Earlier this year, Tom Brady appeared on Zoom for a USC class and admitted, “You don’t have to be the most talented. You just have to be the most willing to keep going.” That mindset didn’t just win him seven Super Bowls. It’s now guiding his post-NFL trajectory. Right from the broadcasting booth to the Raiders board room. Tom just wants to keep going.

And now, his latest move will take him to Stockholm, Sweden, as a speaker at the 10th annual Brilliant Minds conference this June. For those of you who are clueless here. Brilliant Minds isn’t a TED Talk knockoff. It’s a power summit disguised as a creative retreat. A collision of CEOs, artists, thinkers, and change agents built on the idea that innovation isn’t just about ideas—it’s about human ideas.

So, this year’s theme, HumanKIND, leans all the way into that. Tom Brady will now be talking compassion, leadership, and likely more than a bit of game theory. The Brilliant Minds’ official IG handle broke the news, making it official with the caption that read: “We are excited to share that Tom Brady will join us this year as a speaker 👏 Seven-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady played in the NFL for 23 seasons and holds over 17 NFL records. Since retiring from the NFL in 2023, Tom has built a legacy as an entrepreneur, broadcaster, author, and philanthropist. He is the lead color analyst for FOX Sports’ NFL coverage and is part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, Birmingham City FC, and the Las Vegas Aces, among many other ventures. We can’t wait to learn from Tom at this year’s Brilliant Minds.”

Since retiring in 2023, Brady’s been anything but idle. He’s the lead NFL analyst at FOX (with a staggering $375 million deal over a 10-year period!). He co-owns the soccer club Birmingham City FC, which, by the way, made a centurion history! And obviously, we all know that his aura extends to Sin City as well. But what makes this move intriguing is the pivot from operator to thought leader.

Brilliant Minds gives him a global microphone, and the setting fits. Stockholm’s become a hub for sustainable innovation, and the event draws everyone from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour to Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks. Brady won’t look out of place.

It’s easy to look at this and see a résumé builder. It’s harder, but more accurate, to view it as a repurpose. Brady has always obsessed over the margins—diet, sleep, film, strategy. Now, he’s turning that lens outward, applying it to business, media, and now global dialogue. Maybe that’s why Bill Belichick, after all these years, sense there’s a likeness between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes the way they get the attention from across the globe.

Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes are a lot alike

Bill Belichick doesn’t toss around compliments unless they’re earned. And in The Art of Winning, his upcoming memoir, the former Patriots head coach does the unthinkable—he puts Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady in the same sentence. “You know what? Brady and Patrick Mahomes are both really good. Controversial, I know,” Belichick wrote.

Dry delivery, loaded subtext. And maybe that’s the point. Because when you strip away the highlight reels and hardware, what he sees is mindset. A mirror image. One built over time. The other building as we speak. For Belichick, Mahomes’ greatness isn’t in the stats—it’s in what he says when no one expects him to say it.

After a win, Mahomes once said: “I feel like I haven’t played very well… not throwing the ball in the exact spot I want it to be at.” That kind of self-check? That’s what made Brady who he was. Belichick saw it early with Tom. He sees it now with Patrick. It’s about getting the win, then obsessing over how it could’ve been cleaner. “This may look okay right now, but it’s not going to be good enough in the end,” Belichick writes. Sounds familiar?

Now, before you get too antsy, Belichick isn’t just tipping his hoodie to Mahomes. He’s just giving Pat his flowers. The Chiefs may have lost the latest Super Bowl, but Big Bill knows: in the grand scheme of thing that one loss doesn’t shake a dynasty. “As long as number 15 is on the field,” he writes, the Chiefs are in the fight.

Of course, there’s always legacy talk. Brady owns seven rings, and Mahomes had a chance at three-straight before falling short. Even Brady reflected on that loss, saying during the FOX broadcast: “That loss to the Giants was 17 years ago, I still haven’t lived it down.” You feel that? It’s the ache that never leaves. Brady still carries it, and Mahomes now knows it too. Losing doesn’t stop greatness…it fuels it. So, what’s the difference between the GOAT and the guy chasing him? Not much, if you ask Belichick.