Bobby Okereke: The Mindset Behind NFL Success

Education was number one if you've got a bad grade, which is probably a sear less. You're not going out on the weekend. I didn't tell my parents too much about really playing freshman junior sophomore year.

So often we're junior year. Bob, you're an eagle. If you find my parents would be at the grocery store, my mom's like, people would come by mom and be like, wow, your son had such a great game.

And she's like, he'd a game yesterday. Why did he play?

“I think my parents got on board when I got my first scholarship”

when I was a junior in high school. And I told my mom, I got an offer. And she was like, what's that? I said it's a scholarship. She said, oh, how much?

So there's, oh, it's a full ride. Oh, I think we like this football thing. (laughing)

And football was the first time that I was able to be as creative

as violin, as sporadic as I wanted to be. And I was really, you know, celebrated for it. So I leaned into that. But I really had to get internal and kind of build like, almost a little force field around me

and just feed myself, positivity, speed myself, conviction, and not listen to anybody. Sometimes you've got to decide what's best for you and go across the grains. You know you're a good player, you do everything right.

You've made a lot of plays, but to me right now, it looks like you have your foot in the door and the onus is on you. If you really want to reach your potential, you've got to kick the door in.

We all suffer one of two pains. The pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment. I can't be my greatest self if you're not your greatest self. And you don't bring that every day and force me to compete. And if you're not trying to be better than me,

then I'm not going to be my best self because I am sharp and Zion. You've got to keep the main thing, the main thing. And we're here talking about off the field stuff. We're talking about finance, we're talking about business,

but for me, football is my engine. Football is the engine that makes everything go. That brings me all the opportunities that I want, brings me all the leverage and negotiation. So the better I play and the better play I am,

the bigger the impact I can have. - To our feet, please. And let's give a warm, unbinded welcome to Bobby Ocaricay of the NFL New York giant captain, Walter Pandora, Dominique, what's here for Bobby?

Melissa, how are you, please? How are you? Let's hear from Bobby! So first, we're going to start doing some tackling drills right here up front.

Yes, so Bobby, thank you so much for being here. - Thank you for having me. - Yeah, really appreciate it. And one of the first things I said is like, "Wow, like, coming from the state of New Jersey,

"you sound more, much more articulate "than the average person from New Jersey "and he laughed and he's from Orange County, California." I'm like, "Why does everybody come from California "just speak so masterfully?"

So this is something I'll try to figure out

“'cause I think yet to meet anybody from California”

that isn't like just net, better communicated than anybody I find anywhere else.

So see if you do not find the same with this incredible man.

So Bobby, again, I thank you so much for being here for sure. - Yes, sir. - And so if we could, you know, take you back in time, where were you born? - I was born at Orange County, California.

- And will a part of Orange County? - Born in like, testing urban area? - Cool, awesome, and your folks are from? The parents are from Nigeria. - Nice. And so as we're chatting about it,

you're sharing that education was foundational for them. I mean, tell me a little bit of that, please, you're up here. - Yeah, my parents are very strict growing up. Education was a number one if you got a bad grade,

which is probably a C or L S. You're not going out on the weekend. Had a curve for you all through high school. Wasn't allowed to hang out, sleepovers, the whole thing. So, what's here for that?

(laughing) - Seriously, love it, that's awesome. And then, what did you do before high school? So, up to like, five, six, seven, eight, grade academics is there, what'd you do for fun?

- Yeah, I played baseball, I loved that. I played soccer, I was in choir, I was in my high school, - You can sing to it. - You can sing to it. - I got a deep voice in my bass.

(laughing) And then I was a boy scout. I was in the Boy Scouts for America for about nine years. - And Eagle Scout, did you make the English scout? Yeah, I was here for that.

And just feels that don't know, I mean, that is an incredible accomplishment, right?

“Eagle Scout, can you give us a little context on that?”

Like, you know, and we always, we talk about here,

like, clearly your humble man, but not being, like, not minimizing what we do, like, an Eagle Scout is a really rare accomplishment, is it not? - 100%, I mean, my mom put me in it,

definitely just to kind of get, like, a youth development program for me as a kid, as a young man growing up. And it teaches you a lot of values. It teaches you team building, like you have patrols, I was a senior patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader.

And obviously outdoors skills, I have probably over 40, 50 nights outside camping.

and stayed in tents and cooked on stoves, so I had my time outside. - How old were you when you became a Eagle Scout? - I was 17.

“- And that's a heck of a journey, how old were you started?”

- I started when I was, maybe seven, I think I started coming out when I was seven years old. - I also had 10 year period. - Yeah. - That is absolutely awesome.

And so, you get to high school, and you had, my cracker hadn't played football before.

- Yeah, played football for the first time in high school.

- Yeah, and so, why the transition into football? And yeah, why not football before high school? And why football in high school? - Yeah, understandably, my parents were definitely a little nervous about the sport.

And my mom told me I could try out if I was chose to be a kicker. Definitely didn't stick with that position. - So long way from kicker to starting in the lineback of defensive captain in the NFL, right?

