A Quote by Willie Mason
It's a bit disappointing when board members who don't know a thing about football are making decisions on your career. When you look at it you've got coaches, senior players and CEO's who wanted me but then it gets to a board meeting and you've got fat businessmen who are making the decision on your career. It was frustrating and it made me a bit angry.
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I felt uneasy about making the rapid decisions I have always made, and wondered whether every decision should be formally ratified and minuted at a board meeting.
As you become more senior in your career, it can be thin at the top - It's harder and harder to get unbiased and direct feedback when making decisions. You want people who will speak truth to power. Say no to any 'yes men or women' on your personal board. When you face a personal crossroads, you need honest advisors.
I think every responsible public board at every board meeting should be discussing succession. And, of course, Walmart has a very mature board: our chairman Rob Walton and other members. So succession is an ongoing. I think when I first joined the board of directors, it was discussed then. And it's discussed at every board meeting continually.
That's one thing that I've always wanted: to make my own decisions and not to be pushed. That has happened in my career, and I wanted to leave football, not football to leave me. I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could and to leave it a little bit earlier than too late.
You have to be able to recognize defenses on your own in pro football. You can't look to the sideline and read some board. You've got to recognize the defense on your own, and then you've got to communicate to your offensive teammates what you want them to do.
I sometimes think I've needed a bit of an arm around me in my career - which I've not always got from certain managers and coaches who didn't understand me.
As board members, we only meet infrequently and are not as engaged with the front line, necessarily. The first thing I did as CEO was I left this board room.
I think there is a lot of good in making the All-Star Team. People look at your career a little bit differently.
When I got involved in the punk scene, my notion of what a career was changed. I realized that a career in the arts was actually about having the people and community to support you making your art.
Eventually I ran for the board of the WTA, lost my first attempt, got on the board my second attempt, and stayed there through most of my career.
I had a good, sound upbringing with sensible people around me. I was brought up by intelligent parents. My mother always said to me, "You've got to work at your career and you've got to be good at it. Okay, you've had a bit of success but that's not longevity. You've got to really work for a long time."
What I learned from my work as a physician is that even with the most complicated patients, the most complicated problems, you've got to look hard to find every piece of data and evidence that you can to improve your decision-making. Medicine has taught me to be very much evidence-based and data-driven in making decisions.
For me, that was a defining moment in my career, being at Chelsea, going through what has made me become a man in terms of my career. Even playing on the right wing helped my right foot, making me use it more, making me improve.
It wasn't conscious, but I'm glad I've had a slow and steady career path. I wanted to develop my style, and I wanted to be the one making the decisions. Sometimes, when you become a success quickly, those decisions are out of your control.
My dad got me a huge board when I was little. He loves to surf. He suited me up and sent me out on this huge wave. I went under, and when I came out and the board hit me in the face. So I said, I never wanted to do this again. I stayed away until I was 13.
When you're dealing with a shoot day that's costing somebody $300,000; when you're responsible for making that day; when you've got a half-million-dollar stunt that you've got to make sure you cover properly. You don't want to be doing that early in your career. You want to be making your mistakes when not many people are watching.
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