\n843\n00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:05.220\nI mean, you are, and once you establish yourself as that, you can never go back\n\n844\n00:34:05.220 --> 00:34:05.400\n.\n\n845\n00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:09.560\nBecause people now look to you and they say, Hey, Tom, what's my job?\n\n846\n00:34:09.560 --> 00:34:10.800\nWhat's my responsibility?\n\n847\n00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.400\nWhen you say great job, that helps me a lot.\n\n848\n00:34:13.400 --> 00:34:15.320\nYou know, and it means a lot to people.\n\n849\n00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:17.760\nAnd I think that's part of a leader now.\n\n850\n00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:20.560\nLike I know what I say has a big influence on players.\n\n851\n00:34:20.560 --> 00:34:22.920\nAnd that's a great thing to do.\n\n852\n00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:29.440\nBut if I use it wrongly with poor body language, with poor actions or poor\n\n853\n00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:30.160\nwords,\n\n854\n00:34:30.640 --> 00:34:32.720\nthen it does the opposite effect.\n\n855\n00:34:32.720 --> 00:34:33.360\nAbsolutely.\n\n856\n00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:33.960\nYeah.\n\n857\n00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:35.920\nHere's another quote from Kirk Cousins.\n\n858\n00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:40.000\nHe says, Tom's number one, because of production and individual stats.\n\n859\n00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:45.280\nHe's had a revolving door with the supporting cast, yet he doesn't miss a beat.\n\n860\n00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:50.000\nMy question is, is today's workers are as loyal to an organization as like baby\n\n861\n00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:50.800\nboomers were.\n\n862\n00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:55.240\nHow do you keep winning, Tom, with ever changing teammates?\n\n863\n00:34:55.240 --> 00:34:55.840\nYeah.\n\n864\n00:34:55.840 --> 00:35:00.360\nI think there's no such thing as individual stats in football.\n\n865\n00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:02.360\nI mean, this is the ultimate team sport.\n\n866\n00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:06.680\nAnd I think for a quarterback, you rely so heavily on the other people around\n\n867\n00:35:06.680 --> 00:35:06.800\nyou.\n\n868\n00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:10.760\nSo this is all about our team and our culture.\n\n869\n00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:16.760\nAnd once that system's in place, it's really about making great decisions.\n\n870\n00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:20.240\nAnd it's like being perfect in football as impossible.\n\n871\n00:35:20.240 --> 00:35:22.080\nThere's too many moving parts.\n\n872\n00:35:22.080 --> 00:35:23.280\nYou have to be really good.\n\n873\n00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:24.400\nYou don't have to be perfect.\n\n874\n00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:24.720\nYeah.\n\n875\n00:35:24.720 --> 00:35:29.200\nAnd I think the focus is, Hey, let's be, let's be really good every time.\n\n876\n00:35:29.200 --> 00:35:31.240\nWe don't have to be perfect, but we can be really good.\n\n877\n00:35:31.240 --> 00:35:34.320\nAnd if we're less than really good, then let's improve our process.\n\n878\n00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:36.280\nAnd I think that's the focus.\n\n879\n00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:38.400\nIt can't always be so results oriented.\n\n880\n00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:41.480\nIt has to be what did we do on a daily basis?\n\n881\n00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:45.280\nHow can we improve that and become better and provide more margin of error when\n\n882\n00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:45.440\nwe\n\n883\n00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:46.720\nactually face the competition?\n\n884\n00:35:46.720 --> 00:35:50.440\nAnd fortunately, in our sport, which is different than some businesses, I mean,\n\n885\n00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:54.760\nyou truly can measure success from a wins loss perspective.\n\n886\n00:35:54.760 --> 00:35:56.920\nAnd that's, you know, a very fortunate to be able to do that.\n\n887\n00:35:57.080 --> 00:36:01.080\nTell us about a time you lost a key player on the team, though, that really\n\n888\n00:36:01.080 --> 00:36:02.000\nfrustrated you.\n\n889\n00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:03.560\nHow did you get over it?\n\n890\n00:36:03.560 --> 00:36:06.360\nBecause we lose everybody loses top talent.\n\n891\n00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:06.840\nI know.\n\n892\n00:36:06.840 --> 00:36:15.200\nWell, I'll tell you, we lost in 2009, we lost our probably our best player that\n\n893\n00:36:15.200 --> 00:36:19.360\nyear, West Welker, in a last game of the season, we were playing in Houston.\n\n894\n00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:23.080\nHe tore his ACL in the first quarter of the game, week 17.\n\n895\n00:36:23.080 --> 00:36:26.040\nAnd we were already in the playoffs.\n\n896\n00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:29.960\nAnd the next week we played Baltimore here at home.\n\n897\n00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:35.040\nAnd it was one of the biggest blowout losses we've ever had, certainly at home.\n\n898\n00:36:35.040 --> 00:36:40.680\nAnd that was tough because he provided so much production.\n\n899\n00:36:40.680 --> 00:36:45.800\nAnd we had to prepare in a really short period of time without him.\n\n900\n00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:48.360\nThere's different times where you lose players in an off season.\n\n901\n00:36:48.360 --> 00:36:49.840\nYou've got to try to fill the void.\n\n902\n00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:52.240\nAnd the reality is every year there's change.\n\n903\n00:36:52.240 --> 00:36:53.760\nThis is the NFL.\n\n904\n00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:54.680\nThis is business.\n\n905\n00:36:55.240 --> 00:36:57.160\nPeople get different opportunities, good for them.\n\n906\n00:36:57.160 --> 00:36:57.720\nThey should.\n\n907\n00:36:57.720 --> 00:37:00.040\nPeople retire, people move on.\n\n908\n00:37:00.040 --> 00:37:04.560\nBut you've got to figure out, you know, how to incorporate them as fast as you\n\n909\n00:37:04.560 --> 00:37:04.960\ncan.\n\n910\n00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:05.800\nAnd you're right.\n\n911\n00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:06.400\nYou lose talent.\n\n912\n00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:08.240\nHopefully you can train more talent.\n\n913\n00:37:08.240 --> 00:37:09.360\nYou know, here's the last quote.\n\n914\n00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:11.520\nI'm going to share it from a competitor, which is Russell Wilson.\n\n915\n00:37:11.520 --> 00:37:14.080\nHe says, when the game's on the line, he has no fear.\n\n916\n00:37:14.080 --> 00:37:18.960\nNow that's that's a great compliment to have, you know, have your peers see you\n\n917\n00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:19.560\nas\n\n918\n00:37:19.560 --> 00:37:20.240\nfearless.\n\n919\n00:37:20.240 --> 00:37:24.760\nBut I imagine there has to be some time when fear creeps in.\n\n920\n00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:29.080\nCan you can you share it with us a time where fear really creeped in and how do\n\n921\n00:37:29.080 --> 00:37:29.760\nyou overcome it?\n\n922\n00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:31.720\nI don't think it.\n\n923\n00:37:31.720 --> 00:37:33.880\nI don't think fear would be the word for me.\n\n924\n00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:39.910\nThe only fear that I would have would be to have an injury and not be available\n\n925\n00:37:39.910 --> 00:37:40.440\nwith my team.\n\n926\n00:37:40.440 --> 00:37:41.920\nThat's a fear of mine.\n\n927\n00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:47.640\nBut the fear of a bad performance, I don't think I fear that much because I\n\n928\n00:37:47.640 --> 00:37:47.920\nknow I'm\n\n929\n00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:49.040\ngiven it everything I got.\n\n930\n00:37:49.040 --> 00:37:52.840\nThe fear of an injury sucks because I can't do what I love to do.\n\n931\n00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:58.280\nSo outside and, you know, keeping perspective on a lot of things in life, you\n\n932\n00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:00.160\nknow, not that much matters.\n\n933\n00:38:00.160 --> 00:38:00.520\nYeah.\n\n934\n00:38:00.520 --> 00:38:03.120\nYou know, what's your proudest moment as a leader?\n\n935\n00:38:03.120 --> 00:38:09.320\nMoments like that, where you're holding up the trophy, you know, and you're\n\n936\n00:38:09.320 --> 00:38:10.960\nlooking out over your teammates.\n\n937\n00:38:10.960 --> 00:38:14.320\nAnd you've accomplished what you set out to.\n\n938\n00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:17.600\nIt's a lot like climbing a mountain, a football season.\n\n939\n00:38:18.360 --> 00:38:22.600\nAt the beginning, it's daunting. It's a long ways.\n\n940\n00:38:22.600 --> 00:38:25.920\nYou're pretty fresh. You're excited.\n\n941\n00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:30.920\nYou get into it and you go, man, this is hard.\n\n942\n00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:33.960\nYou know, and I still got a long way to go.\n\n943\n00:38:33.960 --> 00:38:37.400\nAnd every day you just put one foot in front of the other and you'd be a little\n\n944\n00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:38.120\nbit smarter.\n\n945\n00:38:38.120 --> 00:38:42.650\nAnd as you get more into the climb, the harder it gets, the more fatigue you\n\n946\n00:38:42.650 --> 00:38:42.880\nget,\n\n947\n00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:44.920\nthe more people you lose.\n\n948\n00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:50.040\nThe more confidence do I really have what it takes to reach the top?\n\n949\n00:38:50.040 --> 00:38:57.230\nAnd the colder it gets as the season goes, the higher you get, there's less\n\n950\n00:38:57.230 --> 00:38:58.120\ncompetition.\n\n951\n00:38:58.120 --> 00:39:03.450\nAnd do people have the will and the determination to drive and the stamina to\n\n952\n00:39:03.450 --> 00:39:04.320\nmake it up the mountain?