R&R INSPIRES TEAM TO “HANDLE HARD BETTER”
Handle Hard Better was the theme of our all-company meeting this past week. Among our typical topics such as employee recognition and financial review, our team took a deep dive into how the easy button doesn't exist.
In today’s fast-paced, social media-influenced world, it’s easy to see other people living their lives and assume that everything they have came easy. Many of us find ourselves asking how some have had success handed to them and we got dealt the lousy hand.
The reality is, in most cases, we simply don’t see all of the “hard stuff” that goes into achieving success. The obstacles they overcame and the failures they likely encountered. Despite what the filtered lens of social media portrays, most people have to work hard to succeed.
It’s rather ironic that people accept that physical fitness can take years of work and setbacks but they’re happy to showcase that process, yet when it comes to mental toughness the expectation is that people either are or aren’t.
Enter the “Handle Hard Better” expert behind our theme, Kara Lawson. If anyone knows about mental toughness and not taking a ride on the “easy bus” as she refers to it, it’s Kara and she has the resume to back it up. As a player she had an outstanding collegiate basketball career at Tennessee that included three trips to the NCAA Championship, becoming an Olympic gold medalist, and coaching teams to multiple FIBA (International Basketball Association) championships, including seven 3x3 gold medals since 2017. According to USA Basketball, Kara has broadcasted games for ESPN Radio for the Washington Wizards, was the first female analyst for a nationally-televised NBA game in 2007, and also took the title of the first female coach in the NBA when she served as the assistant coach for the Celtics during the 2019-2020 season.
Currently, Kara is the head women's basketball coach at Duke University and her method of coaching is backed by her belief that things don’t get easier, you learn to handle hard better. She speaks to the power of putting away the expectation that things will get easier and replacing that with a drive to become at handling hard better.
At R&R we strive to have transparent conversations with our entire team to ensure they have the tools and support they need, not to make it easy on them, but to help them #handlehardbetter.