"One Shining Moment"

I recently attended the Children's Hospital Association Annual Leadership Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.  One of the plenary speakers was the author and entrepreneur Lisa Sun, who is also the founder and CEO of Gravitas.  I really enjoyed the talk!  While she made several really great points, one of the things that resonated with me the most was a comment she made about March Madness, the NCAA Division 1 men's and women's basketball tournament that takes place every year during the month of March.  Every year, at least since I can remember, the television network plays a highlight montage of the tournament with Luther Vandross singing in the background, "One Shining Moment".  It's one of my wife's favorite parts about March Madness every year - and apparently it's one of Lisa Sun's favorite parts too!  

The song lasts just over three minutes, but according to Sun the winner of the tournament is shown only for about twenty seconds (I've looked back at several versions over the years just to fact check Lisa Sun's claim).  Most of the video montage during the song actually shows footage from the 67 teams that didn't make win!  It's not about who won or even who made a shot - the song and the video montage are about the proverbial "blood, sweat, and tears" that went into the game itself.  In other words, what's really important is the fact that the players gave it their all.  Sun writes that it's not about missing the shot, "It was about the sweat and tears of those teammates who gave it their best."

Grantland Rice was a legendary sports writer from the 1920's, which has been called the "Golden Age of Sports".  Rice famously wrote in his 1941 poem, Alumnus Football, "For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, he writes – not that you won or lost – but how you played the Game."  Sports, and life, is not always about winning and losing.  It's about playing hard, with integrity, with honesty, and with sportsmanship.  

The song by Luther Vandross says something very similar:

In the blinking of an eye

All that moment's gone

And when it's done

Win or lose

You always did your best

'Cause inside you knew

That one shining moment

You reach deep inside

One shining moment

You knew you were alive.

I think if we spent a lot more time worrying about how we played the game of life, as opposed to who wins or loses, the world would be a lot better place.