[Music]
I will never forget my freshman year of
high school so much excitement so many
new experiences and so much more stress
than I have ever experienced before I
was loaded up with honors classes
because in my house taking the hardest
course as possible was the norm and I
certainly wasn’t gonna break that trend
so I got my first report card I was so
proud three A’s to B’s and 1c I had done
the math to three point three three not
too shabby
to kick off this high school career but
when I got home the conversation didn’t
exactly go as I had planned
see all that pride I felt in my grades
was overshadowed by the opening comment
my parents made so Austin what are we
gonna do about that see immediately all
the energy was zapped right out of me
like I’ve been punched in the stomach I
worked hard to get those grades Sunday
afternoons working on projects late
nights after football practice studying
hours upon hours trying to do the best
that I could
why couldn’t they see that why did they
go to the lowest grade why couldn’t they
be as proud as I was reality is all they
could see was a see as a professional
coach and consultant I see this exact
same thing happen in the workplace every
day hard-working employees in every line
of business manufacturing nursing sales
you name it they give themselves to
their job all year long all in the hopes
of getting a good review at the end of
the year trouble is that review
conversation ends up sounding a lot like
the conversation I had with my pair
managers skip over all the good things
that happen and jump right to the couple
things they need to get better at what a
punch to the stomach and here’s the
thing even though they’re the norm the
conversations don’t really work imagine
if you will this approach playing out on
a football team
let’s take Tom Brady for example how
would his annual reviews sound with his
manager Bill Belichick Hall of Fame
coach sitting down to talk to Tom about
the Year in Review okay Tom had another
great year you won the MVP we went to
the Super Bowl but we threw a pass to
you and you dropped it so this year
thirty minutes every day after practice
working on catching passes that is going
to make you the complete and total
quarterback that’s ridiculous right like
Tom Brady’s going to the Hall of Fame
not because he can catch passes but
because he can throw them asking him to
work harder at catching passes every day
is asking him to do something he’s not
the best person on the team to do but
that’s the approach we take every day I
think we can do better than that I think
we can have better conversations parents
to children teachers to students
managers to employees we can do better
go with me for a moment here I believe
each human being is born to be a star
the points of our star represent those
aspects of ourselves we love those
things were great at those things that
come naturally to us when our son comes
home from high school with a report card
and we focus the conversation only on
the see what are we doing we’re trying
to fill in his gaps pour something into
him that may not be there managers
when we have a review with one of our
employees and all we talk about are the
things they need to fix ignoring all the
good things they did that year
colleagues when you having a friend or a
colleague throw out an idea in a meeting
and your immediate reaction is that’ll
never work here you’re talking to a high
schooler who’s got really creative ideas
and you tell them come back to reality
conform to the standard norm for all of
us when we have that urge to stand up
for what we know is right but we don’t
do anything it’s not our place to
confront Authority what are we really
doing we’re taking these natural
powerful aspects of who we are and we’re
undercutting them limiting their
potential all in some inadvertent
attempt to be good at everything and
trying to be well-rounded but here’s the
thing it doesn’t work in fact decades of
research would tell us the opposite is
true we should take these natural
aspects of who we are and invest in them
truly become great at them when we do
that we can reap massive performance
rewards one Gallup study found that when
employees got to use their strengths
every day there were six times more
likely to be engaged in their work and
they were three times as likely to
report having an excellent quality of
life when that translates through to a
team and teams can use their strengths
we see 12 and a half percent greater
productivity and eight point nine
percent greater profitability because
you see focusing on our strengths it’s
not just good for us it’s good for all
of us
so let’s imagine a different approach to
the star when our Sun brings that report
card home what if we start the
conversation with the A’s what about
those subjects do you love what can we
learn from that as managers when we’re
having our conversations with our people
what if we acknowledge the struggles
but focus the conversation and all the
impact that created all the things they
did do when we’re talking that creative
teenager what if we harness that energy
and trying to challenge the status quo
and bring about change to our community
when a colleague throws out an idea that
may seem a bit far-fetched what if we
use that to create a new goal for our
team and all of us when we have that
urge to do what we know is right what if
we took a chance
stepped out garnered some support what’s
happening now we’re no longer building
ourselves into some fully self-reliant
being now we’re different we’re sharp
we’re unique this is what the world
needs more people embracing their
imperfections more people embracing
their talents being sharp is being human
imperfect but talented when we are on a
quest to be well-rounded we’re on a
quest to go through life without ever
really needing anybody else without ever
having to depend on somebody else to
create the kinds of schools families and
communities we want that can truly
leverage what we each bring to the table
we’ve got to start by denouncing the
fallacy of being well rounded and lead
into the fact that we are not great at
everything but what we are great at is
unique and it’s needed to help those
around us because you know what we’re
meant to help one another we’re meant to
support one another we are all imperfect
every last one of us don’t spend your
life on a quest to try to fill in your
gaps thank you
[Music] [Applause]
I will never forget my freshman year of
