Let’s skip the small talk,
I have met hundreds of retired athletes who tend to gravitate towards the polar ends of post-career approach. To best describe this behavior, I classified the two ends of a spectrum as archetypes through the lens of sports.
- Number one is what I call the “Joel Dahmen” archetype. For context on Joel Dahmen, watch this recap of the Netflix documentary Full Swing. We know Joel Dahmen is a great human and a crowd favorite. For the sake of this archetype I’d like to highlight that Joel is one of the most talented golfers on the PGA Tour, yet he is often content with finishing in last place. The factors of pressure, complacency, etc. leaves Joel very little desire to be the absolute best on the tour. There’s no intention to take his game or ambition to the next level.
I think the “Joel Dahmen” archetype is what I see in many athletes when it comes to chasing the next career or income stream. They have the talent, they have the capabilities, but for various reasons they refuse to harness it and leverage their talent to financially elevate. It could be imposter syndrome, it could be complacency, it could be barrier to knowledge— although that is not an excuse for athletes I can accept. As Marcellus Wiley likes to say you have to be greater than your greatest excuse. Regardless, I wish more athletes would believe in themselves outside of the game as they do inside of it.
Before I go any further let me make myself clear. If one is content with where they are professionally, fantastic. Money and professional elevation do not equal happiness, so no shame on the Joel Dahmen archetype.
- The “Johnny Unitas” archetype is a little spicier. Johnny Unitas was one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time. With all the confidence in the world, Mr. Unitas took his success and tried to replicate it off the field with various entrepreneurial endeavors. They weren’t quite successful. In fact Mr. Unitas experienced bankruptcy in the past. Now I know what the articles say and where you think this is going. “It’s because he’s entrusted the wrong people who ended up screwing him over like what happens to many athletes”. You are not incorrect. However I would like to shift the focus elsewhere.
I believe the main contributor of this archetype is overconfidence sprinkled with arrogance. A lot of athletes think just because they’ve had success in their sport and have a large instagram following they can build a great business in their sleep. LOL no sir, entrepreneurship does not work like that. Just like in sports, you cannot skip the learning curve. Many athletes in this position neglect proper strategy, sales, operations, and most importantly product-market fit. And so what you see as an outsider is great marketing, lots of social media followers, and a lot of hype. While it is valuable, we cannot mistake marketing for revenue and profit behind the scenes.
We’d like to see more athletes in the middle of the spectrum. It’s ok to work for someone else for a bit even if you are high profile. If you do start a company, we know that speed (I will write about speed separately) is key when building a product but allow yourself time to develop your CEO muscles. Learn the boring stuff, be humble, and trust the process.
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