How success in sport translates to business

On the face of it, sport and business are completely different. However, if you were to scrutinize the two in-depth, you’d soon start to see some glaring similarities and how successful practices can translate between the two.

Sure, reaching a profit target is a little different to a home run. However, the processes can be very similar if you look at them from one perspective, as we’ll now take a look at some of them in greater detail.

Sport teaches discipline and determination

This first one actually came courtesy of Rene Escobar Bribiesca, a successful Mexican businessman who also successfully ran triathlons.

He went on to say that there were two key things he took out of his sporting achievements; discipline and determination.

As anyone who has participated in a triathlon will verify, it’s one of the toughest challenges around. The training is intense and to become a success you really have to be disciplined in the way that you prepare for the events. It’s for this reason why he also mentioned dedication as hugely important – without the dedication the discipline just wouldn’t exist.

In terms of business, it goes without saying that these attributes are vital. Without them, you’ll give up at the first opportunity and you’ll also struggle to put any sort of plan into action.

Team-play is essential

This next point should go without saying.

It doesn’t matter if you’re starting your business alone, at some point you are going to rely on others to take you to the next level.

Suffice to say, the same applies in sport. For teams like football, it’s obvious. For something like golf or tennis, one might be surprised to see the number of professionals who work in the background to support their player – from physiotherapists right the way through to nutritionists.

Unfortunately, we’re not built to achieve everything ourselves. You might think that you know your business better than anyone, but doing the buying, selling and everything else in-between is a recipe for disaster.

Not only do you need to build a team, but you need to be able to trust it and help it develop with you.

There are positions in both sport and business

This leads perfectly on from the last point we have just discussed.

As we all know, in most sports players have their preferred position. In soccer it could be a striker, in baseball it could be the pitcher. Trying to put square pegs in round holes and play players out of position has been proven not to work – it won’t yield the correct results and the team won’t perform to its potential.

Well, the same apples in business. Being able to recognize exactly where each member of your team works the best is key for any successful entrepreneur. As well as developing your team, you need to play to their strengths and ensure they are well-equipped to deal with the task that you have entrusted them with.