The most important question I asked Jeff Saturday at Blitz ‘22
Is failure requisite to success? If you’ve ever struggled in your career, you’ll love his answer.
(This story originally appeared in Brendan Hall’s newsletter, Boston’s Best Sportswriting. Subscribe for free for weekly insights on the craft of storytelling, and how you can be a better writer in your career)
When you’re running programming for a three-day event as big in scale as Hudl’s Blitz ’22 event, you’re inevitably going to get asked to pinch-hit in a number of spots.
Such was the case last month, when I stepped in to host a 40-minute Q&A with Indianapolis Colts legend Jeff Saturday. It was one of four sessions I hosted over the three-day summit.
This was a dream interview. You can watch the full Q&A here. The action starts around the two-minute mark, and you’ll want to hear the last 10 minutes as he breaks down, in journalistic detail, the time he ear-holed Vince Wilfork to win the 2006 AFC Championship.
I’ve long been a big fan of his (even as an ex-Patriots employee). Because in addition to being one of the finest centers of his generation, and an all-around Good Guy, his journey to the NFL is a story that all of us in any career, in any point of our lives, can relate to.
For those who don’t know, after going undrafted out of the University of North Carolina, and getting cut by the Baltimore Ravens before he even got into a game, Jeff spent a year managing an electrical supply store in Raleigh. When he got a second shot at the NFL, he never looked back. His number hangs in the Colts Ring of Honor, he’s got Super Bowl hardware, and perhaps most importantly, as an NFLPA executive, he worked with Robert Kraft to end the 2011 lockout.
There’s something poetically ironic about his journey. Because when you say 31 NFL teams passed on him, you’re including the lousy ones, too. And yet Howard Mudd — widely regarded as one of the greatest offensive line coaches in the history of professional football — saw something in him that nobody else did.
Figure that one out.
I’m sure you can relate to Jeff’s journey. I certainly can.
The year before I landed at ESPNBoston, I was pulling 16-hour workdays across three jobs — substitute teaching during the day, helping run basketball practice at a local prep school in the afternoon, and then driving an hour into Boston to go cover the Bruins for the Boston Globe. Sometimes I’d get home at 1 a.m. and do it all over again at dawn.
Six months before I got the ESPN job, I was a finalist, but turned down, for a job at a local newspaper north of Boston covering high schools. They said it was because I lacked experience at a local daily. Yet six months later, I was good enough for one of the world’s most distinguished sports media brands, and I never looked back. Figure that one out.
Heck, before I arrived at Hudl, I’d been turned away by dozens of other companies that either didn’t value storytelling, or didn’t think I fit. Some of them even told me, “We’re not looking for the next Woj.”
Funny, though, that one of the world’s most distinguished sports technology companies saw my unique abilities and fully bought in. Hudl knows the truths about marketing: Brand drives demand, community makes commerce, and above all else, story is king.
This can be tough for some companies to embrace, because there’s a certain level of risk inherent to the process, and risks are scary. But I’m telling stories at Hudl that are among the most rewarding of my career.
If you read my newsletter, you know I’m fond of the James Joyce quote, “Failures are the portals into discovery.”
So to start things off, I asked Jeff: Is failure requisite to success?
Here’s the full transcript of the question and answer:
Brendan:
I want to start with this, Jeff. You have a fascinating journey, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you this. Once upon a time you were undrafted, and the Baltimore Ravens let you loose before you even got into a game, I think.
Jeff:
Yeah. Before I even got to put pads on!
Brendan:
And you spent a year — hope I’m getting this right — you spent a year as a manager at an electrical supply store in Raleigh before you got another shot at the NFL. And when you got that shot, you never looked back. Scouts said you were too small, you’re too slow. And yet here you are all these years later — Colts Ring of Honor, Super Bowl champion, you’re everywhere on ESPN obviously. Before you became such a great player, you were told by countless people along the way that you weren’t.
So, I want to ask a two-part question here. First, what did you learn in that year after college, before the NFL, that you hold with you? And to some degree, is failure requisite to success?
Jeff:
I love it. So I will tell you, as far as going to, what did I learn? Preparation is key. Process is key. In any business, right? What I learned I worked for a guy, K.D. Kennedy, Jr., who owned the Electric Supply Company of North Carolina, the branch that I was in was in Raleigh. And I remember watching him in this business, and he had multiple locations, the process. Whether it was from inventory, whether it was from sales, whether it was from outside sales. I really learned…because I had learned process of football, playing football, right?
You know, you grow up in a high school, you’re in college, you’re kind of understanding the phases of the game. I didn’t realize how well that actually translates to business. And in fact, I still speak throughout the country about the way that football relates to businesses. And it’s really a lot of fun, because I do believe that football in itself translates to business better than any other sport, because it requires you…the portion you play, maybe not in high school, but definitely the NFL, you’re on offense, you’re either on defense or usually special teams. So you’ve got one-third and then you’re one of 11, right? So your part isn’t that big, as much as you want it to be. You require 10 other guys simultaneously doing their part to be successful. And then you’re depending on that defense to be successful. You’re depending on that special teams, those guys.
And so it became something in my mind that I began to realize, making others around me better was the most important thing. I was going to take care of myself, I was going to be prepared myself. I was going to work the most. I was going to do things that I knew other people wouldn’t do to get myself prepared. But I realized that’s short-sighted. In the long run, you’ve got to get everybody else around you to be better, to have that same philosophy you know is getting you to your most, to ultimately be successful. So I learned that working for ESCo in Raleigh, because I had to depend on the inventory guy. I had depend on the warehouse guy. I had to depend on the delivery guy. I mean, all the things you got to depend on that ultimately makes you successful in that field was no different. It’s just the names, right?
And then as far as just failure, is it a prerequisite for success? I do believe it is, because I think when you get your opportunity…I literally can give you a great story, Brendan. I’m on the bus and we’re practicing at Indiana State University, because it’s rained at Rose-Hulman and that’s where we were my first year. So we’re at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. That’s where our pre-season is going. And I literally remember sitting on the bus and hearing guys complain, because we got to go get on this bus, we got to drive over to this field, we’re gonna do inside [run] and we’re going to do goal line and short yardage. It’s going to be a banger, right? Jim Mora is our head coach at the time. So it’s all, you know, it’s going to be elbows and you-know-what’s, right? And that’s going to be a nasty day out at the office.
And I can remember hearing people, and how frustrated they were about going through things. I remember thinking to myself, man, they ain’t work like I’ve had to work. They hadn’t been worried about paychecks and light bills and water bills, like, I’m going to make the most of this opportunity. I’m never going to give it up.
And I think, sitting in that seat gave me a very unique perspective that I never gave up. I didn’t care anymore what people thought about me, how fast I was, how short my arms were. Did they think, you know, was I more round than I was tall? Like, all the things that I had ever heard, right? Guys taking shots.
And this is what I told myself. I blocked with those same short arms in high school, and I was All-State. Same short arms when I was in college, and I locked dudes up, All-ACC, All-American, whatever, right? I knew I could do it. Just give me an opportunity, and by God, I will not disappoint. I’ll use the same short legs, the same round body, but I’m gonna fight you to the death, bro. We’re going to go with this thing. And I think that part of, quote, “failing”, really led me to appreciate the opportunity, and to never look back. And never to gripe about the little things that I wasn’t happy with. I just pushed forward and soldiered on, man.
And I’ve used that not only in coaching, but in businesses I’ve owned, and in football, and even ESPN, because it’s something that really is forged in my soul because of those experiences.
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