M&A is a team sport. This is why NFL football coach Bill Belichick’s famous phrase “Do Your Job” is so relevant. Every player on the team has a specific role and set of responsibilities; some players are responsible for blocking and tackling and others are responsible for scoring. Scoring is not more important than blocking, as scoring only regularly occurs when the blockers do their job and do it well.

Implicit in Belichick’s “Do Your Job” is first getting clear on what your job actually is. How can you effectively do your job if you are not clear on what it is in the first place? Too often, we view our job from the perspective of what’s in it for me. Instead, focus on what you were hired to do, doing it well, and making the largest possible contribution to the team. The greatest contribution you can provide to your team is to carry your own weight: that is, to get clear on your job, do your job, and do it well.

This seems almost too simple, right? Of course everyone on the deal team knows their job…or do they? As an experiment, try having everyone on the deal team (yourself included) write out what they understand their job to be, and then compare and contrast your written job responsibilities with your actual job description and what your teammates understand your job to be to see whether the perception matches the reality. This activity is one of numerous guided activities from Private Equity Primer’s Habits That Create Value digital course.