So Wimbledon draws to a close again. The All England Tennis
championship is down to the last two ladies and the last two chaps.
Unfortunately for the US audience, there was no chance of an
American winner this year but never fear, the British have had their share of
hopeless years. The last person to lose to a Briton in a Wimbledon semi final
died in the battle of Stalingrad in 1942.
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| Wimbledon: home to more than the odd philosophical soundbite. |
As Andy Murray overcomes a tough draw, huge amounts of
pressure and the super-high expectations of the British public and media, to
reach a Wimbledon final (the first man since 1938) he will have to dig deep.
Fortunately, the world of tennis has produced more than the
odd philosopher, with pearls of wisdom to help him through it. And you know
what? I think there’s a lot we can learn in business terms from these white-shorted
philosophers, especially those of us who work for Talascend as we continue to
fulfill our corporate values of accountability,
expertise, enthusiasm and integrity. I'm shamelessly plugging these values, partly because I can, and partly because we actually take them very seriously.
Accountability
“It's one-on-one out there, man. There ain't no hiding. I
can't pass the ball.” Pete Sampras
He didn’t get to be the greatest player who ever lived for
very long. I’ve often thought it unfair on Pete Sampras that Roger Federer
arrived so soon after him. Jack Nicklaus saw over twenty years pass before Tiger
arrived. Michael Jordan’s still enjoying his status as the greatest ever. Pete
Sampras retires in 2003 with 14 singles titles and is almost immediately
surpassed in most people’s eyes by his successor. One of the reasons he achieved
so much, according to those who know him, is that he never needed anyone’s approval
but his own. He held himself accountable for every single performance and remained
completely internally driven. Great sportspeople, like great business people I
would say, accept praise, reward and
notoriety gladly, but they don’t rely on them to drive performance.
“As soon as I step on the court I just try to play tennis
and don't find excuses. You know, I just lost because I lost, not because my arm
was sore.” Goran Ivanisavich
Goran killed Wimbledon in 2001 when he won as a qualifier,
beating half the major seeds on his way through. So exciting was his final with
Pat Rafter, that it more or less rendered everything after dull and mediocre.
What I’ve always loved about this guy is that whenever he was interviewed he never
looked for excuses. He lost a lot in Grand Slam finals, under a variety of
circumstances. But if he played badly – he said so. Sometimes you have to
accept that your own performance was lacking and just put your hands up. The
people you work with will accept that more readily than a hundred excuses.
Enthusiasm
“For the first couple of years I played really bad tennis. It
was so bad that they booed me off the court.” Richard Krajcek
Success was a long time in coming for the big Dutchman.
Enthusiasm’s easy when you’re doing well. The real test of enthusiasm is when
you suck and you know it. We all have bad runs in our business; it’s particularly hard at the start, but our
ability to persevere and to stay optimistic is what will eventually set us
apart. Breaking a dry spell with a good win is hard for us all, but it’s not as
hard as winning Wimbledon, which Krajcek did in 1996.
"What is the single most important quality in a tennis
champion? I would have to say desire, staying in there and winning matches when
you are not playing that well.” John McEnroe
The Mac goes even further. With the right amount of desire
and perseverance you can win even if you’re not on your game. Pete Alleyne’s
talked about this already – attitude versus ability. You can overcome obstacles
with a desire to succeed.
Expertise
“Find something that
you're really interested in doing in your life. Pursue it, set goals, and
commit yourself to excellence. Do the best you can.” Chris Evert
Work out what you want to do, understand your specific goals
and then commit yourself to achieving them. I have literally nothing to add to
that.
“I've been playing against older and stronger competition my
whole life. It has made me a better tennis player and able to play against this
kind of level despite their strength and experience.”
Maria Sharapova
I like Maria Sharapova’s quote on a number of levels. Firstly
the humility of believing yourself to be surrounded by better players even when
obviously, you’re not. But realizing that your expertise increases by being
weaker and less experienced than those around you is vital. If I ever found
myself to be the most experienced and capable person in a room, I would start
looking for the door. (But it hasn’t happened yet, so we’re good.)
Integrity
“Family's first, and that's what matters most. We realize
that our love goes deeper than the tennis game.” Serena Williams
Integrity is about commitment. It’s about doing the best you
can because it’s the right thing to do and behaving in a way that genuinely
acknowledges that there are more important things in life than business, reward
and profit. My family’s far more important to me than Talascend’s ever going to
be and that’s as it should be. Integrity is about throwing yourself into your
work even though we all have something we’d rather be doing. We look forward to
the weekends when we don’t have to work. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Nobody ever died wishing they spent more time in the office. That’s why we rely
on our integrity to care about what we do and to push ourselves forward. It’s
what makes us professionals. Because you can be involved in something or you
can be committed to it. Both take the same amount of time.
“The difference between involvement and commitment is like
ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.” Martina Navratilova
So there you have it. The Talascend values, brought to you
by some of the world’s best Tennis players. I recommend you tune in Sunday to
see if history is made, and don’t forget to look out for the moments of
post-match interview genius.
Richard Spragg writes on various subjects including global engineering staffing and global engineering jobs.
Richard Spragg writes on various subjects including global engineering staffing and global engineering jobs.
