Kelly says big business could learn a lot from top sports teams.
What happened to the Fortune 500 companies?
“Business motivates everyone to become a director,” writes Kelly, and as we know, the demand for directors is rather limited. According to the businessman, this is one of the reasons why, according to the data he cites, 52 percent of companies have disappeared from the Fortune 500 list (an annual ranking of the largest American companies) over the past 20 years.
Of course, the main reason for this state of affairs is related to Moore’s law, which describes the exponential rate of technological growth, which is followed by a shorter product life cycle and rapid obsolescence of knowledge. However, according to Kelly, the devil lies primarily in the trust of business in models and structures developed in much more stable times.
Ready for a punch in the face
If entrepreneurs want to survive, they need to take into account the modern, dynamic landscape in which they operate. According to Kelly, they should look to the world of sports for inspiration. How? The businessman quotes Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face for the first time.” This rule, literal in the world of martial arts, should be interpreted metaphorically in this case – a company can have grand plans and a long-term strategy, but still be dealt a painful blow by the changing market and new technologies. According to Kelly, the success of an organization does not depend on its strategy, but on its response to that blow.
In team sports, winners adjust their strategy on the fly—in the offseason, during the season, and during the game. Business should be able to do the same when marketing campaigns fail, competitors announce revolutionary products or services, and top salespeople throw papers. But what Kelly believes he should focus on the most is the division of roles.
Players, coaches and management staff
As the businessman continues to argue, there are three main roles in professional sports. First and foremost – the players. They are the ones who implement the adopted team strategy and react to events and correct it in real time. Then there are the coaches, responsible for the strategy and support and training of team members. And finally – the management staff, who build the team and are responsible for the long-term strategy. Football players, if they are good, do not “promote” to coaches or managers because of this, but their goal is to be even better at kicking the ball.
According to Kelly, business should draw inspiration from the above principles. Meanwhile, it delights in turning great players (specialists) into bad coaches (managers) and even worse directors. It has invested promotion with prestige, so that if a great specialist does not advance to manager, he will not receive his earnings and generally, there must be something wrong with him.
The Devil is in the Status
The author continues this analogy. He writes that players in business are all specialists who carry out specific tasks: they create products, talk to clients, prepare offers, deal with accounting, etc. Coaches are managers whose main task is to organize the work of specialists, and their main features should be empathy and prudence. On the other hand, management staff are people responsible for the long-term strategy of the company, whose main goal is to overtake the market.
A successful business career is defined by the progression from player to coach and then to management. Many of those who have been promoted would definitely prefer to stay in their previous jobs, but it comes down to status – they would have to give up some money and prestige. And that, according to the businessman, is exactly what needs to change – pay and respect specialists as they deserve: they are, after all, the most valuable assets of the company.
