What the Warriors' Loss to the Worst Team in the NBA Teaches Us About Goalsetting

Back in March, we had a unique opportunity: Google was sponsoring Filipino Heritage Night at Oracle Arena, and my wife, Christine, was given the opportunity to buy tickets. But that’s not the best part. Those tickets came with courtside access during warm ups. That’s right! For a whole 30 minutes, we could pretend we were among the Silicon Valley elite and watch some of the best players on the planet up close — at least for warm up.

Initial reactions:

• Curry looks like a normal dude but with superhuman skills. Clearly enjoys the game. Made his legendary shot from the tunnel. (See video below)
• Boogie looked hungry. Like, hungry to play and contribute. Not actually hungry. Though he may have been hungry too. He had just been re-activated to play after a year of being out with an injury.
• Durant is essentially a baby giraffe who has learned how to play the game of basketball better than any human being on the planet. 

I’ll be honest, I was so excited about the opportunity to be down on the floor with one of the greatest teams ever assembled, I didn’t even know who the Warriors were playing. When my friends asked and we looked it up, they laughed. “The Suns? You paid to watch the Warriors play the Suns?? That is going to be soooo boring. It’s going to be over by the third quarter. Can’t believe you paid for that!”

For those who don’t know, the Suns were/are the worst team in the league, ending the season with a woeful 19-63 record. Not only that, they were on an 18 game losing streak. EIGHTEEN. 

The Warriors, on the other hand, were rolling through the West. Not the dominant team of the last two years, but still winning with ease when they wanted to. Their record at the end of the season: 57-25.

This was supposed to be a blowout. But then it wasn’t. The game came down to the wire, but not in the way you’d expect from two teams at the top of their game. It was more like one world-class team self-sabotaging itself over and over to bring itself down to the level of the competition.

It was ugly. It was slow. It was riddled with turnovers, mistakes and fouls. The baby giraffe left early due to a rolled ankle.

And then we lost.

People were in shock as they exited the arena. Some mumbled doomsday scenarios on their way out. Klay Thompson called it "Probably the worst loss of the season,” while the media ridiculed them and questioned their dominance. 

But the Warriors didn’t second guess themselves. Why not?

Because they didn’t need to win every game or beat every team during the regular season. And they knew it. 

Winning every single game wasn't their ultimate goal. They already had the single season record for most games won and the record for most consecutive home wins, so winning just to win wasn’t a priority. 

Their ultimate goal is to get their third championship in a row. Period. To do that, they need to stay healthy and win just enough games to secure home court advantage in the playoffs. Nothing more, nothing less. They were just keeping their ultimate goal in mind.

It’s a good reminder for business and in life. What is your ultimate goal? What does success look like when this is all said and done? And are you willing to endure skepticism, criticism and an occasional loss along the way?

When I was considering changing jobs, I was in the final stages of interviews with Google, Adobe and Clari. Two of those brands are bluechip tech stocks — well known around the world. The other is not. (Don’t worry, we’re working on that.)

Clari is relatively small compared to those two behemoths, and, even though we're growing fast, when I decided to take a role at Clari, the first thing my Mom said was “Yay! But… awww, I was hoping for Google…” Thank you Mom, for continuing to be a Tiger Mom, even though I’m 32 years old. If it were anyone else that would have bothered me, but this time I just chuckled to myself (after all, I am who I am because of her).

I know my Mom just wants me to be happy (and in reality, she really is super supportive of everything I want to do, including when I moved across the country to pursue my love for journalism), and from her perspective, happiness meant Google: a massively successful corporation with unlimited resources, worldwide brand recognition and a cafeteria that purchases $1 million of chicken a month to feed its employees (according to this Business Insider article from 2014). And don’t get me wrong, Google is amazing. My wife works there and she loves it! (My parents also love that she works there, and look like kids in a candy store when they visit for dinner.)

But that’s not what I was looking for (at this point in my career, at least). My ultimate goal was to find a high-growth startup where I knew I could make immediate impact, build a content marketing machine and grow as part of a small but mighty team where I would get support to try new things and learn from some of the best (Hila, Cdub, Chakshu, Arlette, Donovan, Mary, Mayra, I’m lookin at you!). By the way, we are hiring like crazy. Interested? Let me know!

No, Clari is not Google, but it's the right decision for me. And we're growing fast.

We doubled our headcount last year, doubled our top-line growth, raised a $35 million Series C and was named a best place to work in the Bay Area. (Did I mention we're hiring?) Not only that, we're the #1 Sales Operations tool by G2 Crowd and we’re just getting started. Some of our happiest customers include Okta, Symantec, Palo Alto Networks and Zoom (congrats on the IPO, by the way!) and our investors include big names like Sequoia, Bain Capital and Tenaya.

Andy Byrne is leading the charge, not only with his dedication to bringing customers value, but also his infectious excitement and optimism. Meanwhile co-founders Kurt Leafstrand and Venkat Rangan continue to build a groundbreaking product that customers can't get enough of.

Now, the Warriors are in the midst of their playoff run, going up 3-1 on the Los Angeles Clippers, putting that loss to the Suns well in the rear view mirror, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to join Clari. (One more time in case you missed it: Hiring!) I’ve never been so passionate about a product, a company or a team in my life. I’m excited to wake up every day and I’ve already gotten to contribute to so many amazing projects. And we have so much more on the way… We’re going full steam ahead and it’s a lot of fun. Staying true to my goal led me to one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

We’re faced with decisions every moment of every day. Are you choosing the ones that are leading you to your ultimate goal?