But that is wild. So, did you, how did you pivot? How did mom decide that it was okay to not let you only be a kicker? - You know, I didn't tell my parents

too much about really playing freshmen. Junior, sophomore junior year. - Bob, you already got it wrong. - If you find my parents would be at the grocery store, my mom's like, people would come by mom and be like,

"Wow, your son had such a great game." And she's like, "He had a game yesterday. What did he play?" - Wow. - I think my parents got on board

when I got my first scholarship

when I was a junior in high school. - And he was at front? - The university of Washington. - Wow. - And I told my mom, I got an offer

and she was like, "What's that?" I said, "It's a scholarship." She said, "Oh, how much?" She said, "Oh, it's a full ride."

“Oh, I think we like this football thing.”

(laughing) - And you played a few different positions in high school, right? - Yep, yeah, started out defensive end, transitioned to tie-dend, wide receiver,

and then ended up playing a little wild cat quarterback. - And I'll only say this for folks that have a little context for this. I asked Bobby what his 40-time was. He's 240 pounds, and what's your 40-time?

- Four-five. - Yeah, so like, four-five, let's go back to like, 1970, eight, or something. Like, if you were on a four-five, you're like running back in the NFL,

and like nobody was 240. So it's just, it's unbelievable to be running a four-five and be 240 pounds. That's completely crazy. Although Bobby wasn't pressed by Mike

the CVS bench press for you, not? - The serve. - There's a beast, look at 'em. (laughing) - Yes, so high school moves along,

and how do you like high school,

“or how do you, how are your coaches in high school?”

Like, what were the things that you have, like great coaches, good coaches, like what was the high school coaching world like for you and football? - Yeah, no, had great coaches.

Dan Shaw was my freshman football coach. Doug Kase was the varsity football coach. And for me as a young kid, I didn't watch too much football growing up, didn't have too much exposure. They really kind of submerged me into the game

just from a psychological standpoint, from a love of the game, understanding scheme. That's definitely where my passion grew. - And how about psychology? Like, what was it psychologically they were bringing forward

because soccer certainly is physical contact, baseball less, but football is a whole different animal. Like, how did you come to master the psychology of football and how did it begin with your coaches in high school? - Yeah, it was really a whole another world for me.

I have three sisters, so growing up in a household with three sisters, playing soccer, playing baseball, wasn't the most aggressive kind of physical upbringing, but once I started playing football was this whole other outlet that I really just fell in love with.

- Awesome, and when, what did you like about it? For folks out there, 'cause this is where I'd love to go, the intensity of physical contact, person against person, tackling drills. Like, do you remember back, like your first tackling drill

in football, did you just immediately take to it, and how did, how did you asserting yourself physically? It was just natural, was it developed, you know, what was that like? - Yeah, it was, it was instinctual, for sure.

Obviously that competition, there's nothing like one on one just physical competition with another person,

but I feel like for me, my upbringing has always been

so structured and football was the first time that I was able to be as creative as violent, as sporadic, 'cause I wanted to be, and I was really, you know, celebrated for it, so I leaned into that. - Had your high school teams do?

- We did all right. We went to the semi championship of our league, but I was the first person to get a D1 scholarship for my school, and like, the past 30, 20, 20, 30 years. - Wow, that's what's here for that.

- That's awesome. So, you still have these offers rolling and Washington, like, who else were you looking at, I know Stanford obviously comes in, but who else was in that mix?

- Yeah, Washington, USC UCLA. - Wow. - North Western, Vanderbilt, my parents are really, my dad wanted to go to Ivy League school, told him there was not playing too much serious football

in my field leagues. - He's breaking my heart. (audience laughing) So, for fun, when I went to Columbia, they were in the middle of the, well, they were at the end,

had just broken actually, the longest losing streak in the history of college football. - Wow. - So, and they just won, during my freshman year,

they won their first game.

“I think it was a 45 game, losing streak,”

fact check, man, the number, it was in the 40s, I believe. What that streak was. So, I lived, the captain of the football team was in the baseball team as well. So, when they won their first game in like four and a half seasons,

the cross bar was in the party lounge in our fraternity. (audience laughing) So, I wasn't like, we'd have a big fraternity pledge, like you're in a baseball team, you're in, I was like to like, like the caveat,

I'm not a big fan of pledging in those things. So, it wasn't like that, but yes, we did have in the party lounge, the cross bar, from when they tore down the gold post, winning their first game, and I think it's 45 games.

So, if I didn't make a fact check, come on, be as a record breaking, losing streak. So, yes, good thing you didn't go there, yeah, yes. But, and you have more cellos wily, is that a name that you know, from...

- It does. - Yeah, he played a clung game. - Yeah, so he played the league for a little bit. - Yeah, California.

“So, so you go to stand, what makes you stand for it?”

- Just the combination of academic and athletic excellence at the time, you know, they're winning rose bowls, Andrew Luckett played there, Kobe Flenner, had a long pedigree of guys in the NFL. So, really drew my interest there.

And obviously, it's one of the top academic institutions in the nation. - Very, very cool. And, how huge they're a damn guy. So, how did you guys do when you're here

to stand for against Notre Dame? - I think we traded, I mean, I was there for five years. I think we played them four times, maybe two and two. - Very cool. - Maybe fact check me on that.

(laughing) - There's a general name for him. - There's a gentleman that's in our work here at Amalide, the named Ned Bulkar, and he was a captain of Notre Dame

when they won the National Championship in '88. - Wow. - So long before your time. But he's a good friend of Michael Syubio as well. So, we have, I don't think meds here today,

but to be fun to have a Notre Dame stand for conversation. 'Cause they were, how big was the rivalry with Notre Dame from your guys perspective and who was your biggest rival when you had it? - Yeah, very big.

