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Part 1: Managing the Clock
Create a Winning Playbook
“Study your playbook.” —Tom Brady, commenting on a rookie teammate’s Instagram post
Even after 20 years in the NFL, Tom Brady played like a guy who had something to prove to his doubters. Further, Brady always worked hard on the mental and physical aspects of the game. His work ethic was and is legendary.
The most telling thing of all, however, was that Brady had a plan, and he worked it.
The first element of Brady’s playbook is his strict daily routine. It defines his day-to-day and impacts every part of his life, personally and professionally. Brady wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning and goes to bed at 8:30 p.m. every night. Brady’s routine sets up everything else in his life, both personal and professional.
He learned the importance of visualizing his end goal and creating a step-by-step process to get there. He stopped worrying so much about how others played and instead focused on his own performance.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Great leaders are highly aware of their own flaws and aren’t afraid to admit them.
Leaders must use their time wisely. No one can be great at everything, so a leader must choose what is most important for the team’s success.
The best leaders develop a personal playbook, including a daily routine that organizes their time efficiently. Playbooks maximize their strengths, compensate for their weaknesses, and allow them the time they need to manage the team and overcome obstacles.
Playbooks also help leaders implement best practices, update procedures, and increase efficiency.
Game Review
Playbooks develop over time. Even the best leaders don’t have all the answers immediately. They codify as much useful information as they can and constantly search for ways to improve their own performance and playbook.
Make Time Your Ally
“I got a chance to hold my draft card a few hours ago. Never forget where you came from.” —Tom Brady
Brady uses his daily routine to take tangible steps towards his long-term goals.
Developing the skills of his teammates, improving their performance, and building team camaraderie all move the team closer to championship level.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Leaders broadcast a clear goal which the team works towards every day, in actions large and small.
Great leaders create daily schedules that keep them in full command of all their responsibilities. Like Brady, business leaders need to envision and articulate their preferred future and rally their teams around that goal.
Brady is also a master at goal setting. Generally, people with specific goals are ten times more likely to achieve success. In fact, those who write down goals are 33 percent more likely to achieve them.
Game Review
In every type of organization, leaders need a clear vision of the future and a precise plan to get there. Each member of the team needs to understand their role in the process, and why that contribution matters.
Lead Through Each and Every Moment
“There was a lot of shit that happened tonight.” —Tom Brady, after Super Bowl LI
Super Bowl 51 started out as if the New England Patriots were going to suffer their first blowout in a Super Bowl. They couldn’t get anything going, and two costly turnovers set the Falcons up with a 28-3 lead midway through the third quarter. The upset seemed almost a guarantee.
But the final quarter and a half were all New England. The Patriots went on to score 25 unanswered points to tie the game up late and force the first overtime in Super Bowl history. Tom Brady set a Super Bowl record by posting 466 yards. For the game, he went 43-of-62 with two touchdowns and one interception, leading the tying and game-winning drives.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Leaders cannot panic when time gets tight. The team will follow the emotions of the leader, and panic creates chaos, which wastes more time. The best leaders maintain calm in every situation, helping their team do the same. Cooler heads are more likely to prevail.
When faced with a difficult situation, stick to the plan you designed with your team. Keep doing what made you successful in the past. Strong leaders let their team’s excellent preparation guide them through challenges.
Preparation helps the leader and teammates stay calm, a critical factor since stress negatively impacts brain performance and impairs strategic thinking. The team that can execute its carefully designed plan is more likely to succeed.
In Super Bowl LI, Brady kept his team calm and focused despite overwhelming odds. He led his teammates step by step through their regular routine. They stuck to what they practiced for and brought success in the past.
Remember, you have a whole team, and you just confirmed to me they’re capable and understand what needs to be done. Are you really leveraging their abilities? It’s awfully hard to lead a team if you don’t rely on your teammates. Lead your team by example, and have faith in the plan. You take care of your responsibilities, and let your teammates do the jobs they were assigned, the jobs they agreed to do. Stay calm. Your team will reflect your attitude.
Game Review
Even if there’s no opportunity to practice the plan before you must execute, just the act of creating a plan and developing team buy-in can help drive success.
Leading a team to victory is just that—leading a TEAM. You have to use the skills of the people involved to gain the collective and exponential benefit.
