Nicholas J. Cotsonika wrote an article in the September 8 Detroit Free Press about the Head Coach Rod Marinelli and the Detroit Lions titled “Your best isn’t enough”. While this was about one of the beliefs of a pro football head coach, I believe it also applies quite directly to BBAs, especially incoming BBAs. Here’s what he had to say:
It’s not about doing your best; it's about doing what is required.
It’s not about doing your best? I have always been taught to do my best, and I have always tried to do my best. I have always assumed I would teach my children to do their best. Why wouldn’t I?
Because when you set out to do your best, you have good intentions, but you limit yourself to whatever you feel — deep down — your best is. ...
How do you know what you’re capable of?
If you set out to do what is required to win, your only limit is being the best. You might achieve things you would not have otherwise.
“A little extra effort, a little extra energy, a little extra study, it may be bigger,” Marinelli said. “It may be more.” ...
Some players have made peace with doing their jobs amid the losing. Others don’t understand the level of work expected of them — like Charles Rogers before he was cut, like Mike Williams.
Rank work on a scale of one to 10. Maybe you’re so talented that you’ve always gotten by working at a two. Then a coach pushes you, and you work at a four. You say, “Hey, I’m working twice as hard as I ever have before! I’m doing my best!” But you’re still not working hard enough. You’re still not doing what is required.
This is what life is going to be like for you at Ross. Our professors, and other students, will push you to perform and work at a level you may never have had to reach before. Before you push back or withdraw emotionally or reduce your commitment to the program because you feel that you’re being asked to do things or perform at a level that you are not capable of, ask yourself if you are giving your full effort. You shouldn’t be focusing on the fact that you think you’re doing your best and still coming up short, You should focus on figuring out what you can do, how you can change, to ensure that you will be able to do what is required of you.
You don’t know what you’re capable of until you give yourself an honest chance to complete a task with full commitment, attention, energy, and attitude. It’s my guess that, given this honest effort, everyone at Ross is fully capable of succeeding at a high level. It’s up to each student (with the help of the vast support staff and advisors here at Ross) to determine how to draw out the level of work that is expected of them.
1 comment:
Interesting advice. While I agree with "when you set out to do your best...you limit yourself to whatever you feel — deep down — your best is." and the accompanying idea that this promotes: you may not know what you are truly capable of until you force yourself beyond your comfort zone...I am concerned, however, by the possible definitions for "doing what is required."
For example, think about the number of BBAs who believe of part of "doing what is required" is getting a 4.0 in their first semester. Everyone in this program is intelligent, but as we all know, inherent in the BBA grading distribution is an inability for too many 4.0s Categorizing this as "doing what is required", therefore, is going to lead to a lot of disappointment. In addition, if all of one’s emphasis is placed on grades, this may lead to stunted growth in other important areas (i.e. career search, extracurriculars, social interactions, etc.) In this regard, I believe “doing what is required” should be defined to absorbing as much as possible from our 2 years as a BBA, grades being one of the many things to consider.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in setting somewhat unreasonable goals and then attempting to reach them…but for every person like me who uses failure as a springboard to work harder, there are plenty of others who will be made miserable by not reaching their “requirements”, and thus, it is crucial to be careful while defining “what is required.”
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