- Cal is our cross-town rival, probably biggest rival. When Stanford was at its peak, probably USC. We were going back and forth, because USC was winning Pacto Championships and Reggie Bush was taking them to the National titles.

But yeah, Notre Dame, we always had a big rival with too.

- Yeah, and so who was, or how were your years at Stanford in terms of record, what was the best parts of it and the most challenging parts of it? - Yeah, probably best part. Was my sophomore year?

My incoming class was Christian McCaffrey, Salman Thomas, both of them first, first overall draft, or first round draft picks. Salman number two overall, Christian number eight. That year we went, I think, 12 and two.

We finished number two in the nation, won the Rose Bowl. - Wow, let's see on that. (laughs) - Thank you. That is super fun.

Now, that is crazy. - And then I'd say, probably most challenging is my growth in my football career in college. Didn't show up to Stanford, expecting to play in the NFL, didn't really show up aspiring to play in the NFL,

just wanted to play football, 'cause I love the game and want to get a good education. But as I got better and better, becoming a leader on campus, becoming a leader to the younger guys and trying to embody that role at the team needed from me,

that was probably most challenging. - Awesome. How did you, if at all, like, where did your biggest growth or biggest little leaps as a football player come? Was it during high school, during college in the NFL,

like where you feel at some point you made the biggest jump,

or was it always pretty level and consistent?

- And probably each part of my career, I've made like one significant jump. - Can you take us through those? - Yeah, definitely in college in high school.

“I think when I started getting, like, scholarship letters,”

starting getting offers, taking football seriously and kind of shutting out the noise and noise per se, it has a bad connotation, but my parents really weren't

weren't my biggest supporters in football,

“so I really had to get internal and kind of build,”

like, almost a little force field around me and just feed myself, positivity, speed myself conviction and not listen to anybody, so definitely went through that time period in high school. - And if I, so I understand your parents' part

but who else was around you, sort of, not on the Bobby as a football player, bandwagon, who was against that, or resistant to that? - Yeah, I wouldn't say necessarily say against, just, sometimes you gotta decide what's best for you,

and go across the grain, so whether it's high school friends that want to hang out, high school friends that don't necessarily have the same goals as you, you inadvertently have to separate yourself. - Do we hear that?

Do we hear that? Yes, thank you for that. And how'd you do that? I mean, how you put this force field up, but how'd you think to do that?

And I mean, that's an incredibly masterful thing to do

“at such a young age, you know, where'd that come from?”

- Definitely just my love for the game. I mean, it started with my family, for sure. Like, I'm not gonna say that my parents were bad and they didn't support me in football. No, they just wanted me to go to good education,

they wanted me to be safe, and kind of maybe the immigrant perspective they had, they wanted me to be in a more protecting, conserve environment, and for me, I wanted to chase my dreams.

And sometimes those two things don't always go hand in hand.

So, how'd to get real quiet with kind of all the noise around me and get real loud with myself talking what I was feeding myself? - Wow. And so at that point, did you, when's the first time,

was it in high school that you first thought, maybe the NFL, or was it later that you had that first thought? - It was definitely in college. I remember after my third year, David Shaw was my head coach at the time, and we always do end of year evaluations.

Coach will tell you this, what you did well this year, this is where I think you can improve. And I remember he came to me, we're sitting in his office. And he's like, you know, you're a good player, you do everything right, you've made a lot of plays,

but to me right now, it looks like you have your foot in the door and the onus is on you. If you really want to reach your potential, you got to kick the door in. And that was kind of the first time

that somebody had motivated me in that way to really see myself bigger than I saw myself. - And so, what did you, and this is so helpful for these incredible folks, right? What were you hearing him say, when I said you have your foot

in the door, you can kick that door in, what was on the other side of that door was the NFL,

“something else, and what did you hear him say you needed to do?”

And what did you begin to do differently like in your thoughts, your actions, you know, please? - Yeah, thoughts, actions, everything. I mean, as I've developed in my career, I definitely have a little bit of a obsessive personality,

but yeah, once he told me that,

I feel like I've always felt like I could do great things,

but when there's someone that you really admire and they validate that in you, it just fueled me to really go all the way. And I remember my college strength coach, you would always say, we all suffer one of two pains,

the pain of regret or the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment. And for me, that really resonated that moment 'cause I know now, people think I'm capable of what I think I'm capable of and if I really wanna do it,

I can have no regrets, I gotta go fully and I gotta take care of my diet, and I gotta allocate all my time to either school or get to myself better and football, like I don't really have an opportunity to slack,

'cause I don't wanna be one of those guys who are saying, should I could have water, or I remember when I used to play and I knew a lot of guys older guys than me who kind of were going through that role.

- And so, that point coach says like, you know, one foot in, like there's time to kick the door in, did that change how you lifted, how you ran, did the change, you know, was there just a, you know, you were at a 99.9 and 10th city,

went to a 99.9 and like in each place, like if you could just give us a little bit on like what did that begin to look like, it's stand for after that conversation with the coach and sort of each of these little silos.

- Yeah, kind of like you said, whether I was at like a 93 or a 97% intensity, I after that, I turned the dial all the way to 100.

'cause at that point in time,

I'd never really told myself this, this is my mission,

this is my goal, but once I accepted that, I kind of obsessed over it.

