A few weeks ago, US football team the Indianapolis Colts parted company with their future hall of fame quarterback, the four-time MVP, Peyton Manning. I can appreciate that some of you reading this have nothing do with football or perhaps don’t even understand the sports. However, give me a moment to share with you a lesson I believe we can all learn from the Mr. Manning’s departure from the Colts.
You’re not irreplaceable, regardless: I got interested in American football just about 5 year ago and over this period, I observed that Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts were almost synonymous. Folks who have followed the league longer will say the same thing. Since Mr. Manning joined the Colts in 1990, he worked hard and gave more to the team than anyone did. He won Super Bowl with the team. Sadly, during the 2011 season, he had a neck injury and underwent a surgery. His team without him ended the season with memorable 2 win and 14 losses.
The result? Looking at his age, the injury and impending bonus due him if Peyton was maintained, the Colts decided that it was time to start a new chapter without Peyton Manning. The reasoned that it was better to start afresh.
If someone of Peyton Manning caliber, an MVP, a Super Bowl Champion, the backbone of the Colts, the man without whom the team had its worse season was let go, it is important to know that anyone is replaceable.
It is effortless to get complacent when you’re nominated as the employee of the month and when you get the promotion that you deserve. Similarly, given his performance and the level of love Mr. Manning got from the fans at Indianapolis, it was forgivably unsurprising for him to expect he would die as the Colts quarterback. No, in life, as Mr. Manning said during his exit interview “”We all know that nothing lasts forever”.
Knowing that ‘nothing lasts forever’ and that you are replaceable (and may be replaced someday) is very important, because it gives you a different perspective to everything you do, how interact with people, and helps you prepare for the ‘exit interview’.
The key point is that you have to be ready 24/7 in case the axe falls.
Thank you for reading.
