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Austin Hatch
Helping Teams & Individuals Overcome Adversity
Austin Hatch
Helping Teams & Individuals Overcome Adversity
Biography
Austin Hatch's story is one of tragedy, incomprehensible loss and triumph. On Labor Day of 2003, his family was flying from northern Michigan to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. As they were preparing to land, the airplane crashed and burst into flames. Hatch's dad threw him out of the plane and saved his life. He went back into the flames to get his mom, Julie, his sister, Lindsay, and brother, Ian, but tragically, was unable to. His mom, sister and brother did not survive.
Hatch and his father grieved the loss of their family but they found ways to keep living in the midst of the incomprehensible pain. They pushed each other to overcome, as they knew his mom, sister and brother would’ve wanted.
Eventually, Hatch's dad met a lovely woman named Kimberly, who had three kids of her own. They got married and together, they had a great, blended family. Hatch worked hard on his basketball skills and began to have success on the court. His dream was to play for Michigan. On June 15, 2011, Coach Beilein offered Hatch a full scholarship to play basketball at The University of Michigan, which he accepted. It was a dream come true.
Nine days later, on June 24th, 2011, Hatch's dad and “second mom” were flying to Northern Michigan to have a weekend of celebration. As they were preparing to land, the airplane crashed, and his dad and second mom were killed on impact. Hatch suffered severe injuries and was nearly killed himself. After being in a coma for over two months, he had to relearn how to walk, talk and basically how to live life. With the help of many incredible doctors, nurses, therapists, his family and friends, he found a way to make it to Michigan.
Twelve years later, Hatch is a graduate of The University of Michigan and is a full time motivational speaker with a message about Grit & Thriving in the midst of adversity.
His message is about the road to recovery from both plane crashes, but especially from the second one when he was almost killed. He believes hisjourney from a coma, to a wheelchair to playing for Michigan can help others overcome and grow through any form of adversity. Our challenges in life and in business are more similar than they are different. Adversity is adversity.
A lot of things had to happen to overcome the adversity Hatch faced after the second plane crash and find a way to achieve his goal of making it to Michigan. He so grateful for everyone who helped him along the way. But, more than anything, it took some Grit. Hatch thinks it will take Grit to achieve our goals any time, but especially in the face of adversity.
There are four key components to Grit, but he believes Grit is driven by having a Greater Purpose. If we are working just for ourselves, it is very likely that we will eventually face some form of adversity that will cause us to give up because we don’t have a driving force for why we do what we do. We need to find something that we’re willing to sacrifice for. If we are working for something bigger than ourselves, Hatch believes we will always do what it takes to get the job done, no matter the task and no matter the circumstances. Our Purpose drives Grit.
The Growth Mindset is the first component of Grit. The Growth Mindset believes every setback, every failure, every adversity, is an opportunity. Even when we inevitably fall short of a goal, the Growth Mindset does not believe that is a permanent condition. We can find a way to grow through adversity and be better because of it. The adversity alone will not be a source of growth, but he believes we can grow from how we choose to respond.
It’s a choice to have the Growth Mindset.
The decision to be Resilient is the second component of Grit. If we make the decision to be Resilient, we take Massive Action in the face of adversity. Massive Action. It took Massive Action to go from a coma to playing for Michigan. Hatch believes achieving our goals in the midst of challenges is the result of taking Massive Action. Massive Action alone does not guarantee we’ll overcome our challenges and achieve our goals, but not taking massive action will guarantee that we won’t overcome.
The third component of Grit is Integrity. In the context of overcoming adversity, or working to achieve any goal, Hatch believes Integrity is about following through on our commitments, especially when our circumstances change. He believes we should always deliver on what we commit to, both to ourselves and to those on our team. A lot of people set goals, and that’s very important, but he thinks it’s more effective to set commitments that will put us in position to achieve our goals. If we have integrity, we’ll always follow through on our commitments, no matter the task and no matter the circumstance.
The fourth component of Grit is The Team First Mentality. We owe it to the team to take pride on our role, whatever it is. We should make the effort every day to be the best that we can be. Every person on every team has a role and that role is very important. We may not be the best on the team, but we can all make the effort to be the best we can be for the team. There is no “I” in team, but Hatch believes a team will be better if it is made up of individuals who are personally driven to be the best they can be.
We all face challenges every day. Hatch believes part of his purpose in life to help others find ways to thrive in the midst of them.
Speaker Videos
Miraculous: The Austin Hatch Story
Take Pride in Your Role
Enjoy the Journey
Speech Topics
Grit & Thriving
Growth Mindset is the first component of Grit. The Growth Mindset believes every setback, every failure every adversity, is an opportunity. Adversity is opportunity in disguise. Even when we inevitably fall short of a goal, the Growth Mindset does not believe that is a permanent condition. We can use it as an opportunity to get better. Adversity does not define us. Adversity can refine us if we approach it with the Growth Mindset. The event will probably not be a source of growth, but I believe we can grow from how we choose to respond.
Resilience, the second component of Grit. If we make the decision to be Resilient, we take Massive Action in the face of adversity. It took Massive Action to go from a coma to playing for Michigan. Hatch believes achieving our goals in the midst of challenges is the result of making the decision to be resilient, the result of taking Massive Action.
Integrity, the third component of Grit. In the context of overcoming adversity, or working to achieve any goal, Hatch believes Integrity is about following through on our commitments, especially when our circumstances change. We owe it to ourselves, to the person we made the commitment to and collectively, we owe it to the team to always do what we said we would do, especially when there is a change in circumstance. Integrity is doing the common things in an uncommon way, consistently. The result of doing the common things in an uncommon way is we’ll leave people and places better than we found them.
The Team First Mentality is the final component of Grit. We won’t achieve anything significant without a great team. Hatch believes we should always think about our teammates first. We should train ourselves to think We before Me. Every person on every team has a role and that role is very important. If we do our very best to fill our role to the best of our ability, the only impact we will have on our team is a positive impact.
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