Wimbledon is more than tennis:

Eight pick-ups for business executives

Rohantha ATHUKORALA

Having travelled the tennis circuit in my early life, it is every tennis players dream to play at Wimbledon. But, in my view if one has been following Wimbledon closely, the championship is not actually about tennis but business and life. Let me capture a few of them from the 2011 event.

Bombed

Novak Djokovic was brought up in Belgrade. He lived in a small apartment with his parents and two brothers and loved playing tennis. He loved the sport so much that in the war torn Serbia he used to practice in an empty swimming pool. Apparently when NATO jets used to bomb Serbia they used to take shelter in a nearby barn.

At the age of four years, he promised his mother that one day he will become a tennis star.

His first tennis coach said that this initial tough upbringing is what has made him such a fierce competitor.

Lesson 1: It’s good to get a tough training early life. I remember in my first job for six months the work was travelling in a lorry and selling products from one retail outlet to another. It included pasting posters on walls, hanging the dangler inside the outlet and then setting up the display. Now I see the value of that experience though it was a tough life at that time.

Believe it or not in the Ladies Singles at Wimbledon in 2011, out of the top eight players, four of them were trained by their very own fathers who were incidentally not professional trainers of tennis. This included semi-finalist Sabine Lasicki, Belarus number one Victoria Azarenka and Austrian star Tamira Paszek. One parent when interviewed commented that to train a youngster for success today a 24 hour routine is very important and this is possible in a father-daughter situation.

Lesson 2: This same ethos holds ground when it comes to training a youngster in the corporate world. The logic being that there are so many distractions in everyday life if one is not moulded on and off the field I see talented people falling between the cracks.

Hence, the leader of today whose routine includes coaching youngsters must not be confined to work skills but also the personal side of a youngster.

Wild card

The find of the Ladies Championships segment of the 2011 edition was German star Sabine Lisicki. A wild card entry into Wimbledon this year, at one point in her career had to be in crutches for almost seven weeks due to an injury. When she was selected for the Wimbledon she made the best of the tournament not only by playing attacking tennis but enjoying the tournament that garnered strong crowd support. She beat the much fancied French Open champion Li Na and made it all the way to the semi-finals. Even though ranked 64 in the world, Sabine Lisicki became within the top four women at Wimbledon edition 2011.

Lesson 3: Sometimes in life in the corporate world, we get a wild card entry to represent the organization at a global forum or at a key meeting. One must make the best of it just like Lisicki did. Remember that you can beat the heavy weights provided that you have a strong ground sense.

Errors

Andy Murray even though being one of the most talented tennis players in the circuit, has lost thrice in the semi-finals at Wimbledon. In the 2011 championships the bout with Spaniard Rafael Nadal he made 37 unforseen errors that cost Murray the match eventhough he had made an equal amount of winners.

Lesson 4: There is no point of being the talented in a company if you make the more unforced errors due to poor management of work pressure or your nerves. Even if you have made some outstanding winners the unforced errors give you a perception of being reckless and less dependable.

Which is why the logic is slow and steady is better than fast and aggressive. Corporate life is about staying in power with fewer mistakes especially when it comes to senior positions. This ethos holds more in established companies.

No money

The glamour appeal celebrity of the tournament was undoubtedly Maria Sharpova. She is referred to as the Russian fairytale who broke away from the Chernobyl disaster to win the prized catch of Wimbledon at 17 years. Sharpova earned 24 million dollars last, endorsing power brands like Tiffany, Sony Ericsson together with the prize money from tennis. But she turned down the offer to be a professional super model and film star. Her logic was that money cannot buy happiness. Her belief is that working on a passion cannot only give satisfaction in life but also the excitement to work dreams.

Eventhough she lost in the finals at Wimbledon 2011 Sharpova overcame a shoulder injury and keeps working on perfecting the game of tennis. When asked what her goal is the answer was definitive “Spend time with my fiance and experience life outside the world of tennis”

Lesson 5: Do not allow distractions to affect your corporate career. If you have invested time on mastering a skill do not allow money to take you away from your passion. There is more to life than money focus on your dreams and what you have spent time in your early life to become. Do not let go till you achieve it.

Trouble

One of the biggest problems with the game of tennis is that it attracts mainly the elite class into the audience. Eventhough there is pressure to attract the working class, when most tennis courts are geographically situated in plush neighbourhoods and in elite club houses access inhibits product penetration.

Even when it comes to Roland Garros championships the tickets are sold via the clubs which makes it impossible for a commoner to come into watch the matches.

Lesson 6: Once you have created a distinctive positioning for a brand and the marketing mix is in play, for one to change the game is a very difficult task. It can be done, but its costly and time consuming. Hence think carefully on the market size and develop the brand architecture. You get only one chance essentially.

Center stage

Venus Williams complained bitterly at Wimbledon 2011, that she was marginalized in the allocation of center court. Some even speculated that the mandate in the 2011 edition on having to wear white upset Williams as they are used to wearing flamboyant colours with cutting edge styling that grabs attention. This year the Williams failed to make much impact. Lesson 7: One does not have to be at the center of attention to perform. In-fact the new leadership ethos is that you must lead a team whereby, you can fade away without being noticed. It’s called level five leadership. But this requires a strong sense of maturity.

Signature

White was the colour of choice for this year’s Wimbledon edition. However, there was catwalk stying and the pick was American Mattek Sands who wore a tight dress, knee jocks and with black paint under her eyes. It was designed by the great Alex Noble who is the designer for Lady Gaga. Maria Sharpova also wore her own signature collection at the matches. So did Venus Williams with her EleVen line of clothing.

Lesson 8: As a corporate executive one does not have to wear a signature collection of clothing in my view but you sure can carve out an identity by wearing a consistant range of clothes and colour schemes so that you are clearly positioned within the organization and business community.