Step Up And Lead
Photo by who?du!nelson on Unsplash
Reiss Nelson is a 20 year old up and coming English footballer, who plays as a Forward for my club, Arsenal FC.
On Saturday, he came on as an attacking substitute in the 82nd minute of the 2020 Community Shield game, the traditional season opener when the prior season’s League Champions (Liverpool this year) play the FA Cup winners (Arsenal). At Full Time, the score was tied at 1-1 and so the game went to penalties. For the uninitiated, this means each team gets 5 shots at goal i.e. a player from one side gets to shoot at goal from a designated spot and the goalkeeper of the other team tries to save the shot.
Penalties are a test of nerve for the player taking the kick - a poor shot, a miss and your team is immediately on the back foot. Some of the best players in the world have fluffed their lines when taking spot kicks, so, needless to say, the pressure is ON.
Penalties are, therefore, a time for your best, most seasoned players to be counted on. For them to step and take care of business for the team. It is, in many ways, a show of leadership: leave it to me, I’ll get the job done.
But on Saturday, as the Arsenal Boss, Mikel Arteta, was deciding who Arsenal’s penalty takers were going to be, Reiss Nelson walked up to him and said he wanted to take the first penalty. Arteta agreed, saying afterwards: “He said, me first, so when you see a player that convinced, let’s go!”
Nelson took that first penalty and scored, and Arsenal went on to win the game and the Community Shield. Asked about taking that penalty, Nelson said: “A few years ago, we won it (on penalties), and I remember under Wenger (our previous boss), I really wanted to take a penalty but I was 17 at the time and the boss didn’t let me take it. I said to myself that if I ever get the opportunity to take it again, I’m going to be the first one and be confident, just pick a spot and hit it.”
And hit it, he did, sending us on our way to our 16th Community Shield win. And what’s incredible to me is that, when many players don’t have the confidence to take a penalty, here’s a 20 year old who’s ready and willing to be the first one - who wants to be the first one.
That’s confidence. That’s courage. That’s stepping up. When your team needs you, you actively look for the opportunity to serve. That’s a trait that’s usually learned with experience (and even then, not always), but some folks have it right from the start. Reiss Nelson clearly does.
It’s a great lesson for all of us who work with people (i.e. all of us). We all have our individual roles, sure, but regardless of where we sit, what we do, there are always opportunities for leadership. There are always opportunities to stand up and be counted. You don’t wait for them, or for someone to offer it to you. You look for them, you seek them out.
The fact is, we’re already leaders. We have it, deep within ourselves. I really believe that. It’s just that some of us just don’t know it yet. Many of us don’t believe it. And still others of us don’t have the courage to try.
But the fact also is, that it’s yours for the taking. Of course, it doesn’t mean you’ll always deliver or that it will be perfect or in exactly the form that you’d want it. But that isn’t the point. The point is in taking the chance, to step up and take that shot. That - right there, in that stepping up - is where leaders emerge.