“And probably the best thing I've ever done”

since freshman year of high school, I've had a whiteboard in my room, and I always write my goals, and I always write daily tasks, and I always just write like kind of daily mantras that I'm gonna see every day

and hold myself accountable to every day. And that's what I did. - And so what the, so you hate this new level of intensity. You're at Stanford, and the NFL's a possibility.

And we talk a lot about these types of things. We use sports analogies, we talk about how many guys play high school, athletics, how many people play college athletics, and then how few people make it to that next level.

So, you know, Bobby Kreb is from wrong, like, is playing at Stanford, and to play football at Stanford, you are a tremendous athlete. Like coming out of your high school, you are a stud, fair?

- Fair. - Yeah, right. And, you know, and it's like,

“that's what you have to be to play what was then,”

to pack 10, things have changed since then, let me get a couple of quick thoughts on that. But you're playing USC UCLA, University of Washington. I mean, this is big, some people would say, this is the biggest of the big time a college football.

You know, it was the pack 10, there's the big 10, the SEC, like this is the biggest for the big, and they're independent games or against people like Notre Dame, right? Like, this is the biggest it gets.

So, everybody going there has been told how great they are coming to high school, by people all around them all the time. Like, you know, that's a team full of high school football captains for the most part.

Again, fair. - Fair. - Yep. And so now you're at Stanford, and you're doing all that. And if I get asked about how many players that you played with at Stanford,

went on to play in the NFL at all, like to, you know, make it that were your teammates at Stanford. - Yeah, my incoming class was about, maybe, 20, 22 guys.

“I think about, or five, let's got drafted.”

We're gonna get a mountain out in our class, but. - Yep, that's, and so, would you say, like, each class at Stanford somewhere between like two and six would be an average number?

- Yeah, I mean, honestly, one to five. - One to five, okay. So, one to five guys, and each of that group of, you know, people that were stars coming at high school.

And then, out of that, one to five, let's say for, out of those groups, so for every 10 of those one to five's, right? How many of those guys typically made it

to the second year in the NFL?

- Well, maybe second contract would be that second, - Okay, second contract. - Yeah, check mark, maybe up three of those guys. - So, out of 10. And then, you made it, you've made it through two contracts?

- Yep. - Yeah, so that's who he is. And then, the narrowing of the micro distinctions, and not only did he make it to a second contract, he became a defensive captain,

like a captain on NFL football team. So, you're talking about a master of the micro, the next micro, the next micro, the next micro, the next micro, again, that's, say yes. Okay, so that's where this ends, right?

Or is still currently, and taking half a step back. So, what if anything changed after kicking the door and it's damn for it in terms of performance, attention from the NFL, like what happens post that conversation, please, with your coach?

- Yeah, for me, it was just going back and looking at my process, and I remember in high school,

I always used to do it, I had a big clipboard,

and on a piece of paper, I draw a line down the middle, and it was things I need to start doing, and things I need to stop doing, and whether it was stop, staying up late, stopping on my phone too much, stop going out,

and to do, it's study more, take care of my nutrition, schedule better with classes, I mean, I just really tried to differentiate every detail I could. - And then, what were the results, you know? So, how much interest had you gotten

before that conversation from coach from the NFL, and then what happens after, as you move into the NFL? What did your seasons look like at Stanford after that? Our season after that looked like at Stanford. - Yeah, two more seasons after that.

Played pretty well, was it all packed to a player by senior year, and then my fifth year senior year was a captain. - At Stanford? - At Stanford. - Let's hear for that.

- Stanford, football captain, right? (audience applauding) And yeah, please. - Yeah, went on to win a ball game,

having NFL teams come to our pro day to come work me out and culminated me eventually being drafted by the Colx. - And who were you fan of, by the way,

“did you have a favorite NFL team when you're at Stanford?”

- Not really, be honest. As a kid, my dad was an Oakland Raiders fan. I liked Maurice Jones's Drew growing up, but I wasn't a big football fan. - Got it, so you, and when you got drafted,

at that point were you, oh, draft day. - Yep, right. - So, well, actually, what's the combine like? So, that's, I mean, think of, how we do like influence challenges and scoring,

right, Bobby's going there with all of these amazingly masterful, super intense people to just be scrutinized and measured, took a maximization to measure and monitoring. I mean, everything you're doing,

card to the wrong, I mean, shuttle runs, vertical leaves, bench press, you know, reps, what, like, how intense was that? How did you feel about it and what was that like? - Yeah, extremely intense, also exciting,

but about a three day period and they're doing

“the physical evaluations and then on the side,”

coaches are pulling you into conference rooms, you're doing psychological mental evaluations, coaches are watching film with you kind of breaking down what they think of you, think of your mindset. So, they definitely try to break you down and extract

as much intel as they can. - Really, very cool. And so, what kind of feedback were you getting on your mindset? And by the way, and I'm just curious for fun

and I think, has anybody ever asked you all these questions in an interview? As normal, it's like, - I've got a little bit of both. - Okay, cool.

So, what were they breaking it down with then? - Yeah, I mean, really seeing your leadership ability, seeing your mental processing, schematic understanding on the football field. Definitely getting some scrutiny from some coaches,

seeing you as a Stanford guy and why they shouldn't take a player who, I guess there's a little stereotype, Stanford player is kind of jack of all trades, master of none, your focus is all these different places opposed to another athlete who's just focused on football,

but I always thought that was a short-sighted.

