Nobody dreams of being a Super Bowl center.
In the weeks after the New York Giants'
second Super Bowl win over Tom Brady and the Patriots, you will find few columnists heralding the accomplishments of players tackle David Diehl, at least in comparison with Eli Manning or Mario Manningham.
But as Giants coach Tom Coughlin told Sports Illustrated.com, their role in the Giants' win was
no less important than the Super Bowl MVP quarterback's.
"(Manning) looks to his teammates," he said.
Entrepreneurs can look to the interdependency of teammates as a model for how their staff functions. It's no secret that the main burden of responsibility falls on the owner. But as any owner will tell you, they cannot do everything.
If you work for a startup but don't own the company, you contribute as much to its success or failure as the owner. He may set the tone, but you too bear a burden of responsibility.
- If you're older, you're a mentor. There are many-young bloods out there with ambition and ideas. They have the tools becoming of a leader. But they don't know everything. Young men and women in leadership positions need guidance.
- Businesses need specialists. Often, the owners need to spend most of their time networking and selling. They are the faces of their company. But a body is more than a face. Businesses need those people who crunch the numbers, who produce the goods, who put processes in place and who do the mundane tasks. They keep the comapny running.
- Everyone has a stake in the company. Your business has a culture problem if it's only this or that person's comapny. Even if the owner's name is the brand, a small business is a risk that every employee takes, especially in its infant stages. Larger companies boast security. You need more than a paycheck to jump onboard a startup.
Too often in football, the accolades honor individual accomplishments. You hear debates about the greatest quarterback or the best coach. It's true that most people don't dream of making a pancake block in the Super Bowl.
But with a new Super Bowl ring on his finger, center
David Baas has sometime Dan Marino doesn't. And he got it by battling in the trenches.