Heroes in Business - Tim Hightower fmr Arizona Cardinals NFL, Executive Washington Commanders, Author Dream Worth Fighting For

Episode Date: August 29, 2022

A Dream Worth Fighting For author, Tim Hightower fmr Arizona Cardinals NFL, Executive Washington Commanders is interviewed by David Cogan famous host Heroes Show and founder Eliances entrepreneur community. @timhightower Instagram, Twitter

Up in the sky, look, it's captivating, it's energizing, it's Eliance's Heroes. Eliance's is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities, and startups, where our heroes in business align. Now, here's your host flying in, David Kogan, founder of Eliance's. All right, you got to love that music. That was actually custom made music for the show. So I'm so excited. And by the way, again, keep the feedback coming. Keep it coming. Especially when I recently had on to the CEO of Steinberg Sports. So make sure you go to alliances.com.

That's E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com. Because it is, it is, it is the only place where entrepreneurs align and where we meet and really get to know others that have made a difference in the community, helped others, how they got to where they got to, and the magic that happens and how we all truly do have that superpower. So let's get started. All right, he's a former running back for Arizona, New Orleans, Washington, Executive Washington Commanders, and author of A Dream Worth Fighting For. With that, welcome to the show, drum roll please, Tim Hightower. Tim, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. It is a true, a true, true pleasure. Pleasure. So thank you. Absolutely. And you can be reached, by the way, you can reach him going to Instagram having me it is a true a true true pleasure pleasure so thank you absolutely and and you

can be reached by the way you can reach him going to instagram or on twitter at tim hightower all right so tim first of all boy you you played for a number of different teams you've had a great career and stuff of that so so talk to us what it was like was uh first of all you know we're broadcast we were we're based in arizona and stuff of that so i gotta ask you like what it was like was first of all, you know, we're broadcast. We were based in Arizona and stuff like that. So I got to ask you, like, what was it like, you know, running back for Arizona? Man, look, I love my wife still to this day. She wants us to get a place in Arizona. So stay tuned.

That may be home for some part of the year at some point. We've got young kids now. But, no, I love my time there. I'm fortunate for that organization of the year at some point. We've got young kids now. But no, I love my time there. I'm fortunate for that organization, the Cardinals. They gave me an opportunity to realize a dream, right? That's where I was drafted in 2008, was fortunate to play in the Super Bowl in 2008 and spent three terrific and wonderful life-changing years there.

And so it was special. It was special to be out there in the Valley and build a lot of relationships and still keep in contact with a lot of people there. So what's it like, Tim? You know, you go through all of this training, all, I mean, training both of the mind and the body and, like, the soul. I mean, every part, you're putting everything into it. You know, you get drafted and you're going out on the field

for the first, quote quote pro game and stuff like what just I guess what how do you even describe like the sensation because all this years all this I mean it's agony to get to that point and now you're on the field yeah you know what it's surreal uh it's one of those things where you have to you're you spend so much time preparing for a moment. Right. Like I started playing football in the fifth grade. And so there's so many football games. And you mentioned training and injuries and recovery and all these things to finally get to that moment. It's it can almost be overwhelming. right? It can almost be overwhelming. It's like the thought of something sometimes is like an anticipation, but then when you get in

there, you're like, oh, what do I do? And so I remember that just even the early days in training camp and navigating that NFL life early, those first games in the season, you go from being a college kid sleeping in a dorm room, maximizing your meal swipes on campus to next thing you know, you're like you're a pro. You're expected to be a pro, perform like a pro, hire, fire people, you know, all these types of things. When before football was just a game to you. It was a game that you love to do as a young kid. And the amount of pressure, too, you know, I don't think people, you know, – from a fan point, we have no idea, really. We know it's tough. We know it's hard.

But we don't know all the amount of pressure and stuff. Talk to us about that part of just – Yeah, so look, I was fortunate to play my first year, and I remember second game of the season we were playing the Dolphins, and it's at the two-yard line. And I f fortunately we get it back we score we're in film film study the next day Todd Haley offensive coordinator he tells me to stand up and he says look I have five daughters when you fumble that football you're taking food off of my daughter's table because I'm probably not going to be here and I'm going to be here So either you're going to learn how to hold on to that football or else you won't be here.

