What Sports Success Has To Do With Business Success
In the mid 1990’s I had the privilege to train for the New Zealand Coast to Coast with Steve Gurney, who eventually went on to win the Coast to Coast 9 times.
At the time Steve had already reached the point where he was winning just about every single multisports race he entered. So everyone was wondering what his silver bullet was…what was the secret that set him apart from all the other athletes?
After all Steve did not have any of the natural attributes that make a very gifted athlete, he even described himself once in a magazine article as a “… short, bow-legged bio mechanical nightmare”! (his own words!). Yet he was expected to win every race where he cared to turn up!
As I spent entire days training with Steve on local mountains, roads, lakes and rivers, I gradually discovered his magic secret. I will tell you in a minute but first I must tell you about a few things that were quite distinctive in his attitude.
Steve was obsessive about measuring and timing every single one of his training efforts and recorded them meticulously. Even when we had a puncture on the bike, the repair was a race against the clock. He also was incredibly pedantic about details that other athletes considered mundane, boring or so basic that they had it down packed…so they thought! We spent endless hours repeating elementary drills to improve our biking, running, and kayaking, and transitions between the 3 disciplines.
His dedication to training was regarded by most as his main advantage, yet other athletes were equally dedicated but did not reach quite the same results. He was also constantly seeking feed-back about the way he was doing things
His main secret was: Steve stood out as being the only Multi-Sports athlete who had a coach, and a mentor, yes 2 different persons!
So why would he have needed a coach when he was so good? Why would Tiger Woods use a coach when there is clearly no one in the world who can show him a better shot? … Simply because he can’t see himself swing!
MultiSports was the chosen discipline for many hardened “do it yourself” individuals, including very talented athletes who would never consider getting a coach to “tell them what to do”. Of course the same athletes kept wondering how Steve made such a difference!
So what has that got to do with business? Hmm I wonder! … I will let you judge for yourself. But before I go, I would like to emphasise that when I work with business owners, I don’t thrive to provide coaching. Results are what I focus on, just because most business owners don’t want a coach, but they do want results.
Next time you get a chance, get someone to have a look at your swing, you will be amazed what you can learn from this simple exercise!
The quote of the day
‘Self Knowledge is best learnt not by contemplation, but by action. Strive to do your duty, you will soon discover of what stuff you are made’
Goethe