\n\n953\n00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:07.240\nAnd the reality is in the NFL, even those 32 teams,\n\n954\n00:39:07.240 --> 00:39:12.230\nwhen you look back at the season, there's probably about 10 that are capable\n\n955\n00:39:12.230 --> 00:39:13.640\nand that's your real competition.\n\n956\n00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:19.630\nAnd the best part is being the one at the top of the mountain at the end of the\n\n957\n00:39:19.630 --> 00:39:19.920\nyear.\n\n958\n00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:23.190\nAnd I think when you start a new year, you've got to start at the bottom of the\n\n959\n00:39:23.190 --> 00:39:24.320\nmountain like everybody else.\n\n960\n00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:27.290\nWell, that's interesting because I was going to ask you, after the Super Bowl\n\n961\n00:39:27.290 --> 00:39:28.160\nlost the Eagles,\n\n962\n00:39:28.160 --> 00:39:32.280\none of the comments that you made was the importance of what you could learn\n\n963\n00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:33.200\nfrom the loss\n\n964\n00:39:33.200 --> 00:39:35.680\nand teaching your boys.\n\n965\n00:39:35.680 --> 00:39:37.560\nYeah. You know, how so?\n\n966\n00:39:37.560 --> 00:39:42.400\nYeah. Well, because I think that's part of what perspective I've gained in\n\n967\n00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:43.160\nbeing a dad.\n\n968\n00:39:44.160 --> 00:39:46.160\nBecause I'm a competitor.\n\n969\n00:39:46.160 --> 00:39:51.160\nI want to win every time because I put a lot into it and my teammates do too.\n\n970\n00:39:51.160 --> 00:39:53.160\nBut you know what? You don't win every game.\n\n971\n00:39:53.160 --> 00:39:57.160\nAnd just because you compete doesn't mean you're going to win.\n\n972\n00:39:57.160 --> 00:40:01.160\nSo the gift is the competition. It's not the win.\n\n973\n00:40:01.160 --> 00:40:03.160\nThe win is a byproduct of the gift.\n\n974\n00:40:03.160 --> 00:40:07.340\nSo I think when I see my kids after the game and one of my sons is crying\n\n975\n00:40:07.340 --> 00:40:10.160\nbecause he didn't have the perspective.\n\n976\n00:40:10.160 --> 00:40:15.160\nYou know, and the sun comes up the next day and your life goes on.\n\n977\n00:40:15.160 --> 00:40:21.470\nAnd what really matters is, you know, a lot of other things in your life,\n\n978\n00:40:21.470 --> 00:40:26.160\nalthough sports are incredibly important in my life,\n\n979\n00:40:26.160 --> 00:40:30.160\nwhen I'm done, things are going to keep moving.\n\n980\n00:40:30.160 --> 00:40:34.980\nHave you ever had anything, Tom, where, you know, it's, I mean, everybody looks\n\n981\n00:40:34.980 --> 00:40:39.160\nat you and you're like, you know, you create this quarterback all the time.\n\n982\n00:40:39.160 --> 00:40:42.650\nYou know, all the stuff that's going for you. It's almost like there's no ch\n\n983\n00:40:42.650 --> 00:40:44.160\ninks in the armor, you know.\n\n984\n00:40:44.160 --> 00:40:45.160\nYeah.\n\n985\n00:40:45.160 --> 00:40:50.640\nIf you ever had any like misfortune that you thought was a misfortune, it ended\n\n986\n00:40:50.640 --> 00:40:55.160\nup really being a blessing or, you know, talk a little bit about it.\n\n987\n00:40:55.160 --> 00:40:57.160\nHave you had any failure in your life?\n\n988\n00:40:57.160 --> 00:40:58.160\nOh, a lot.\n\n989\n00:40:58.160 --> 00:40:59.160\nA lot.\n\n990\n00:40:59.160 --> 00:40:59.160\nA lot.\n\n991\n00:40:59.160 --> 00:41:03.180\nLike I said, it's throughout my life, I think all the way up through probably\n\n992\n00:41:03.180 --> 00:41:05.910\n24 years old, there was not a lot of people that were, whether they were in the\n\n993\n00:41:05.910 --> 00:41:06.160\ngame, or not, or not.\n\n994\n00:41:06.160 --> 00:41:10.690\nThere was not a lot of people that were, were leaving in me, you know. I mean,\n\n995\n00:41:10.690 --> 00:41:15.160\nI had to fight a lot, even through elementary school and sports.\n\n996\n00:41:15.160 --> 00:41:19.360\nYou know, I was good. I was never the best. In high school, I was good. I was\n\n997\n00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:22.160\nnever the best. In college, I was good, but I was never the best.\n\n998\n00:41:22.160 --> 00:41:27.160\nAnd those, those shaped me.\n\n999\n00:41:28.160 --> 00:41:33.850\nSo when you get to be 24, you're not going to now, if we want a Super Bowl,\n\n1000\n00:41:33.850 --> 00:41:38.540\nthink that like, oh, I should change. No, I should do more of what got me to\n\n1001\n00:41:38.540 --> 00:41:39.160\nthat point.\n\n1002\n00:41:39.160 --> 00:41:45.160\nSo I feel like my life has been a bunch of failures. I've had a lot of success,\n\n1003\n00:41:45.160 --> 00:41:48.160\nbut it's been shaped by the things that haven't worked out.\n\n1004\n00:41:48.160 --> 00:41:52.020\nAnd I've certainly had a lot of things happen in my life personally that I've\n\n1005\n00:41:52.020 --> 00:41:55.560\nlearned from that are very personal to me that have allowed me to gain\n\n1006\n00:41:55.560 --> 00:41:57.160\ndifferent perspective.\n\n1007\n00:41:57.160 --> 00:42:03.220\nAnd it's life. There's nothing perfect about life. I really don't think so. I\n\n1008\n00:42:03.220 --> 00:42:06.160\nthink with its learning is the most important thing.\n\n1009\n00:42:06.160 --> 00:42:11.550\nYou have a multifaceted mental capability that everybody that knows you, it\n\n1010\n00:42:11.550 --> 00:42:16.160\nreally sets you apart in so many different ways. And you're so positive.\n\n1011\n00:42:16.160 --> 00:42:21.040\nYou've got that positive energy, which everybody looks for. How do you keep\n\n1012\n00:42:21.040 --> 00:42:24.720\nthat positive mindset going on your face with a barrage of negativity around\n\n1013\n00:42:24.720 --> 00:42:25.160\nyou?\n\n1014\n00:42:25.160 --> 00:42:29.490\nLike, you know, with the flight gate being the biggest example. How did you\n\n1015\n00:42:29.490 --> 00:42:30.160\nwork through that?\n\n1016\n00:42:31.160 --> 00:42:36.750\nI think it's, again, I think it's perspective, you know, from my standpoint,\n\n1017\n00:42:36.750 --> 00:42:41.690\nlike, I, there's so much out there, you know, and especially in today's day and\n\n1018\n00:42:41.690 --> 00:42:42.160\nage.\n\n1019\n00:42:42.160 --> 00:42:48.110\nYou have two approaches. You can combat everything, you know, or you just let\n\n1020\n00:42:48.110 --> 00:42:51.160\npeople say whatever they want to say.\n\n1021\n00:42:51.160 --> 00:42:55.500\nAnd I think in many ways, I've always felt like I should just stay out of the\n\n1022\n00:42:55.500 --> 00:42:56.160\nnoise.\n\n1023\n00:42:57.160 --> 00:43:01.110\nBecause really, you know, we're part of this system, you know, and this system\n\n1024\n00:43:01.110 --> 00:43:07.500\nis very all encompassing in terms of, you know, making money and business and\n\n1025\n00:43:07.500 --> 00:43:12.160\nso much control and power, you know, and I think I just dropped the rope.\n\n1026\n00:43:12.160 --> 00:43:17.550\nAnd I know who I am, you know, I know what I believe in. And I'm very proud of\n\n1027\n00:43:17.550 --> 00:43:19.160\nthat. And I'm going to try to maintain that.\n\n1028\n00:43:19.160 --> 00:43:23.550\nAnd I feel like it's part of social media is, you know, an act, you know, and I\n\n1029\n00:43:23.550 --> 00:43:28.110\nthink there's class act too, you know, and I've always felt like, you know what\n\n1030\n00:43:28.110 --> 00:43:30.160\n, I'm going to be a class act.\n\n1031\n00:43:30.160 --> 00:43:35.450\nYeah, well, along those lines, you and Giselle, you probably face as high a\n\n1032\n00:43:35.450 --> 00:43:38.160\nprofile as any couple that I know of.\n\n1033\n00:43:38.160 --> 00:43:39.120\nAnd you have tabloids who just can't wait to write the bad article and make\n\n1034\n00:43:39.120 --> 00:43:47.160\nmoney or whatever, you know, you guys put that aside and and and Trudge on.\n\n1035\n00:43:47.160 --> 00:43:51.220\nI think you have to because you can't be controlled by a lot of exterior\n\n1036\n00:43:51.220 --> 00:43:54.160\ninfluences. And I think I learned that over the course of my athletic career,\n\n1037\n00:43:54.160 --> 00:44:00.160\nwhen you're exposed yourself to criticism just by the nature of your profession\n\n1038\n00:44:00.160 --> 00:44:00.160\n.\n\n1039\n00:44:00.160 --> 00:44:04.290\nAnd I think we all do that when you have a public life. And really, the reality\n\n1040\n00:44:04.290 --> 00:44:08.160\nis everybody's life is public. You know, you're going to be scrutinized.\n\n1041\n00:44:08.160 --> 00:44:12.730\nAnd the scrutiny now is much more global than it used to be because there's so\n\n1042\n00:44:12.730 --> 00:44:16.970\nmany platforms for people to be able to express information and share\n\n1043\n00:44:16.970 --> 00:44:18.160\ninformation.\n\n1044\n00:44:18.160 --> 00:44:23.670\nYou know, you talk about global and you're married to Giselle's and it's from\n\n1045\n00:44:23.670 --> 00:44:27.160\nBrazil in a renowned model worldwide known.\n\n1046\n00:44:27.160 --> 00:44:30.730\nHas that broadened your perspective? How has that broadened your perspective as\n\n1047\n00:44:30.730 --> 00:44:31.160\na leader?\n\n1048\n00:44:31.160 --> 00:44:37.760\nIncredibly. And because you realize that you're, you know, I think part of it\n\n1049\n00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:41.160\nis you're, you know, I have kids that are a dual citizens.\n\n1050\n00:44:41.160 --> 00:44:45.160\nYou know, they're Brazilian, but they're American too. They're born in America.\n\n1051\n00:44:45.160 --> 00:44:49.550\nAnd but my wife said, I want them to be Brazilian citizens because my culture\n\n1052\n00:44:49.550 --> 00:44:51.160\nis equally as important as yours.\n\n1053\n00:44:51.160 --> 00:44:56.040\nAnd we're going to live in America, but I want my kids to experience what I\n\n1054\n00:44:56.040 --> 00:45:00.160\ngrew up to because it's, that's what you do in a marriage.\n\n1055\n00:45:00.160 --> 00:45:03.470\nAnd I think when you realize you're a citizen of the world and not just a\n\n1056\n00:45:03.470 --> 00:45:07.160\ncitizen of the United States, it's a different perspective on life.\n\n1057\n00:45:07.160 --> 00:45:12.880\nWhen I go to Brazil, you know, that's my wife's home. But we're sharing the\n\n1058\n00:45:12.880 --> 00:45:16.160\nsame planet. We're sharing the same air. We're sharing the same water.\n\n1059\n00:45:16.160 --> 00:45:21.440\nWe're sharing the same resources. Now, unless you have that perspective, it's\n\n1060\n00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:24.710\nhard to think beyond that. You know, you probably marry someone across the\n\n1061\n00:45:24.710 --> 00:45:25.160\ncountry.\n\n1062\n00:45:25.160 --> 00:45:30.160\nIt's different culturally. You marry someone of, you know, what, but, you know,\n\n1063\n00:45:30.160 --> 00:45:34.220\nmulticultural marriage that I'm in, you know, it's, it comes with challenges\n\n1064\n00:45:34.220 --> 00:45:36.160\nand you face those challenges, but you learn from them.\n\n1065\n00:45:36.160 --> 00:45:39.160\nAnd I think I wouldn't have it any other way at this point.