I mean, this was my second game in the NFL. And it was just like the that sense of every single day there's accountability. And it doesn't matter how great your game was yesterday, how great your practice was yesterday. If you're not producing at a high level day in and day out, there's no shortage of talent of people who want to be in your shoes. You will be replaced. So you don't have room to make the same errors. You don't have the room to be injured. You got to get it right. You got to fix those things that you're supposed to fix. And you got to produce at a high level consistently year in and week in and week out. And you know what? That's just like the Alliance's Hero Show. I got a performer. We're going to lose everybody. But that's why I've got people like you coming on that make a difference because you're watching, listening to me, David

Kogan, host of the Alliance's Hero Show. But more importantly, we have with us Tim Hightower, former running back for Arizona, New Orleans, Washington, executive Washington commanders and author of A Dream Worth Fighting For. You can reach him on Instagram and also Twitter. Make sure you get his book. We're going to talk about that in a minute, A Dream Worth Fighting For. All right, so, Tim, things are going great. Everything's moving along.

And all of a sudden, something happens yeah what happened in 2011 yeah so look for for those who don't understand i mean i don't assume everyone understands football as a business and your fourth year is really that that that big year so the average infield career is three years and so most guys if you're not drafted first round and you get a $10 million, $15 million, $20 million sign of owners, most guys make good money, but they don't make money where they can live off for the rest of their life. And so it's that fourth year where that's your contract year. If you're able to perform well and get that second contract, now you can set yourself up to where you have some options and some choices when you exit the game. I'm in that fourth year, right? So I had worked hard the first three years, made a name for myself. And that year four, I'm off to a great start. I'm traded back to

Washington, my hometown where I grew up, and things are going great. And next thing you know, in the matter of the average NFL player is three to five seconds. In a matter of four seconds, my life changes. I feel something shift completely in my knee and I'm sitting there thinking no way not not not now I'm happy you know we're eight games into the season I'm off to a great start not now we're talking about life-changing contract on the verge of it and then as you know it was snatched under me six months, six to eight months rehab turned to almost four years out of the NFL before I got back. Four years. And that was because you tore your ACL? I tore my ACL and then there were a few infections and repeated surgeries. And so five surgeries later, four years later, I was fortunate to make it back.

And so five surgeries later, four years later, I was fortunate to make it back. All right. So four years goes by. That's like a hundred years. It's an eternity. Remember I told you the average NFL career is three years. So I was out longer than most people were in. And so to be able to make it back, it was definitely a – I'm very fortunate. It's a rare, very, very rare.

I'm not sure if anyone's done it from the standpoint of coming back from an injury being out that long. All right. You should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for that one. All right. So four years goes by and then talk to us then what happened next and, you know, how you performed this miracle. Yeah, well, there's a lot, which is why I wrote that book, right? I think it was one of those

things where my head was down. I was focused on the next task, next task. You get back in it. And the next thing you know, you're talking to all these people. What were you doing in the interim? How did you get back? That's so unheard of and rare. And sometimes we don't appreciate the things that we take certain things for granted in our life. And there's some lessons and some principles that at the time I didn't even realize that I was tapping into. Right. That as you start to connect and hear the stories of others who have lost jobs and businesses fail or relationships or illness and somehow made it back or had success, there's some principles and some common threads that connect you to those individuals. And that's what led me to writing this book and sharing the story. Yeah, and that's amazing. It's the thing is, so, you know, during that period of time, and again,

this probably ties to your book and stuff of that but how do you just not go into like a significant deep depression and be like you know what this is it i'm done there what else am i gonna i mean like i'm done i did i did and that's and that's part of it you know and that's one of the first thing i talk about is acknowledging what happened the trauma that happened right you know because after i after I had the initial injury and I'm sitting there in that doctor's office and they placed the MRI up on the screen and it's not good. When that doctor walks in that office and, you know, he's got that look on his face, he or she, you know, they're going to give you some bad news.

Worse than probably they anticipated, right? They don't want to give it to you. So now I'm trying to figure out what's going on. But more importantly at the time, I refused to acknowledge that it happened. I was like in this fog for like a week or two, probably up to three weeks where the team is saying, hey, Tim, you got to get surgery. And I'm thinking, I'm not getting surgery. I'm thinking if I just ignore it, it'll go away, right? And what I didn't realize and what I learned was the more I failed to realize and acknowledge that my life had changed.

