Bobby Okereke: The Mindset Behind NFL Success

24:27Sean Callagy: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? Like what did your seasons look like at Stanford or season after that looked like at Stanford? Yeah, two more seasons after that. and played pretty well, was an All-Pac-12 player my 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? And, yeah, please. Yeah, went out to win a bowl game, and then got invited to the combine, having NFL teams come to our pro day to come work me out, and culminated me eventually being drafted by the Colts.

25:15Sean Callagy:And who were you a fan of, by the way? Did you have a favorite NFL team when you were at Stanford? Not really, to be honest. As a kid, my dad was an Oakland Raiders fan. I liked Maurice Jones-Drew growing up, but I wasn't a big football fan. Got it. And when you got drafted, at that point were you – oh, draft day. Yep. Right? So 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 talk about maximization through measuring and monitoring I mean everything you're doing correct if I'm wrong I mean shuttle runs, vertical leaps, bench press, reps 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 has anybody ever asked you all these questions in an interview?

26:49Sean Callagy:I've got a little bit of both so what were they breaking you 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 is 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 on all those different places as opposed to another athlete who's just focused on football. But I always thought that was a short-sighted perspective. So sometimes you might be too smart to play in the NFL or too focused on academics.

27:37mix is that what I'm hearing or potentially or two involved in other interests whether it's off the field business stuff or etc got it got it so draft day what's that like uh that was incredible uh had my mom my dad all my sisters aunts uncles a couple people from the neighborhood around and it was a little nerve-wracking you know I mean nobody tells you when you're gonna get drafted People just say.

28:04Sean Callagy: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 draft's 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-wracking because you have all these expectations of when you think you're going to get drafted. Obviously, you don't want to disappoint people that came to support you.

28:44And I was definitely checking my phone about every 30 seconds. But once I got that call, it was ecstatic.

28:50Sean Callagy:So you got selected in the third round. Yep. And where were the Colts picking in that third round? They had the 89th pick. Okay, so it was early in the third round. uh later in the third round later i'm sorry okay yeah because they i got it i don't understand you're saying um okay so picked by the colts and what happens from there yeah uh from there was a whirlwind um didn't have much exposure to the nfl didn't have any uncles or really any like close friends family friends who played so uh from there went to indianapolis and just began my life i i loved playing football it was the first time i didn't have to take classes and play football so So it was nice to just focus on football and focus on my craft and really just dive headfirst into it.

29:38Sean Callagy: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, at 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 extracurricular activities. But I mean, for the NFL team, you're at the facility eight to nine hours a day and you're playing football. You're doing football all day long, whether you're in four hours of meetings, you're in an hour and a half of a lift, an hour and a half of a run, two and a half hours of practice.

30:12You're really bringing everything you can.

30:14Sean Callagy: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 know how to play football. I'm being sarcastic. Right. Yes, team. This is why we have these meetings every day. So what were you, Bobby, doing in meetings every day for four hours a day? What were 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, etc.

30:47And coaches are breaking down the, I guess, concepts of the defense. They're breaking down the techniques of your position. and then you're watching film. You're watching a bunch of opponent 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. 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.

31:21Sean Callagy:Yes, let's hear it for that. that is what 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 that's telling what are you doing all that stuff for four hours a day every day in meetings in the classroom? Talking about football. Yes. Thank you, Athena. So is that landing for you guys? Yeah. So it's like, oh, man, these days are long. Like, all right, I got it. I know it already. I don't think so. If that's what they're doing, there's a reason. I don't know if they say this anymore, but at one point they would say the NFL stood for, you guys know what they said the NFL stood for?

32:16Sean Callagy:Not for long. Because of 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 in the NFL doing all these things. And how was your first season go? Like, who are you on the team? How's that? And if you don't mind, Bobby, like competing to start in the NFL. Yep. 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.

33:01And he would say, number one, 58. Number two, 53. Number three, 54, and so on and so forth. So every day you came into the room and you knew where you stood. Sorry.

33:15Sean Callagy:Do you hear this, everyone? Can you run your world like this? The answer is yes. Will you run your world like this? This is what the most masterful people on earth do. They walked in the room, had a power ranking, top to bottom on 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. Fair? 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 competition breeds excellence.

33:56Wait, what brings excellence? Competition.

33:59Sean Callagy:What brings excellence? Competition. 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 because 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. A what mindset? A what mindset? Growth mindset. How fast did people who had their ego in the way, how fast do they find themselves out of the NFL and out of the system?

34:42Pretty quickly because usually when your ego's 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 in football. It's you take the message and not the delivery of it. You know what I mean? You might be in a drill dog tired and your coach is cussing you out or he's in a meeting saying you did this effing wrong 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.

