https://youtu.be/ffII6vyE__Q
Former NFL lineman Shawn Harper is the owner and operator of American Services and Protection, a security firm based in Columbus, Ohio. He also owns Bridge Builders International, an inter-denominational non-profit helping children in developing countries. We discuss how successful NFL systems can be applied to the business world and how to create a team-based winning culture.
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Leverage NFL Systems with Shawn Harper
Our guest is Shawn Harper with me today. And Shawn is the owner and operator of American Services and Protection, a full-service security firm out of Columbus, Ohio. He is also the owner of Bridge Builders International, a non-profit, interdenominational non-profit helping children in developing countries. He played for seven seasons as an offensive NFL lineman with the Coors, the Oilers, the Rams, and NFL Europe. And he is the author of the Winning Edge, Eight Principles that will bring out the winner in you. Welcome Shawn to the show.
Hey, thank you for having me. Let's have fun for the time being, and hopefully we can extract some tools, thoughts, and principles to win at this game of life.
That's awesome, that's awesome. Well, listen, first of all, I love to have you on the show, and I'm kind of intrigued, how does an NFL linesman becomes an entrepreneur with multiple businesses, how does that work?
Well, you know what, it's something that I kind of fell into, but it was a blessing as well. And so what I mean by that is my brother owned a security firm and through some unforeseen circumstances, he had turned the control of the operation over to me. And I promise you at that moment, I was a deer in the headlights. I had no business sense. I didn't understand. And you know what, actually, to be truthful, you know, close to 20 years later, I'm still learning and I'm still growing. I'm still, you know, learning how to win at this game.
But what I did understand is I understand winning. And I was able to grab that not only from sports, but from the challenges that were in my life, as far as the learning disabilities and voted most likely to fail, graduating last in my class in academics, barely starting in high school football, overcoming the adversity and the struggle and to push towards the win.
And I played with and for probably one of the most successful businesses in the world. That's the National Football League. It is a business. And so the things that I learned from playing in sports, being around amazing players and coaches, styles, techniques, and strategies and methodologies, I begin to infuse them into the business world. And you know what? I started having a lot of wins. Normally I try to stay away from the word success because that to me is a man-made construct. It's all about winning. And it, well, no, no. I mean, it is.
I mean, the problem with success is that it's ambiguous, which means, and also it's not static. I can be in Columbus, Ohio. Thank you so much for the skylight right there. That's very awesome. I've never had this happen before, but I can have $4 million living in Columbus, Ohio. And you know what?I'm doing well.I can have, you know, $4 million living in Manhattan and you know, I'm okay. I can have $4 million in Dubai and I'm like, whoa, you're struggling here. Trying to live downtown Dubai with only $4 million.
So guess what? It's not static. And so what I've learned is that it is not static by design to always having you push more towards or towards what you probably already are. You're a winner. And so now infusing those concepts in corporate America, you know, everyone that works with me and work for me, you guys are already successful. The fact that you're here, you're successful. Now let's win. Okay, can you imagine trying to tell Mark Cuban to be successful? Of course he's already successful.
Well then what's, okay, so then what's driving him? What's driving these billionaires now? Is it success? No, they're the apex. It's the win.