Chase Value, Not the Spotlight

I blame social media for pouring gasoline on a fire that’s been burning for centuries. Humans have always chased glory: the applause, the spotlight, the outward praise. But now we’re chasing likes from people we don’t even know and will likely never meet. That’s a dangerous incentive.

We start believing the thing that gets the most attention, the most adoration, is what matters most. If we’re not under the lights, we’re not making an impact. Or at least, that’s how it feels.

I disagree. The people who do the work no one wants to do, who show up with grit and tenacity, are the ones who outlast the flash-in-the-pan talents and glory seekers. I’ve seen it firsthand. I’ve tried to instill it in my kids.

"The Great Wall of Campbell"

Last winter, our then-8-year-old daughter Campbell decided to try basketball. Sports aren’t her thing. She’s empathetic, artsy, and her emotional intelligence is off the charts. Wise beyond her years. But athletics? Usually a distant third.

She joined a co-ed church league and started the season timid, afraid to even touch the ball. By the end, she was named “Most Improved Player” on a team that won the league championship.

How?

She spent most of the season frustrated that the boys wouldn’t pass to her. And she was right. Typically speaking, elementary school boys want to be heroes on the court. Passing to the girl? Rare.

So I told her to control what she could. She may not get many offensive chances, but she could own the defensive side. Cam’s tall for her age, so we worked on using that. When we played together at a our local park, I bumped her around, got her used to contact, and taught her how to guard hard. Instead of counting points made by her, we tracked plus/minus to show how the team did when she was on the court. She learned that her hustle and defense made her team better.

By season’s end, her coach trusted her in big defensive moments. She didn’t rack up offensive stats, but she helped her friends win. And she loved it.

Ford’s Changing Role in Soccer

Our son Ford is the opposite of timid when it comes to sports...mostly because he's so high-energy. Soccer is his oxygen. In 4v4 and 5v5 rec and academy bridge programs, he was a goal-scoring machine. Three, five, sometimes ten goals in a session.

This fall he moved to a tougher academy team. Bigger field. Seven-on-seven format. Great players. More structure. Less chaos. His superpower—thriving in chaos—was neutralized.

What happened next blew me away. If you asked him what his favorite position was six months ago, he would have said “striker” without hesitation. Now he loves defense. He’s one of the team’s best goalies despite his size, plays wing and fullback, and says striker is his least favorite role.

He doesn’t score as much as he used to. When he does, it’s from scrapping in front of the goal. But his impact is huge. He does the dirty work, dives into danger without a second thought (he even lost a tooth in a game last week), wins balls, and moves play forward. A team dad once said, “I’ve never seen someone more willing to stick their face in a fan than that kid.”

Maybe one of the best compliments he’s ever gotten.

Ford embraced the role. No complaints. Just love for the game and a team-first mentality you rarely see in elementary school. That attitude will take him far.

Aiding a State Title Without Scoring

In high school, I was lucky to be part of three state championship cross-country teams. Scoring works like this: add the places of your top five runners. Lowest total wins.

During our second title run, I wasn’t in the top five. I was sixth. My teammate Matt was seventh. On paper, we didn’t matter.

Except we did.

In the last quarter mile, Matt and I outsprinted the other team’s fifth runner. That move pushed him back two spots. We won by two points.

We didn’t score, but we sealed the win. We had every reason to coast, but giving everything for the team paid off.

This Applies to Work Too

Most of my career has been built on doing the work others avoided. At my first agency job, I took on accounts no one wanted. That earned trust and bigger opportunities. I know people now who work on the less sexy brands at their agencies but those are the accounts that do the best jobs paying the bills.

Later on in my career, at a small nonprofit PR firm, I built their digital practice when social media was exploding. My success wasn’t from clever viral campaigns. It was from diving into analytics and getting my hands dirty doing the unglamorous math clients didn’t want to touch. That eventually opened doors for the “fun” stuff.

I’ve worked with people who prove their value the same way. They’re not chasing glory. They’re chasing excellence. Ask any teammate about those folks and they’ll say, “I don’t know what we’d do without them.”

Chase Value, Not Glory

Glory and value aren’t the same, even if culture tries to tell us otherwise most of the time. Showing up, doing the work, and making the team better—whether in sports, business, or life—lays the foundation for the long haul. When you’re not chasing the spotlight, you’re chasing something bigger than yourself.

It’s more sustainable. And honestly? More fun. I’ve yet to be proven otherwise.