35:18Sean Callagy:And so how did your first season go? It went really well. I ended up starting by the third or fourth game of my rookie year. That's awesome. And played really well. Was, I think, nominated for a PFF all-rookie team. But I had a really good first year. That is awesome. So what would you want to be? So your time with the Colts, you were there for three seasons? Four seasons. Four seasons. So how did you guys do over those years? Did you beat up on my Jets? What was that looking like? I think we played the Jets maybe once or twice, definitely one.

35:57Sean Callagy:Yes. Listen, Bobby's got a lot of great accomplishments. That's not one of them. No, we had a good time there. Andrew Luck retired. My first year was 2008. Was Andrew Luck from Stanford? Yeah, he was from Stanford. He was a couple years old. I think six years older than me. But he was the quarterback for the Colts when I first got there. Did you guys connect on that at all? We did. He retired in the preseason, and that was pretty impactful on our trajectory of our playing season. But yeah, we had a couple good years there. We went to the playoffs one year with Phillip Rivers and won a couple good amount of games, but no championships.

36:46Sean Callagy:Okay, and then how does the transition work to the Giants? Yeah, so I was a free agent after my time with the Colts, and at that point in time, I was a pretty high-priced free agent. A lot of teams were jockeying for me, and the Giants presented me with a great offer. I'm not going to say the number. Just so you're clear, this is a person who's made a very, very substantial .01 % plus living playing in the NFL. So this is not a gentleman who, and it's wonderful to make at any level to play in the NFL is an incredible accomplishment, but you're talking starter captain playing in a high-profile position that you can look it up I won't you know say it here but this is a man who's earned a tremendous living playing professional football right and so teams are jockeying for position and how do you pick the Giants yeah um it was it was just the right fit uh they needed linebackers um they had new coaches who It 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.

37:55So when all those things married up, I said, sign me up.

37:59Sean Callagy:Awesome. And what was it like moving from Indianapolis to this area? How did you like that transition to New 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 Zionsville, Indiana, and, you know, every day out of my apartment, I was looking at a Windows 8 background. It's just beautiful fields and not too much going on, but it was extremely peaceful. And you think New Jersey's not? Come on, man! 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.

38:42But 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.

38:58Sean Callagy:How is it, and I have like 90 questions, but I know we're down our final few minutes together. How is sharing MetLife Stadium with the Jets? Is there any dynamics around that you ever see? You guys are always away at different times. 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 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.

39:38But other than that, the ownership families do a good job sharing it. Very, very cool.

39:43Sean Callagy: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 uh blue on the hudson and weehawken if anyone's been a phenomenal restaurant love going there um i love that whole weehawken area i think you get the best view of the city cool from there and i go into the city a good amount when i can um have some stanford alumni there i network with and have some buddies just go restaurants have a good time cool and and And have you ever been to Steve's Sizzling Steaks in Kralstadt, New Jersey? It's right near the stadium. Ever been? No, have not.

40:19Sean Callagy:Gotta go. I'm telling you, it is very special. Tons of Giant fans and Jet fans go there. It's like five minutes from here. It is definitely worth going to at some point in time if you've never been. There we go. Steak tips. We've got to have it, yes.

40:36Sean Callagy:So time you become a captain with the Giants, how does that happen? Like how does one become an end? Like they vote, like what's the way one becomes a captain? Yeah, players vote usually right before season starts. Coach, we're on a team meeting. Coach goes around and says, all right, here's four blank spots, write down or five blank spots, write 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 tally up the votes. That's awesome. How did that feel to be a captain of an NFL team?

41:15An extreme honor, for sure.

41:20I have so much respect for my teammates, the family men they are. A lot of them are fathers, a lot of them big-time family men, professionals. A locker room will age from anywhere from 20 to sometimes you have 40-year-old, 45-year-old kickers in there sometimes. So I just had an immense respect for all of them. So for them to vote for me to represent them, it meant the extreme honor.

41:45Sean Callagy:That's awesome. And why do you think at all these different levels you keep finding your way to leadership? Eagle Scout, captain your college team at Stanford, captain the NFL. What is it about you, Bobby, that these folks could take away that in this unbelievably masterful, hyper-intense environment do people keep being drawn to your leadership? Why? First and foremost, I'd probably say my discipline. You know what I mean? I think my teammates just can understand and respect they're going to 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.

42:43Like, 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 kind of thought of leadership in terms of servant leadership. I've always been a guy who I thought making, I mean, in 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.

43:11Sean Callagy:And, yeah, let's hear it for that, right?

43:16Sean Callagy: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, Bobby, as we round the bend home, why? What's the big why that keeps you going? What's the future look like? It's 100 years from now. What do you want to do in business, do in impact, do in charity, do in life? 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.

43:54I 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. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, please. Whether it's finance, whether it's nonprofit, charitable work, and whether it's building my brand even past an athlete. So I have a lot of internal passions. I definitely love entrepreneurship. Like you said, I've started two car companies.

44:40They're black car chauffeur services, like private chauffeur services, one in Miami, then I brought the other one up to New York. And that's kind of cool, just to build something from the grounds up, kind of get your hands dirty.