\n\n1066\n00:45:39.160 --> 00:45:44.160\nBut it's absolutely a different perspective on the world.\n\n1067\n00:45:44.160 --> 00:45:48.030\nYou know, let's shift to the Tom Brady off the field and end of the business\n\n1068\n00:45:48.030 --> 00:45:51.160\nworld where you're really doing some exciting things.\n\n1069\n00:45:51.160 --> 00:45:56.990\nAnd it's, you know, you're having great success. But first of all, you know,\n\n1070\n00:45:56.990 --> 00:46:01.160\nwhen you think about brands, Tom, you know, brands stand for characteristics\n\n1071\n00:46:01.160 --> 00:46:04.160\nthat, you know, that they want to drive home and all the communications.\n\n1072\n00:46:04.160 --> 00:46:09.690\nAnd, you know, you form TB12 and I want to talk about that. But tell me what\n\n1073\n00:46:09.690 --> 00:46:15.980\nthe Tom Brady brand should convey in your mind. What attributes would you want\n\n1074\n00:46:15.980 --> 00:46:20.160\nto project as you market your brand, just like under armor markets its brands?\n\n1075\n00:46:20.160 --> 00:46:25.240\nThat's a great question. And it's not stuff that I've thought about too much. I\n\n1076\n00:46:25.240 --> 00:46:29.160\nmean, I know what TB12 stands for, the brand.\n\n1077\n00:46:29.160 --> 00:46:35.970\nMe personally, I've always felt like I'm a very hard working, determined,\n\n1078\n00:46:35.970 --> 00:46:38.160\ndisciplined leader.\n\n1079\n00:46:38.160 --> 00:46:41.310\nI mean, I think that's what I've tried to show and display in my work\n\n1080\n00:46:41.310 --> 00:46:42.160\nprofession.\n\n1081\n00:46:42.160 --> 00:46:46.500\nAnd I think that that's, I've always been an underdog in some way. And I know\n\n1082\n00:46:46.500 --> 00:46:49.160\npeople today go, \"How do you see yourself as an underdog?\n\n1083\n00:46:49.160 --> 00:46:53.160\nYou're, you know, you're had success on the field. You're married to so-and-so.\n\n1084\n00:46:53.160 --> 00:46:56.660\nEverything seems like, \"Oh, you know, you just rolled out of bed and this\n\n1085\n00:46:56.660 --> 00:46:57.160\nhappened.\"\n\n1086\n00:46:57.160 --> 00:47:01.470\nBut that's not my life. That's people's perception of what my life is. I have a\n\n1087\n00:47:01.470 --> 00:47:04.160\ndifferent perspective on my life because I've lived it.\n\n1088\n00:47:04.160 --> 00:47:08.630\nSo I take my experiences and I bring them with me. And I use them so that I can\n\n1089\n00:47:08.630 --> 00:47:11.160\nmake better decisions as I move forward.\n\n1090\n00:47:11.160 --> 00:47:15.250\nSo I'm trying to learn. I'm trying to be better today than it was yesterday. I\n\n1091\n00:47:15.250 --> 00:47:18.160\n'm trying to be a better in a lot of areas.\n\n1092\n00:47:18.160 --> 00:47:21.310\nBecause I know my life is going to continue to evolve and change and grow. And\n\n1093\n00:47:21.310 --> 00:47:22.160\nI should enjoy it.\n\n1094\n00:47:22.160 --> 00:47:26.660\nAnd I think having joy and happiness is, for me, is what always surrounding\n\n1095\n00:47:26.660 --> 00:47:31.400\nmyself with fun people that I can learn a lot from is what has been the best\n\n1096\n00:47:31.400 --> 00:47:32.160\nexperience of my life.\n\n1097\n00:47:32.160 --> 00:47:36.860\nYou've been quite successful linking up with some great brands like Under\n\n1098\n00:47:36.860 --> 00:47:39.160\nArmour, Aston Martin, Beats.\n\n1099\n00:47:39.160 --> 00:47:40.160\nYeah.\n\n1100\n00:47:40.160 --> 00:47:44.390\nYou know, did you have a process in terms of how you decided you were going to\n\n1101\n00:47:44.390 --> 00:47:46.160\nlink up with those brands?\n\n1102\n00:47:46.160 --> 00:47:50.160\nWhat was it that drove you to do Under Armour, let's say, versus Nike?\n\n1103\n00:47:50.160 --> 00:47:53.160\nI know. Aston Martin versus Ferrari.\n\n1104\n00:47:53.160 --> 00:47:57.720\nIt's a great question. And I think it's a lot of its intention. Like when I was\n\n1105\n00:47:57.720 --> 00:48:03.160\nyounger, I would kind of wait to see who called and who was interested in me.\n\n1106\n00:48:03.160 --> 00:48:06.610\nAnd as I got older, I started to think about, \"Why don't I go to the people\n\n1107\n00:48:06.610 --> 00:48:08.160\nthat I'm interested in?\"\n\n1108\n00:48:08.160 --> 00:48:12.680\nLike, if Aston Martin is my favorite car, why don't I go to them? And if Beats\n\n1109\n00:48:12.680 --> 00:48:15.160\nare my favorite headphones, why don't I go to them?\n\n1110\n00:48:15.160 --> 00:48:20.160\nAnd you know what? It makes a great partnership because I truly believe in it.\n\n1111\n00:48:20.160 --> 00:48:23.160\nAnd all the partners that I've worked with, Under Armour is the same way.\n\n1112\n00:48:23.160 --> 00:48:25.740\nI mean, Kevin Plank's been a great friend of mine. I want to help him build\n\n1113\n00:48:25.740 --> 00:48:30.160\nthis business and play my small part in that success.\n\n1114\n00:48:30.160 --> 00:48:35.280\nSo those are fun things for me. I mean, and I think more so than that is just\n\n1115\n00:48:35.280 --> 00:48:37.160\nthe people that I'm working with with those companies.\n\n1116\n00:48:37.160 --> 00:48:44.520\nSo, you know, I've enjoyed those a lot. Tom, you've really been innovative off\n\n1117\n00:48:44.520 --> 00:48:45.160\nthe field and in business. And you've created TB12.\n\n1118\n00:48:45.160 --> 00:48:51.160\nYeah. I had to take a different approach to my training when I was younger\n\n1119\n00:48:51.160 --> 00:48:54.160\nbecause what I had done for a period of time stopped working.\n\n1120\n00:48:54.160 --> 00:48:59.150\nAnd the traditional ways of taking care of your body no longer worked for me as\n\n1121\n00:48:59.150 --> 00:49:00.160\nan athlete.\n\n1122\n00:49:00.160 --> 00:49:03.650\nWhen I was in high school, I had elbow pain. I had knee pain. That's why I\n\n1123\n00:49:03.650 --> 00:49:07.160\nstopped playing baseball. I would ice my elbow. I'd ice my knees.\n\n1124\n00:49:07.160 --> 00:49:12.190\nI went to college, played football, loved football, got to the pros three or\n\n1125\n00:49:12.190 --> 00:49:15.160\nfour years into my pro career.\n\n1126\n00:49:15.160 --> 00:49:18.660\nMy arms hurting every day at practice. And I'm sitting here going, \"How can I\n\n1127\n00:49:18.660 --> 00:49:21.160\nbe a quarterback if I can't throw the ball?\"\n\n1128\n00:49:21.160 --> 00:49:25.530\nAnd I was introduced to my body coach Alex through a teammate of mine, Willie\n\n1129\n00:49:25.530 --> 00:49:27.160\nMcGinnis, who was a mentor for me.\n\n1130\n00:49:27.160 --> 00:49:30.720\nAnd he said, \"Tom, this is what you got to do for your elbow. You got to go\n\n1131\n00:49:30.720 --> 00:49:32.160\nstart working with Alex.\"\n\n1132\n00:49:32.160 --> 00:49:37.090\nAnd I was like, \"Well, what's he going to do? How can he be different than what\n\n1133\n00:49:37.090 --> 00:49:38.160\neveryone else does?\n\n1134\n00:49:38.160 --> 00:49:42.370\nBecause I've already experienced all this training. We have, we're the new and\n\n1135\n00:49:42.370 --> 00:49:43.160\nthe Patriots.\n\n1136\n00:49:43.160 --> 00:49:49.160\nWe have access to Boston. We're the top medical communities.\n\n1137\n00:49:49.160 --> 00:49:53.160\nAnd I had really bad tendonitis in my right elbow.\n\n1138\n00:49:53.160 --> 00:49:57.740\nAnd I had basically what I had done was I had taken all these muscles in my\n\n1139\n00:49:57.740 --> 00:49:59.160\nform and I'd shortened these muscles.\n\n1140\n00:49:59.160 --> 00:50:02.500\nAnd I'd taken all these biceps and tricep muscles and I'd shortened these\n\n1141\n00:50:02.500 --> 00:50:03.160\nmuscles.\n\n1142\n00:50:03.160 --> 00:50:07.780\nSo I shortened the forearm. I shortened the bicep by shortened the tricep. And\n\n1143\n00:50:07.780 --> 00:50:11.160\nwhat's hurting the tendons in my elbow.\n\n1144\n00:50:11.160 --> 00:50:13.660\nBecause they're trying to hold the joint together. And Alex said, \"Well, it's\n\n1145\n00:50:13.660 --> 00:50:14.160\nwhat we're going to do.\n\n1146\n00:50:14.160 --> 00:50:17.900\nWe're going to spend time lengthening and softening through pliability, your\n\n1147\n00:50:17.900 --> 00:50:18.160\nforearm.\n\n1148\n00:50:18.160 --> 00:50:20.880\nAnd we're going to lengthen, soften your bicep. We're going to lengthen, soften\n\n1149\n00:50:20.880 --> 00:50:21.160\ntricep.\n\n1150\n00:50:21.160 --> 00:50:26.160\nThere's not going to be more pressure or tension on your elbow tendon.\"\n\n1151\n00:50:26.160 --> 00:50:30.160\nAnd I was like, \"Well, that makes a lot of sense. How are we going to do that?\"\n\n1152\n00:50:30.160 --> 00:50:35.160\nAnd we started doing pliability treatments on my elbow, on my bicep and tricep.\n\n1153\n00:50:35.160 --> 00:50:39.400\nAfter three days, these were long and soft. These were long and soft. There was\n\n1154\n00:50:39.400 --> 00:50:40.160\nno more tension on my elbow.\n\n1155\n00:50:40.160 --> 00:50:44.160\nAnd I said, \"Why has no one ever taught me that before?\"\n\n1156\n00:50:44.160 --> 00:50:48.160\nAnd I don't know. And I said, \"Well, can you do it for my knee?\"\n\n1157\n00:50:48.160 --> 00:50:52.460\nHe's like, \"Let's do it.\" So it was lengthened and softened my quad, lengthened\n\n1158\n00:50:52.460 --> 00:50:53.160\nand softened my hamstring,\n\n1159\n00:50:53.160 --> 00:50:58.040\nlengthened and softened my cap, no more knee pain. And after that, I was hooked\n\n1160\n00:50:58.040 --> 00:50:58.160\n.\n\n1161\n00:50:58.160 --> 00:51:02.160\nAnd I said, \"What we're going to do, we're going to work together for about\n\n1162\n00:51:02.160 --> 00:51:05.160\nseven years before we started TB12.\"\n\n1163\n00:51:05.160 --> 00:51:09.830\nAnd I said, \"After all these years of pliability treatments, my body felt\n\n1164\n00:51:09.830 --> 00:51:14.160\nbetter at 32 than it did at 22.\n\n1165\n00:51:14.160 --> 00:51:17.560\nMy elbow was not in pain. My shoulder wasn't in pain.\" And I said, \"Okay, I\n\n1166\n00:51:17.560 --> 00:51:18.160\nplayed all these years.\n\n1167\n00:51:18.160 --> 00:51:22.290\nI'm throwing more footballs, but my elbow's hurting less because my muscles and\n\n1168\n00:51:22.290 --> 00:51:24.160\nmy routines were getting better and better.\"\n\n1169\n00:51:24.160 --> 00:51:28.380\nSo I felt like five years ago, \"How can I not pass this information on to other\n\n1170\n00:51:28.380 --> 00:51:29.160\nathletes?\"\n\n1171\n00:51:29.160 --> 00:51:33.160\nIs that why you wrote the book TB12? And that's why I did everything.\n\n1172\n00:51:33.160 --> 00:51:36.550\nBecause I said, \"I've got this information that I've acquired. How am I going\n\n1173\n00:51:36.550 --> 00:51:39.160\nto take that with me and not share that with anyone?\"\n\n1174\n00:51:39.160 --> 00:51:42.600\nBecause I know there's high school kids out there. I know there's athletes that\n\n1175\n00:51:42.600 --> 00:51:43.160\nare in pain.\n\n1176\n00:51:43.160 --> 00:51:47.240\nAnd football is not fun if you're in pain. If you wake up every day and your\n\n1177\n00:51:47.240 --> 00:51:49.160\nneck hurts, your back hurts, things aren't fun.\n\n1178\n00:51:49.160 --> 00:51:53.630\nI've been fortunate to continue to play and have fun because I can go on\n\n1179\n00:51:53.630 --> 00:51:56.160\nperform without pain.