Former NFL Player Shares Advice for Breaking Down Change Barriers

As expected, many of the concepts of high-performance that Boles shared with attendees came from his playing days (he was a receiver for the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers). What might not have been expected was Boles setting the stage for his presentation by discussing oak trees. Yes, oak trees. Boles said that while most people look at the beauty and strength of oak trees from a distance, what’s impressive about oak trees are the hundreds, maybe thousands, of acorns in an oak tree that undergo an amazing journey to becoming an oak tree. For example, oak trees grow the strongest in the winter, so in places like Colorado (where Boles's daughter was attending college) in cold, snowy climates. 

"What was amazing is that that tree was 300 years old, meaning it not only survived, but thrived in 300 Colorado winters," said Boles. "During wintertime the tree had to work twice as hard below the surface to thrive above the surface."

Boles drew a parallel of this struggle to grow under adversity to present-day businesses that learned how to adapt and grow during the challenges of COVID-19.