Lawrence Taylor Energy

Lawrence Taylor played linebacker for the New York Giants in the ’80s and early ’90s. His job was getting past the men protecting the quarterback and taking the quarterback down. He was so good at it that he changed how the position was played. Two Super Bowls. NFL MVP in 1986. Hall of Fame

And according to a story Bill Burr tells, he didn’t even know who was in his own division.

Burr was on Inside the NFL with Phil Simms, Taylor’s former quarterback. Before Taylor arrived, Simms told him about a flight home after a Giants win.

Simms had explained that if Washington lost, the Giants would be in first place in their division.

Taylor asked who was in their division. When Simms expressed disbelief, Taylor said he didn’t care who was in their division.

And in a weird sense, he’s right. Who cares? Just tackle the guy with the football.

Burr figured Simms might be exaggerating.

Then Taylor arrived.

A few minutes later, Taylor started telling a story about playing in New Orleans. Mid-story, he turned to Simms and asked him the name of the team there.

The Saints. He needed help remembering the Saints.

That’s the Lawrence Taylor energy I want in my business.

An extraordinary command of the work that matters, with very little interest in the stuff around it.

It’s so TEMPTING to say that a sales guy is good because he is great at CRM. WHO GIVES A SHIT.

I want my sales guys obsessed with customers. What’s bothering them. Why they haven’t bought. The thing they said three weeks ago that explains what’s holding up the deal.

I want my recruiters to know talent. Who’s good, who’s available, who would move for the right opportunity. Whether someone can do the job and whether we can get them.

I want my CFO thinking about cash, margins, and whether we can afford the next move.

These are demanding jobs. Getting great at any one of them takes years.

So why am I trying to turn these people into shitty part-time vibe coders?

why do I care about how quickly they file their TPS reports?

My salesperson still has customers to call while they’re figuring out why their app broke.

My recruiter still has candidates to close while they’re wrestling with replit.

And my CFO can spend an entire afternoon wrestling with QuickBooks Online without getting any closer to answering the financial question I needed help with.

The map is not the terrain!

My job is to give these people more time and attention for the work I hired them to do.

Every new tool should earn its place by helping them do that work better.

As the owner, I have to build the support around them. Someone needs to own the systems, maintain the software, and handle the administrative work.

THEY NEED TO GET BACK TO PLAYING FOOTBALL.

Not memorizing the names of the teams in their division.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon