Rediscovering Your Deep Joy with Dr. Thom Mayer

All right, let's do our recap of some of the things that we learned from Tom.

I thought it was a great conversation.

He did a wonderful job.

He's full of wisdom, full of stories, which I enjoyed.

And I'm sure that you did as well.

But let me pick out a few things that I think are particularly relevant and important for us to remember.

Number one, relationships are the most important.

So one of my favorite stories that Tom shared was how he got an A in his college chemistry class.

It wasn't because he knew all the material.

In fact, he knew it sounds like he knew very little of it and just tried to fill out the answer sheets in a pattern.

But he got an A because of the bonus question.

The bonus question was, tell me the name of the janitor who cleans this classroom.

And Tom not only knew his first name, he knew his last name, he knew his kids, and he knew a lot about him.

And that tells us something about Tom, but it also tells us something about how we should all be intentional about forging those relationships and what should really matter the most to us.

The second part of that is how he became the medical director of the NFL Players Association.

Again, it wasn't because he sent somebody a resume.

It's because he had developed a relationship with somebody who knew him and trusted him who picked up the phone and offered him the job.

So I think important to remember opportunities often come through those relationships long before they come through our credentials.

So for anyone thinking about a second career, networking isn't just about collecting business cards.

It's really about investing in people and investing those relationships.

All right.

Second point, leadership isn't a title.

It's what you do today.

So Tom's distinction between leadership and leading really resonated with me.

Leadership is what we talk about, leading is something we practice.