Dissecting Jerry Maguire’s Mission Statement – Part 2

I will break down the entire document over the course of this week, leaving you with a couple of highlights every day. I have broken the Mission Statement into 5 sections (based on its length). If you would like to skip this segment and just read the whole document, you may do so by clicking here. If you missed Part 1, you can catch it here. Here are my bullet points from Part 2:

• “Now of course we all know that we possess the job of the decade. Last year, when a poll of college students was taken, our occupation, Sports Agent or Sports Attorney ranked number two to Rock Star. But rock stars, like sports stars, have a limited time in the spotlight. Nobody likes an old lineman or a bald rock star. But sports representation can give you a career into your 80’s..”
  • Look at the big names in sports representation. Quite a few of them are older people. It takes a while to establish your name in this business, and many years of being in the red until your company finally starts making some profits. I do believe that we possess the job of the decade…now it all depends on what we do with that power.
• “Privately, an agent can be a father, a friend, an inspiring force in the life of a young man or woman. We are sometimes as important as priests or poets, but until we dedicate ourselves to worthier goals than getting a illegal phone number, we are poets of emptiness.”
  • All too often, sports agents find their names in the paper for all the wrong reasons. People do not care about the good things that we do, like being a father, friend, etc, but we cannot let that deter us from acting in those roles. In fact, if we get rid of the things like getting illegal phone numbers, the media may be forced into looking at all the great benefits we present to our clients.
• “Recently I was asked by the son of a client, in so many words, “What do you stand for?” I was lost for an answer. At 14, I wasn’t lost for that answer. At 18, I wasn’t lost for an answer. At 35, I was blown away that I had no answer. I could only look at the fade of a 12 year-old boy, concerned about his dad, needing my help, just looking at me for the answer I didn’t have.”
  • This is an excellent question, and something I may start to ask myself every day. In fact, I would love to hear some of your answers in the comments section. Malcolm X once said, “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” I personally hope to stand for a new beginning to this industry. The recreation of the sports agent business will be a more open society where agents have a possibility to get along, there is more openness, less corruption, and the spread of information. Ah…such lofty goals.

-Darren Heitner