I watched Miracle over the holiday with family.

The biggest takeaway for me was how intentional, aware, deliberate all of Herb's actions were in the movie (who knows if that is the way it was in real life).  But, in the movie, he had a plan, and the nature of the way he challenged, motivated and coached was planned, purposeful - even when the players hated him for it. 

Other takeaways:

- It struck me how isolating it can be to be the leader.  Even when the team won against the Russians, you see Herb look at his wife, then go and take a moment alone.  The team was celebratory - and yet, because of how he built the team, he was not celebrating with the team.  They looked to each other to celebrate with - not to the coach when they won.

- I like the context of the movie, the history and setting of what was going on in the world and with politics.  The reason this is important is because we all assign meaning to things in our lives.  In this case, a simple hockey game turned into a showing of world power.  These things happen all the time so I believe the context of any situation is important.

- Most movies showing sports teams winning - especially the underdogs - show this major focus, discipline and sacrifice.  They show the toll it takes on family and outside interests.  Yet, our culture always tries to indicate you can achieve balance.  No judgement.  Just something I have been thinking about a lot lately - especially helping one of my portfolio companies through tough times.