high school so much excitement so many
new experiences and so much more stress
than I have ever experienced before I
was loaded up with honors classes
because in my house taking the hardest
course as possible was the norm and I
certainly wasn’t gonna break that trend
so I got my first report card I was so
proud three A’s to B’s and 1c I had done
the math to three point three three not
too shabby
to kick off this high school career but
when I got home the conversation didn’t
exactly go as I had planned
see all that pride I felt in my grades
was overshadowed by the opening comment
my parents made so Austin what are we
gonna do about that see immediately all
the energy was zapped right out of me
like I’ve been punched in the stomach I
worked hard to get those grades Sunday
afternoons working on projects late
nights after football practice studying
hours upon hours trying to do the best
that I could
why couldn’t they see that why did they
go to the lowest grade why couldn’t they
be as proud as I was reality is all they
could see was a see as a professional
coach and consultant I see this exact
same thing happen in the workplace every
day hard-working employees in every line
of business manufacturing nursing sales
you name it they give themselves to
their job all year long all in the hopes
of getting a good review at the end of
the year trouble is that review
conversation ends up sounding a lot like
the conversation I had with my pair
managers skip over all the good things
that happen and jump right to the couple
things they need to get better at what a
punch to the stomach and here’s the
thing even though they’re the norm the
conversations don’t really work imagine
if you will this approach playing out on
a football team
let’s take Tom Brady for example how
would his annual reviews sound with his
manager Bill Belichick Hall of Fame
coach sitting down to talk to Tom about
the Year in Review okay Tom had another
great year you won the MVP we went to
the Super Bowl but we threw a pass to
you and you dropped it so this year
thirty minutes every day after practice
working on catching passes that is going
to make you the complete and total
quarterback that’s ridiculous right like
Tom Brady’s going to the Hall of Fame
not because he can catch passes but
because he can throw them asking him to
work harder at catching passes every day
is asking him to do something he’s not
the best person on the team to do but
that’s the approach we take every day I
think we can do better than that I think
we can have better conversations parents
to children teachers to students
managers to employees we can do better
go with me for a moment here I believe
each human being is born to be a star
the points of our star represent those
aspects of ourselves we love those
things were great at those things that
come naturally to us when our son comes
home from high school with a report card
and we focus the conversation only on
the see what are we doing we’re trying
to fill in his gaps pour something into
him that may not be there managers
when we have a review with one of our
employees and all we talk about are the
things they need to fix ignoring all the
good things they did that year
colleagues when you having a friend or a
colleague throw out an idea in a meeting
and your immediate reaction is that’ll
never work here you’re talking to a high
schooler who’s got really creative ideas
and you tell them come back to reality
conform to the standard norm for all of
us when we have that urge to stand up
for what we know is right but we don’t
do anything it’s not our place to
confront Authority what are we really
doing we’re taking these natural
powerful aspects of who we are and we’re
undercutting them limiting their
potential all in some inadvertent
attempt to be good at everything and
trying to be well-rounded but here’s the
thing it doesn’t work in fact decades of
research would tell us the opposite is
true we should take these natural
aspects of who we are and invest in them
truly become great at them when we do
that we can reap massive performance
rewards one Gallup study found that when
employees got to use their strengths
every day there were six times more
likely to be engaged in their work and
they were three times as likely to
report having an excellent quality of
life when that translates through to a
team and teams can use their strengths
we see 12 and a half percent greater
productivity and eight point nine
percent greater profitability because
you see focusing on our strengths it’s
not just good for us it’s good for all
of us
so let’s imagine a different approach to
the star when our Sun brings that report
card home what if we start the
conversation with the A’s what about
those subjects do you love what can we
learn from that as managers when we’re
having our conversations with our people
what if we acknowledge the struggles
but focus the conversation and all the
impact that created all the things they
did do when we’re talking that creative
teenager what if we harness that energy
and trying to challenge the status quo
and bring about change to our community
when a colleague throws out an idea that
may seem a bit far-fetched what if we
use that to create a new goal for our
team and all of us when we have that
urge to do what we know is right what if
we took a chance
stepped out garnered some support what’s
happening now we’re no longer building
ourselves into some fully self-reliant
being now we’re different we’re sharp
we’re unique this is what the world
needs more people embracing their
imperfections more people embracing
their talents being sharp is being human
imperfect but talented when we are on a
quest to be well-rounded we’re on a
quest to go through life without ever
really needing anybody else without ever
having to depend on somebody else to
create the kinds of schools families and
communities we want that can truly
leverage what we each bring to the table
we’ve got to start by denouncing the
fallacy of being well rounded and lead
into the fact that we are not great at
everything but what we are great at is
unique and it’s needed to help those
around us because you know what we’re
meant to help one another we’re meant to
support one another we are all imperfect
every last one of us don’t spend your
life on a quest to try to fill in your
gaps thank you
[Music] [Applause]
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