The 'Most Influential High School Gym Teacher in American Pop Culture,' A Mysterious Red Hand on A Flag, and Naming A Chain Of British Pubs: Why Proving Someone Wrong Can Be Rocket Fuel For Creatives
The 3-Word Quote: ‘Doubters Manufacture Motivation’
1.
Mr. Skinner was born on January 11, 1933, and died in September of 2010.
He spent much of his career as a gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida.
He was described by most as a no-nonsense teacher and basketball coach.
Skinner’s daughter, Suzie Moore, described her father’s parenting style saying he believed, “there was a right way and a wrong way and you better not deviate.”
He was an army veteran, who as a teacher in the fifties and sixties, saw much change in society and in kids during these decades.
But despite these changes, Mr. Skinner always upheld the rules.
Once in the late 1960s, he sent several boys to the office.
They had broken a school rule - not an uncommon occurrence for high school students at the time.
The boys he sent to the office had very long hair - and very long hair on boys was against Robert E. Lee school rules.
Mr. Skinner was a rule follower and expected others to be as well.
So Mr. Skinner marched the boys to the office.
He didn’t realize this action would put him in the limelight for decades to come.
2.
The Irish flag is pretty nondescript.
It consists of three colors - green on the left, white in the middle, and orange on the right.
Three equal size rectangles of colors - no pictures, no other design.
A simple design. Basic.
And Ireland is divided into four provinces - each with its own flag.
These province flags are a little more elaborate than the Irish country flag.
The northern province, Ulster, has a gold background with two thick red lines equally dividing it - it looks like a red cross painted on a gold sheet of paper.
But in the middle of the flag where the two red lines cross sits a small white shield.
In the shield is a red hand.
The red hand is open, palm facing out - it looks like someone holding up a ‘stop’ command.
The hand is known as ‘The Red Hand of Ulster.’
The origin of the red hand of Ulster is a mystery.
But there is one legend as to why the hand is red and where it came from.
And the story is particularly gruesome.
3.
Tim Martin is the founder and operator of a large number of pubs in England.
Like many pubs, they offer good food and a decent price for a pint.
Martin founded the company in 1979, and the chain of pubs were known for some of the unique locations - some pubs were placed in abandoned bank buildings and deserted movie theaters.
The company grew quickly and now operates hundreds of locations and is even traded on The London Stock Exchange.
The pubs’ success comes from Martin’s attention to detail and innovation. He visits different locations for frequent checks - to ensure standards are upheld.
Nothing is left to chance. He pays attention to detail.
And when he named the pubs, the name was not left to chance either.
He called his pubs Wetherspoons.
But the name Wetherspoons comes from an unlikely place - and it tells a lot about the founder.
The Takeaway:
So what does a strict gym teacher from the 1960s, a mysterious red hand on an Irish flag, and the name of scores of British pubs have in common?
They are examples of motivation caused by trying to prove someone else wrong - and how others’ negative expectations are actually a driver of success.
So how did the flattop wearing, hard-nosed Mr. Skinner become ‘the most influential high school gym teacher in American pop culture’?
This quote from The New York Times is from Mr. Skinner’s obituary.
He didn’t revolutionize gym teaching, and he didn’t invent a new game used in physical education classes - his notoriety had nothing to do with that.
During his career, Skinner’s school had a rule about how long boys’ hair could be.
And one day the strict Mr. Skinner sent one of the Robert E. Lee students to the office.
The teen, Gary Rossington, was like many teens of the time - he had grown his hair long as a symbol of rebellion.
But this was against the school rules, so Gary was sent to the office. Mr. Skinner wouldn’t tolerate the lengthy locks.
Gary was annoyed that he was sent to the principal's office. And so were several of his high school buddies - Allen Collins, Bob Burns, Larry Junstrom, and Ronnie Van Zant.
They didn’t need Mr. Skinner telling them what to do and dictating how long their hair could be.
So when the boys started a band, they decided to name their band after their strict teacher, Mr. Skinner.
Mr. Skinner’s first name was Leonard.
Leonard Skinner.
The long-haired boys, who felt they were picked on by Mr. Skinner, changed a few letters of his name and used the name for their band.
The name, they decided, was Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The few changed letters were to avoid a lawsuit from their teacher.
If you’re not immediately familiar with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 95 on their list of the ‘100 Greatest Artists of All-Time.’
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
They’ve sold over 30 million records, and their hit songs include Free Bird, Simple Man, and Sweet Home Alabama.
They are Southern Rock royalty, the quintessential southern rock band.
But their initial reason to name the band after their teacher was spite - it was to get back at the strict Mr. Skinner who sent some of them to the office.
The name was a ‘we’ll show you,’ tongue-in-cheek effort to prove to the teacher he couldn’t tell them what to do.
