Early in his career, Belichick loved and mastered the one part of the job that coaches disliked at the time: analyzing film. Years later, to the surprise of few, Belichick landing himself his dream position.
Holiday’s humble beginnings as an assistant in Hollywood echoed Belichick’s meteoric rise as a prolific coach. “Someone told me that the best thing I could do as an assistant was to make other people look good,” writes Holiday in a Business Insider article. “It ended up being pretty decent advice, but it was nowhere near the right wording.” [1]
Holiday later characterized in his above book the right wording: to find canvases for other people to paint on. Here’s how Holiday describes what he labels “The Canvas Strategy”:
[The Canvas Strategy] is not about making someone look good. It’s about providing the support so that others can be good. The better wording for the advice is this: Find canvases for other people to paint on…. Clear the path for the people above you and you will eventually create a path for yourself. [2]
Holiday continues, riffing on the common problems we struggle with at the beginning of our careers:
When you are just starting out, we can be sure of a few fundamental realities: 1) You’re not nearly as good or as important as you think you are; 2) You have an attitude that needs to be readjusted; 3) Most of what you think you know or most of what you learned in books or in school is out of date or wrong.
The Canvas Strategy isn’t limited to the beginning of one’s career, says Holiday. Coming up with ideas to give to your boss. Introducing people who might benefit from one another. Finding what nobody else wants to do and doing it. Producing more than everyone else and giving your ideas away. The iterations are as endless as our willingness to put our emotional and egotistical impulses aside.
Putting others before ourselves requires much from ourselves—humility, graciousness, resilience. But it’s something that delivers a return manifold, no matter where you are in your career.
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