Without Saying a Word, Kansas City Chiefs Tight End, and Taylor Swift Boyfriend, Travis Kelce Taught a Lesson in Leadership
‘He loves the practice of practicing,’ says quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
New players on the Kansas City Chiefs praise veteran tight end Travis Kelce for taking them under his wing. But Kelce, who’s perhaps best known for his romantic relationship with Taylor Swift, may be contributing the most as a leader with his actions rather than by saying anything. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes noted in a press conference at the end of Chiefs training camp that Kelce has been practicing hard every day along with the rest of the team. It’s a lesson for every entrepreneur about leading by example — but also about the importance of actually loving what you do every day.
That might be unsurprising in a different player, but Kelce has played 11 seasons with the Chiefs. At 34, he’s old to be a tight end, and he admitted recently that the team’s last season, in which they won the Super Bowl, had been hard on his body. “It’s remarkable, honestly,” Mahomes said. “He’s in there getting the reps. He actually gets mad when they take him out. And he has all the right in the world to go out there and just kind of be on the sideline with coach, because he knows all the stuff, and he doesn’t necessarily need the reps.”
Mahomes added, “It makes my job easy as a leader to push other guys, because I can just say ‘Look at the [presumed future] Hall-of-Famer who’s out here practicing harder than anybody.”
The grueling part of training camp.
Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy made the same point about Kelce at his own press conference. “You get to this part of camp right now, it can be a little grueling,” he said. “You can get a little bit of that ‘I feel sorry for myself’ mode. He doesn’t let that happen. And when you hear that coming from a player like Kelce, it impacts these young guys and they push through.”
So Kelce is very much leading by example, which is of course the best way to inspire and motivate others. But there’s a bigger lesson here, and it goes directly to the question of both success and happiness. It turns out that Kelce isn’t putting in the hard work just to set an example. He’s doing it because he wants to.
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“He loves it,” Mahomes said. “That’s what makes him so special, man, is that he enjoys the process of being great, not the top, not winning the Super Ball. He enjoys the practice of practicing. He enjoys the process of working on little details. And that’s what the great ones do.”
He enjoys the process, not just the outcome. How many times have you looked at the founder of a company that’s just had a successful IPO or acquisition and wished you could have that too? If so, did you just visualize drinking the celebratory champagne and planning what to do with your new wealth, or did you also envision the long hours and financial sacrifice that starting a company requires, often while working in a garage or basement or some other unglamorous location?
Loving the journey, not just the destination.
The truth is, if you only love the destination and not the journey it takes to get there, you won’t enjoy the work you’ll have to do for many, many hours every week. And you’ll risk big disappointment because, much like playing professional football, when you start a business, the odds of failure are greater than the odds of success.
So if you’re starting a business, take a lesson from Kelce. Pick something that you’ll enjoy working on every day and thinking about nearly every minute. Something where you’ll enjoy “the practice of practicing” every workday. That way, whether or not your business succeeds, you know you’ll have had a great ride.
There’s a growing audience of Inc.com readers who receive a daily text from me with a self-care or motivational micro-challenge or tip. Often, they text me back and we wind up in a conversation. (Want to learn more? Here’s some information about the texts and a special invitation to a two-month free trial.) Many are successful entrepreneurs, others have started businesses and moved on from them. Either way, win or lose, it’s important to do something you love to do every day so that you enjoy your job, and not just the wealth and success it may bring someday.
