Last month I had the opportunity to meet and listen to Michael Ohre. He is the inspiration and story behind the movie “The Blindside” starring Sandra Bullock.

On the less serious side, Michael talked about how some aspects of the movie were “Hollywood”. Leanne hadn’t taught him to play football, he already played before meeting and getting taken in by her. Although he admitted she certainly helped him excel!!

When asked, he also conveyed that the scene where he blocks a player from the other team, pushed him to and then over the fence was mostly accurate. He never made it to the fence but he did end up pushing the guy across the field to the opposing team’s sidelines.

His story is truly inspirational. His talk hammered home three key points for me:

  1. Your situation doesn’t define you – YOU define your situation
    Michael discussed his early years, including being homeless and often going hungry. About seeing the cycle of poverty, violence and death repeated around him. How he got tired of living in that reality, developing a desire and a will to break out and change his future. Through hard work, focus and will power, he made the change happen. He is living proof your place in life is NOT defined by your environment. You can either choose to accept that your current situation is the best it can be OR decide to make a change.
  2. Keep pushing to improve
    Growing up, Michael says he knew there were people out there with more natural talent than he possessed. However, those people often aren’t willing to put in the work to actually accomplish their goals. Hard work and maintained focus are needed to get you to where you want to go. That you have to be willing to work every day at improving and moving forward. If you don’t, you run the risk that those coming up behind you will happily knock you off your perch to take your place.
  3. Don’t get complacent
    While playing football for the Baltimore Ravens, Michael was blessed to win the Super Bowl. He said that while it was exciting winning and receiving his Super Bowl ring, he hasn’t looked at it since the ring ceremony. Instead of being happy with the win and deciding he had “made it”, Michael set a goal of winning the title a second time. As such, he continues to practice and improve his game. Reaching a goal doesn’t mean you have reached the end of the journey. It’s a time to set a new goal and start working towards it.

These lessons hold true in the business world as well.

I meet business owners all the time that think they are “fine” when it comes to their technology. In their business cycle things generally work and if they don’t, they call their computer guy to come fix it. They think this is the only reality for their business. However our client’s definition of “fine” is vastly different. They look for ways to maximize efficiencies and productivity. To lower risks to their business. Are looking for opportunities to leverage technology to help make their business run faster, easier and more profitability.

Some owners and executives think business crushing events only happen to others and are oblivious to dangers waiting to “blindeside” their operations: Cyber-attacks, data breaches, failed backups, unrecoverable files, decreased efficiencies from slow systems, lost staff productivity, viruses, malware...you get the idea.

Technology threats facing businesses continues to multiply and get more complex. Ignoring these threats trying to sneak up on you leaves you vulnerable to getting knocked out of the game, possibly allowing someone else to take your place in the market.

Others I meet with have plateaued, thinking they have “made it” and are unsure how to push themselves in order that they can continue to grow. For some, hitting this glass ceiling is acceptable. However, it’s proven if you aren’t pushing yourself to grow – to constantly improve – your business typically will start to shrink.

The question Michael has at the end of his presentation was: Have you grown complacent and stuck OR are you trying to improve so you can reach the next level?

If you need assistance to break out of your current IT reality so you can lower business risks, run your business easier, more efficiently and profitability, then call us at 506-383-2895