Strong leadership skills are necessary in every layer of a company. In fact, the best leaders are great at encouraging intra-team leadership. The plan you develop with your team needs to be thorough and include contingencies. Anticipate what could go wrong, and develop responses now.
Part 2: Prepping for Game Time
Meetings Are a Championship Tool
“We’ve been at it a long time, so there’s a lot of consistency.” —Tom Brady, on his film sessions with Bill Belichick
Brady understands that the game is a time for fiery speeches and emotion. But he also understands that meetings are a time for digesting and learning. From the way teammates answered questions, it was obvious they were working to see things the way Brady sees them. By the end of the season, you will be almost perfectly in sync and able to handle any game situation. It might not come right away, but these useful, engaging film sessions will move the team towards that goal one meeting at a time.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Meetings are opportunities to discuss problems and exchange ideas on how to solve them. Leaders who listen will understand their team and be better able to put them on the right path.
It’s OK to show emotion, and in fact can be useful. But make sure the time and place are appropriate for the emotion you’re displaying.
Belittling people will not generate the improved performance you are after. Speak to your colleagues with intention, but give feedback that is constructive rather than mean-spirited.
Brady explains, “My leadership is more about connecting with someone instead of calling him out in front of my teammates.”
It’s no accident the subtitle to Patrick Lencioni’s classic book Death by Meeting is “A Leadership Fable.” Meetings without goals and structure waste time, not only for the attendees, but also for any non-attendees who could otherwise be tapping into the knowledge of those in the meeting.
A whopping 71 percent of senior managers across industries said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. The number one key to preparing well-led meetings is having the right people in the meeting.
In his bestselling book Scaling Up, Verne Harnish encourages daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual meetings that keep people aligned and working towards the same vision.
Great leaders are good attendees of meetings, too (even Brady is a good attendee—see to truly elevate other members of the team, leaders should share their own ideas last, not first, regardless of whether they’re facilitating).
Dedication to a regular meeting structure is incredibly important to your team’s ability to function at a basic level, and its ability to accomplish growth.
Leaders like Brady who commit to organize, prepare, and facilitate great meetings are better able to build efficient teams with strong cultures and avoid problems. Make your meetings work for you, just as Brady has for his team.
Game Review
Well-organized and well-facilitated meetings can build team cohesion, just as poorly done meetings can destroy it.
Don’t neglect the humble daily huddle with your team. It may feel inconsequential, but it’s absolutely critical to surfacing issues early and maintaining a smooth path to success.
Don’t assume the most immediate issues are the most important issues. Leaders set the standard for meetings. How they organize, facilitate, and attend meetings will carry through to every level of the company.
Create accountability structures to follow up on action items, problems, and opportunities discussed in meetings.
Regularly seek feedback from your team on how they feel about meetings and your performance in them.
Empower the Team and Hold Them Accountable
“I just play the role I can given the person and what I think they need at the moment. It could be a rookie. It could be a veteran.” —Tom Brady
Leadership Lessons from the Field
The best leaders prove their dedication to the team in their words and actions. They are focused solely on the ultimate goal, which is reflected in how they live their lives and conduct themselves at work.
Great leaders are great followers, too. They recognize that no one person is bigger than the team, and are willing to sacrifice personal rewards to achieve the team’s goals.
Leaders are not threatened by working with people smarter and differently talented than they are. Instead, leaders embrace and trust those people to use their unique skill sets to push the team forward.
Game Review
When leaders empower their team members, they must simultaneously hold them accountable. Poor accountability in one area can infect other business operations and cause major problems.
Leaders set the standard for the rest of the team. Initiatives without buy-in from leadership are destined to fail. Even the most relaxed cultures need structures that keep everyone, from top management to entry-level employees, fully accountable for their responsibilities.
Always Prepare for Crisis
“We played one of the best teams that I’ve ever played against. I think that’s really where Patriots football and team football really kind of started for us in New England. It took a team effort to win that game.” —Tom Brady, on his first Super Bowl victory
Brady’s preparation is highly purposeful. He uses it not only to ready for the next opponent, but also to ensure the team’s ability to masterfully manage whatever problems arise during the week or during the game. As a result of Brady’s methods, his whole organization is aligned behind the goal of smooth process for the purpose of crisis management.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Well-designed teams do not need to panic in a crisis. They use their extensive preparation to handle the problem in stride, and continue to learn from their experiences.
