The Success Strategy I Wish I Could Give My Younger Self
Forget credit. Do the work
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At the height of the financial crisis in 1975, Bill Belichick — the now six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach of the New England Patriots — was 23 years old and unemployed. Desperate for a job in football after an assistant position fell through, he wrote some 250 letters to college and professional football coaches, according to his biographer David Halberstam. Nothing came of it except a job with the Baltimore Colts that paid $25 a week.
The Colts’ head coach desperately needed someone to break down and analyze game footage. Most people would have hated this job — especially back then, without the help of today’s sophisticated statistical-analysis programs — but it turned out to be the springboard that launched Belichick into his legendary (albeit complicated) career.
In this lowly position, Belichick thrived on what was considered grunt work. Said coach Ted Marchibroda: “You gave him an assignment and he disappeared into a room and you didn’t see him again until it was done, and then he wanted to do more.”
Most importantly, he made the other coaches look good. His insights gave them things they could give their players. It gave them an edge they would take credit for.
This is a strategy all of us ought to follow, whatever stage of our careers we happen to be in (or how we feel about the New England Patriots): Forget credit. Do the work.
I’m lucky someone told me that early on, when I was starting out as an assistant in Hollywood. Forget credit so completely, they said, that you’re glad when other people get it instead of you. The best thing you can do is make the boss look good.
It ended up being pretty decent advice, but I certainly wouldn’t have moved up as quickly as I have if I had only worked on the way people saw my bosses. Now that I’ve been around a bit, the lesson I’d give a younger version of myself is this: Find canvases for other people to paint on.
That could mean coming up with great ideas to hand over to your boss. It could mean finding tasks nobody else wants to do, and doing them. It could mean identifying leaks and patches to free up resources for new areas. It could mean finding…