\n\n1180\n00:51:56.160 --> 00:51:59.410\nAnd not that I don't get injured, I do because it's a demolition derby, but I\n\n1181\n00:51:59.410 --> 00:52:01.160\ncan get fixed really quickly too.\n\n1182\n00:52:01.160 --> 00:52:07.270\nAnd I can maintain my exercise routine, which I always say is holistic and it's\n\n1183\n00:52:07.270 --> 00:52:08.160\nintegrative.\n\n1184\n00:52:08.160 --> 00:52:14.250\nIt's all encompassing. It's sleep is important as nutrition, which is important\n\n1185\n00:52:14.250 --> 00:52:17.650\nas hydration, which is important as the pliability treatments, which is\n\n1186\n00:52:17.650 --> 00:52:19.160\nimportant as strength training.\n\n1187\n00:52:19.160 --> 00:52:24.160\nAnd I think those five areas make up this really comprehensive program.\n\n1188\n00:52:24.160 --> 00:52:27.380\nAnd I think part of what we thought about for people to feel better is, let's\n\n1189\n00:52:27.380 --> 00:52:29.160\njust think about if you're shoulder hurts.\n\n1190\n00:52:29.160 --> 00:52:33.160\nLet me just go to the shoulder guy. But the reality is it's the whole process.\n\n1191\n00:52:33.160 --> 00:52:38.160\nTom, I have to tell you, you are the absolute real deal.\n\n1192\n00:52:38.160 --> 00:52:42.680\nOne thing I would put in your brand character is authentic. You are the real\n\n1193\n00:52:42.680 --> 00:52:47.270\ndeal and you tell it like it is and you have so much unbridled passion that it\n\n1194\n00:52:47.270 --> 00:52:48.160\n's inspirational just being around you.\n\n1195\n00:52:48.160 --> 00:52:52.120\nI want to thank you very much for being on this podcast. I have just a couple\n\n1196\n00:52:52.120 --> 00:52:55.160\nlittle quick questions I want to ask you that are kind of fun.\n\n1197\n00:52:55.160 --> 00:53:01.270\nWhen was the last time you had some Kentucky fried chicken or a big cheeseb\n\n1198\n00:53:01.270 --> 00:53:02.160\nurger?\n\n1199\n00:53:02.160 --> 00:53:07.560\nOh man, cheeseburger probably about a month ago. But I haven't had KFC in a\n\n1200\n00:53:07.560 --> 00:53:08.160\nwhile.\n\n1201\n00:53:08.160 --> 00:53:09.160\nCome on, man.\n\n1202\n00:53:09.160 --> 00:53:14.160\nWhat struck you the most about being the host of Saturday Night Live?\n\n1203\n00:53:14.160 --> 00:53:20.560\nIt was so fun. It was an experience. When I finished, I was disappointed it was\n\n1204\n00:53:20.560 --> 00:53:22.160\nover because I had so much fun.\n\n1205\n00:53:22.160 --> 00:53:26.470\nThose are the best. Those people worked so hard and it ended up going up the\n\n1206\n00:53:26.470 --> 00:53:28.160\nelevator to my hotel room to end the night.\n\n1207\n00:53:28.160 --> 00:53:32.520\nAnd I said, \"shit, man. That was so fun. They'll never be another week like\n\n1208\n00:53:32.520 --> 00:53:33.160\nthat again.\"\n\n1209\n00:53:33.160 --> 00:53:37.410\nI'm sure you received a lot of emails when that happened. But you are known for\n\n1210\n00:53:37.410 --> 00:53:40.160\nanswering your emails almost like that.\n\n1211\n00:53:40.160 --> 00:53:42.160\nYou make it a priority?\n\n1212\n00:53:42.160 --> 00:53:46.070\nI know because I feel like people want responses back and I don't want to get\n\n1213\n00:53:46.070 --> 00:53:47.160\ntoo far behind.\n\n1214\n00:53:47.160 --> 00:53:51.160\nIf I can rip them off, I do.\n\n1215\n00:53:51.160 --> 00:53:55.520\nWe may not have time for this story, but the son of a great friend of ours said\n\n1216\n00:53:55.520 --> 00:54:00.160\nthat you got to ask him about the time he got locked in the Notre Dame stadium.\n\n1217\n00:54:00.160 --> 00:54:08.160\nOh man. How about that? I know who the friend is and I know who the son is.\n\n1218\n00:54:08.160 --> 00:54:12.610\nBut I was playing in Michigan plays Notre Dame to start the football season\n\n1219\n00:54:12.610 --> 00:54:14.160\nhere in about four weeks.\n\n1220\n00:54:14.160 --> 00:54:19.460\nAnd it was the way that I was going to start my fourth year in college we were\n\n1221\n00:54:19.460 --> 00:54:21.160\nopening at Notre Dame.\n\n1222\n00:54:21.160 --> 00:54:25.420\nAnd I was the quarterback. One of my good friends got married really close to\n\n1223\n00:54:25.420 --> 00:54:26.160\nSouth Bend.\n\n1224\n00:54:26.160 --> 00:54:30.580\nAnd I had never been there. And I was driving back. This was about five or six\n\n1225\n00:54:30.580 --> 00:54:32.160\nweeks before the season opener.\n\n1226\n00:54:32.160 --> 00:54:34.760\nAnd I said, \"you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to stop in South Bend and\n\n1227\n00:54:34.760 --> 00:54:36.160\nI'm going to go check out the stadium.\"\n\n1228\n00:54:36.160 --> 00:54:40.490\nBecause the first time I go to Notre Dame stadium, I don't want it to be the\n\n1229\n00:54:40.490 --> 00:54:41.160\nseason opener.\n\n1230\n00:54:41.160 --> 00:54:49.160\nSo I drove from just outside of Chicago back through South Bend.\n\n1231\n00:54:49.160 --> 00:54:55.190\nStopped. It was a Sunday. And I mean of course, I'm naive in some ways. I\n\n1232\n00:54:55.190 --> 00:54:57.160\nparked the car and thought, \"oh, I'm just going to walk into the stadium.\"\n\n1233\n00:54:57.160 --> 00:55:01.350\nAnd of course I couldn't walk into the stadium. It was totally closed off. You\n\n1234\n00:55:01.350 --> 00:55:03.160\nknow, it had these massive gates.\n\n1235\n00:55:03.160 --> 00:55:07.160\nAnd I was like, you know, how could I come all the way here and not get in?\n\n1236\n00:55:07.160 --> 00:55:12.160\nSo let me walk around the stadium and see if anything is open. So unbelievably,\n\n1237\n00:55:12.160 --> 00:55:14.160\nI get halfway around the stadium.\n\n1238\n00:55:14.160 --> 00:55:19.380\nAnd one of the gates is unlocked. And I'm like, \"I'm going to go in.\" But what\n\n1239\n00:55:19.380 --> 00:55:22.160\nI'm going to do is once I go in, I'm going to lock the lock to itself.\n\n1240\n00:55:22.160 --> 00:55:27.900\nSo if someone comes by, they're going to see like, \"oh, you know, what happened\n\n1241\n00:55:27.900 --> 00:55:30.160\n? You know, nothing's nothing's wrong.\"\n\n1242\n00:55:30.160 --> 00:55:34.570\nSo I go in the stadium, lock the lock to itself. So I'm just going to come out\n\n1243\n00:55:34.570 --> 00:55:36.160\nright back where I entered.\n\n1244\n00:55:36.160 --> 00:55:39.970\nSo I walk around the stadium for like 10 minutes, take it all in. I come back\n\n1245\n00:55:39.970 --> 00:55:43.160\nto the same spot where I came in.\n\n1246\n00:55:43.160 --> 00:55:46.430\nAnd someone had come, they'd end up the lock, they'd end up the lock, they\n\n1247\n00:55:46.430 --> 00:55:48.160\nlocked the gate and locked the lock.\n\n1248\n00:55:48.160 --> 00:55:52.900\nAnd I'm locked in the friggin stadium. And I'm like, and I look at around and\n\n1249\n00:55:52.900 --> 00:55:58.160\nsays, \"no trespassing signs, violators will be prosecuted or whatever.\"\n\n1250\n00:55:58.160 --> 00:56:01.490\nAnd I'm sitting here thinking, \"6 weeks before the season opener, I'm going to\n\n1251\n00:56:01.490 --> 00:56:03.160\nbe in a friggin south bend prison.\"\n\n1252\n00:56:03.160 --> 00:56:09.130\n\"Prestpassing a Notre Dame stadium.\" So I ended up finding a ladder on one of\n\n1253\n00:56:09.130 --> 00:56:12.160\nthe walls, on one of the handicap ramps,\n\n1254\n00:56:12.160 --> 00:56:15.160\nthat I knocked off the wall with a fire extinguisher.\n\n1255\n00:56:15.160 --> 00:56:20.800\nI took the ladder over the top of the stadium on the side, had to climb down\n\n1256\n00:56:20.800 --> 00:56:26.240\nabout, undid the ladder about 20 feet and climb down, jumped in my car and\n\n1257\n00:56:26.240 --> 00:56:28.160\ndrove out of south bend as fast as I possibly could.\n\n1258\n00:56:28.160 --> 00:56:32.500\nThis is proof Bosni, did you were determined, disciplined, and they make it\n\n1259\n00:56:32.500 --> 00:56:33.160\nhappen?\n\n1260\n00:56:33.160 --> 00:56:35.160\nTom, thanks so much, buddy.\n\n1261\n00:56:35.160 --> 00:56:36.160\nAppreciate it.\n\n1262\n00:56:36.160 --> 00:56:37.160\nThank you.\n\n1263\n00:56:37.160 --> 00:56:38.160\nGreat to be with you.\n\n1264\n00:56:38.160 --> 00:56:39.160\nThank you.\n\n1265\n00:56:39.160 --> 00:56:40.160\nFeel the same.\n\n1266\n00:56:40.160 --> 00:56:51.160\nI had to tell you, that's really cool to have the chance to interview Tom Brady\n\n1267\n00:56:51.160 --> 00:56:51.160\n.\n\n1268\n00:56:51.160 --> 00:56:54.160\nAnd it's really great to hear him uncut.\n\n1269\n00:56:54.160 --> 00:56:59.160\nI'm in Tom told us some stories that he has never ever told publicly.\n\n1270\n00:56:59.160 --> 00:57:03.900\nBut what I really want you to take away from this episode is not to learn how\n\n1271\n00:57:03.900 --> 00:57:06.160\nto break out of Notre Dame Stadium.\n\n1272\n00:57:06.160 --> 00:57:09.160\nI hope that's something that you never have to do.\n\n1273\n00:57:09.160 --> 00:57:14.080\nWhat I want you to learn is this, great leaders back up their goals with\n\n1274\n00:57:14.080 --> 00:57:15.160\ndisciplined action.\n\n1275\n00:57:15.160 --> 00:57:19.160\nAnd now it's time for my favorite part of our podcast episodes.\n\n1276\n00:57:19.160 --> 00:57:23.450\nThis is where I give you some specific coaching that will help you develop as a\n\n1277\n00:57:23.450 --> 00:57:24.160\nleader.\n\n1278\n00:57:24.160 --> 00:57:28.620\nThis week as part of your weekly personal development plan, here's what I want\n\n1279\n00:57:28.620 --> 00:57:29.160\nyou to do.\n\n1280\n00:57:29.160 --> 00:57:32.160\nThink about the big goals that you set for your team.\n\n1281\n00:57:32.160 --> 00:57:37.160\nAnd here's the thing, I bet you also have a solid plan to reach them.\n\n1282\n00:57:37.160 --> 00:57:41.520\nBut ask yourself, are there some tough action items you've been avoiding that\n\n1283\n00:57:41.520 --> 00:57:44.160\nyou need to just dig into and knock out?\n\n1284\n00:57:44.160 --> 00:57:49.150\nI want you to make a list of those specific obstacles, put it up on your desk\n\n1285\n00:57:49.150 --> 00:57:53.160\nand tackle them this week with some Brady-esque discipline.\n\n1286\n00:57:53.160 --> 00:57:55.160\nSo do you want to know how leaders lead?\n\n1287\n00:57:55.160 --> 00:57:59.500\nWhat we learned today is the great leaders back up their goals with disciplined\n\n1288\n00:57:59.500 --> 00:58:00.160\naction.\n\n1289\n00:58:00.160 --> 00:58:04.790\nThanks again for tuning in to another episode of How Leaders Lead where every\n\n1290\n00:58:04.790 --> 00:58:08.710\nThursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders\n\n1291\n00:58:08.710 --> 00:58:09.160\nin the world.\n\n1292\n00:58:09.160 --> 00:58:12.890\nI make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can\n\n1293\n00:58:12.890 --> 00:58:18.160\napply to your business so that you will become the very best leader you can be.\n\n1294\n00:58:18.160 --> 00:58:20.160\nYou can be.\n\n1295\n00:58:20.160 --> 00:58:22.160\nThank you.\n\n1296\n00:58:22.160 --> 00:58:32.160\n[BLANK_AUDIO]\n\n1297\n00:58:32.160 --> 00:59:01.160\n[ Silence ]","