Following a strict routine to complete your regularly required tasks will better enable you to face whatever challenges arise.
Good design is relatively simple at a high level. Imagine and chart out a complete vision. Break it down into manageable steps, account for the unaccountable, and rehearse with the team. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel every time. Anticipating problems allows you to prepare for them. Erratic firefighting sucks up valuable time and resources. The best leaders develop and practice a consistent process they can apply to any project to move it along from start to finish, no matter the constraints. Much like Brady, you, too, can design routine to prevent crises.
Tom Brady and a CEO both understand that robust routines keep them fully in control of their many responsibilities. Resources are regularly aligned and realigned as an ongoing part of their routine, well before a problem ever arises. When a new challenge comes, they know they can handle it because everything else is already in good working order.
Game Review
Firefighting is an inefficient method of problem solving. Leaders need to have full control over what can be controlled so they can manage whenever crises arise.
Leaders prepare their company for every possible contingency and ensure each member of their team understands those plans.
Great leaders find a way to transform challenges into advantages and find the opportunities in setbacks.
Here are some best practices for the game: Stay calm in a crisis. Rely on your extensive preparation and practice to guide you out of trouble.
Part 3: Firing Up the Team
Trust Is the Twelfth Man
“I’ve always felt when a team trusts you to be a quarterback and they put the ball in your hands, it’s a great show of trust they have in you, and I think that you need to earn it every day.” —Tom Brady
When you reflect on Brady’s behavior and continue to watch him closely as you get acclimated to the team, he seems to be friendly with everyone, from coaches to players to equipment managers. No one treats him like a star who can’t be approached, because he doesn’t behave like one. You see a backup lineman go to Brady’s locker to ask him a question about a play, and Brady stops what he’s doing to focus on his concerns. You listen as Brady freely gives his time to a guy who only plays a few downs a game, even extends the conversation by pointing out a similar structure in other plays. It doesn’t seem to matter to Brady who the player is; he still listens carefully and takes them seriously. It becomes obvious to you that Brady respects his teammates. He trusts they’re working hard and contributing their best effort to the team and that they’re worthy of Brady’s investment of time in them.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Building trust requires treating people with respect. Demonstrate that respect with your words and your actions.
Great leaders recognize that nothing gets done without a team effort. Even seemingly unimportant teammates play a role in the team’s success, and they should be treated accordingly.
Rookies, journeymen, and established stars all tell the same story: Brady knew exactly who they were, sight unseen, and made a point of greeting them and introducing himself. There was no hint of pretense or ego, just a genuine smile and a welcoming handshake.
Brady manifests his trust in teammates in ways big and small. In press conferences, he doesn’t blame teammates for losses, but instead often takes the blame himself. Sometimes during games, Brady yells at his team on the sidelines and demands better performance. Yet off the field, he’s a different guy. He knows that at the next day’s meeting, yelling won’t help. So when he leads meetings, he speaks softly and encouragingly
Brady doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations or hesitate to point out mistakes, but he does so in a way that builds trust instead of criticizing harshly.
Brady also demonstrates his own trust in team leadership, which shows his teammates they should trust the leaders, too. He willingly took verbal abuse from Bill Belichick. He embraces his own failures, and both learns from and uses them as motivation to improve. Brady also regularly accepts less money from his team than he could get elsewhere, proving he puts the team first, and trusts the organization to use the savings to sign other great players who will be critical to the team’s success. He recognizes he cannot win alone.
Game Review
It’s one thing to build trust, and another thing to maintain it. Even longtime, historically strong working relationships require ongoing effort. Don’t take them for granted. Nurture them and continue investing in their success.
Leaders need to leave their own baggage behind, and shouldn’t let it interfere with how they operate. Simultaneously, they need to understand that their team members may be burdened by old baggage that impacts their work and relationships. Leaders should seek to recognize and eliminate these roadblocks by working to build trust.
Sharing information is a fundamental part of building trust within teams. It demonstrates a leader’s belief in the team and helps ensure the members of the team are all working from the same set of facts.