The longer I was prolonging recovery and coming out of this on the other side. Right. And so, yes, I went into that. I went into that intense depression and sadness and it was like a roller coaster. But at a certain point, you make like a resolve. My chips are all in. I'm getting back. My wife is with me. I'm committed, whatever it takes. Now, after I made the decision, I've grieved it. I've made a resolve. What now? Right. But it's like until you acknowledge it, until you grieve it, you can't move forward. And so you, again, author of A Dream Worth Fighting For, you can pick that up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and so on and stuff like that. And so talk to us, share with us. So what do you hope people get out of this book by reading it? Yeah, look, I firmly believe, I understand this idea of purpose is thrown around very loosely now, right? My mother put, she told me and instilled purpose in me at a young age to be purpose driven.

And I became obsessed with this idea of everything that I did, that I was created for a purpose and that my actions mattered. And I believe that we all have those things that something we're supposed to contribute to those causes, those relationships. But at some point in our life, they get silenced. Those dreams are silenced. We have failure or again, fail relationships. It's not called fail, but relationships don't go as we thought they would or unexpected health or our careers are derailed. And the more and more we hit those obstacles, it almost kind of like silences those dreams and make them become even less and less reachable and feel like that they're possible. And at a certain point, we then just start to go with the flow of survival and what we should do for now. We're not dreaming. We're not going after and creating the things that are innate to us and the reason what's unique to us and what we can contribute to the world. And so for me, for somebody who

fought for that dream, I want to challenge others to fight for those dreams that are placed deep down inside of them. And again, that job, that career, that relationship. I wanted to give people some of the principles that I use to help them fight for their dreams. I want to know the secrets that you share with your children to be able to, you know, make an impact like you've made an impact and not, you know, give up because as you said, things, I don't know if they ever go as planned and, and certainly, you know, things will shift with your own children and stuff. So what are you sharing with them to help guide them, you know, while you're here, but also maybe when you're not here? Yeah, I appreciate that question. Number one is to define success for them, for themselves.

Right. Like I didn't do that early on. I remember sitting at my locker. I get my first check. You get paid in the NFL every single week, 16 weeks. And I'm sitting there getting the first check. I'm like, wow, I get 16 of these, which is a terrible, horrible business model for a 21-year-old to give them half a million dollars

over the course of 16 weeks. And then they're supposed to, anyway. But I'm sitting there and I'm content. David, I'm content. Next thing you know, Carlos Dansby, a veteran locker, calls me over to his locker and he shows me his check. Now, one of his checks is greater

than my whole salary combined. And instantly I became discontent. What that showed me was I had never defined what success was. There's always going to be more money to make. There's always going to be more money to make. There's always going to be another hill to climb, another obstacle, another challenge. But for me, I had to define what success is for me. And so for my kids, that's the number one thing, whether it's a sport,

whether it's a school project, what is success for you? Define that now because don't get to the end of that thing and you're sitting there thinking, oh, I wish I would have done this. No, no, no. We're going to define that early, number one. Number two, we're going to write it down and put it somewhere. I have things all around me. I believe in having something that you can tangibly look to. For me, it was in the fourth grade. I wrote down on a sheet of paper I wanted to play football. And I would carry that thing around with me everywhere. So one, defining success. Two, writing it down and seeing it on a daily basis in the morning before you go to sleep, programming that. Three, I'm a firm believer that success leaves clues.

Studying others, being a student of not just your craft, but of others. When I was in the hospital for years being out, I searched the internet, YouTube, bookstores, any of the greatest comeback stories ever. I searched and I read and I took lessons and became inspired by those. So who are you studying and being a student of that? And then lastly, combining yourself with those and communities and making sure that I'm surrounding them with people. Dad's not always going to be right. You're going to need somebody outside of my voice who can pour into you, who can speak into you, who knows who you are, where you're going, who can also keep you on that path. So those are a few things. Awesome, Tim.

Absolutely phenomenal. Well, Tim, you had a dream and attained it not once. You're a great fighter. That's a hero. Tim Hightower, former running back, Arizona, New Orleans, Washington, executive, Washington commanders, and author of, make sure again that you get his book author of a dream worth fighting for you could reach him going to instagram twitter tim hightower this has been david cogan with the

alliance's hero show but you got to dance with me too tim that's perfect