Never settle for the Junior Varsity
You want to be on the Varsity. Always.
When I was a kid, and well into my 20s, I spent a lot of time playing sports. When your father is a career athletic administrator and hall-of-fame baseball coach, you don’t have a choice. But in 6th grade I begged to go to computer camp, though was only allowed to go for a week because then it was off to baseball and soccer camp for the rest of the summer vacation.
Editors note: That was 1984. I sometimes wonder how life would have turned out if I spent that whole summer on that glorious and modestly pimped-out TRS-80.
Playing sports did teach me a lot about life, though: about friendship, commitment, loyalty, and courage. It was invigorating and humbling, sometimes even transcendent.
But mostly it taught me that I hate being on a losing team.
Not getting beaten. Getting beaten happens all the time. I played on teams that were beaten and winless (like my 2nd grade soccer team, The Rookies - 0 wins, 5 losses, 4 ties), and I played on teams that were beaten and nearly undefeated - like my junior year playing football in college, where we were beaten on the final play in the opening game, and finished the season with the best record in school history.
But losing? Or worse, being on a team that accepts losing or fails to aspire to live up to its potential? That is the absolute *bleeping* worst.
So what’s the difference between getting beaten and losing? Getting beaten is when the opposing team matches their best against your best, and at the end of the game, they are victorious. Losing is when the opposing team receives something less than your best effort, and at the end of the game, you’ve lost.
This distinction is extremely important in fundraising because it’s a profession where “winning” is really, really hard. We are rejected a LOT! We have appointments cancelled ALL THE TIME! Our donors are finicky and accustomed to a high level of service and accountability. Fundraising is not a profession where you can give anything but your very best, day in and day out. Otherwise, you will not just be beaten.
You will lose, and your organization will suffer.
So what’s the antidote? How can you or your organization reduce the chances of losing? Or perhaps better stated, what is the key to maximizing your chances of winning, and being able to weather the frequent beatings we endure as fundraising professionals….
(OK not physical beatings, more like metaphorical or emotional…)
In my mind the antidote is simple: If you're the smartest and hardest working person in the room, you're in the wrong room.
That’s because as much as our profession tends to lionize the individual fundraising contributor, this is a team sport (not like football, mind you, but more like Ryder Cup golf - where you are playing on your own but your effort impacts the collective whole). And playing with teammates who out think us, challenge us to be better, who challenge convention or custom on the path to finding a better way is the only way to “win” in this profession.
Because when we surround ourselves with people who are smarter, more experienced, or more skilled than us, we are the weakest link. We are the performer who draws down the collective average and risks the success of the team. We are then constantly pushed to improve ourselves. I call this being on the Varsity team.
On the other hand, if you are the most knowledgeable or skilled person in the room, you have limited opportunity to learn and be challenged. You might appear to be winning more than your peers, but it’s a relative victory. Their collective lower skillset will create a sense that your performance is good enough. After all, you’re the best right? Over time, the only performers who will join your organization will be worse than the collective average of your team, dragging down the performance (and culture) of your organization until it reaches the depths of learned helplessness and a culture of losing. You know what I’m talking about, and it happens all the time.
I call this being on the Junior Varsity.
Being on the "Varsity" means constant exposure to new ideas, innovative thinking, and higher performance levels. It means being uncomfortable. It means being stretched.
On the other hand, being the best player in "JV" might feel easy breezy, but it can also lead to complacency and, in the end, is a self-limiting prophecy. There are entire organiztions built around the best player on JV. I’ve worked for some and couldn’t wait to leave.
Because true Varsity Players hate being the best player in the room. They want to attract better and better players to play with. They constantly aim to level up the talent around them, so they are pushed, harder and harder, to achieve better and better result.
So how do you know when you’re playing with the Varsity? It’ll be obvious: You’ll be among the best, playing with the best, and competing for the biggest, most impactful donations the planet. Operating in this arena means being beaten regularly, soundly, sometimes humiliatingly. But when you do win, it brings greater rewards and a profound sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. Plus it’s more fun to compete and win at the highest level, where the stakes are greater and the victories more meaningful.
So no matter where you are in your career journey, don’t settle for JV. Find the"Varsity" team you want to play for, get used to being a rookie, and embrace the challenges that come with being forced to be among the best.
Anything short of that, and you’re shortchanging yourself and your potential.
What do you think?