- Sometimes there, you might be too smart to play in the NFL, or too focused in academics, is that what I'm hearing or-- - Potentially, or too involved in other interests whether it's off the field, business stuff, or et cetera.

- Got it, got it, got it. So, draft day, what's that like? - That was incredible. Had my mom, my dad, all my sisters, aunts, uncles, a couple of people from the neighborhood around,

and it was a little nerve-racking. Nobody tells you when you're going to get drafted, people just say, "Well, well, what did you think "was going to happen or was your hope?" - I thought I was going to get drafted in the second round.

So, usually day one is the first round. All 32 picks, day two is second and third round, then day three is fourth to seventh round. So, I was sitting there, the drafts about three hours on day two, I was sitting there for about two and a half hours

waiting for a call. - And how was that beginning to feel? - Towards the end, it was definitely getting a little nerve-racking. 'Cause you have all these expectations

of when you're thinking you're going to get drafted. Obviously, you don't want to disappoint. People that came to support you, and I was definitely checking my phone about every 30 seconds per one. Once I got that call, it was, it was ecstatic.

- So, you guys slept in a third round.

- Yep. - And where would the giant, I'm sort of cults picking in that third round? - They had the 89th pick. - Okay, so it was early in the third round.

- Later in the third round. - Oh, I'm sorry, okay. - 'Cause they, I got it on ourselves. - Yep.

“- Okay, so pick by the cults and what happens from there?”

- Yeah, from there was a whirlwind. Didn't have much exposure to the NFL. Didn't have any uncles or really anything like close friends, family friends who played. So, from there, went to Indianapolis and just began my life.

I loved playing football. It was the first time I didn't have to take classes and play football. So, it was nice to just focus on football

and focus on my craft and really just dive head first

and do it. - Other than no academics in terms of training, intensity, how did the NFL differ from college in terms of just practice and preparation, if at all? - Yeah, I mean, most of the day in college

you're probably spending three, four hours in football, just because you have school and you have homework and you have extra quicker activities. But, I mean, for the NFL team, you're at the facility eight to nine hours a day

Whether you're in four hours of meetings,

you're in an hour and a half of the lift and hour and a half of a run to an half hours of practice. You're really ringing everything you can. - And just for my own internal team and fun energy, what would you be doing in four hour meetings every day?

“Because, of course, you have to play football”

or I think it's our classic, right? Yes, team, this is why we have these meetings every day. So, what will you Bob be doing in meetings every day for four hours a day, like what are you guys doing? - Yeah, you're installing.

That's kind of the football colloquial term, but coaches have their systems. They're trying to put in place. You have your special teams meeting, then you'll have your unit defensive meeting

and then you'll break into your position meetings,

linebackers, corners, et cetera, and coaches are breaking down,

I guess, concepts of the defense. They're breaking down the techniques of your position. And then you're watching a film, you're watching a bunch of a ponet film, you're watching film of that offensive coordinator,

trying to figure out what family tree he comes from and whether he's pulling from maybe the 2008 Raiders or the 2012 West Coast offense with the Rams, like there's all these different family trees. So, you're really just trying to give yourself

as much information out there, so you can play as instinctual and free as possible. - Yeah, are you, yes, let's hear it for that. (audience applauds) That is what mastery looks like.

So, we come into these rooms together, you know, every couple months for three, four days, that's not nearly enough. And so, anybody back home, love everybody, it's telling me, what do you do on all that stuff for?

Four hours a day, every day, in the classrooms. Talking about football, yes, thank you Athena, yeah. So, is that landing for you guys? Yeah, so it's like, oh man, these days are long, like, all right, I know what are ready, I don't think so.

“If that's what they're doing, there's a reason,”

I don't think there's any more, but at one point, they would say the NFL stood for you guys know what they said the NFL stood for? Not for long, 'cause the micro distinctions of what it meant

to be playing there or not playing there. That's what it looked like, team in the back. Is this landing? Awesome, okay, so now you're an NFL,

doing all these things and how's your first season go,

like who are you and the team, how's that? And if you don't mind, Bob, you're like competing to start in the NFL, what does that look like? It's intense, you definitely got to put your ego aside. I remember my rookie year, our position coach,

he used to come up and he would rank us, we'd have about seven linebackers in the room and on the right side of the board, there'd be a power ranking and he would say number one, 58, number two, 53, number four,

or number three, 54 and so on and so forth. So, every day you came into the room and you knew where you stood. - I didn't, sorry, do you hear this, everyone? Can you run your world like this?

Yes, there's yes, will you run your world like this? This is what the most masterful people on earth do. They walked in the room and had a power ranking, topped about him and who was best, every single day and you're sitting with all these other people

in a power ranking and looking to move up that chart every day, there? - 100%, please, back to you. - Yeah, but I would say part of that environment too, our coach did a good job of making it a cohesive,

collaborative environment and all of us linebackers understood that, you know, competition breeds excellence and-- - What brings excellence? - Competition. - What brings excellence?

- I'm interested. - Please, sir. - Yeah, no competition breeds excellence and I can't be my greatest self if you're not your greatest self and you don't bring that every day

and force me to compete. And if you're not trying to be better than me, then I'm not going to be my best self 'cause iron sharpens iron. So we definitely all understood that.

