3 steps to your own Cinderella story

Being the son of a coach, I am naturally a basketball freak. I’ve probably watched more basketball over the past 40 years than Tiger Woods… (won’t go there). For a basketball nut, the pinnacle of the year is March Madness, where 64 teams duke it out (no pun intended) to be the last one standing and take the national championship.

In an effort to not be completely lazy while watching this year’s tournament, I tried to draw some life lessons from March Madness that hopefully you can apply to your business. So what do promos and hoops have in common? Here are three ways you can pull off a business slam dunk.

1. We can all be a Cinderella story. Butler won our hearts, this school of 4,000 students, as they made their way to the final game to take on perennial powerhouse Duke University… only to lose by one bounce. I was amazed by the composure and discipline Butler showed in the game. They combined strong guard play, a feisty center and unbelievable defense to give the Blue Devils a run for their money. It was their rock solid fundamentals and fired-up attitude that helped them (almost) go all the way.

We can all be the Butler Bulldogs if we keep in mind a few key points:

• It takes more than hard work. Focus on working smart and developing solid business fundamentals.
• The team with the best individual athletes doesn’t always win. The best team is the one that wins. Build yourself a winning business team to go farther than you could by yourself.
• Luck happens to people who take risks. Nobody ever won an NCAA championship by sitting on the sidelines and playing it safe. The same is true for business.

2. Don’t just play to not lose—play to win. Sometimes a team with a decent lead will start “milking the clock,” trying to limit the number of future possessions. This drives me crazy. They start playing nothing but defense because they don’t have enough confidence in their offensive strategy to carry them to victory. Inevitably the attitude of the team starts to wane after a couple of scoreless possessions, and they see their once-significant lead shrink to a few scores. I call it negative energy.

I see many professionals having the same type of negative energy in their business. I get it, 2009 sucked. Some of you got completely blindsided, and now you’re faced with rebuilding. If you have a bad attitude and put out negative energy, the best you can hope for is the equivalent of being just one or two scores ahead in the fourth quarter. Focus on your attitude and it will increase your altitude.

3. It’s anybody’s game. In this year’s tournament there were probably a number of schools names that you’ve never heard of (St. Mary’s, Butler, Sienna, etc). These schools from the mid-major conferences are on the rise and exceeded most hoop prognosticators expectations. I expect more of these lesser known schools to continue to shake up the tournament next year by muscling out the established big boys.

Our industry is changing in many ways, and the traditional approach to business no longer guarantees you success. Regardless of how large you are or how many years you’ve been in business, throw out the old playbook and embrace alternative ways to win in 2010 and beyond. Look for new ways to market yourself, new platforms to build business leverage, and customers that “get it” and are in alignment with your long term goals.

The clock is ticking. Will you be the upstart, come-from-behind winner or the guy who doesn’t even get off the bench?

Game on hoopsters,

- JB

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