I recently started watching Ted Lasso. For those of you who have not watched, it is a sitcom about an American college football coach who is recruited to coach an English Premier League soccer team. Despite having no experience coaching soccer, Ted Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis, transforms into an incredible and inspirational leader, while remaining true to himself and using humor as he muds through an unknown terrain of professional soccer. While sometimes his ‘inspirational’ quotes make you scratch your head, they are also great. Was being put into a completely unknown situation comfortable for Ted? Absolutely not, but he leaned into the discomfort and challenged himself.

Growth comes through discomfort. As I think about my experience in EFBC thus far, and my goal looking forward as president, I want my focus to be something that forces me to think outside the proverbial box.

Joining a forum, and being vulnerable with a group of, at the time, strangers was extremely uncomfortable for me, especially in the beginning. I am grateful for my group. They have made the experience welcoming and rewarding, and I have met some of the best people. Additionally, volunteering to serve on the Board was not comfortable but I have learned and been able to apply that knowledge to grow as a better leader.

An area of discomfort for many business owners and EFBC is diversity. We, as a board, have collectively agreed that it is important to focus on diversity initiatives but taking that step and defining those initiatives makes for uneasy conversations that folks tend to shy away from. As a minority, I never thought discussing diversity would make me feel uncomfortable, but it has.

Math was always my strongest subject, so I came up with a formula. I will need a professor to check my work though 😊

Diverse members = Diverse backgrounds = Diverse shared experiences = Winning

Andy Sanghani
EFBC President 2022-2023

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