All In

A few weeks back, I was flipping through channels late at night because I couldn't sleep and I came across one of my favorite movies, Rounders. It's a relatively obscure flick from the late 90's with Matt Damon and Edward Norton that tells the story of a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks. As I was watching, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) makes the statement, "I've often seen these people, these squares at the table, short stack and long odds against them. All their outs gone. One last card in the deck that can help them. I used to wonder how they could let themselves get into such bad shape, and how the hell they thought they could turn it around." I had to rewind multiple times to get the words correct, but as I did this, my inner voice was telling me that I was the "square at the table." I didn't want to listen to this voice because the line referred to suckers who had a problem and who could not find a way out. But after further reflection, I began to embrace the idea because it defines how I have approached leadership. There have been multiple times during my professional life where I have found myself in tight spots with no outs even though I took great effort to avoid the pitfalls. Sometimes I prevailed and sometimes I failed. The key for me though was that I stayed in the game and kept playing even though the odds were stacked against me. I learned from each of these situations and continued to press on. I was also surrounded by a group of colleagues who were also "squares at the table" and understood that my success was their success and vice versa. 

Herein lies the lesson. We are all dealt certain cards in our lives and we get to make a decision on whether we are going to play them or not. The key in all of this is to understand that the cards that are dealt to us make up only one hand and one hand doesn't make the game. Instead, the game is comprised of multiple hands and different cards being dealt each time around. The mistake that many of us make is that we think that we need to live and die with the one hand that we have been given instead of playing the long game and knowing that there will be more opportunities ahead of us if we are willing to continue the game and be patient. Nowhere is it written that we have to hold on to the cards that we have been dealt and continue to bet on a losing hand. Sometimes the best decision is to fold and wait for the next hand. This will require that we do something different to set ourselves up for success when the time comes rather than hoping to get lucky and have an unexpected card come up. It also requires that we celebrate the successes of others when they win and support them when they lose. The great thing about viewing life from this perspective is that you take ownership of the situation instead of relying on Lady Luck.

We are all going to be dealt bad cards in our lives that will leave us wondering how we are going to get out of a hand. In these moments, we need to look no further than the advice provided by Kenny Rogers in his song The Gambler.

We are not defined by the cards in our hands or the stacks of chips that lie in front of us. Instead, we are defined by how we play the game and how we treat others who may be down on their luck. Our "game" in education is not about winners and losers and being cut throat, but rather, it's about the collective efficacy of our community to rally around and support one another in times of triumph and defeat. While the game of poker is not a team sport, developing a positive and supportive workplace culture is. In this game, you have the benefit of borrowing chips when your stack is low, exchanging cards in an effort to help each other out, and knowing that someone will be there to pick you up when you go all in and lose. The question you have to ask yourself, however, is do you want to play in this type of game or go it alone? For me, the answer is simple. I am ALL IN!