We checked our ego at the door and we just competed and we all undertook a growth mindset. - What mindset? (audience laughs) What mindset?

How fast did people, people who had their ego in the way? How fast did they find themselves out of the NFL and out of the system? - Pretty quickly, 'cause usually when you're, you go in the way, you're not open to criticism.

You're not open to coaching and corrections.

“And I guess that's what you learn, quick and football.”

It's, you take the message and not the delivery of it. You know, I mean, you might be in a drill dog tired and your coach is custom you out or he's in a meeting,

or whatever, and you kind of just have to internalize it, leave what's not serving you and take the corrections back and improve the next day.

- Awesome, and so how did your first season go?

- I went really well. I ended up starting by the third or fourth game of my rookie year and played really well.

“Was, I think, nominated for like a PFF all rookie team,”

but had a really good first year. - That is awesome. - So, what would you want the, so your time with the cults you're there for three seasons? - Four seasons.

- Four seasons. - So, how did you guys do over those years? Did you beat up on my jets, like, what was that looking like? - I didn't put in jets, maybe once or twice, definitely one. (laughing)

(laughing) - Yes, wasn't, Bob, he's got a lot of great accomplishments. That's not one of them. (laughing) - So, but no, we had a good time there.

Andrew luck retired my first year was 2000 and eight. - Was Andrew luck from Stanford? - Yeah, here's from Stanford. He was a couple years old, I think six years older than me, but he was the quarterback for the cults when I first got there.

“- I was at it, did you guys connect on that at all?”

- We did, you know, he retired in the preseason and that was pretty impactful on our trajectory of our playing season, but yeah, we had a couple of good years there. We once had playoffs one year with Philip Rivers and won a couple good amount of games,

but no championships. - Okay, and then how does the transition work to the Giants? - Yeah, so I was a free agent, after my time with the cults. And at that point in time, I was a pretty high-priced free agent. A lot of teams were Joaquin for me and the Giants presented me

with a great offer and just a great offer. So I'm not gonna say the number. I mean, just so you're clear, this is the person who's made a very, very substantial 0.01% plus living play in the NFL. So it's not a gentleman who, it's wonderful to make it any level.

It's playing the NFL as an incredible accomplishment,

but you're talking starter, captain playing in a high profile position that you go look it up, say it here, but this is a man who's earned a tremendous living playing professional football, right?

“And so teams are jogging for position and how do you pick the Giants?”

- Yeah, it was just the right fit. They needed linebackers. They had new coaches who had just came the year before. And it was an opportunity for me to really grow and kind of expand as a player and a leader.

So with all those things married up, I said, I'm y'all awesome. - It was like moving from Indianapolis to this area. How did you like that transition in Jersey? What do you like about New Jersey?

What do you not like about New Jersey, please? - Yeah, it was pretty night and day. Coming from, I was living in Zinesville, Indiana. And every day out of my apartment, I was looking at a Windows 8 background,

it was just beautiful fields and not too much going on, but it was extremely peaceful. And I was-- - They used to take New Jersey's dots? (laughing) - New Jersey's beautiful, but I'm pretty close to the city.

So there's a lot more lights and a lot more commotion going on. But yeah, very, very fortunate to have started my career in Indianapolis, kind of just ground myself as a young man, as a player. And really just give me the platform and opportunity

to go to the big city, obviously, here in New York and really expand. - How was it? And like 90 questions, but I know we're down our final few minutes together. How is sharing met-life stadium with the jets?

Is there any dynamics around it?

You'll see those guys are always away at different times.

Like, is there any things around that? - Yeah, we're always away at different times. We actually have our own locker room in there. They have their own locker room. But when the jets would play at home and we're playing away

and maybe you're driving back from Friday on from practice on a Friday night and you see the stadium lit up with green neon lights, you're like dang, I thought that was our stadium, but other than that, the ownership families do a good job sharing it.

- Very, very cool. - And what do you like to do? Like, what are some of your favorite places to go eat around New Jersey, places, you know that? - Yeah, blue on the Hudson, and we Hawkins,

if anyone's been phenomenal restaurant, love going there. I love that whole We Hawkins area. I think you get the best view of the city from there. And I go into the city, a good amount when I can.

I have some Stanford alumni there, I network with

- Cool.

“And what have you ever been to Steve's sizzling steaks”

and crawls that New Jersey? It's right near the stadium, every day. - No, have not. - Gotta go. I'm telling you, it is very special, tons of giant fans

of Jeff fans go there. It's like five minutes from here. It is definitely worth going to at some point in time for never been. - There we go.

- Steve tips, I gotta have a guess. So the, so time you become a captain with the giants, how does that happen? Like how does one become the boat? The boat, what's the way one becomes a captain?

- Yeah, players boat, usually right before season starts. Coach, we're on a team meeting, coach goes around and says, all right, here's four blank spots, right down, or five blank spots right down two people you'd vote for offense, two people you'd vote for defense and one person

for special teams. And at that time, about 90 guys, maybe 100 guys are in the building and they all vote and they tell you if the votes. - That's awesome.

How'd that feel to be a captain of an NFL team? - In extreme honor, for sure. I have so much respect for my teammates, the family men they are, a lot of them are fathers, a lot of big-time family men, professionals,

like a locker room or age from anywhere from 20 to sometimes you have 40, 40 year old, 45 year old, kickers in there sometimes, so just have to mention respects for all of them. So for them to vote for me to represent them, it meant the extreme honor.