Don’t assume others understand your subtleties. Communicate clearly and explicitly with words and back them up with consistent action.
To take hold, the behavior of trust needs to start at the top. Some leaders struggle with trust because it requires an inherent vulnerability, which they may not like to reveal. Brady demonstrates vulnerability by admitting his own mistakes. Trust means relying on the other person to listen and consider carefully, instead of rushing to judgment or ridicule. Brady demonstrates that respect to his teammates and expects the same in return.
There are several ways leaders can build trust. Many choose to speak last during meetings, not first. It’s important to let ideas flow or grievances air before shutting down debate. Another way leaders can build trust is through consistency. Brady is a paradigm of consistent routine.
Further, leaders should develop regular processes that encourage their teams to speak up, share ideas, engage in debate, and support one another. This can be achieved through a regular, efficient meeting structure; regular company-wide communication from leadership; and follow-through on promises. Brady’s film sessions are consistent in structure, tone, and emotion.
If everything is working smoothly, leadership has an opportunity to congratulate and reward the team and find ways to be even more efficient. They can avert problems before they even come about. Trust is an important reason why Brady, despite a constantly changing roster around him, has been able to lead his team to such sustained success.
Elevate Everyone
“My connection with [my team] is through joy and love. It’s not through fear or insults. That’s not how I lead. When you have a group of people who hold each other accountable every day, those are the teammates that you’re looking for.” —Tom Brady
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Great leaders find compelling ways to communicate with their team. Leaders present critical information in a way that will get in their teams’ heads and stay there.
Reward hard work and smart moves. The best leaders aren’t afraid of being outshined by a member of their team—in fact, they like it. Leaders celebrate the achievements of others, even if it comes at their own expense.
Effective leaders take full responsibility for their own mistakes. They never deflect blame to those above or below.
Leaders should express gratitude to teammates who do good work and motivate them to keep improving. An effective form of motivation is public recognition of a job well done. Leaders need to acknowledge all the contributions from their team. It doesn’t matter if the contributor’s role is small.
Great leaders know that “follow-ship” can, in fact, be the highest form of leadership. It may sound counterintuitive, but it’s a critical skill. A leader who’s also a good follower can recognize someone else’s good idea, and even give up control of a project to the person best suited to lead it. An effective leader sacrifices individual glory to share the limelight, which ultimately adds to the overall brightness of victory.
Game Review
Effective leaders never belittle others, on matters personal or professional. It damages morale everywhere. It also makes them seem like an enemy who cannot be approached for help or trusted as reliable.
Great leaders listen. And they don’t just listen when others are talking directly to them. They listen all the time, hear what others aren’t saying, and read the behavior of others. They then act to solve problems and support their teams.
The best leaders don’t hide from criticism: they put their egos aside and actively seek feedback. They are always looking for ways to improve and be more useful to their teams.
Best Practices for the Game: Institute an official system for seeking feedback from your teammates and those subordinate to you. It will teach your team how to give constructive criticism and make them more comfortable seeking feedback for themselves. Highlight impressive performances by members of your team. Public recognition is a meaningful reward, and it offers examples to others of how they can improve.
Talk to People Where They Are
“You take the learning when it comes, but it’s a constant process. It happens in the meetings, happens in the walk-throughs, and happens in the games.” —Tom Brady
Brady is a masterful communicator with his team, and it’s clear his abilities go beyond the locker room as well. His ability to create authentic, interesting content helped his brand and company grow.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Leaders must communicate effectively in whatever way their team needs. They understand that even the most compelling messaging won’t be meaningful if it never reaches its intended audience. The best leaders use the type of communication, method of distribution, content, and tone best suited to their team.
Storytelling is a great way to deliver important information. Effective leaders can translate key themes, strong examples, and motivation into stories that make an emotional connection with team members.
Communication as a leader is most effective when treated as a regular practice, as opposed to an occasional whim. Build the audience, keep them engaged, and then deliver useful information. They will follow and keep coming back for more.
At its core, decision-making is an emotional process. People remember messages that make an emotional connection with them. Emotion comes from humor, trauma, or beauty. Whatever the information and delivery method, leaders need to generate at least one of these emotions in order to make their messages break through the noise and then stand the test of time. Most people love to laugh. With humor, you can quickly create a shared experience and establish rapport. Even Brady is known to get into locker room pranks, which makes him human and endears him to his team.
