Overtime with Outland is Action Catalyst host Adam Outland's reflections and commentary on discussions with each of his esteemed and accomplished guests. In this segment, Adam dissects Episode 468 with author, speaker, physician, and Medical Director of the NFL Players Association, Dr. Thom Mayer.
Listeners, welcome back to the Action Catalyst. This is Overtime with Outland. And today we're going to be talking about episode 468 with author, physician, and medical director for the NFL Players Association, Dr. Tom Mayer. In this episode, we reap the benefit of a lot of Tom's experience, which is quite extensive. And from that experience, we gathered a lot of great insights.
Number one, when it comes to building your team, put relationships over resumes. When Tom was hired as the medical director for the NFL Players Association, it wasn't because his resume rose to the top of the stack. He had a personal relationship with the executive director of the association.
He'd seen him in the other leadership situations before and knew he had what it took to meet the demands of the job. It wasn't a matter of having a longer list of credentials. It was honestly a matter of trust and confidence. Tom never forgot that a relationship is always more powerful than even the best resume. Number two, work on sucking down versus sucking up.
Tom saw this firsthand when he responded to the attack on the Pentagon in 9-11. Generals and other high-powered figures were all over the scene, but those weren't the people getting their hands dirty, sorting through the rubble, helping the wounded. Tom knew that to get things done, it's not about sucking up to those with the big titles.
It's about sucking down to the ones who are doing the day-to-day tasks. He calls these people the we suite. And he says that's who we should be giving attention to, not necessarily the C-suite. Number three, Tom says that your purpose is found where your deep joy intersects with the world's deepest needs. But the order is important. You have to start with your deep joy, not the world's needs.
The world's deep needs are infinite. There will never stop being needs all over the globe. But if you start with your deep joy, your passion, you'll always be on the right path. Number four, create an expert team rather than just a team of experts. They're not the same thing.
People who work seamlessly across boundaries who understand what the goal is and have the ability to trust each other to come up with the ideas. He cites the Kansas City Chiefs as his prime example. He said, or how to cover against other players. And every single member is involved. That's an expert team taking, as Tom calls it, creative chemistry.
For these tips and so, so much more, check out the interview in Action Catalyst episode 468 with Dr. Tom Mayer. Honestly, this is one of my favorite interviews. I enjoyed it so much and I got so much from my conversation with him. So I'd really encourage you to listen to episode 468, Dr. Tom Mayer.