Who Is Landon Donovan Working For?

Landon Donovan is a 24-year-old professional soccer player and one of the greatest American soccer players ever.  Donovan was sufficiently talented to win a contract with a top German team at age 17, but despite expectations that he would be one of the first Americans to break into the Bundesliga, the highly competitive German league, and compete at a world-class level, he had a generally unsuccessful experience in Germany during 2004-05 and returned to the much less rigorous American professional ranks.

Donovan's poor showing in Germany seemed to result from a number of factors, including homesickness.  But he's been criticized by a number of American soccer coaches, players and fans for his failure to succeed in that environment.  They contend that rather than dominating Major League Soccer here at home without breaking a sweat, Donovan should be pushing himself harder to compete in the Bundesliga in order to make himself a better player and by so doing to improve the chances of the U.S. national team.  Recent quotes from Donovan in an interview with Reuters' Erik Kirschbaum suggest that Donovan agrees that going to Europe would have that effect: "I'd probably become a better soccer player just from the day-in, day-out grind of it there."  However, he goes on to note, "I wouldn't be a better person. I wouldn't be a happy person. I'd be pretty miserable."

So what should Donovan do?  It depends on who--and what--he's working for, but that's a more complicated question than it seems at first.  Is he working only for himself?  And what does that mean: Maximizing his happiness by staying at home, or getting the most out of his talents by returning to Europe?  Making good money by staying here, or making great money by returning to Europe?  Will he be most fulfilled if he stays within his comfort zone, where he knows he can succeed, or will he one day wish he'd tried to compete on a bigger stage?  And what about Donovan's obligations to others with an investment in his success?  Should their perspective affect his decision?

Obviously, I don't raise the issue because I think we can answer these questions for Donovan; only he can answer them for himself.  But I think they're worth asking of ourselves.  Who and what are we working for?  More to come.

Photo of Landon Donovan courtesy of nwistheone.  Yay Flickr.

Comments

[Jeff H]

It seems as though he's already decided. Ah, to be blessed with choices such as these. I'm sure it would be easy for Donovan to feel quite uncomfortable in a foreign place dealing with a constant barrage of scrutiny and distain.

I admire him for following his heart (if, that is truly what he has done). I imagine Lance Armstrong faced this choice long, long ago. His decision to take it to the Europeans and beat them on their own turf secured his place in cycling history. However, it may have cost him a marriage and he sacrificed a lot of family time in his pursuit.

[Ed Batista]

Thanks for the comment, Jeff. The contrast between Donovan and Armstrong is an stark one.

Donovan is scorned for choosing to stay in the U.S. and live a balanced life, despite the fact that he's still making a major contribution to the American national team and seems to be a fairly decent, normal person for a pro athlete.

Armstrong is deified for dedicating his life to the Tour (even to the exclusion of the other great races that past Tour champions rode), despite the fact that his life seems somewhat abnormal and maniacally focused.

This isn't to say that Donovan's choice is "right" any more than Armstrong's choice was "wrong." But it highlights my larger point that each of us needs to make the choice that's right for us--and sometimes that's not going to be a popular choice.

(In light of my dialogue with Glen Sartain on serving others vs. self-indulgence, I should add that making the choice that's right for you doesn't mean simply making yourself happy and telling everyone else to stuff it. As Glen notes, real happiness is more often found in helping others than in indulging our personal whims.)

[Peter Caputa]

As someone who always dreamed of playing soccer at a professional level, while possessing the skill, but lacking the physical ability to compete at that level, I have a hard time letting Landon off of the hook here. But, I also would have difficulty being so far away from my family.

But, I know that's not really your point. Every time I talk to Linda Cohan, she asks me the questions that make me weigh my options, which always makes me see it clearly. Maybe Landon read this. Maybe not. But, he should know that his decision is his to make. He should make himself happy first. The rest falls in line.

[Ed Batista]

Thanks, Peter. You raise an interesting point about others' expectations. Even if we don't have fans per se like professional athletes, most of us have people who in one way or another are watching our performance and who have their own definitions of "success" and "fulfillment" that might differ from our own: parents, siblings, teachers, mentors, bosses.

Unlike an athlete's anonymous fans, of course, these people mean a lot to us and have a great deal of influence over us. And we understandably want to please them and live up to their expectations.

But as I wrote the other day, it's a paradox: We need to listen to our inner voice and work freely for ourselves without simply giving in to indulgent whims. And we need to be of service and to create value for others without simply responding to external demands and obligations.

That's from a post on Tim Gallwey's "The Inner Game of Work," and Gallwey would actually take this concept further. He believes that we have two selves: a "Self 1" whose critical analysis causes us to be overly self-conscious, hampering our performance and our happiness, and a "Self 2," a deeper, more intuitive voice whose compassionate guidance is less judgmental and more likely to lead us to fulfillment--if only we'd listen to it.