In this month’s monthly column with NGEN, the MFA’s training program for media professionals with less than five years of experience, Seven’s sales executive Rachael Everett shares the lessons we can learn from sport, and how key sporting moments can help give perspective to our own lives.
When people query my immense passion for sport, and then discover my past was filled with cameras, spotlights, glitter, pas de bourrees, and knowing nearly every musical under the sun as an award-winning, competitive dancer in my teens, it often leads to a lot of questions about what it took to achieve what I did.
As a dancer I’ve always been a lover of stories, and always looked for little life lessons within those stories that I can carry into my own life. But in reality, of course, as much as I love stories such as ‘In the Height’s’ and ‘Legally Blonde’, nothing in our lives is scripted to perfection with coordinated dance breaks! So, in the challenging times we are all living in, I look towards sport – athletes, drivers, and of course dancers, as I will forever remain on that hill that says dance is an art AND a sport.
Why do I look to sport? Well, throughout my life, I can still remember key sporting moments that filled me with hope and strength. From Johnathan Thurston kicking the NRL grand final winning field goal for the Cowboys in 2014, to the 2022 Formula 1 Silverstone Grand Prix when driver Zhou Guanyu crashed and ended up flying through the air and ending up stuck between the tyre barrier and the fence, before getting up and walking away with no significant injuries. Like WOW!
Sport is so much more than athletes running around on a field or driving cars on a track. It’s the key moments, and the stories behind them, that allow us to gain clarity and perspective of our own lives.
But how does this relate to life in the media industry?
I think the big lesson we can take from our favourite sports is teamwork. At Seven, one of our values is ‘Better Together’. That for me is more than just being able to work together cohesively, but also about being there for one another through the good times, and the not so good times. It’s about mindset. I didn’t get that idea from just wanting to be a good teammate. I witnessed great sporting moments that showed me how a great team HAS to work together to achieve greatness.
One of the most iconic examples to date is without date the stunning display of the Matildas’ FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign. Through the incredible highs of defeating France in the quarter-final to the heartbreak of defeat at the hands (or feet) of England in the semisl, our girls kept their heads held high and fought right to the end. They showed an incredible level of teamwork that had the whole nation behind them with every kick and every goal.
Whether you work agency side or publisher side, a win is never a win unless you have the whole team behind you. And if you don’t believe me, take a look at all of the amazing sporting teams that have graced fields, courts and tracks – the winning team is always a cohesive team.
This industry can be filled with many highs and lows, but the most important thing is that you should never feel alone. And to be part of a great team, you need to think like a great team, connect like a great team, and collaborate like a great team – and as with all great teams, understand that it requires commitment!
Next time you get the chance to attend a sporting event by a publisher, or are presenting a go to market for a brand new season, take a moment to think about the stories that have taken place prior to, or in that moment. I promise that if you do that, you may walk away from the experience with a new perspective on your own life.
