3 Qualities That Make You a National Champion
You should stop what you’re doing and watch this video. If you’ve already seen it, watch it again.
That’s Fernando Mendoza, the quarterback of the Indiana Hoosiers football team, being interviewed after Indiana defeated Ohio State to win the Big 10 championship and become the undefeated nationally top-ranked college team heading into the playoffs.
Prior to this game, Indiana had 30 consecutive annual losses to Ohio State.
I love this interview for so many reasons.
The utter, breathless joy.
The pure, authentic expression.
The insightful, thoughtful responses.
If you listen intently, you’ll notice he said three core things:
1. “It sounds so beautiful!” when asked how “Big Ten champs” sounds.
This response shows that he is emotive.
How often do you describe your team and their accomplishments the same way that you’d describe a sunset over the ocean?
Using emotive language paints compelling imagery and triggers the release of dopamine, activating desires and rewarding effort.
2.“I want to give all the glory to God. We were never supposed to be in this position, but by the glory of God, the great coaches, great teammates, everyone we have around us, we were able to pull this off. Whoever thought the Hoosiers would be here? But now the Hoosiers are flippin’ champs! Let’s go!”
Here he demonstrates that he is deflective.
How often do you refuse to take credit?
No matter how hard the interviewers tried to re-focus Mendoza on himself, he deflected.
He continued to redirect the attention toward others. This signals to everyone that the mission is bigger than one person and the credit goes to all.
3.“We’re process-oriented. We’re going day-by-day, whether it’s the offensive line, the defense, the coaches, special teams, we’re all process-oriented to one goal. That’s our thing. Because we’re brothers, we can drag teams into the deep end because we know we’re going to stick together and we’re the strongest glue ever.”
Finally, he reveals that he’s cooperative.
How often do you refer to people who work in other teams or departments in your organization as “brothers” or “the strongest glue ever”?
Look at what Mendoza is doing. He describes how aligned everyone is even though they have different jobs.
He’s essentially saying, We work together to follow the same methods toward the same goal.
This is what every organization in the world strives for.
I don’t know everything about Fernando Mendoza. I’m sure he has several flaws like the rest of us. Still, I’d vote for him, invest with him, work for him, hire him, and befriend him.
He’s what the world desperately needs.
Emotive, deflective, cooperative.
Those are my words for 2026.
How will you lead your team to a national championship next year?
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