From sports I learned how to get a group of people to work together. As a quarterback, I usually was the organizer. I would put a disparate group together and try to get them to work down the same path. I had to understand people's motivations, their weak and strong points more than anything. And that's Management 101 - knowing how to organize people, how to manage people and motivate them, how to get people to work toward a common goal of winning. In advertising, you take fifty, sixty, however many people are working on the pitch, and set a goal of getting everybody to be their best and to come together to work as one. It's very similar in sports.
I would have been a good coach. That's what you are in business, at the end of the day. If you run your business, you're a coach. I'd have been a better coach than an athlete. I know how to motivate and, hopefully, inspire people. I think I'd be a very good play caller, in fact. I'm just a good strategist. That's what running a business is.
Business is no different from sports. Businesses are people, and the most successful businesses find the best talent that works together well. They don't have a star system. I never wanted one prima donna, one creative superstar, in the agency. You want people to work well together. It's so easy for me to see why some sports teams don't make it. The winning teams have the right pieces that come together. It's that simple. You can see it. I never understand how guys putting professional teams together don't understand that. You can't just put a bunch of stats together. It's very clear. And it's no different in a work environment. Over the years, I've hired one or two people who turned out to be a mistake, people who did not foster that team spirit. It was much more about them as individuals. They didn't work out. I've learned from those mistakes.
by Donny Deutsch
Thursday, June 27, 2013
The Contrasting Skills
The Contrasting Skills
Everything I would learn and need today in business, I did on the field or court. Sports taught me five key things. Everybody is going to tell you sports teach you discipline, teamwork, and leadership, and I agree. But it's what I see as the contrasting skills that are important.
First, you need to learn how to lead and follow, and know when each is appropriate. There are many times you're called upon as a leader. Some of us do it naturally, some of us don't. But you need to know when to lead and when to follow. Sports teach you that.
Second, you need to learn to both compete and collaborate. You've got to be mentally tough to compete and win, but you have to have the ability to work as part of a team. You have to collaborate with other people because you can never get it done by yourself. Ever. That's important, as we discover later in life.
Third, in sports, because so much is done in day-to-day practice, you have to know about execution. You do something well because you've practiced it fifteen hundred times before you ever get on the field or on the court. But execution isn't enough. You also have to be strong at strategy. When do you employ which plays? And what's the plan to beat this team? Strategy and executioon are core contrasts that you learn in sports.
Next, you learn how to win and how to lose. You don't ever like losing, but you learn from it. You're going to do both in life, and so you need the ability to manage both, well and productively.
The final one is balancing confidence and humility. You have to be ultimately confident when you go out there. Confidence wins, always. That's one of the things Jack Welch taught us at General Electric. But that confidence has to be laced with enough humility, because there are others out there that could beat you if you're not on your game, and others that are better at certain areas. And if you don't compensate for their strengths, you're not going to win.
Every one of those five core contrasts can be used to overcome adversity and make you stronger and victorious. You do them naturally in sports, where they are critical, and then you learn to apply them in the business world.
by Brian P. Kelley
Everything I would learn and need today in business, I did on the field or court. Sports taught me five key things. Everybody is going to tell you sports teach you discipline, teamwork, and leadership, and I agree. But it's what I see as the contrasting skills that are important.
First, you need to learn how to lead and follow, and know when each is appropriate. There are many times you're called upon as a leader. Some of us do it naturally, some of us don't. But you need to know when to lead and when to follow. Sports teach you that.
Second, you need to learn to both compete and collaborate. You've got to be mentally tough to compete and win, but you have to have the ability to work as part of a team. You have to collaborate with other people because you can never get it done by yourself. Ever. That's important, as we discover later in life.
Third, in sports, because so much is done in day-to-day practice, you have to know about execution. You do something well because you've practiced it fifteen hundred times before you ever get on the field or on the court. But execution isn't enough. You also have to be strong at strategy. When do you employ which plays? And what's the plan to beat this team? Strategy and executioon are core contrasts that you learn in sports.
Next, you learn how to win and how to lose. You don't ever like losing, but you learn from it. You're going to do both in life, and so you need the ability to manage both, well and productively.
The final one is balancing confidence and humility. You have to be ultimately confident when you go out there. Confidence wins, always. That's one of the things Jack Welch taught us at General Electric. But that confidence has to be laced with enough humility, because there are others out there that could beat you if you're not on your game, and others that are better at certain areas. And if you don't compensate for their strengths, you're not going to win.
Every one of those five core contrasts can be used to overcome adversity and make you stronger and victorious. You do them naturally in sports, where they are critical, and then you learn to apply them in the business world.
by Brian P. Kelley
The Ten Commandments for Network Marketing
The Ten Commandments for Network Marketing
1. Thou shalt build your business on a character foundation and practice the Golden Rule as you
build.
2. Thou shalt not make unto anyone false perceptions of the income opportunity or the "miracles"
your products will work on their health.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of your company for granted or use it in vain, thereby, becoming
a product of the product.
4. Thou shalt remember your workdays to keep them productive and the Sabbath to keep it
holy.
5. Thou shalt not kill the dreaming spirit of any new distributor and remember that you are
responsible to those you sponsor, but not for them.
6. Thou shalt not commit any impurity within your organization or company worldwide.
7. Thou shalt not bear false witness concerning any part of the company's growth, mission or
products.
8. Thou shalt not covet thy crossline's sales organization, nor steal the downline of another
company.
9. Thou shalt remember to keep God first, family second, and your company third in priority.
10. Thou shalt honor thy upline and downline that thy days within the company may be long
and enable you to build a substantial residual income.
by Hungry Minds
1. Thou shalt build your business on a character foundation and practice the Golden Rule as you
build.
2. Thou shalt not make unto anyone false perceptions of the income opportunity or the "miracles"
your products will work on their health.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of your company for granted or use it in vain, thereby, becoming
a product of the product.
4. Thou shalt remember your workdays to keep them productive and the Sabbath to keep it
holy.
5. Thou shalt not kill the dreaming spirit of any new distributor and remember that you are
responsible to those you sponsor, but not for them.
6. Thou shalt not commit any impurity within your organization or company worldwide.
7. Thou shalt not bear false witness concerning any part of the company's growth, mission or
products.
8. Thou shalt not covet thy crossline's sales organization, nor steal the downline of another
company.
9. Thou shalt remember to keep God first, family second, and your company third in priority.
10. Thou shalt honor thy upline and downline that thy days within the company may be long
and enable you to build a substantial residual income.
by Hungry Minds
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)