It wouldn’t be right to not say a little something about those football players from Denver who recently won the most coveted title in football. Congratulations to the Denver Broncos for being Super Bowl L champions! What a time to be a Broncos fan, our team had quite a year but in the end, led by Peyton Manning, the team rallied together to play a great Super Bowl game and came out victorious. There has never been so much blue and orange draped around the city and it is quite a wonderful sight to see.

After the big win on Sunday, I listened to many of the interviews with the players and the coaches and have to say, I came away with a lot of realizations about football but also about what it means to be on a team and to have one another’s backs through thick and thin. When Peyton was injured earlier this year, many people got down on him saying he was too old to play and wouldn’t ever be able to come back and play the way he once did. The truth is, Peyton is not the youngest quarterback out there, he isn’t the fastest and he isn’t the most graceful even. But he is one of the smartest quarterbacks out there, who has a team that respects and follows his lead. On and off the field, Peyton is looked up to by players, coaches and the media a like, because he is far more than just a superior football player. For a team to be successful, like the Broncos were this season, there needs to be those leaders on and off the field. The ones who encourage their fellow teammates, push themselves and others to do better, take the disappointments in stride and celebrate each and every little victory.

That kind of work ethic and leadership is something I admire and myself try to do in my everyday life. I am lucky enough to work with some amazing team members, from the company my husband and I run together to the financial organizations I help run, being a team player and a leader is something I strive to do from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I have encountered many bad leaders in my time, managers who lack personal skills and speak to their employees in a degrading way, co-workers who find it ok to talk badly about one another or owners who are barely seen at their companies leading many employees to wonder how important the business really is to the owner. The thing is, you can’t have a team without a leader or a group of strong leaders who support those they advise and those they mentor.

There is that saying, there is no “i” in team, and the Broncos showed us that more than anything this past weekend. The offense, the defense, the kicker and good ol’ Peyton, all took to that field and showed what it looks like when a team works together for their cause. In the end, they walked off the field all smiles, knowing they had all taken part in their great victory.