David Novak 0:03

Well, here we go, everybody, welcome to how leaders lead where every week you get to listen in. While I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. This week, we're back for the second part of my conversation with Tom Brady, the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If you haven't heard the first part yet, find it on the podcast feed episode 10. And you'll want to start there. But if you have already listened to Episode 10, you know what a treat you're in for. This time we talk about Tom's upbringing, which is where his incredible discipline really starts. Tom also talks in depth about the specific mindset shifts that have helped him break through the ranks in college and become the top ranked quarterback he is today. Oh, and I'm sorry, Atlanta fans. But yes, he talks about what was going through his head in that epic Super Bowl game against the Falcons, when he and the Patriots were down 28 to three, and came back to win it all. In every story in every answer. Tom is teaching us a huge leadership lesson. If we want to lead Well, we have to back up our goals with disciplined action. It's not enough to just set a goal or wants to succeed, we've got to show up and make the choices that will actually result in hitting those goals. That's the kind of walk the talk leadership that people actually follow. I've met with a lot of leaders, and I admire a lot of leaders. But Tom is the very best example of it that I have ever seen. So here's part two of my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Tom Brady.

You know, I know you're so close to your your mom and dad. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about your mom and dad and tell tell me about what each one of them really taught you about leadership?

Tom Brady 2:06

Yeah. Well, I was. So I grew up the youngest of four kids, I had three older sisters. And our family was very into sports. So at least three or four nights a week, we were at the baseball field, that softball field, at the soccer field at night, you know, eating dinner at pizza parlors, and just, that was our time I went to school, I'd get home, I go to practice, or I'd get home, I do my homework, I go watch my sister's play. And it was a great upbringing, you know, is a totally different time that is now and there wasn't all the things that there are now for kids and TVs and iPads and so forth, there was a lot of outside play time I played in the neighborhood on our street, we'd play in the street, we had 40 or 50 kids that lived on our block. So if you want to do something fun, like play football, we'd go out and we go and play in the middle of the street, and I go over my best friend's house at 7am on a Saturday and knock on the door. And can David play. And that was my upbringing. And it was just, it was a very, I wouldn't change it for anything. And I think it taught me a lot about you know, kind of being a part of a community playing with the older boys, you know, was always a great maturation thing for me, they would always say, alright, Tommy's playing, alright, so you know, Tommy go deep, as far Go Go run down, down, down, and they would never throw me the ball. And then I would get, I'd get so mad that they would tell everyone else Alright, everyone else could even throw it to Tommy. But you know, it was just, it was a great way to grow up. And I think my mom and dad, you know, they're still living in the same house that I was that I grew up in, the neighborhoods changed a little bit and you know, families come and go a lot more now than ever. But um, you know, my mom and dad were so supportive of me so supportive, my sisters and everything that we did, and I always tell people were their kids. You know, don't ever put limits on your kids. Don't ever say like, wow, that's gonna be tough, you know? Or try to manage your expectations. So you can't do that. That's a hard thing to do. You know, because they always encouraged me, my mom would always say you can do it, you know, you're, you know, you got all the ability, you got all the talent, you know, and I was I clearly didn't. But you know, I had the encouragement from a mom and dad who said, Yes, you do. And my dad was always available to me to if I wasn't hitting the baseball, right? He taken up to the ballpark, he'd have his, you know, he'd have his his colored shirt on, he rolled sleeves up, and he'd go up, and he hit me ground balls, you know, and he throw pitches to me. And you know, we'd go out on the golf course, just he and I, and it was just so supportive of what I wanted to do. They always encouraged me. And I think that's why I'm such a positive person. I grew up in an environment where my parents always said, go for it. Do your best.

David Novak 4:36

And you had three older sisters who are great athletes in their own right, as I understand it, what was it like being a little bit a little one with three big sisters around?

Tom Brady 4:44

It's amazing, because when I grew up, they'd always say, Oh, you're your Maureen's brother, your Maureen's little brother. Or you're Julie's little brother. You're Nancy's little brother. And, you know, obviously now, things have turned in the family because they're always like, Oh, you're Tom Brady's sister. You know? So we always joke about that, you know for The first 18 years of my life I was, you know, Maureen Brady's little brother. And now for the last 18 years plus, you know, they've been Tom Brady sisters. You know, they're, they're so great. They, I mean, they're in this suite cheering for me, you know, they're living. I mean, I got phone calls before you know, preseason games go on good luck, you know, kicks in, but new season. So supportive families, you know, family is so important, you know, and to have people that care for you, that are always there for you. I mean, it means the world to me, and I don't think you could accomplish things in life without support and mentorship and guidance and care. And I think, you know, when you look at that people need, they need to know that they can fall back on something, and they need that they can get a little bump when they get themselves out of a rut. And I think I want to be there to provide that for people. I've had so many people provide it for me, you know, whether it's for young players that I play with other quarterbacks, you know, I'm trying to give them a bump to because everyone needs it from time to time. Did you

David Novak 5:56

have someone outside of your family or in your early days that really helped you form the kind of work ethic and the discipline and the accountability you project every single day? I know,

Tom Brady 6:06

that's a that's a great question. Because I think a lot about discipline, and I think a lot about, you know, work ethic. And like when I went to the NFL Combine, you can measure those two things. And they can measure your height, your weight, your speed, your, you know, your jumping a lot of physical things. And I think I was blessed with some things that you can't measure, you know, by the grace of God, you know, in many ways that I just, this is what God said, Alright, you're gonna be really disciplined, because I don't know how much you can develop that. I mean, I think you can. And if it's in you, you can develop it to a degree. But I was always born with a lot of discipline and working out and hard work and work ethic and training. That stuff has never been very difficult for me. Even in college, I was a pretty hard worker. It's never felt like I've had to go to work, so to speak, it's never felt like, Man, that was really hard workout. I've always enjoyed it. I've always tried to excel at it. And I think that's a that's a really fortunate thing. Because I know a lot of players, professional athletes, they just don't love working out. They don't love training. And

David Novak 7:05

this is basically in you. And you might have had some people that helped it along a little bit, but you actually believe you're sort of like God given Natural Born athlete,

Tom Brady 7:14

I think I was a gang leader. Yeah, I think I was naturally God given work ethic and some discipline. I think, as a leader, I've developed I've tried to develop those traits, you know, and I think there's a lot important aspects leaders need to focus on. But you know, I think that's what I wasn't born as Tiger Woods, or LeBron James, or Cristiano Ronaldo, or, you know, just a gift, as you know, the physical, you could see right away, you know, I think I've had to just do it a different way. Fortunately, my position in football doesn't necessarily require some physical gifts or requires a lot of mental gifts along with the, you know, the ability to do the job. But I mean, a lot of great leaders I've met, you know, there's a lot of people that got to figure out how to get the job done. Tell

David Novak 7:56

us a story that will tell us about the kind of person you are that that really shows you the kind of motivation that you innately have. Well,

Tom Brady 8:06

there's some funny ones when I was a kid, like, you know, I didn't play a lot of video games, I played a little video games. But I had a tense competitiveness, to me in that when I would play video games, and they wouldn't go the way that I'd want. I broke more remote controls, slamming them on the ground, so are throwing them at the TV screen. You know, to the point where my parents that you can't play, you can't do it again, you know, and I remember, I think I was 10 or 11 years old, I went out to play golf with my dad. And we went up to this golf course in the Bay Area, and we're going to a Giants game after because our whole team was going to go to the game. So my dad said let's go play nine holes before and then we'll go to the game I said great. So I played about four or five holes and I wasn't playing good, you know, and I took the club and I lifted it up and I threw it so hard at the ground. My dad grabbed me he said Get your butt in the car we're leaving. And I was you know I just wanted my dad I was so mad and he see is we're never doing this again you know I'm not bringing you up here for you to throw your clubs and we went to giant game I pounded the you know the whole card I was so sad in a way and then you know talk that through with my dad and the best part is you know after that we went to the Giants game that went back and played nine more holes together. And it was a great experience in my life. I mean I remember my dad holding me accountable say this isn't the way you're gonna act. Yeah,

David Novak 9:27

that's such a great story because you know, I actually about you talked about you didn't necessarily start early on in high school and but it shows that that those other things really paid off though when you did get into football and you did really start to take off in terms of your ambition and competitiveness.

Tom Brady 9:44

Yeah, and I think so much for me over the course of my career it's been if things don't go right, I think about what can I do better? I don't put it on. I've tried never to put it on other people. You know, if the ball was slightly behind the guy, I gotta make a better throw. If we didn't get the job done. I got be a better leader. If the practice wasn't good. I didn't hold the guys accountable enough if I didn't, you know, make the right play, what do I need to help do with my technique and fundamentals?

David Novak 10:10

You know, I've learned by talking to lots of leaders, Tom, that the best leaders, they hold themselves accountable. They don't blame anybody else. If something goes wrong on the team, they take accountability for it, they shoulder that for the rest of them, how much pressure does that just put on you as a leader, feeling that

Tom Brady 10:26

it's there. I mean, there's definitely an intense pressure to this environment. I think as a competition, so tough. And we had a guy come speak to us the other day, a former coach, and he used a word that I haven't heard in a long time to words that I haven't heard. And he said competitive stamina. And I was like, wow, that makes a lot of sense. You know, like anybody could get the job done for a week. Anybody could get the job done for a month. But do you have the mental toughness to and the competitive stamina day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year to get the job done? And that's that's what you're still working at. That's still the challenge.

David Novak 11:07

We were talking a little bit earlier about your close your dad is and how much he really helped you along with your your mother become who you who you are. When you think about your going to college I I understand your dad was a big Cal fan. And he really wanted you to go to Cal so you could you know, he could watch you play your your collegiate years and you decide to go to Michigan. Tell us a story about when you told your dad that this was your decision?

Tom Brady 11:31

Yeah, he was pretty heartbroken. I had, I had some offers and and I always thought man going to Michigan, it was when I wasn't a really highly recruited person. And because I was I think a late bloomer and my dad put together a lot of cut ups from the videotape that, you know, he filmed over the course of my junior season to send other colleges say, hey, you know, here's a tape. That's kind of how things got shared back then a lot of times, people would come recruit you and they would see or hear about you. And they would come watch while I was really under the radar. So my dad was very involved in the process. And I remember we made 50 tapes, VHS tapes, and we were looking through a book of division one colleges. And he was like, I said, Dad, do you think we should really send one to Michigan? Like, do you think I'll even want me or get in there? And he says, Yeah, you know, what the hell, let's do it. And we sent them a tape. And they called, I think, a couple of weeks later and said, you know, wow, we're interested, you know, recruit you. And I was being recruited, you know, by them. And a lot of other schools finally got to the point where, you know, I, the schools are really interested and I played better. I went to some camps, I got some more kind of notoriety. And I'm tell offered me a scholarship, which was 45 minutes from where I grew up, and I loved cow. But there was something about Michigan that maybe it was just thinking about being one of the best schools in the country, and one of the best football programs. And I went there on a visit. And I called my dad on the way home. And I said that I think I know where I want to go to school. And he was really, I think he was happy. And he was sad. You know, he was really happy. But he was sad. And I think it was just a cool, just cool thing. And he dropped me off. And my mom dropped me off. And you know, they were so into Michigan, the first trip, you know, they went to the Michigan Union to buy the sweatshirts. And like all the parents do, and they just spend the best supporters for me.

