My Response to Braxton Brogan Through the Impact Access Process™
Recently, my friend, Dr. Mark Berry, an executive with Southern Company, connected me with Louive “Braxton” Brogan, a mechanical engineering student-athlete at Alabama A&M University, where he plays baseball.
Braxton is approaching one of life’s most important transitions: moving from college athletics into his professional career. Rather than asking for a quick phone call to “pick my brain,” he participated in what I call the Impact Access Process™ by sending thoughtful questions in advance.
This process allows me to do something I believe is essential: scale significance.
Instead of answering the same questions one conversation at a time, I can answer them once, publish them, and allow countless others to benefit. Then, when we meet, we spend our time applying the ideas rather than simply introducing them.
Here are my responses.
- As someone who successfully transitioned from playing baseball into business, leadership, and developing others, what advice would you give someone like me who’s preparing for that same transition?
Know who you are before you decide where you’re going.
Too many people spend years wearing masks because they never developed conviction. I know because I did it myself.
After professional baseball, I spent years trying to prove I belonged instead of understanding where I belonged.
Your greatest opportunity isn’t finding the right career.
It’s becoming the right person.
One of the greatest discoveries of my life was realizing that my childhood aspiration was never simply to become a professional baseball player. Long before I understood leadership, I wanted to become something between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Hank Aaron.
One represented justice.
The other represented excellence.
As a Black boy growing up in a working-class family in Atlanta, escaping poverty shaped me. Those experiences created conviction.
The Latin root of the word passion means to suffer.
Often, what you’ve suffered through reveals what you’re called to solve.
I encourage you to spend forty days answering four questions.
The number forty represents testing throughout Scripture.
Ask yourself:
- What do I worry about?
- What do I cry about?
- What brings me joy?
- What do I dream about?
Don’t answer them quickly.
Live with them.
Because your identity should determine your destination.
When you know who you are, the right people begin finding you instead of you constantly trying to convince everyone that you’re worth finding.
- I’ve been fortunate to have mentors like Dr. Berry invest in me and open doors along the way. What separates young people who continue earning the trust of mentors?
Three things.
Commitment
Commitment is a promise you make to yourself, for yourself, before anyone else.
Mentors cannot outwork someone who refuses to keep promises to themselves.
Discipline
Discipline is doing what needs to be done, even when—and especially when—you don’t want to do it.
Talent may open doors.
Discipline keeps them open.
Authenticity
Too many people spend their lives pretending.
Mentoring only works when people are honest enough to be coached.
One lesson I wish more young professionals understood is this:
Mentors invest in people. Sponsors invest their reputation.
A mentor gives advice.
A sponsor opens doors.
If someone is willing to use their credibility on your behalf, your responsibility is greater than simply saying thank you.
Stay in touch.
Give credit.
Celebrate their investment.
Don’t disappear once you receive what you needed.
Relationships are not transactions.
They are stewardship opportunities.
Making promises and keeping promises builds trust.
Giving credit where credit is due preserves trust.
Showing genuine care sustains trust.
- How have you learned to recognize opportunities that truly move you forward versus opportunities that simply look good on paper?
Everything comes back to conviction.
If you don’t know your mission and your vision, every opportunity looks attractive.
Build your mission in three steps.
- Identify who you serve.
Who benefits from your life?
- Define how you serve them.
What unique gifts or experiences do you bring?
- Explain the difference your work creates.
What changes because you showed up?
A mission explains what you do today.
Now build your vision.
Build your vision in three steps.
- Imagine who you’re becoming.
Not simply what you’ll accomplish.
- Make it big enough to require help.
A vision should be exciting and intimidating.
If you can accomplish it alone, it’s probably too small.
- Make it worthy of your life.
A vision should demand continual growth.
Three benefits of having both.
Clarity
You stop chasing everything.
Alignment
Your daily decisions support your long-term purpose.
Discernment
You learn to distinguish opportunities that advance your mission from distractions that merely inflate your résumé.
Not every open door is your door.
- Of everything you’ve accomplished, what achievement are you most proud of that people rarely ask about?
People often ask about baseball.
Some ask about leadership.
Few ask how I’ve scaled my impact.
Success is accomplishing a goal.
Significance is using your success to serve others.
Today, I find tremendous joy knowing that leaders in business, education, ministry, government, nonprofits, sports, and youth development are applying principles I’ve shared with them.
That is deeply meaningful.
I’m also grateful that although I never earned a traditional college degree, I continued learning.
I’ve completed certificate programs through Cornell University, Harvard Business School, and George Washington University.
Learning never stopped simply because school did.
One achievement I’m especially proud of is co-creating Pedagogy for Pros, a trauma-informed approach to coaching that my wife, Kelli, and I developed. It is both practitioner-based and evidence-based and is housed at Georgia Highlands College.
Today, students—including young people attending Benjamin E. Mays High School through our Youth Coaching Initiative—can begin developing into trauma-informed sports-based youth development coaches.
That reminds me every day that your influence is never limited by the letters behind your name.
It is multiplied by the lives behind your legacy.
- Based on your experience developing young leaders, what should I focus on over the next three to five years?
Focus less on building your résumé.
Focus more on building your mission.
Then intentionally build relationships with people who help you fulfill it.
Seek and maintain relationships with three types of people.
People who challenge you.
They refuse to let you settle.
People who champion you.
They advocate for you when you’re not in the room.
People who sharpen you.
They tell you the truth because they care more about your growth than your comfort.
Then protect something that is becoming increasingly rare.
Integrity.
Honesty means telling the truth.
Integrity means doing the right thing, especially when doing the wrong thing would be easier.
Integrity eventually becomes a virtue.
And when integrity becomes a virtue, people begin describing you by your character instead of merely your accomplishments.
That’s when trust compounds.
Ultimately, I believe there are three levels of achievement.
Success is accomplishing goals.
Significance is using your success to serve others.
Symbol is becoming someone whose life continues influencing people long after you’re gone.
At fifty years old, I’m intentionally working to become a symbol.
I only wish I had understood that much earlier.
I’ve learned another important distinction along the way.
Coaching answers the question, “What should I do?”
Counseling answers the question, “Why do I think the way I do about what I should do?”
Both matter.
Growth accelerates when you have both.
My Final Thought for Braxton
Braxton, don’t spend your life trying to become impressive.
Spend your life becoming trustworthy.
Your talent may introduce you to opportunities.
Your character will determine whether those opportunities multiply.
Your mission will determine whether your life matters.
And your integrity will determine whether people trust you enough to help fulfill that mission.
Never forget this:
God doesn’t bless who you’re pretending to be. He blesses who He created you to become.
That’s why conviction matters more than credentials, character matters more than charisma, and significance matters more than success.
Thank you, Dr. Mark Berry, for making this introduction, and thank you, Braxton, for asking questions worthy of thoughtful answers.
I look forward to unpacking these ideas with you in person.
Until then, keep becoming the man God created you to be.