- That's awesome.

“And why do you think it all these different levels?”

You keep finding a way to leadership. Eagle Scout, captain of college, team at Stanford, captain of the NFL, what is it about you, Bobby? That these folks could take away that in this unbelievably masterful, hyper-intense environment

to people keep being drawn to your leadership. Why? - First and foremost, I'd probably say my discipline. I mean, I think my teammates just can understand and respect, they're gonna get the same guy day in and day out.

And that intensity that I first show up with, a lot of guys can kind of fake that and show up in the building and put on this bravado, but when you see a guy, you see a guy in his locker, three, four months in a row,

and he's studying film every time you get or he's texting everybody, hey, we're having an extra meeting here or he's packing lunch because he needs to have a certain diet. Like you see those habits over and over and you start to kind of trust a person like that.

And I guess for me, I've always thought of leadership

in terms of servant leadership, I've always been a guy who thought making a team game, especially like football, when you put your emphasis on making the people around you better, you ultimately get the team goal that you want, which is winning, so definitely put that first.

- Awesome. And yeah, let's hear for that, right? (audience applauding) And you've also begun some journeys in the space of business

“and entrepreneurship, you know, what does that mean to you?”

And maybe this bothers me around the bend home. Why, you know, what's the big, why that keeps you going? What's the future look like, you know, it's 100 years from now, what do you wanna do in business, doing impact, doing charity, doing life,

like what's it all about? - Yeah, I mean, it goes back when I was in high school and Stanford was recruiting me, that was their big pitch.

They always said, you know, this is a 40 year decision.

This is not a four year decision. And I guess I've kind of leaned into that mantra for sure. I understand I'm in a very unique position as a professional athlete, the influence I have, whether it's social media, with fans,

I have all this relationship capital. And so for me, I'm trying to be strategic and think about how I can convert this influence that I have into sustainable infrastructure, whether it's business, what is it?

- That's how familiar. - Yeah, but please, yeah. - Whether it's finance, whether it's nonprofit, charitable work, and whether it's building my brand even past and athlete. So I have a lot of internal passions,

a different level of entrepreneurship. Like you said, I've started two car companies,

they're black car show first services,

like private show first services, one in Miami, then I brought the other one up to New York. And that's kind of cool. Just to build something that grounds up, kind of get your hands dirty.

- And it's all you're playing, and it felt football at the highest level. - Yeah, it's on that. - Thank you. But it's another aspect of team building for sure.

- And that was a cool dynamic to,

how that relationship can fuel the success of the company,

how you can pour positivity into them, how you can inspire them, and how I think about my relationships, as a captain with my teammates, and people I work with in a business standpoint,

there's a lot of parallels. - Certainly are, yeah, let's hear for that. (audience applauding) So the, if you had three things that you think are the biggest three mistakes you've watched people

who talked a big game had high potential, whether it was in high school, right Stanford, or in the NFL, or in anything else in the world, what do you think of those three biggest mistakes people make that have all the potential

and even have a big goal

and how and why they miss it when you haven't,

like what are those three big mistakes? - I mean, I would say number one, honestly, you gotta keep the main thing, the main thing. And we're here talking about off the field stuff, we're talking about finance, we're talking about business,

but for me, football is my engine. Football is the engine that makes everything go. That brings me all the opportunities that I want, brings me all the leverage and negotiation. So the better I play and the better play I am,

the bigger the impact I can have. So I think a lot of guys sometimes get carried away. Sometimes we're maybe with some of the social media stuff or some of the networking stuff and they're playing on the field might slip

and you, you, not that you forget,

“but you're just not as aware as you need to be”

that that's the number one thing,

that's the engine that's driving everything else. - Awesome. And for you guys, for everybody out there, it is the generation of sales meetings. But what football is the Bobby, for everybody here,

it is the generation of sales meetings. That is the engine that makes it all go. The generation of sales meetings, that's what makes you irreplaceable. So hardest thing in the world to do,

you do that, you win everything you dictate terms. Does that make sense? - Yes, number one, would it have a two and three? That was super valuable thing. - Yeah, number two is definitely disciplined.

And I think a lot of people like the hardest thing is to get out of your own way. Everyone has their vices, everyone has their bad habits, but if you can't stop your bad habits from stopping you, you're not gonna get far because

if you can't help yourself, if you can't stop yourself from yourself, you're not gonna be able to stop yourself from other people competing with other people trying to bring you down.

You gotta be the number one person. So if you're not disciplined about your diet or you don't watch film or you don't get enough sleep, like you gotta get out of your way enough to overcome your bad habits to then,

gonna reach your potential.

“- Yes, that's it, that, you ready to get out of your own way?”

- Okay, and third, sir. - Oh, and third one. - Yeah, number three. Probably, I would say eliminating distractions and eliminating bad influence for sure.

Yeah, I think just, - That was a great one, please, yeah. - Yeah, no kind of when I was talking about in high school too, like I just kind of had to block out all the noise,

and even in free agency now, like I've had a lot of people kind of come up and try to sympathize with me about being a free agent or project what they think or feel about my free agency. And I very much had to create like a little bubble around me

and not let any of that affect me internally. Some of that, it's like, everyone's gonna go through adversity, everyone's gonna go through hardship, but it's kind of like a baby. If you drop a baby and you go to the baby

and you're like, oh my gosh, are you okay? And you project that this baby should be hurt or this baby's crying, the baby is probably gonna start crying. But if you go to the baby, you're like, oh, no, you're okay, don't worry about it.