David Novak 13:26

Now, you weren't the starter right out of the gates, you know, how do you deal with not being the starting quarterback for so long,

Tom Brady 13:32

it was really competitive. I was seven on the depth chart when I started. And that's how you're looking at a lot of guys. And a lot of guys that were older than me. And they were truly better than me. I hadn't developed I was just behind athletically than a lot of other guys. I was a youngest in my class. And again, I think the work ethic and the discipline were helpful at those times. And I've always had to work really hard because I felt like athletically, I was behind a lot of people. So I never minded the work ethic. And I just developed a competitiveness. And I felt like I chose Michigan to be the best. I was going to go there to be the best. And after a couple years, I was still looking up at some guys in it. And it looked daunting, but I just said you know what, I'm going to compete. And if I'm going to be the best quarterback for for Michigan, then they're going to play me. And that's what ended up happening. I ended up beating out some guys in my fourth year and I played my fourth year and fifth year there and we were successful. And I think fortunately, the competition was really good for me. At that point in my life. A lot of guys don't have to be that competitive. And in college, they're just the best. They don't want to be that way in high school. They're just the best. But being a professional is different than being an amateur. Being a professional is your job. Being a professional requires professional characteristics and traits. It's different than being an amateur. And that's I think in some ways, I excelled with my work ethic, my discipline. I had, you know, great determination of what I wanted to be in, even though it was a really challenging experience in college. But I would never have changed it because I could never have kind of fought through it the way that I did with supportive a lot of people were still supporting me today. And I ended up having a great career and a great college experience.

David Novak 15:11

I remember you telling me a story about making every rep count. Yeah, that you, you know, every play, you got to play in practice, it was three, you know, make them count. Yeah, it's a great story tell that story for our listeners?

Tom Brady 15:24

Yeah, I would I was, I used to use it as a bad mentality when my first couple years because they're trying to get a lot of people ready to play. And I was always the one getting the fewest amount of reps, three reps, two reps, you know, there's 50 reps in practice, I'm getting to, I'm sitting here going, how can I show them what I'm capable of, if I'm only getting two reps, you're only getting three reps, you're only getting four reps. And I started working with a psychologist in college, and a guy named Greg Hardin, who still works for University of Michigan, he helped a lot of great athletes. And he said, quit focusing on that bullshit. If you're gonna get to do the two as best you can, and make them the two best and anyone else could do. And that's what I did. And after that, I got three reps. And he goes, if you're gonna get three reps, do the best you could do with those three, don't get that you're only getting three. And I started getting four. And I get five. And I was getting 10. And I was getting 20. You know, and it was like, wow, you know, you could focus on Oh, poor me, I'm not getting the opportunity. Or you could say, whatever I'm getting, I'm going to make them great. I'm going to bring energy enthusiasm, I'm gonna do it for the team. And that starts to wear off on other people. And then before you know what I was the one getting the most. And I always thought, Wow, that's a great thing. So, to this day, I think when I go on the practice field, you got to prove it every day. Your teammates want to see it every day, I can't go okay, I like that one, screw that one up. But don't

David Novak 16:48

worry, your attitude. After all these years in the NFL hasn't changed on practice,

Tom Brady 16:52

I think it's only gotten more intense. I think there's an intensity that I need to bring in order a to see where my mental state is, and then be to challenge my teammates. Because even though I've had a lot of years of experience with myself, I want to know, before the games on the line, whether I encountered someone, so I've got to kind of press some buttons. I mean, I got to figure out, Can I count on you? You know, can I? Are you going to be there when I need it the most? Can I trust you? Are you dependable? Are you consistent? And the only way you can do that is to demonstrate that in practice, and I think it's a lackadaisical practice, or, you know, I see that in golf a lot. A lot of guys BS on the range, a lot of guys aren't focused man, guys, you know, the guys who I'd worry about and the guys are focused, you know, the guys are going, Hey, man, this is the, you know, this is a shot to win the Masters, you know, and get yourself in that mental frame of mind and see whether you execute, and if you don't, maybe it hurts a lot more than it was if like, oh, you know, who gives a crap, it doesn't count. They all count. You know, if you push yourself to that, and a lot of people don't have that competitive stamina.

David Novak 17:56

You know, I want to get to your professional career in a minute. But I do want to just stop for a second. And I don't think many people know this, but you were an intern at Merrill Lynch.

Tom Brady 18:05

I know. You know.

David Novak 18:06

So tell us about that experience. And was there a leader there that you learned from either in a good way or a bad way?

Tom Brady 18:11

Yeah, I did. I saw that. That was interning in college, I interned at two places. One was the golf course. Because I wanted free golf in the in the summer. When I was back in Michigan, the other was at Merrill Lynch, because I always thought I wanted to get into business when I was you know, if I wasn't going to become a football player. And I worked at a just one of the brokerage at the Merrill Lynch in Ann Arbor. And I had two guys Mike Halpern and, and Owen, great guy, and he was a golfer, he would take me out golfing, and we just had so much fun. It was a just a great experience. And I worked there for two summers. I kind of just was there to help and and learn a little bit and I put together my own portfolios and pretend like I had a certain amount of money and invest in a higher risk, medium risk, lower risk and watch the market go up and down every day. How'd you do it that I know I'm not as good.

Unknown Speaker 19:06

You're a little bit better football player football

Tom Brady 19:08

player. Right professional, but I don't think 9899 were good times in the market. So I don't think many things are doing that well, but I had a great time just just kind of being there in that office setting. It was really fun. Now

David Novak 19:21

you were drafted both baseball and football. Yeah. Why football?

Tom Brady 19:26

Well, I got drafted at a college out excuse me out of high school, to the Montreal Expos. But at that point in time, I was in love with football. And I wanted to go to college, and I didn't play baseball in college. And at that point, the reality was baseball was very taxing on my body, on my knees because I was a catcher. And my right elbow was always always hurting. And I mean, it's amazing that football could be less stressful on your body than baseball but that was the reality for me. And I fell in love with football just because the overall team sport and playing quarter Back and leadership component of that along with all the mental physical skills. And it was just football became my love.

David Novak 20:08

Now you were drafted in football, obviously. But you didn't go until the sixth round. Were you surprised that you didn't go until the sixth round? And how much did that really impact the way you you thought about how you were going to attack your professional life?

Tom Brady 20:23

Yeah, it was, it was challenging, because when you go that late, in some organizations, you're not going to get as many chances the other guys, you know, they're gonna invest more in their higher picks, first round pick, second, they really want those guys to succeed, then their sixth round pick, you're relatively disposable. If you're a sixth round pick, you better show something. And fortunately, I came to a team. And a coach like Coach Belichick there really only values your performance, he doesn't care what round you were picked in. He doesn't care about you know, whether you got you as a free agent, what you did last year, whether you win the Heisman Trophy, or not the best guys we're going to play. So I was just very lucky to get picked at the right time with a coach who could mentor me and teach me about football, about defensive about being a pro about holding people accountable,

David Novak 21:08

what would be the single biggest thing you think he's taught you as a leader?

Tom Brady 21:13

What he's shown me is, you don't have to worry about anything other than doing what you know, I expect you to do, which is play quarterback be a great quarterback, you know, you don't have to do offensive game plans. You don't have to worry about being on defense, special teams. You play quarterback, and I'm going to coach and I'm gonna have the offense coordinator. You know, Josh, he's going to call the plays and it's really allowed me to say look, receivers, do your job, you know, running backs, do your job, you can't throw you just block or when I give it you run or they look at it, like what what am I expect to do? And how am I gonna do as best I can? What's the

David Novak 21:47

what's the single biggest thing you've learned from Bob Kraft?

Tom Brady 21:50

He's very smart. And I think he, he has a lot of information. And he's got tireless energy to be I mean, I remember we went to Israel, he took me, he and his wife, Myra took in Israel in 2006. And I remember, I was so tired, I'd fall asleep in the taxi cab to him talking to the taxi cab driver asked him questions, and wake up an hour later, you know, him asking the taxi cab driver questions still, you know, we'd be driving from one part Israel to another and I'm like, How is he doing this? You know, I'm 30 years younger than him. And he's just got a great tireless energy for life and for people and he's so outgoing and personal, he, he's got a lot of relationships, and he knows exactly when he needs to insert himself and what he needs to say to certain people. And he tries to encourage communication. And, you know, I think it's, it's really remarkable.

David Novak 22:45

Now, when you came to the Patriots, you follow the legendary quarterback in his own right, Drew Bledsoe, and he was injured and you took over the team. Yeah. When you went in to take over the team at that point. You know, what was what were you thinking? I always like to know what people are thinking when they get this, this moment of opportunity.

Tom Brady 23:02

Yeah, Drew taught me a lot about toughness, because drew took some hits that I've never seen anyone in professional football is it's a demolition derby out there. I mean, this is not like college. I mean, this is a different level of competition. And it's more intense, and the rules back then hidden quarterbacks were a lot different. And Drew played with a thumb that was totally dislocated. I mean, just showed so much toughness, and the play that he got hurt on was right here, and, you know, got pushed out of bounds got hit, going down and ended up having an internal bleeding. I remember going to hospitals see him that night. And I knew he was going to be out for a while. And I figured you know what, if I'm gonna go in, you know, I'm gonna gain the trust of my teammates, and I'm gonna go, hopefully never be taken off the field. And that was my mindset, you know, because I worked really hard at Michigan. And I felt like, when I get my chance, you know, I'm never going to give it back to anyone. And my level of competition is going to is going to exceed whatever they can ever bring in. And it worked well for me in college. So when I got to the pros, that was the same approach that I took, like, I know, there's people ahead of me, but when I get my chance to go show what I can do, they're gonna say, Tom Brady is the best one to lead the team. You know, when

David Novak 24:17

you took over the team, you had great success. Do you still have that? I call it a healthy dissatisfaction for the status quo, or, or did you find that moment? Or is there a moment where you said, you know, I've really arrived, I'm the guy.

Tom Brady 24:30

I still don't feel like that. I mean, I got so much to improve on. And I think that's just part of what has always fueled me, you know, I've never felt like Man, this is it. You know, no more to earn here. No one, everyone should just respect me. I feel like you know what, I'm gonna go earn it every day and I'm gonna try to be the best leader and I try to be the best performer. You know, if I make a bad play, I'm holding myself accountable. You know, what, if you mess up, I'm gonna hold you accountable.

David Novak 24:54

How do you manage an inevitable conflict that's going to occur?

Tom Brady 24:57

I think it's always, you know, a healthy risk. Fact, you can have things you don't agree on, we all have different ideas of what we need to do. But at the same time you respect the others a person's opinion and their decision. And I think you, when you have a healthy respect for one another, you know that we're just trying to win the game, you know, to win to have a great season. And that's the trust that you have in each other. So showing

David Novak 25:22

that respect each other you can you can have the tough battles, but you know, where each guy's coming for?

Tom Brady 25:26

Absolutely. And I think not only that, but like, you know, that's how that's marriage, you know, I mean, you're you're married to a certain person, you don't agree with everything. I mean, my wife me, you

David Novak 25:35

don't agree with everything that

Tom Brady 25:39

you don't want, you know what you never say anything that because words, you know, once they're out, they can't ever come back. And they can leave, you know, they can leave some scar tissue, you know, and sometimes when you're hurt, you want someone else to hurt too. And you say mean things, and you say hurtful things. And I learned that's not the way that I want to have a healthy relationship. So I tried to do my best to never say anything that would I would resent saying, because once it's out, it's hard to take back. It's hard to take back.

David Novak 26:05

Does your leadership change with the style of team or the cast of characters you have each year? Or do you just do basically the same things every year?

Tom Brady 26:13

To a degree? It changes in these so ball? Because I think, what are you trying to do, you're trying to get the best out of each guy. And you got to find out what motivates them. And some guys, you've got to find different tools to use to bring them along to gain their trust, and you want them to excel, you need them to excel. And if a guy is having a hard time, and he doesn't like some criticism getting beaten down, then why are you going to add more on top of that, find a way to chip away and be positive, I think a lot of it is psychologically you trying to connect with people so that you can see the results from each other because look, we're, I can't throw and catch. I can't block and throw I can only do what I can do I need other people to do their job. Well. It doesn't matter if I do well, if I don't have others do it doesn't matter if they do well, if I don't do well. So a lot of it is just connecting with them a lot of that trust and commitment. A lot of that is just psychologically being on the same page, you know, at the same wavelength. And I think that's a great part about this sport,

David Novak 27:20

believe it or not, Tom, I read that you don't take losing well, okay, yeah. And emitted, you've admitted that you you you had to work on your body language to not be so hard on your teammates. Now, what adjustments did you did you make with your body language? And what advice would you give to leaders who struggle with their own body language?

