I recently watched a thrilling rugby match between two top clubs in the world. It was the final of an annual tournament, featuring a South African team and a Scottish team. Being African, I was obviously rooting for the South African team. However, they were outplayed tactically that day. After the match, I went to bed, looking forward to reading until I felt sleepy. I soon forgot about the match until my wife asked me for the final score. Had she not asked, I probably wouldn’t have thought about it again for a long time.
Now, contrast this with a scene from the 2023 Rugby World Cup, where the South African team won their last three matches by just one point each to clinch the title. On the day of the semi-final, I was in my lounge, sipping tea from my Springbok-branded mug, wearing Springbok pyjamas, and waving a South African flag around. At one point, my smartwatch even detected stress and alerted me with “Abnormal Heart Rate Detected.”
Both scenes involved me watching a sport I love, with some bias in who I wanted to win. Yet, one team elicited a much stronger reaction from me. Was it just that I prefer the Springboks over the Bulls? Maybe. Was it frustration over the Bulls’ poor tactical decisions? Or was it that the Springboks played better rugby? No, it was none of those things. It all boils down to one word: INVESTMENT.
When you are invested in something, you deeply care about the outcome, not necessarily for any personal gain, but because it genuinely matters to you. My emotional investment in the Springbok matches stemmed from a connection that began in 1995—a profound satisfaction in seeing underdogs overcome adversity and achieve greatness.
But enough about rugby and the Springboks. What are you genuinely invested in? What do you care about on such a deep emotional level that it shows in your actions? Can you recognize when someone is truly invested in an outcome? The answer is simple: you see it in their actions, their reactions to setbacks, the language they use, and most importantly, in how their emotions play out.
Being interested is good, being engaged is better, but being invested means caring so deeply that the outcome will change you. While we take our jobs seriously and strive to produce good work, the things we are truly invested in often have nothing to do with work. More likely, we are deeply invested in the success and well-being of our families. A 2% drop in gross margin on a product might concern you, but a 5-degree increase in your child’s body temperature will keep you up all night. Therein lies the difference between interest, engagement, and true investment.
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