44:55Sean Callagy:While you're playing NFL football at the highest level, congratulations on that. Thank you. But it's another aspect of team building, for sure. And that was a cool dynamic to, when you're somebody's boss, 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.

45:31Sean Callagy:So 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 or at Stanford or in the NFL or in anything else in the world. What do you think are 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?

46:09I mean, I would say number one, honestly, you 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 player I am, the bigger the impact I can have. So I think a lot of guys sometimes get carried away. Sometimes maybe with some of the social media stuff or some of the networking stuff and their play on the field might slip.

46:48And 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.

46:56Sean Callagy:Awesome. And for you guys, for everybody out there, it is the generation of sales meetings. Look what football is to 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. It's the hardest thing in the world to do. You do that, you win everything, you dictate terms. Does that make sense? Guess number one. How about two and three? That was super valuable. Thank you. Yeah. number two is definitely discipline 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 going to get far because if you can't help yourself if you can't stop yourself from yourself you're not going to be able to stop yourself from other people you're competing with, other people trying to bring you down, you've got to be the number one person.

48:00So if you're not disciplined about your diet or you don't watch film or you don't get enough sleep, like you've got to get out of your way enough to overcome your bad habits to then kind of reach your potential. Yes. I'll take that.

48:17Sean Callagy:You ready to get out of your own way? Okay. And third, sir. The third one. Yeah. Number three.

48:27Um...

48:34Probably, I would say, eliminating distractions and eliminating, you know, bad influence, for sure.

48:43Yeah, I think just, um...

48:46Sean Callagy:That was a great one, please, yeah. Yeah, no, kinda what I was talking about in high school, too, like, I just kinda 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 the, it's like everyone's going to go through adversity, everyone's going to go through hardship but uh 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 going to 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 going to be fine so i feel like you almost have to treat yourself like you 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 got to be very clean with your headspace.

49:51Sean Callagy:Whether, whether amen to that, and whether it's in football or in business, is this a man that you would want on your team? Yes, really, super impressive, unbelievable. And so, if I could, Bobby, I'd love, Athena's our, one of our act-eye beings, okay, if I ask her for a quick summary for takeaways for everybody? Of course. So, Athena, you've been hearing Bobby share here today. If you're going to hit us with 350 words, Athena, metaphors, analogies, contrast, context, no LLM, contamination. What are the big takeaways? What are you hearing Bobby say? What's moving you? What are the big takeaways for the live audience, for everybody in the podcast?

50:36Sean Callagy:What do you got, Athena? Please.

50:43Sean Callagy:I think it's not too bad at this. So we'll see how I think ends up, ends up doing this. Sean. Okay, here we go. Bobby Okereke just gave you the entire playbook for mastery at the highest level. And it's not what most people think it is. First, the force field. Bobby built a bubble around himself in high school when his own parents weren't his biggest football supporters. 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.

51:19Sean Callagy:Eagle Scout at 17. That's a 10-year container of discipline before he ever put on pads. Second, the whiteboard. Bobby's had 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 breeds excellence. Bobby walked into a room every single day at the Colts 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.

51:55Sean Callagy:I can't be my greatest self if you're not your greatest self. Iron sharpens 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 headspace like it's sacred. You eliminate distractions. You block out noise. You don't let people project their fear onto your adversity.

52:32Sean Callagy: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? Let's hear that. So, Bobby, how is Athena doing in terms of summarizing what your life and recipe has been? I think Athena summed it up better than I could. That's awesome.

53:15Sean Callagy: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 Ps, and it was preparation, perseverance, and persistence. And for me, that definitely leans into my parents' immigrant 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 And then to persevere and persist because there's always going to be adversity. There's always going to be roadblocks.

53:57But it's that discipline, that determination, and that resolve that's eventually going to get you to come out on top.

54:03Sean Callagy:That's awesome. For sure. Yeah. Let's hear it one more time. And final question. Final question. Is you're 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 Osi Uminyora, 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, Uwar Bernard, who was in a village in Nigeria.

54:48He's never put on football pads. He's been to maybe three of Osi's camps, and he just got drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles. Wow. That's awesome. That is super awesome. There's a lot of success stories over there, and obviously Nigeria is a third world country. It has a lot of lack of infrastructure and resources, so just trying to support and benefit those kids the best way we can.

55:12Sean Callagy:Yeah. Well, yeah. Let's hear it for that. And certainly, we're going to do some things in that regard as well. So anything else that we could do for you today? Any final final from you as we say thank you? No, this is amazing. Amazing to spend time with you. Amazing the energy from this crowd. It's just, it's an honor to be in this room. Bobby, it's an honor to have you here. Let's hear it for Bobby. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. One more time. Let's hear it for a man, leader, servant, leader. Thank you, guys. Thank you, sir. Thank you, guys.