Tom Brady 27:42

I know, that's a great aspect. And I think about that a lot. And I've got it continue to improve that no one wants to see negativity, when things are going well. You know, you don't have to be the most positive, but you could be neutral. Because the negativity isn't going to empower anyone. So I feel like, you know, if things don't go, right, let's come up with a solution rather than to get negative and then figure out a solution. So I'm trying to skip the negative portion and just get straight to the solution. So it's a work in progress. I mean, it's not like, you can just forget about that. I mean, you have to be in you have to have people that show you Hey, man, change it, you know, it's it's shitting out, change it around. And I think that's part of it is, I've got to always be aware of that, you know, because you can see it too, there's 800 cameras here. I mean, if you throw your water bottle or throw your helmet on, everyone's gonna see it. And I think being a positive leader, people want to be empowered, they want to be inspired, they want to show them the way and show me the way is, a lot of times when it's easy to show the way when everyone's leaving and giving you praise. It's hard to show the way when everyone's telling you how bad you are. And you guys suck. And you say, Listen, let's, this is what we're going to do. We're going to solve this and we're gonna make good things happen.

David Novak 28:55

Even your competitors, believe it or not have great things to say about you. I want to read some of the quotes and ask you some questions as it relates to leadership. Now, here's a quote from Dion Lewis. And he said, there's no panic in the huddle. He's competent and focused. When we're in a pinch. He's there to get us out. Yeah. Now Tom, leaders, leaders face the same things you face as a quarterback. The team seems to be losing. People leave you counted on competitors are getting better. How do you stay focused and confident when you're behind?

Tom Brady 29:27

That's a That's a great question. And I think that it's, it's always a bit of a challenge. When you're down, and you got to dig deep. And I think, you know, as a good example, when we were losing the Super Bowl few years ago, to the Falcons 23. It couldn't get any worse at that point. I mean, I think we were, we were gonna lose, and we just all looked at each other. We said, look, we got to just you got to make one play and one plate turns into two and two turns into three waiting for, you know, you got the momentum. And I think that's a great trade, they're never going to be in a game for the rest of my career where I don't think we can win because of some experience that I've had. And it's not like it can be false. It's not a false confidence. It's a real confidence. And I think, you know, we feed off each other. We're very energetic souls. And I think when people feel confident when they feel the desire to win, I think that's it flows. And when you get that it's it's magic. You

David Novak 30:30

told me once, I think we were playing golf and actually behind you said, you can't win if you're not behind. You can't come from behind if you're not behind. You relish being in that position?

Tom Brady 30:40

I do. And I think that it's if you overcome that thing that they're gonna be talking about tomorrow. It's not a great story. If man, you know, you got ahead, you stayed ahead, you ran away with it. People love the stories when you come from behind everyone loves those underdog. It's almost like when you watch Phil Mickelson play, he gets a bad shot. But he's almost excited, more excited to hit the shot that no one else could pull off, then, you know, rather he'd be in the middle of the fairway. You know, it's just a different mindset. And I think you just got to shift the mindset. Sometimes I think, you know, sometimes if it's not a perfect situation, people go, Oh, God, how can I succeed, they look for excuses. I think other people, they go, Well, don't give it to me perfect. I want it rainy. I want it windy, I want the calls. You don't want to beat them at their best. What's

David Novak 31:25

your attitude when you have to win, you have to play when you're ahead? You're actually winning a match, which

Tom Brady 31:31

I think was more challenging for me. I mean, if we got a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter. I mean, I think in some ways that's more challenging because you know, you're playing with a degree of caution. Because you have a you have a lead. And I think sometimes when you have a deficit, you cut it loose and sometimes kind of loose, it's, it's, it's a real benefit to cut it loose. It's been both and I think you got to learn, I think the reality you got to learn to do both.

David Novak 31:58

Now when you're, you're so confident it was ever a time in your life where you struggled with your competence.

Tom Brady 32:04

I wouldn't say a deep struggle with my confidence, I've always had an inner confidence. I think that inner confidence always ebbs and flows. I don't think I wake up out of bed thinking like, Man, I'm gonna go dominate today. I mean, I think I think I'm gonna get my process right. And I'm, it's gonna put me in a great position to be successful.

David Novak 32:29

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Tom Brady in just a moment. As leaders, we can't just be people who talk to talk, we need to walk the talk, in my conversation with the Neal bursary. The co founder and CO CEO and chairman of Workday, you're going to hear how he walks the talk, especially around their company's core values.

Aneel Bhusri 32:48

You know, there are a lot of companies that have number one is customers Dave's view was, if you don't have happy employees, you're not going to have happy customers. And to this day, I see that in spades. I've never seen happy customers and unhappy employees that appeared together, it just doesn't work.

David Novak 33:01

Go listen to the rest of my conversation with a deal, Episode 67 here on how leaders lead.

What advice can you give up and coming leaders on on on how to display more competence?

Tom Brady 33:19

I think again, it's some degrees, I think you fake it till you make it. And I think you can show enthusiasm and confidence even when it's just beginning. I don't think you need to wait for it to be this roaring sense of confidence before you can display any emotion toward it. But life is about emotion. You know, you have to bring energy and enthusiasm as a leader to motivate and inspire. You have to have a healthy drive to get people to bring them along with you. And you've got to be leading the you know, you got to be leading the way. And I think if you're willing to do that, there's great benefit. Now it's work and it's it's a commitment, it's no days off. I mean, you are. And once you establish yourself as that you can never go back. Because people now look to you. And they say Hey, Tom, what's my job? What's my responsibility? When you say great job, that helps me a lot, you know, and it means a lot to people. And I think that's part of it a leader now like I know what I say has a big influence on players. And that's a great thing to do. But if I use it wrongly with poor body language with poor actions, or poor words, then it does the opposite effect.

David Novak 34:32

Absolutely. Yeah. Here's another quote from Kirk Cousins. He says Tom's number one because of production and individual stats, he's had a revolving door with the supporting cast, yet he doesn't miss a beat. My question is, is today's workers aren't as loyal to an organization is like baby boomers where how do you keep winning time with ever changing teammates?

Tom Brady 34:55

Yeah, I think there's no such thing as individual stats. In fact, Ball. I mean, this is the ultimate team sport. And I think for a quarterback, you rely so heavily on the other people around you. So this is all about our team and our culture. And once that systems in place, it's really about making great decisions. And it's like being perfect in football is impossible. There's too many moving parts, you have to be really good. You don't have to be perfect. Yeah. And I think the focus is, hey, let's be let's be really good every time we're not to be perfect, but we can be really good. And if we're less than really good, then let's improve our process. And I think that's the focus that can't always be so results oriented. It has to be, what did we do on a daily basis? How can we improve that and become better and provide more margin of error when we actually face the competition? And fortunately, in our sport, which is different than some businesses, I mean, you truly can measure success from a wins loss perspective. And that's, you know, a very fortunate bill to do that.

David Novak 35:57

Tell us about a time you lost a key player on the team though that that really frustrated you. Yeah. Did you get over it? Because we lose, everybody loses top talent.

Tom Brady 36:06

I know. Well, I'd say we lost in 2009. We lost our probably our best player that year, Wes Welker in Alaska in the season, we were playing in Houston, he tore his ACL in the first quarter of the game, week 17. And we were already in the playoffs. And the next week, we played Baltimore, here at home, and it was one of the biggest blowout losses we've ever had, certainly at home. And that was tough because he provided so much production. And we had to prepare in a really short period of time, without him. There's different times where you lose players in an offseason, you've got to try to fill the void. And the reality is every year there's change. This is the NFL This is business. People get different opportunities, good for them, they should people retire, people move on. But you've got to figure out, you know how to incorporate them as fast as you can. And you're right, you lose talent. Hopefully you can train more talent. You know, here's

David Novak 37:08

the last quote, I'm going to share it from a competitor which is Russell Wilson, he says, When the game's on the line, he has no fear. Now that's that's a great compliment to have, you know, have your peers see you is fearless. But I imagine there has to be some time when fear creeps in, can you can you share with us a time where fear really creeped in? And how'd you overcome it?

Tom Brady 37:30

I don't think it I don't think fear would be the word for me. The only fear that I would have would be to have an injury and not be available with my team. That's a fear of mine. But the fear of a bad performance, I don't think I fear that much. Because I know I'm giving it everything I got the fear of an injury sucks, because I can't do what I love to do. So outside and you know, keep in perspective, a lot of things in life, you know, not that much matters. Yeah,

David Novak 38:00

you know, what's your, what's your proudest moment as a leader

Tom Brady 38:03

moments like that, where you're holding up the trophy, you know, and you're looking out over your teammates, and you've accomplished what you set out to, it's a lot like climbing a mountain of football season. At the beginning, it's, it's daunting to long ways. You're pretty fresh, you're excited, you get into it, and you go, man, this is hard. You know, and I still got a long way to go. And every day, you just put one foot in front of the other end, you'd be a little bit smarter. And as you get more into the climb, the harder it gets, the more fatigued you get. The more people you lose, the more confidence Do I really have what it takes to reach the top. And the colder it gets. as the season goes. And the higher you get, there's less competition. And do people have the will and the determination to drive the stamina to make it up the mountain. And the reality is in the NFL, even those 32 teams. When you look back at the season, there's probably about 10 that are capable. And that's your real competition. And the best part is being the one at the top of the mountain at the end of the year. And I think when you start a new year, you got to start at the bottom of the mountain like everybody else. Well, this

David Novak 39:24

interesting because I was going to ask you after the Super Bowl last the Eagles, one of the comments that you made was the importance of what you could learn from the loss and teaching your boys. Yeah, you know how so?

Tom Brady 39:37

Yeah. Well, because I think that's part of what perspective I've gained and being a dad. Because I'm a competitor. I want to win every time because I put a lot into it. And my teammates do too. But you know what, you don't win every game. And just because you compete doesn't mean you're going to win. So the gift is the competition. It's not the wind, the wind is a byproduct of the gift. So I think when I see my kids after the game, and one of my sons is crying because he didn't have the perspective, you know, and the sun comes up the next day, and your life goes on. And what really matters is, you know, a lot of other things in your life, although sports are incredibly important in my life. When I'm done, things are gonna keep moving.

David Novak 40:31

Have you ever had anything, Tom where, you know, it's, I mean, everybody looks at you, and you're like, you know, your greatest quarterback all time, you know, all this stuff that's going for you. It's almost like you, there's no chinks in the armor. You know, if you ever had any, like, misfortune that you thought was a misfortune, it ended up really being a blessing, or, you know, we talk a little bit about any failure in your life.

Tom Brady 40:58

Oh, a lot, a lot. Like I said, it's, throughout my life, I think all the way up through probably 24 years old. There was not a lot of people that were believing in me, you know, I mean, I went to fight a lot into elementary school and sports. You know, I was good. I was never the best in high school. I was good. I was never the best in college. I was good. But I was never the best. In those, those shaped me. So when you get to be 24, you're not going to now we want to Super Bowl think that like, oh, I should change? No, I should do more of what got me to that point. So I feel like my life has been a bunch of failures. I've had a lot of success. But it's been shaped by the things that haven't worked out. And I've certainly had a lot of things happen in my life, personally, that I've learned from that are very personal to me that have allowed me to gain different perspective. Yeah. And it's life. There's nothing perfect about life. I really don't think so I think what it's learning is the most important thing,

David Novak 42:06

you have a a multifaceted mental capability that, you know, everybody that knows, you says, you know, it really sets you apart in so many different ways. And you're so positive, you know, you've got that positive energy, which everybody looks for, how do you keep that positive mindset going, when you're faced with a barrage of negativity around you? Like, you know, with the flayed gay being the biggest example, how did you how did you work through that?

Tom Brady 42:32

I think it's again, I think it's perspective, you know, from my standpoint, like, I, there's so much out there, you know, and especially in today's day and age, you have two approaches, you can combat everything, you know, or you just let people say whatever they want to say. And I think in many ways, I've always felt like, I should just stay out of the noise. Because really, you know, we're part of this system, you know, and this system is very all encompassing, in terms of, you know, making money and business and it's so much control and power, you know, and I think I just dropped the rope, and I know who I am, you know, I know what I believe in. And I'm very proud of that. And I'm gonna try to maintain that. And I feel like it's part of social media is, you know, an act, you know, and I think there's Class Act, too, you know, and I've always felt like, you know, what, I'm gonna be a class act.

