"Earn this!"

I may have mentioned this a few times in the past, but "Saving Private Ryan" is one of my all-time favorite movies.  There are so many great leadership lessons in the movie.  I want to focus on the movie's climactic scene - the U.S. Army Rangers led by Tom Hanks' character and Matt Damon's character (Private Ryan) have fought the last battle against the Germans.  They've held the bridge, and the reinforcements arrive.  Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) has been shot, and it is clear that he isn't going to survive.  Private Ryan comes up to him, and Captain Miller pulls him close so that he can hear his final words, "Earn this.  Earn it."  He then breathes his last.

Private Ryan was saved by Captain Miller and his Rangers.  It was a heroic mission, one that several of the Rangers gave the ultimate sacrifice.  Ryan receives his reward - a second chance at life - before earning it.  It almost never happens that way.  We almost always have to pay our dues and earn our reward.  Here, Captain Miller was simply wanting Ryan to live a good life to earn that opportunity - that second chance - that the Rangers had given him. 

Nothing in this life is free.  We have to earn everything.  Whether it's a promotion, a new job opportunity, a commendation - we have to earn them all.  Leadership is no different.  Leadership is not handed to us - we have to earn it. 

Ben Roethlisberger, 2-time Super Bowl winning quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers once said, "Leadership is something you earn, something you're chosen for.  You can't come in yelling, 'I'm your leader!'  If it happens, it's because the other guys respect you."  I think that is just as true in health care as it is in professional football.  Leadership does not come with position or title - it is earned by how we act.  It is earned by how we respect our team.  It is earned by how we lead.

There is a story from another famous 2-time Super Bowl winning quarterback named Peyton Manning (I hope you have heard of him!) - he shared the story during his 2014 commencement speech at the University of Virginia.  The story, as he tells it, goes like this:

I learned a valuable lesson when I was a freshman at Tennessee that I applied to my first year on the job in the NFL.  It was the first time I ran into the huddle as a quarterback at Tennessee.  We were playing at UCLA in the Rose Bowl, 95,000 people in the stands.  ABC broadcasting the game on national television, Keith Jackson and Bob Griese.  Tennessee was ranked ninth in the country.  UCLA was unranked.  It was expected to be a blowout.  I was third team on the depth chart, not expecting to play the entire game, much less the entire season.  On the seventh play of the game, our starting quarterback tears his knee and he is out for the year.  Our backup quarterback was a guy named Todd Helton who went on to have an 18-year Major League Baseball career.  Let's just say, Todd was kind of thinking about that baseball signing bonus he was about to get.  He wasn't real crazy about going into the game.  So we're getting beat 21-0 and my coach turns to me and he says, "Peyton, you're going in."  And, boy, I didn't think I was nervous.  I looked down and all the hair on my arms is just sticking up.

So I'm jogging into that huddle and I remembered something my dad had told me.  He said, "Son, if you ever get into the huddle with the starters at any point in the season - it may be in the fourth quarter of a blow out, it may be just in practice, it doesn't matter, you be the leader and you take control of that huddle.  That's your job as quarterback.  You're just 18 years old.  Most of these seniors are 21, 22.  It doesn't matter.  Be the leader and take control of that huddle."

So I remember old dad's advice and I get into the huddle and I said, "All right guys, I know I'm just a freshman, but I can take us down the field right now, get us a touchdown and get us back in the game.  Let's go."  Big left tackle, a guy named Jason Leyman, about 6'5", 330 pounds, grabs me by the shoulder and says, "Hey, freshman, shut the blank up and call the blanking play."  And I said, "Yes, sir."  That was really great advice from my dad.  I really appreciated that.

Leadership is earned.  Never given.  "Earn it."