Mr. Skinner’s disapproval made the boys lean into their long hair and ‘hippie’ style and music - and this spite changed their lives - Mr Skinners, included.
And it was a disapproving and doubting leader that led to a red hand being placed on the flag of Ulster.
Legend has it almost a thousand years ago, two chieftains were sailing in separate boats with their crew toward an uninhabited area in northern Ireland.
The leader of the two chieftains told the two men whoever was the first to lay his hand on the approaching land could claim kingship of it.
The two chieftains mustered their crew and used all their energy to race to the land in order to be the first to touch it.
The race was intense. The men were exhausted.
Finally, one ship began to pull ahead just as they approached the unclaimed land.
The crews began to doubt and question the chieftain who was losing.
The leader of the trailing boat realized his dream of claiming the land was slipping away.
The men continued to chastise him.
He refused to give up.
As the legend goes, just before the leading chieftain claimed the land, the second place captain quickly created a plan to win - motivated by both greed and shame from possibly losing.
He pulled out his sword.
With his sword in one hand, he placed his forearm and hand flat on the deck of his ship.
And with the sword, he took a mighty swing - and proceeded to chop off his other hand at the wrist.
As the lead boat was ready to claim the desired land, the the trailing chieftain grabbed his recently chopped off hand in his other hand.
And with his good hand, he threw the bloody detached hand with all his might.
The detached stump of a hand flew over the leading boat and landed on the shore.
Remember the contest - the first man to touch the land could claim it.
The man, now with one hand, was the victor.
He was the first to ‘touch’ land.
While the legend is highly improbable, the victorious chieftain did what Lynyrd Skynyrd's co-founder did - he used spite and doubt to propel him to action.
And what of the popular British pubs called Wetherspoons?
Founder Tim Martin had a similar story to Gary Rossington, one of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s founders.
Tim Martin had a teacher who was particularly hard on him.
In fact, Martin said his New Zealand teacher told him he ‘wouldn’t amount to anything.’
Harsh words.
And the teacher’s name?
Mr. Wetherspoon.
Mr. Skinner was tough; Mr. Wetherspoon seemed uncaring.
Mr. Wetherspoon’s words stuck with Martin, and the pub founder said he opted to name the pub after his cruel teacher for two reasons.
First, Mr Wetherspoon never drank, so Martin thought it was funny to name a pub after someone who abstained from alcohol.
Secondly, Martin was thrilled with the thought that if Mr. Wetherspoon ever drove around London, he would be forced to see his name on these pubs - all founded by the kid he said would never amount to anything.
Proving someone wrong can be powerful.
The founders of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the one-handed chieftain, and Tim Martin all realized that being doubted fuels motivation to achieve.
Many of us can recall similar stories of doubters.
In fact, an article in Harvard Business Review, ‘The Upside of Being an Underdog’, backs up what these three men demonstrated.
Most of us, no matter our roles, have a boss and expectations placed upon us.
But when those in charge believe - and tell their employees - that they don’t have what it takes to succeed, well, those words often serve as rocket fuel to prove them wrong.
The article calls this expectation that we won’t succeed ‘underdog expectations.’
And the article goes on to explain that studies say this underdog expectations was a significant predictor of performance.
Sometimes publicly doubting people privately helps them perform.
In fact, those who ‘experienced underdog expectations performed better than those who experienced high…expectations.’
Seems counter-intuitive.
Obviously, simply telling someone they can’t complete a task won't make them capable of doing that task.
Those who were doubted still have to have the skills and talent to perform.
The article’s studies on low expectations were varied and small. And in the studies, it mattered who had the low expectations.
The pathway from inspiration to implementation is a long path - proving someone wrong can certainly increase motivation, but it often isn’t enough to sustain the journey.
For most, naysayers’ words can provide amazing motivation towards success, and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s founder and the creator of Wetherspoons’ pubs were motivated by negative comments.
The comments, however, didn’t help the band musically, and they didn’t give Tim Martin business sense - but perhaps the words did provide that spark needed to obtain those skills.
We often dismiss the positive comments we are given, but we seem to internalize the negative ones.
Turns out proving people wrong can be powerful.
3 things before you go:
Listen: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Simple Man- classic rock from the long haired boys from Florida; you look at the picture and can maybe see why they might not like Mr. Skinner telling them their hair was too long
Read: “The Sphere is Here. Are We Ready For More High-Tech Architecture”: Smithsonian Magazine: interesting article about how buildings can spark innovation and creativity; watching U2 there would be amazing
Watch: A 3-minute TED Talk- Remember To Say Thank You by Dr. Laura Trice: short, simple words about short simple words - something we all need to say more
I appreciate you taking the time to read the3mix (see, I’m practicing # 3 above). Thanks to those who shared the3mix last week! See you in 10 days.
-Jeff