As Brady learned, one great way to share compelling messaging with an emotional connection is through storytelling. In fact, people are more than 20 times more likely to retain information they receive as part of a story. Meaningful storytelling is an excellent way to embed crucial information in a memorable way. The best leaders don’t talk about themselves too much, so they search for stories from inside their own team.
Game Review
Simply sharing information is an ineffective way of communicating. Leaders need to do more than just state facts. They must package it in a way that is interesting to the audience and will make the message stick.
The best leaders are comfortable using a variety of different methods and formats of communication. They reach out to their team members where they are and present content that’s easy to absorb.
Storytelling is a powerful tool to illustrate behavior and encourage compliance. It increases audience comprehension and can inspire similar action.
Part 4: Seizing the Trophies
Executing Team Success
“We’ve been rewarded with something that the scoreboard won’t show—the satisfaction of knowing we gave everything to each other in pursuit of a common goal. That is what TEAM is all about.” —Tom Brady, to his team via Instagram
Brady was so impressed by the moment—the culmination of Malcom Butler’s season of relentless work—that Brady gave Butler the pickup truck he received for being named Super Bowl MVP. Later, Brady said of the play, “It all leads to that particular moment. You put a lot of hard work in over the course of the season and Malcolm did that. To recognize a formation, a play, put it all together in your mind as a young player, it was the perfect play at the perfect time.”
Leadership Lessons from the Field
The best leaders leave no stone unturned. They examine every angle, consider every possibility, and game plan solutions for each. Then they make sure each member of the team understands all the wrinkles.
Teams need practice. Effective leaders understand that simply sharing information isn’t enough—they need to guide their team through repetitive, effective practice.
Butler said of the Seahawks’ alignment, “I knew they were stacked… It all comes from preparation. I knew they were doing a pick right or coming under… I just went and made a play.”
The Patriots’ situational training helped the team know exactly what is coming in any scenario. Repetition is particularly necessary: after only 48 hours, people forget as much as 60 percent of what they learned.
Effective leaders don’t just train for success—they train for problems, too. Even if a team has a playbook of what to do in a crisis, it probably won’t do much good if they haven’t practiced the play. Teams need to practice applying specific skills and managing their emotions. That’s why Brady encourages practice players to intercept him, even though it makes him furious. Failure is an opportunity to learn and improve. Brady understands that the old adage is true—practice makes perfect (or at least gets you a lot closer to perfection).
Game Review
Great leaders don’t make assumptions about what can and can’t be done. They watch for hidden problems and develop processes to solve or counteract them. Then they train their team and regularly practice the proper response.
The best leaders look for ways to involve every member of the team in critical processes. It helps build camaraderie, develop team members’ skills, and identify opportunities for increased efficiency.
Best Practices for the Game: The next time a teammate gets frustrated that their performance isn’t making a difference, remind them that their next opportunity for greatness is just around the corner. Malcolm Butler made a great defensive play on the pass to Jermaine Kearse, but Kearse still caught the ball. Just a few plays later, Butler got another chance and changed the course of the Super Bowl. He couldn’t have done it if he hadn’t modeled Brady’s ability to overcome emotions.
Attitude Is Everything
“I’m only as good as the guys around me and they’re only as good as I am. Part of that is motivating each other so that we can all be on the same page and all be at our best.” —Tom Brady
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Great leaders thrive in moments of adversity. They are prepared for anything that comes their way. Win or lose, there is always knowledge to gain from the experience. Leaders exemplify in their own behavior that the team’s attitude towards defeat will determine future outcomes.
Leaders are prepared to take their lumps. Even though they’re in charge, they’re not above anyone else on the team. They hold themselves to the same standards and face the same consequences for their actions. Great leaders are fair, transparent, and authentic.
The most effective leaders build the team’s confidence. They do this by reinforcing key messaging, explaining why their plan is smart, and practicing team execution. They generate a positive attitude throughout the team.
