A weekly brief on leadership, performance, and culture—built for formation, not just information.
Gentlemen,
Condolences to all of the teams that lost the first weekend of March Madness, including mine.
In the case of the Tar Heels, two positive takeaways:
We will have a new coach next year, and
I can now spend all my energy rooting against Duke (and trust me, I have plenty of energy for that)
Hope you boyz are ready to lock it in this week.
Let’s get into it,
-C
This Week’s Topics
Blowing the lead (and bouncing back)
The growth principle you're probably ignoring
Banned. Rebuilt. Dominant.
01 - The Brief 📰
What's worth your attention this week.
As much as it pains me to include this week, VCU just pulled off the largest first-round comeback in NCAA Tournament history - erasing a 19-point UNC deficit to win in overtime. They matched the largest comeback loss in first-round history since the field expanded to 64 teams. Takeaway: Failure can happen fast. So can a comeback.
Equally annoying, Duke needed a second-half rally to survive a 16-seed with an 11-point halftime lead. Siena's lead at halftime was the largest ever for a No. 16 seed over a No. 1. Takeaway: being the favorite does not exempt you from having to show up. Titles on your resume don't play defense. Also, Duke sucks.
Nearly 36 million brackets were busted on Day 1 of the tournament - and only 14,000 remained perfect after the first 16 games. Takeaway: You can do everything "right" and still get humbled.
02 - The Core 🎯
One principle to carry into the week.
THE QUOTE
“I hope your decisions in life aren’t as ill-conceived as your March Madness bracket.”
THE TAKE
Look, we all start March Madness with the hopes that our bracket is going to be THE bracket of the year. And every year, it fails us. Miserably.
But take heart. There is a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (if you just guess or flip a coin) and a 1 in 120.2 billion (if you know a little something about basketball) chance to pick a perfect bracket.
In short, you weren’t gonna win, cuz. No matter how hard you tried.
BUT here’s the thing - we still keep coming back year after year thinking this might be our year.
Let’s approach the things in life that really matter (our careers, our marriage, our goals) with that same fervor because those have much better odds of success.
Yes, we are going to fail at times, but if we learn from our shortcomings and keep coming back believing we can succeed, we will be much better off than we were before.
THE MOVE
Learn from your failures.
Take whatever you learned - the feedback, the failure itself - and build on it next time.
1% better each time. Over time that adds up!
03 - The Model 🏆
One man. One trait worth studying.
Kelvin Sampson
What did he do?
Kelvin Sampson rebuilt University of Houston men's basketball into a national contender, turning the Cougars into one of college basketball’s most consistent programs under a culture built on toughness, defense, and discipline. (Source: Hoops HQ)
What did it cost him?
Before that comeback, Sampson’s career took a major hit. He resigned at Indiana University in February 2008 amid NCAA recruiting violations, and later received a five-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA. (Source: ESPN)
What can we take from it?
Failure doesn’t have to have the final word. Own the failure. Take the lesson. Then get back to work - 1% better each day.
04 - The Question ❓
One question for the week.
When you fail at something significant, what's your first instinct?
Last week, the question was asked, “What helps you show up as your best?” Here were the results:
Prayer / Bible Reading 🥇
Exercise or Physical Activity 🥈
Alone Time / Solitude 🥉
Know a man who'd find this useful? Forward this to him.
Hold the line,
-Collier
