Design Thinking: How to Build, Scale, and Upgrade Your Life Like a Product | Steve Davis Jr. | E13

Steve Davis Jr (0:00)

The NFL saying no to me was the first time in my life that I got a no in something that I expected to get a yes.

Sammy Peterson (0:07)

My next guest was a four-year starter, all Big Ten player and senior captain at the University of Minnesota. The NFL was supposed to be next, but it wasn't.

Steve Davis Jr (0:16)

All of my identity and my worth was around football. The fact that it didn't happen for me really forced me to try to figure out who I am.

Sammy Peterson (0:27)

Today, Steve Davis Jr oversees alumni engagement for over 500,000 people at the University of Minnesota. He's a certified Designing Your Life coach using the Stanford Design Thinking Methodology, and he's the founder of Strive Higher After Sports, including a product line of journals used by high performers across the country.

Steve Davis Jr (0:45)

When you go out to the real world and you're trying to do something, you don't want to fail. You don't want to be seen as a failure. But the old year helps you learn more and faster than success does.

Sammy Peterson (0:57)

So what's the hardest business decision you've had to make? And how did your athletic background shape how you handled it?

Steve Davis Jr (1:02)

This is an exclusive. So the hardest business decision I've had to make, I just made.

Sammy Peterson (1:09)

Steve, welcome to Business MVP. Wow.

Steve Davis Jr (1:12)

Welcome. Thank you. Thank you very much for bringing me on to your platform. Excited for a conversation.

Sammy Peterson (1:18)

Steve, you did everything right at Minnesota. Four-year starter, all Big Ten captain, the NFL said no.

And then you went through sales, project management, events, alumni work. What were you searching for and what finally clicked?

Steve Davis Jr (1:32)

That's a great question. You know, the NFL saying no to me was the first time in my life that I got a no in something that I expected to get a yes.

Sammy Peterson (1:43)

Oh, I love that.

Steve Davis Jr (1:44)

It was something that really pushed me down a pathway of self-discovery, because all of my identity and my worth was around football, and the idea of being an NFL player with tons of money, tons of access, tons of stature. The fact that it didn't happen for me really forced me to try to figure out who I am.

I think a lot of my career was exploration, trying out different things, getting into the experience of things that I thought that I really wanted to do, and then making pivots.

But a lot of it really boiled down to having conversations with people, specifically athletes. And as I had more conversations, conversations of regurgitating theme kept coming up in regards to identity and people being lost in identity. So that kind of steered me in the direction of figuring out what I can do to help. And it just evolved in my career, in my professional endeavors, to the point where I became an entrepreneur. But that wasn't my goal at the beginning of my post career of football. It was really trying to figure out myself. And then once I figured out athletes needed help, I was like, well, what can I do to help?

Sammy Peterson (3:12)

So what did competing in Big Ten football building you that you now use in business every day?

Steve Davis Jr (3:19)

Being in the Big Ten, competing on the highest level, getting the opportunity to have that platform and also play against the best of the best, really boosted my confidence, knowing that I was able to maintain a good level of stature there, a good level of respect there, being able to adjust and be in high pressure environments really like prepared me for whatever I was gonna do in my life and in my career.

It gave me the confidence to move in different spaces knowing that I belonged or I can find my way through it and climb that ladder to make an impact because I did that at the Big Ten. I did that in football. I also felt like what really stood out to me as my highlight of my career was being named captain my senior year unanimously by my teammates. And to me that really steered me in the direction of that I can be a leader and people can follow me and I can influence the environment. And that's something that I always look at when I go into rooms is like, I want to know everybody, I want to understand everybody's role, and eventually showcase my leadership abilities.

Sammy Peterson (4:34)