David Novak 43:30

Yeah, well, along those lines, you and Giselle, you, you probably face as high profile as any couple that I know of, and you have tabloids, you just can't wait to write the bad article and make money on whatever, you know, you guys put that aside and trudge on?

Tom Brady 43:47

I think you have to because you can't be controlled by a lot of exterior influences. And I think I learned that over the course of my athletic career, when you're expose yourself to criticism, just by the nature of your profession. I think we all do that when you have a public life. And really, the reality is everybody's life is public. You know, you're going to be scrutinized. And the scrutiny now is much more global than it used to be because there's so many platforms for people to be able to express information and share information. You know, you

David Novak 44:19

talk about global and the you're married, Digital's from Brazil. Yeah. And renowned model worldwide known. Yeah. Has that broaden your perspective? How has that broaden your perspective as a leader incredibly,

Tom Brady 44:31

and because you realize that you're, you know, I think part of it is your, you know, I have kids that are a dual citizens. You know, they're resilient, but they're American, too. They're born in America, and but my wife said, I want them to be Brazilian citizens because my culture is equally as important as yours. And we're gonna live in America. But I want my kids to experience what I grew up to because it's, that's what you do and in the middle Rich. And I think when you realize you're a citizen of the world, and not just a citizen of the United States, it's a different perspective on life. When I go to Brazil, you know, that's my wife's home. But we're sharing the same planet, we're sharing the same air, we're sharing the same water, we're sharing the same resources. Now, unless you have that perspective, it's hard to think beyond that, you know, you primary, someone who did cross the country, it's different culturally, you marry someone of, you know, but, you know, multicultural marriage that I'm in, you know, it's, it comes with challenges, and you face those challenges, but you learn from him. And I think I wouldn't have it any other way at this point. But it's absolutely a different perspective on the world.

David Novak 45:44

And, you know, let's shift to Tom Brady off the field and into the business world where you, you're really doing some exciting things. Yeah. And it's, you know, you're having great success. But first of all, you know, when you think about brands, you know, brands stand for characteristics that you know, that they want to drive home and all the communications and you know, you form TB 12. And I want to talk about that. But tell me what the Tom Brady brand should convey in your mind, what what attributes would you want to project as, as you market your brand, just like Under Armour? Its brands?

Tom Brady 46:21

That's a great question. And it's not stuff that I've thought about too much. I mean, I know what TB 12 stands for the brand. Me personally, I've always felt like I'm a very hardworking, determined, disciplined leader. I mean, I think that's what I've tried to show and display in my work profession. And I think that that's, I've always been an underdog in some way. And I know people today go, how do you see yourself as an underdog, you're, you know, you're had success on the field, you're married to so and so everything seems like oh, you know, you just rolled out of bed and this happened. But that's not my life. That's people's perception of what my life is, I have a different perspective on my life, because I've lived it. So I take my experiences, and I bring them with me. And I use them so that I can make better decisions as I move forward. So I'm trying to learn I'm trying to be better today than it was yesterday, I'm trying to be a better in a lot of areas because I know my life is going to continue to evolve and change and grow, and I should enjoy it. And I think having joy and happiness as for me is what always surrounding myself with fun people that I can learn a lot from is what has been the best experience of my life.

David Novak 47:32

You're been quite successful in linking up with some great brands like Under Armour, Aston Martin beats, yeah. Did you know, did you have a process in terms of how you decided you were going to link up with those brands? What What was it that drove you to do Under Armour, let's say versus Nike right now, or Aston Martin versus Ferrari?

Tom Brady 47:53

It's a great question. And I think it's, it's a lot of its intention. Like when I was younger, I would kind of wait to see who called and who was interested in me. And as I got older, I started to think about why don't I go to the people that I'm interested in? Like, if Aston Martin is my favorite car? Why don't I go to them? And if beats are my favorite headphones, why don't I go to them. And you know what, it makes a great partnership, because I truly believe in it. And all the partners that I've worked with Under Armour is the same way. I mean, Kevin Plank has been a great friend of mine, I want to help him build his business, and play my small part in in that success. So those are fun things for me. I mean, and I think more so than that is just the people that I'm working with, with those companies. So you know, I've enjoyed those a lot.

David Novak 48:39

Tom, you've you've really been innovative off the field and in business and you created the TB 12.

Tom Brady 48:45

Yeah, I had to take a different approach to my training. When I was younger, because what I had done for a period of time stopped working. And the traditional ways of taking care of your body no longer work for me as an athlete. When I was in high school, I had elbow pain, I had knee pain. That's why I stopped playing baseball. I would ice my elbow and ice my knees. I went to college, played football, love football. Got to the pros, three or four years into my pro career, my arms hurting every day at practice. And I'm sitting here going, how can I be a quarterback if I can't throw the ball. And I was introduced to my body coach Alex through a teammate of mine, Willie mcginest, who was a mentor for me. And he said, Tom, it is what you got to do for your elbow. You got to go start working with Alex. And I was like, Well, what's he going to do? Like how can he be different than what everyone else does? Because I've already experienced all this training. You know, we have we're the New England Patriots. You know, we're we're have access to Boston, we're the top medical communities. And I had really bad tendinitis in my right elbow. And I had basically what I had done was I had taken all these muscles in my form and I'd shorten these muscles. And I'd say Can all these biceps and tricep muscles and I shorten these muscles. So I shorten the forearm. I shorten the bicep, I shorten the tricep and what's hurting the tendons in my elbow because they're trying to hold the joint together. And Alex said was what we're going to do. We're going to spend time lengthening and softening through pliability your forearm, and we're going to lengthen soften your bicep or lengthen soften tricep, there's not gonna be more pressure or tension on your, on your elbow tendon. And I was like, Well, that makes a lot of sense. How are we going to do that? And we started doing pliability treatments on my elbow, on my bicep, my tricep. After three days. These were long and soft. These were long and soft. There was no more tension on my elbow. And I said, Why has no one ever taught me that before? And I don't know. And I said, Well, can you do it for my knee? He's like, let's do it. So it was lengthen and soften my quad lengthen soft, my hamstring length, and it's often my calf, no more knee pain. And after that I was hooked. I says what we're going to do, we're going to work we work together for about seven years before we started TB 12. And I said, after all these years of pliability treatments, my body felt better at 32 than it did at 22. My elbow was not in pain, my shoulder wasn't in pain. And I said, Okay, I played all these years, I'm throwing more footballs when my elbows hurting less, because my muscles and my routines were getting better and better. So I felt like five years ago, how can I not pass this information on to other athletes? Is that why you wrote the book, TB 12. And that's why I did everything. Because I said, I've got this information that I've acquired, how am I going to take that with me and not share that with anyone because I know there's high school kids out there. I know there's athletes that are in pain. And football is not fun. If you're in pain. If you wake up every day and your neck hurts your backers, things aren't fun. I've been fortunate to continue to play and have fun because I can go on perform without pain. And not that I don't get injured. I do because it's a demolition derby but I can get fixed really quickly too. And I can maintain my exercise routine, which I always say is holistic. And it's integrative. Like it's all encompassing its sleep is important as nutrition, which is important as hydration, which is important as the pliability treatments which is important in strength training. And I think those five areas make up this really what comprehensive program. And I think part of what we thought about for people to feel better is let's just think about if your shoulder hurts, let me just go to the shoulder guy. But the reality is, it's the whole process. You know,

David Novak 52:33

Tom, I have to tell you, you are the absolute real deal. One thing I would put your brand character is authentic. You are the real deal. And you tell it like it is and you have so much unbridled passion that it's inspirational. Just being around you. And I, I want to thank you very much for being on this podcast. I have just a couple little quick questions. I want to ask you. They're kind of fun. Okay. Just when was the last time you had some Kentucky Fried Chicken or a big juicy, big cheeseburger?

Tom Brady 53:03

Oh, man, cheese burger probably about a month ago. But I haven't had KFC and man again.

David Novak 53:10

What, what, what struck you the most about being the host of Saturday Night Live?

Tom Brady 53:15

It was so fun. It was it was an experience. When I finished. I was disappointed it was over. Because I had so much fun. Those are the best. Those people work so hard. And it ended I was going up the elevator to my hotel room to end the night. And I said shit, man, that was so fun. They'll never be another week like that again.

David Novak 53:33

Yeah, I'm sure he received a lot of emails when that happened. But you know, you are known for answering your emails almost like that. I'm pretty good at you make it a priority.

Tom Brady 53:42

I know. Because, you know, I feel like people want responses back and I don't want to get too far behind. And you know if I can rip them off, I do. We may not have time

David Novak 53:51

for this story. But the son of a great friend of ours, said that you got to ask him about the time he got locked in the Notre Dame Stadium.

Tom Brady 54:01

And then how about that this so this was a I know who the friend is and I know who the Son is. But I was playing in Michigan plays Notre Dame to start the football season here in about four weeks. And it was the way that I was going to start. My fourth year in college we were opening at Notre Dame and I was the quarterback my one of my good friends got married really close to South Bend. And I'd never been there and I was driving back. This was about five or six weeks before the season opener. And I said you know I'm gonna do I'm gonna stop in South Bend. I'm gonna go check out the stadium because the first time I go to Notre Dame Stadium, I don't want it to be the season opener. So I drove from just outside of Chicago, back through South Bend. stopped it was a Sunday. And I I mean, of course, I'm naive in some ways. I parked the car thought I'm just gonna walk into the stadium and of course I couldn't walk into the stadium. It was totally close. First off, you know, it had these massive gates. And I was like, you know, how can I come all the way here and not get in. So let me walk around the stadium, see if anything's open. So, unbelievably, I get halfway around the stadium and one of the gates is unlocked. And I'm like, I'm gonna go in. But what I'm gonna do is once I go in, I'm going to lock the lock to itself. So if someone comes by, they're going to see like, oh, you know, what happened? You know, nothing's nothing's wrong. So go in the stadium, lock the lock to itself. So I'm just going to come out right back where I entered. So I walk around the stadium for like, 10 minutes, take it all and I come back to the same spot where I came in, and someone had come there in the lobby, they undid the lock, they locked the gate and lock the lock, and unlocked in the friggin stadium. And I'm like, unbuttoned, I looked around, it says No Trespassing signs, violators will be prosecuted, or whatever. And I'm sitting here doing a six week for season opener. I'm going to be in a friggin South Bend prison. That's passing a Notre Dame Stadium. So I ended up finding out a ladder on one of the walls on one of the handicap ramps that I knocked off the wall with a fire extinguisher. I took the ladder over the top of the stadium on the side, had to climb down about undid the ladder about 20 feet, and climbed down, jumped in my car and drove out of South Bend as fast as I possibly could.

Speaker 1 56:27

This is proof positive, you are determined disciplined, and they make it happen guy. Tom, thanks so much, buddy. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you feel the same?

David Novak 56:46

I had to tell you, it's really cool to have the chance to interview Tom Brady. And it's really great to hear him uncut. And Tom told us some stories that he has never ever told publicly. But what I really want you to take away from this episode is not the learn how to break out of Notre Dame Stadium. I hope that's something that you never have to do. What I want you to learn is this. Great leaders backup their goals with disciplined action. And now it's time for my favorite part of our podcast episodes. This is where I give you some specific coaching that will help you develop as a leader this week as part of your weekly personal development plan. Here's what I want you to do. Think about the big goals that you set for your team. And here's the thing, I bet you also have a solid plan to reach them. But ask yourself, are there some tough action items you've been avoiding? That you need to just dig into and knock out? I want you to make a list of those specific obstacles, put it up on your desk and tackle them this week with some Brady s discipline. So do you want to know how leaders lead what we learned today is the great leaders backup their goals with discipline action. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen and while I interviewed some of the very best leaders in the world, I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you have become the very best leader you can be

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