I am often asked why certain “Great” players did not make the jump from High School All American to Division I Star, or College Great to The Professional Ranks. I hear STUPID stuff, like “The Coach didn’t like him”, or “They play that guy over my son because he is on Scholarship”. My Reply is: “You know he’s on scholarship because he’s good”.
There are MANY athletes with LOTS of Talent. Talent is genetic. Talent is developed with work. Now there is some talent that is simply God Given. I call those athletes SPECIAL. The 4.2 forty is special. A 400 lb power clean is special. A 40+ inch vertical is special. That being said, why does that guy with the 4.2 forty, a 46 inch vertical, AND a 400 lb power clean not make it to the “Next Level”?
On the other end of the table are guys with minimal “Numbers” or talent that makes it to the next level.
The difference between good and great or making it or not is Intangibles. Intangibles are qualities that cannot be quantitively measured. Examples of these are “Heart”, “Work Ethic”, “Desire”, etc. A person has them or they do not. Intangibles can be developed, but not overnight. As a coach, decisions would be made to play an athlete over another based on intangibles. Sure the “talented” athlete COULD win IF he did what he was asked to do. On the other hand, I knew that the athlete with Intangibles would give every thing he had. I knew what I was going to get and I could game plan around that. When this happened the “talented” athlete and/or his parents were always mad, AND it was always someone else’s fault. Blame is a Negative intangible that does nothing but bring EVERYONE down. Isn’t it easier to admit fault, learn from it and move on. Easier or not it is BY FAR more respectable.
The following is from a paper that I wrote, in Graduate School about Intangibles:
I believe that it is simple human spirit to be competitive. People have always wanted to do better than the last guy. Today, if you find a group of athletes, men, women or any group of competitive people you will hear: “I can ______ better / further / faster / more than you can. They may be talking about physical contest or even producing more “widgets” in a day. Humans are competitive. They are always looking for a completive edge.
When it comes to human performance (in athletics, or ANYTHING), There is no replacement for genetics. BUT the old saying goes: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. We can overcome any shortcoming with Smart and Hard work. Smart and Hard work refer to the “Intangibles”. Coaches look for Intangibles, and Employers also look for Intangibles. In looking for these Intangibles, a coach or employer may ask:
Does a person work hard?
Are they competitive?
Will they NOT quit when it gets tough?
Do they naturally compete?
Do they like and live for a challenge?
Does loosing hurt?
Do they simply just bear down and find a way get things done?
These Intangibles are what separate “Those People” from the everyone else, in a good way. They are successful; there is just something about them. They have a charisma. There is something about them that makes you want them on your team. They may not win all of the time but they DO NOT LOOSE.
I am HUGE on intangibles. I think that they have gotten me where I am today. I am not and have not been the most talented person, but I have goals, I make a plan, I follow and adjust the plan as needed and I reach my goals. Nothing stops me. I have realized that not everyone is like this and I make Intangibles my tool to separate me and my teams in a way that makes us different from the others.
Winning and losing are tangible. Our paycheck is tangible. We have to have a measuring stick to know if we are successful, that is our competitiveness. We have to know if we won or lost. These are goals. Goals are very tangible and Goals are very important. While goals are tangible, the intangibles are very important in reaching our goals. I mentioned the little things adding up to the big picture. Without little intangibles, we would never reach our big goals.
A brief list of Intangibles include: “Heart”, Care, “Want To”, Desire, “Stick-to-itiveness”, “Guts”, Fight, and Drive. I said it earlier in this post, but a person has them or they do not have them. One cannot hide it. In fact it is more evident when a person tries to “fake” it. Bottom line is that intangibles reflect a person’s character, and their motivation. This is true in athletics and in the “real world”. Show me a person who lacks the intangibles to be successful, and I will show you a person who is either a person of no or low character, OR a person who is doing something for the wrong reasons … that person is not successful in the long run.
