Hmm.

And so, you know, don't, don't listen to this interview.

And, you know, and roll your eyes thinking that we're just talking about emotionalism here.

We are not we are talking about performance.

But we're talking about performance that's been inspired.

We're talking about the quality of inspiring people to want to perform.

right and and you're not going to do it perfectly you're not going to get 100 out of of that out of your employees that's not the point the point is what if you could get 45 what if you could get half the company who wakes up every day and they're going man i can't wait to go to work today you know what i mean so it again it's it you know I think, and I'm glad you, you kind of asked that question again, because it's really important.

Can you talk about your experience around the word trust and when you've seen it actually executed? Oh,

You know, I'm sure that the football fans that have watched you in a huddle or they watch our favorite teams in a huddle, you really put a nice twist to that in terms of how to build culture through a huddle.

Well, it's a great – thank you for that question.

It's a great example of how you take something and identify the core beliefs and values of that process in an NFL offense and understand it more deeply than just a collection of players that are talking to each other.

But it's the most important aspect that happens at the beginning of every play because this is where the communication – is distributed that tells every single player exactly what they're supposed to do and we have to get that right we can't mess up the huddle right because then that turns into a mistake or a penalty that has a negative effect on on the team and so it was so important in indianapolis that our offensive coordinator created a culture of the huddle and i always look at it through a simple simply profound way that you identify what is what is the foundational meaning of the huddle and for us it was listening right so how do we develop ourselves into better listeners which is so transferable into life and our families and our businesses But in order to develop ourselves as listeners, we have to have some type of a strategy and a practicable system.

So what we created was three simply profound practices, stop, look, and care.

And so stop was the act of selflessness.

The minute Peyton Manning stepped into the huddle, our quarterback, everything stopped.

What would you say to employers who need to help their employees understand these concepts?

man,

you get better performance.

You get a better football player.

So not only was the belief, the obvious belief, that if you work on the fundamentals and techniques of your position, you will improve at the position, but his... his belief was much deeper than that.

If I not only focus on helping them grow as an athlete, but I also develop powerful qualities in them towards what it means to be a great man, those qualities will actually enhance the physical attributes.

And what I learned from Tony Dungy was that culture, when it's done well in an organization, improves organizational efficiency, and ultimately impacts the bottom line.

But most importantly, it has the capability of transforming people's lives.

Tell me, what is the experience like? What was it like?

Like, how do you do that?

Man, what a great question.

I was really blessed to grow up in a family of faith.

My dad's been a pastor for 50 years.

And so we've spent a lot of time as a family talking a lot about identity and purpose.

And I would tell you that one of the things he really inspired me to believe in is that the hardest metals are forged out of the hottest fires.

And to look at suffering and to look at pain through a developmental lens that every moment that we go through, whether it's filled with joy and happiness or pain and suffering, is an opportunity to learn something about yourself, to understand something more deeply about yourself so that you can grow and apply yourself.

as

Business leaders often mess.

Well, everything that I've done in the last 16 years since retiring has been really at the hands of the Tony Dungy experience.

See, Coach Dungy was the first to win a Super Bowl built on the foundation of servant leadership.

His belief was that if you build better men, you get better football players.

And that was pretty radical.

I mean, you know, you grew up in sports and a lot of sport platforms, especially old school leadership styles, is more of a fear-based approach, right? We're going to break you down, build you back up.

um, demand performance expectations and, and, and really threaten you with, uh, with, with, you know, lack of play time or loss of position.

Okay.

That was really going to be a private moment.

It's really hard.

It was really hard guys, you know, because I regained consciousness being strapped to a gurney and rushed to the hospital.

And so, you know, there was a lot of trauma in that, just emotionally.

And so, and then obviously healing, right? You know, everybody, they're wanting to, HBO is wanting to follow up and get you back on camera as quickly as possible.

But you know, how do you even know what you're going to say in that moment? And, and being under lights like, you know, like this, it's just, it was, it was really tough from that perspective.

When I was finally cleared to play, you know, I went and tried out with the Patriots and And it became pretty apparent that the concussion history was going to be an issue.

Like a real father.