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College Football Fanatic

By Joey Havens

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Yes, I am a college football junkie. I love it. I am also a very loyal fan of the Ole Miss Rebels. In some ways, only an Ole Miss fan can appreciate or understand how painful that can be. There have been years that I have had to work hard not to let my frustration with the Rebels ruin my Saturday, or my entire weekend. Sometimes, I’ve had to focus on being an SEC fan, instead. As my wife says, she loves to see college football come, but she also loves when it’s over. 

As I reflect on years when my Rebel football teams have struggled or taking a deep dive, it’s never really clear what the root problems were. What is abundantly clear in those painful years is the unrest within the Rebel Nation which leads to a lot of finger pointing. 

When times are bad, communication can begin to break down, leadership often comes under attack, and this only leads to bad things. Living this experience with the Rebels has helped me to focus on the reality of how quickly this can happen in business. If we take our eye off the ball, off of our goal, we can find ourselves in a world of hurt very quickly.  

As a leader in my organization, my goal is to never let this happen to my team. I am committed to lead with direct and honest communication; to keep my team focused on making a difference and making progress toward our vision; to embrace reality and always be able to state it openly; to put the firm first in decision making; to provide opportunity for everyone to grow and accomplish their dreams. 

If we can do these things together, when times get tough, we will be able to huddle up and find creative solutions, rather than pointing fingers and sounding the alarms.  

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