What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from March Madness
March Madness has finally kicked off. It’s one of the greatest several weeks of sports for the entire year — nonstop college basketball games for four consecutive days each weekend. What more could you ask for?
As you kick back and enjoy the games this year, you could also consider it an opportunity to meditate a bit on what it means to be a leader in your company.
Every year, we see new unforgettable moments of leadership, perseverance and teamwork happen in the tournament. Any entrepreneur would do well to learn from them.
Here are a few examples:
- You shouldn’t be afraid of competition. Have you ever noticed how teams pick up their game in a big way when the tournament begins? That’s because it’s a higher level of
competition and greater stakes than ever before. The teams that find the greatest success are those that thrive in a pressure-filled, competitive environment. The same is true in the business world. You shouldn’t be afraid of your competition. Instead, consider competition an opportunity to raise your level of work and push yourself to heights you’ve never seen before.
- Believe in your team. Every time a new champion is crowned, you always hear the players say things like, “this is a great group of men and we never stopped believing in each other.” That belief in your team is extremely powerful. If you do not believe that your team and your company is capable of achieving your goals, then guess what: you probably won’t. Trust your employees to do their jobs well and work as one cohesive unit — micromanaging will never help.
- Success comes from even the most unlikely places. Just in recent years, we saw Butler go to back-to-back championship games out of the Horizon League, and little known VCU and George Mason reach the Final Four. Never underestimate what the underdog is capable of. When you are looking to hire someone new to your team, sometimes it pays to give extra attention to employees that worked their way from the ground up through sheer grit and determination, rather than those that were seemingly destined for greatness.
- Know Your Competition. You should have the mindset that you are the competition. However, you can also be over confident and underestimate your competition. Yes – be proud. Never walk into your arena unprepared for any objection. Know your strengths. Know your weaknesses. Know the external threats. Execute your game-plan. Do not become this years Iowa State Cyclones!
Keep these lessons in mind, and enjoy the tournament! Keep on Wisconsin, keep on!
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
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