You won’t find me on Netflix much now…
Had my fill playing junior hockey of their platform. Since Tiffany didn’t have that luxury, sometimes she watches ‘new’ shows to her that I saw 10 years ago.
Instead of doing what I normally do when she brings up a show to watch together… Usually a “thanks but no thanks.”
This time she said, “I’m gonna watch Breaking Bad, have you seen it?”
Instead of replying, “In juniors, seen it.”
I said, “I’ve seen it and although I’m not one to watch movies or shows twice, I think this one would be worth it, it’s that good.”
So, I dialed in for 5 seasons…
And the whole time I was watching, I couldn’t let this one thought go… It’s one I’m obsessed with as a Level 1 Coach without a credibility stamp to my name as of yet…
What is being said is more important than who is saying it.
Hawkins says it a different way…
What does this have to do with Breaking Bad?
New Razor Alert…
The Walter White Razor
Assume genius when the default is ‘write them off’
If you’ve seen the show, you’ll know Walter from the jump is portrayed to the audience as a ‘loser’. A high school science teacher who moonlights as a car wash attendant to make ends meet. He’s docile, weak, a ‘push-over’ who even gets bullied by some of his own students. He’s taken as a ‘joke’. A ‘write-off’. That’s what you see on the surface…
If Walter were a Level 1 Coach, he would be ignored.
What you don’t see on the surface is the depth and level of competency he possesses in a range of skills:
Dark-sided leadership traits
Critical thinking skills
Persuasion
Depth of chemistry knowledge that surpasses ‘average high school teacher’
2nd and 3rd order thinking
Improvisation
I could go on, but you get the point…
The lesson: Judge a book by its cover and you’re going to miss great people.
Know that the guy on the left can also be the guy on the right… The cover is not the book…
Everything about Walter on the surface says, “no way that guy could be worth a billion dollars because he’s smart enough to start a company and execute a game plan that’s now worth that much.”
No way he could be the greatest and richest meth cook of all time and a mastermind criminal either…
He can check both of those boxes, and you wouldn’t have ever guessed it.
He sold his share of that company before it was worth that much. And he did become the GOAT drug empire builder too.
He was valuable if you ‘really knew him’ and a ‘loser’ if you didn’t know him. That is the disconnect this razor will help you avoid.
You don’t know what people are capable of until you give them a chance to either demonstrate it or tell you their story.
You won’t ever ‘be early’ on someone if you ignore them after EP’ing them:
Hockey coaches have made this move famous. They won’t talk to people that don’t pass the ‘EP Test’. “Drew played club hockey and has only coached Tier 3, what could he know about anything?”
You’ve done it… Admit it. Maybe not to me, but to someone…
You might be talking to the next great coaching genius, the Walter White of hockey coaching… But if you take someone for ‘face value’ you’ll never give the ‘best’ ones a chance because we assume a skill deficit is the reason a Level 1 Coach isn’t in the NHL or a ‘level of hockey that matters’ when it could be:
Lack of opportunity (You don’t know the people that could give you the ‘credible jobs’)
Lack of ‘perceived competence/readiness (The jump from Tier 3 to Tier 1 is too difficult to justify in a press release, D1 coaches have ‘bombed’ when the NHL reaches for them, etc)
Lack of desire to ‘be there’ (The best high school strength coaches might be happy where they are, not everyone wants to be an NFL strength coach)
Talk to any emotionally secure great in the strength coaching space and they’ll tell you there are high school strength coaches in middle America that should be running NFL performance departments.
They know and embrace this razor.
They know that the menu is not the meal.
They assume genius until proven otherwise. Doors start open and close when they prove to not hold value to you, they don’t begin shut and stay shut.
What you see is not what you get until you get to know someone.
The metric we need to care about is truth. And truth is true because of what is being said. The left chest logo need not hold any merit…
If you’re interested in 30 more ‘Razors’ and mind training concepts to improve how you think, download this free PDF:
Link: More Razors Please