Jim Harbaugh and the Free Beverly Hills Home

A couple of years after his 2001 retirement from the NFL, Jim Harbaugh was sitting in the stands of a high school football stadium telling a friend that he really wanted to be the head coach of the University of San Diego.

The pal was perplexed.

Harbaugh had been an outstanding NFL quarterback, and San Diego competed in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a member of the Pioneer Football League — not exactly the NFL or top-level college. Why should someone with Harbaugh’s pedigree want such a low-level position?

“Because I want to be a head coach,” Harbaugh confidently said.

He ultimately took the job and guided the Toreros to two straight conference championships, before leaving for Stanford. Through his coaching career, he has accumulated a 119-50 record in college, while going 44-19-1 in the pros. This week, his Michigan Wolverines will take on Georgia for a spot in the college football National Championship game.

On that day on the high school bleachers, Harbaugh drew from the sage advice of former San Francisco 49ers Coach Bill Walsh: “If you want to be a head coach, then take a head coaching job. There are no perfect jobs. There are only jobs you make perfect.”

Harbaugh knew the sooner he accepted the San Diego role, the sooner he could get his coaching career off the ground.

It’s a great lesson for us as leaders.

When searching for ways to rise, we often look for the perfect situation and pass up various opportunities, focusing far more on their shortcomings than their strengths.

There’s a name for this kind of behavior: “The Beverly Hills Free Home Program.”

Beverly Hills is one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in all of America. There are certainly no free homes available. They’re all expensive and take years of work, savings and achievement. If you hold out for a free home there, your wait will never end.

It’s far wiser to take a lesser job in a lesser neighborhood and show your skill, while making your talent evident.

That’s what Harbaugh realized and did at the time, and it’s carried him to the upper echelon of college football. Trust your talent, believe in yourself and don’t pass up what could be valuable opportunities.

Talent always finds a way to rise.