I Realized Not Being a Football Fan is Costing Me That Promotion

Early in my career, I used to joke with other colleagues about how the only thing the salespeople at my company wanted to talk about was “sports ball” and their kids. They never wanted to talk about work. There was one guy, Mike who particularly irked me. He just never shut up about the Giants. I thought that he was misguided in taking valuable company time to talk about last night’s game, especially when project deadlines kept inching forward. This kind of behavior seemed fine for a jock in high school, but surely after four years of undergrad and an MBA, we must be beyond this. There must be better topics and more productive ways to spend time. I thought they should be spending more time tending to the company’s interests instead of wasting it on water-cooler talk. I thought while he was talking about football I’d put my head down and get stuff done. I thought I was the smartest guy in the room. I thought come performance review time I’d be the one getting the raise. Boy, was I wrong.

I thought while he was talking about football I’d put my head down and get stuff done. I thought I was the smartest guy in the room. I thought come performance review time I’d be the one getting the raise. Boy, was I wrong.

Once December rolled around and performance reviews were in it was clear. Mike, the salesman, the schmoozer who spent his time talking about first-round draft picks and not creating value for the company was the one who got the most sizable promotion in the department. At first, I was mad. I was fuming. I complained to my then-girlfriend for the next three days at how unfair it was how I should have been the one receiving his raise.

Once I settled down I realized that there was a whole piece of the puzzle I was missing. One the most important lessons from an early boss was when he pulled me aside and told me, “listen, the smartest person in the room is often the unhappiest because they rarely get what they want, and see what they could have”

The smartest person in the room is often the unhappiest because they rarely get what they want.

Getting what you want means taking an interest in what’s important to other people. I hadn’t considered that for the rest of my team football was a pretty important part of their lives and by me completely snubbing it, it was me who was actually being rude.
So much about being a professional is not about individual technical performance but how well you get along with other people. And likewise, how well you connect with them. Like it or not human connection is a necessary ingredient for working together to accomplish the collective goals of the company. Sometimes this means meeting them halfway, and yes, taking an interest in some things like football and baseball.

If your boss is a passionate New York Yankees fan and you can’t name a single player on the team that’s a problem. From time to time they are going to want to talk about it and you’re going to be left out of the conversation. And very subtly whether knowing it or not your rejection of they’re interests is going to put more space between you.

Look for additional content to this post soon.