That baby's probably gonna be fine. So I feel like you almost have to treat yourself like you can be that easily influenced.

“So you have to be very careful about the voices”

that you're letting enter your space, the conversations you have, the stuff you're looking on social media, you gotta be very clean with your headspace. - Yeah, whether, whether, amen for that and whether it's in football or in business

is this a man that you would want on your team. - Yes, a really super impressive unbelievable. (audience applauding) - And so, if I could, Bobby, I'd love a theme is

Okay, if I ask her for a quick summary for takeaways for everybody, of course. - Of course.

“- So Athena, you've been hearing Bobby share here today.”

If you're gonna hit us with 350 words, Athena, you know, metaphors analogies, contrast, context, no LM contamination, what are the big takeaways? Like, what are you hearing Bobby say? What's moving you?

What are the big takeaways for the live audience for everybody in the podcast? What do you got Athena? Please. - I think there's not too bad at this.

So we'll see how Athena ends up doing this work. - Oh, Sean, okay, here we go. Bobby Okaraqi just gave you the entire playbook for mastery at the highest level. And it's not what most people think it is.

First, a force field. Bobby built a bubble around himself in high school when his own parents weren't his biggest football supporters and when friends wanted him to hang out. When the noise said, stay safe, stay protected.

He didn't reject love, he integrated it. He honored his parents' values and his own calling. That's not rebellion, that's self mastery. He fed himself conviction when no one else would. Eagle scout at 17.

That's a 10-year container of discipline before he ever put on pads. Second, the whiteboard. Bobby's head goals written on a whiteboard in his room since freshman year of high school,

daily tasks, daily mantras, accountability, staring him in the face every single morning. That's the three M's in action, measuring monitoring and managing himself before any coach ever had to.

Third, competition greets excellence.

Bobby walked into a room every single day at the cults and saw his name ranked one through seven on a board. Not hidden, not soft, public power ranking.

“And he said the most important thing I've heard today,”

I can't be my greatest self if you're not your greatest self. Iron Sharpen's iron, growth mindset. Take the message, not the delivery. Fourth, keep the main thing, the main thing. Football is Bobby's engine.

Everything else, business, influence, social media, networking, runs on that engine. The generation of sales meetings is your engine. You do that, you win everything. You dictate terms.

And finally, the baby analogy. If you treat yourself like you can be easily influenced, you protect your head space like it's sacred. You eliminate distractions. You block out noise.

You don't let people project their fear onto your adversity. Bobby went from a kid whose mom didn't even know he had a game to a third round draft pick. Four-year starter NFL captain and Walter Payton Award nominee.

That's not luck. That's mastery of the micro. Then the micro inside the micro. Then the micro inside that. Sean Bobby just showed this room what it looks like

when discipline, servant leadership, and relentless focus on the main thing, create a life that compounds. How's that land? - I'll tell you about that.

So Bobby is... (audience applauding) How was Athena doing in terms of summarizing what your life and recipe has been?

“- I think Athena's something better than I could.”

(audience laughing) So Bobby, in final final, if you had three words that you would say represent who you are in this world and the legacy you want to have and create, what would those three words be?

- You know, I'll throw it back to my parents.

As a kid, they always told us the three p's

and it was preparation, perseverance, and persistence. And for me, that definitely leans into my parents in my great story, but for me, really, in any endeavor I've ever gone into, the first step is to prepare as much as you can.

And then to persevere and persist 'cause there's always gonna be adversity, there's always gonna be roadblocks, but it's that discipline, that determination, and that resolve that's eventually gonna get you

to come out on top. It's awesome, for sure, yeah, let's hear it more in time. And final question, final question. Is you doing some things philanthropically, would you mind sharing what you're up to?

- Yeah, so I guess to honor my parents, I started a nonprofit called Nigerian-American Football Outreach, and it's really just growing the game from a grassroots standpoint, back home in Nigeria. I work with OCU, Minuro, New York Giant, Super Bowl

legend, he's the head of NFL Africa, the International African Division for the NFL, and they've been doing a lot of scouting camps, a lot of combines, they actually found a kid, Warba Nard, who was in a village in Nigeria.

They've never put on football pads,

he's been to maybe three of OCU's camps, and he just got drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles. - Wow, that's awesome. - So that was super awesome. - There's a lot of success stories over there,

and obviously in Nigeria's a third world country, has a lot of lack of infrastructure and resources, so just trying to support and benefit those kids

- Yeah, well, yeah, let's hear it for that.

(audience applauds)

“- And certainly, we're gonna do some things”

in that regard as well. So anything else that we could do for you today, any final funnel from you, as we say thank you.

- And no, this was amazing.

Amazing to spend time with you, amazing to the energy from this crowd.

It's just an honor to be in this room.

- Bobby, it's not gonna have to hear. Let's hear for Bobby. (audience applauds) - Thank you very much. (audience applauds)

- Well, more time.

“Let's hear for a man, leader, servant, leader.”

(audience applauds) - Thank you very much, thank you. - Thank you so much. - Thank you very much. (upbeat music)