Lessons from the Saints
When a Colts fan was on her way out of the restaurant where I was watching Super Bowl XLIV, this woman made it a point to stop next to me, touch my shoulder and say with a big smile on her face and a smirk in her voice, “The Colts really are the best team. The Saints don’t have a chance in hell to beat the Colts.” Obviously, she hadn’t read the e-mail I had received from a friend in NOLA.
“It is hard to express the wonderful effect the Saints have had on our community – it has brought us all together in the glow of their achievement, and we are awash in black and gold and ‘Who Dat’. I am sure the intense and widespread emotional involvement is directly related to the depth of commitment we have made to the recovery and improvement of NOLA. So many things are coming back but not there yet, but here is one area where success is palpable and was a long time coming (43 years!). And it’s wonderful Lagniappe that Drew Brees is such a fine human being – not just a great quarterback.” Suzy Mague, a woman I met when volunteering in NOLA after Hurricane Katrina, pinpointed what was going to help the Saints win the Super Bowl: the collective belief in success by those in the Gulf Coast region.
Lagniappe is a term used in Louisiana which means “”something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure.” What the Saints gave the city of New Orleans were gifts of hope, commitment to a goal, and success against great odds to even reach the Super Bowl. What the city of New Orleans gave back was their enthusiastic support and hope that the area’s recovery would be as successful as that of their Saints.
The consensus was that the Colts were the better team, Peyton Manning the best quarterback ever, the defense so strong that Manning had only been sacked 10 times all season, and on and on. My clapping and cheering for the Saints when they were behind 10-0 in the first quarter did give me pause. Yet, as is the nature of a 60-minute game, there was still a chance. In football, you have to play the game to the very last second even if your team is losing 54-0. The Saints went the distance in great form.
To lead off the second half of the game, Saints’ Coach Sean Payton used a tactic that brought his team success: a practiced surprise. For the first time in Super Bowl history, a team started the third quarter with an onside kick. The Saints punter made a short kick (more than 10 yards) to the Colts, a Colts player touched then lost the ball, a Saints player recovered the ball, and the Saints earned very good field position. The Saints had practiced this surprise over and over again during the week leading up to the big game. The timing made history, shifted the momentum to the Saints, and helped them come away with a 31-17 victory.
Today I wish that I could call the Colts fan who told me to give up on the Saints because they didn’t have a chance. There is always a chance, always an opportunity to succeed whether on the football field, a baseball diamond, or the workplace playing field. Give yourself a chance by practicing a surprise that can get you noticed, realize the potential you have as a leader and become an outstanding team player for your followers while working to be a leader.