By creating a stressful environment in practice, Belichick made sure his team knew how to react to the stressful environment of a game. They knew the attitude they needed to embody in order to survive, and they knew whom to look towards for cues. This is where Brady quietly but powerfully shines. As Chad Johnson witnessed, Brady didn’t say a word as Belichick eviscerated him—yet Brady’s reaction spoke volumes. When Brady accepted—even embraced—Belichick’s harsh treatment and learned from it, everyone else understood they had to do the same.
As Jim Collins points out when he explains the Stockdale Paradox, simple optimism isn’t the attitude that will get you through challenges; instead, you need unshakable faith that you will survive, combined with the discipline to accept the reality of your situation. Brady has withstood adversity throughout his career, so his teammates know they can trust him the next time a challenge arises. From struggling in the beginning of his high school and college days, to being drafted in the sixth round, to being the last on the depth chart in New England, Brady has overcome it all with a strong belief in himself and dedication to his plan.
Game Review
Great leaders don’t expect their teams to figure out everything on their own. They don’t assume team members will be able to execute a plan without teaching, preparation, and practice. Instead, they take a hands-on approach and work with the team until they’re confident the team can perform at a high level.
Even a great plan is more difficult to complete if those on the front line don’t feel leadership has faith in them. The best teams are effective because their leaders believe in them and remind them frequently. Feeling a leader has confidence in the team is an important motivational tool.
Best Practices for the Game: During times of stress, emotions often run high, which can harm team camaraderie. Watch for signs of this the next time your team is under pressure. Do what you can to deflect and diffuse tension and keep everyone focused on executing the game plan. Remind them that their excellent preparation makes them well equipped to handle anything that comes their way.
Live the Image
“There’s other things happening in my life, too. I do have kids that I love, and I don’t want to be a dad that’s not there driving my kids to their games. I think my kids have brought a great perspective in my life because kids just want the attention. You better be there and be available to them, or else they’re going to look back on their life and go, ‘Dad didn’t really care that much.’” —Tom Brady
How is it that someone so hateable can be so well liked and embarrassment-free? What comes out of the locker room time and again is praise of Brady. The stories are always about how friendly he is, how welcoming to new players, how he’s one of the guys. He pushes himself harder than anyone and is always willing to put in extra work or tutoring with teammates who need help. Brady is said to treat people well, even reporters,4 and to bring a good attitude every day. In person, he matches the image he puts out to the public.
Leadership Lessons from the Field
Leaders pay attention to how they are perceived. It matters how others view them. Effective leaders ensure they behave in a way that encourages strong relationships and builds trust.
Simultaneously, leaders understand that authenticity is a key element of successful communication and solid teamwork. Observers can see though inauthenticity quickly, particularly when they spend as much time together as teammates do. The best leaders are careful to behave as their good reputation suggests they will.
Even the most successful leaders make mistakes, or even get caught up in scandals. They don’t have to be perfect, but they must lead by example the vast majority of the time. Otherwise, their reputations will be diminished, hindering their ability to lead.
Brady understands what so many business leaders have learned: leaders need to be likeable, authentic, and consistent.
Game Review
The most effective leaders understand that not all teams have the same function, and thus don’t have the same needs. Leaders need to adjust their communication, support, and expectations based on the responsibility their team needs to fulfill.
Authenticity is key to leadership. If you feel burdened by your team, your teammates likely can tell. They need to feel your faith in their ability to succeed. Demonstrate it in word and deed.
Executing the Play
Exercises for the Preseason:
- Consider your company’s core values and ethos you encourage within your team. How well do you personally embody them?
- Are you kind?
- Do you treat people with respect?
- Are you willing to go the extra mile for a teammate when it would help achieve the greater goal?
Epilogue
Brady’s ultimate legacy is not yet written in stone. There’s little doubt he will face tough adjustments with a new team and a different system, but there’s also little doubt that Brady will attack these challenges with the same belief, dedication, and leadership he’s always presented. No one knows what will happen in Tampa Bay, but Brady’s remarkable leadership skill will certainly light the path to success.
Note: This book was published in 2020, prior to Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl victory on February 7, 2021. Now, Tom Brady retired at the age of 45 then agreed to a 10-year, $375 million contract with FOX Sports in May 2022 to be the network’s lead NFL analyst “immediately following his playing career.”
There’s no doubt he will take these 12 lessons to his new career.
May TB12’s experience and lessons encourage you, as you shoot for the stars!