Archive for the ‘Personal Development’ Category

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You Are Responsible For You

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Just when I thought rugby league was done and dusted with off field scandals this year, comes the news of assault charges against Melbourne Storm’s Greg Inglis.

Its unfortunate the game needs to be dragged through the mud over yet another issue that centers on the lack of respect to women. I say unfortunate because I feel sorry for the victims involved, but I also feel sorry for 95% of players who work their guts out to be good role models week in week out.

When something like this happens, it tarnishes every player and administrator in the game. And that’s not fair.

I understand rugby league has more of these issues than any other code and that can’t be ignored. What I can’t understand is the finger pointing towards the NRL and its deputy David Gallop.

People are quick to slam the NRL for not ‘preventing’ bad behaviour. But let me ask you this. When Joe Blow commits a murder, do we blame the police for not ‘preventing’ the murder? No, we lay the blame squarely on the criminal.

No one is responsible for your actions but you. It’s about time we focussed on the individual and not their babysitters.

As a sports manager I can educate players on best practices time and time again, I can put mentors in place, I can send them to seminars, I can read the rule book until I’m blue in the face. What I can’t do is walk them through life holding their hand. At some stage they need to take ownership of their actions and the decisions they make in critical situations. I can’t be there to do that for them.

Greg Inglis deserves his time in court, media and fans should give him that respect. At the same time, let’s not pretend the NRL could have done anything to prevent this from happening. And lastly, let’s not label all rugby league players as disrespectful trouble makers, most are accountable to their actions and make the right decisions. They understand the concept of ‘you are responsible for you.’

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Advice For Athletes

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

“There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.”
Coach Finstock, Teen Wolf Movie 1985.

Coaches love to give advice. It’s what they’re paid to do. Sometimes its great advice. Other times its poor advice.

In my experience, the best coaches are the ones that concentrate on giving advice that is related to their athlete’s performance. This also includes life advice that brings out the best in the athlete.

Where some coaches cross the line is business, marketing or sponsorship advice. This is not their area of expertise.

I’m going to put family and partners in the same basket.

It’s ok for athletes to use these people as a sounding board but they shouldn’t dictate or influence commercial decisions.

It’s easy to criticise a sports manager when you have no experience in the field of sponsorship, are not out there selling, do not understand corporate budgets, marketing plans or advertising and PR strategies.

Put it this way. I don’t tell athletes how to kick a ball, throw a pass or swim fast. That’s not my area of expertise. So why on earth would an athlete listen to a coach or family member about sports marketing and sponsorship?

Athletes, trust your family and coach for performance and life advice. But when it comes to business, trust your manager.

Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.

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Think Strengths, Not Weaknesses

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Everyone in this world is given a different combination of strengths, just as everyone is given different weaknesses. Yet so many people waste time trying to catch up on their weaknesses that they never fully capitalise on their strengths.

Why be mediocre at a dozen things when you can be master of a couple?

It’s hardly surprising that people love to do what they are good at (strengths). And often what doesn’t come naturally pains them (weaknesses).

I bet you’ve heard the phrase, “to be successful you’ve got to do what you enjoy most”. But do you know why? When you do things you enjoy, you are playing to your own personal strengths, so success comes naturally.

Next time you find yourself enjoying a task, be it writing, drawing, calculating numbers, being creative or managing people. Ask yourself if that task aligns with a strength of yours. I think you know what the answer will be.

Using the 80/20 rule, if you can play to your strengths 80% of the time and work on your weaknesses 20% of the time you will be shocked at the ease of which you find success.

You were given talents, not so you can work on fixing your weaknesses. You were given talents so you can use them to be the best you can be.

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Six Skills for Athlete Managers

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

What skills do athlete managers need to be successful? I’m not going to burden you with a long list. In my experience, the six skills below are crucial.

Communication / Sales

I’ve grouped these two together because sales IS communication. Managing athletes is all about relationships. The better your communication, the better your relationships. This includes strong reading and writing skills and brilliant face to face contact.

Negotiation

A skill you need.

Time management

If you can’t manage your own time, how do you expect to manage someone else? A simple strategy I use is Big Rocks. Use this when managing your own time and the athletes you are responsible for.

Legal Eye

You don’t have to be a Supreme Court Justice but you do need to able to read and understand a contract. You should get the best legal advice but at the same you should be able to cross their T’s and dot their I’s?

Leadership

Leaders ask great questions, have a yearn to learn, are ethical, decisive, calm under pressure, and lead by their actions.

Candid

I’ve dedicated a blog to this. This is a trait that doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people. So if you have it, you’ll stand out from the rest and find that people respect you lot more. Famous CEO of General Electric Jack Welch built his company on this attribute so trust it.

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Smile

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

What do Roger Federer and Tiger Woods have in common?

They both know the value of a smile.

Think of the most marketable sports stars today and picture them in your mind. What are their face expressions? Are they smiling, frowning, angry, aggressive, bored, stressed?

I don’t have to tell you the value of a smile. It makes you approachable. It’s endearing. It’s universal. It’s the single most powerful and positive self expression in the world.

Yet so many athletes don’t smile enough.

Now, I’m not talking about smiling in the heat of battle. I’m talking about when you’re in front of the media, at a sponsor appearance or with fans etc.

Have you ever heard someone say this about a celebrity? “I really like that person, that seem nice / down to earth.”

Chances are that celebrity has a genuine smile and they know when and how to use it.

If it’s true that smiling is one of the easiest ways to make friends and influence people (people also includes sponsorship managers) then athletes, who have an audience of millions, should make a genuine smile part of their personality.

CA Championship Golf

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Posted in Communication, Media, Personal Development, Strategy, Tennis, golf | 1 Comment »

Manage But Don’t Forget to Teach

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Some athlete managers do everything for their clients. They pay their bills, they insure their car, they book their holidays, they fill out complex forms, they might even pick up their dry cleaning or run other errands. This type of management style is great except what you’re doing is depriving your client of important life skills.

Yes, athlete managers need to take the reins on different aspects of management but not at the expense of leaving your client without the knowledge or expertise to navigate life by themselves.

It amazes me how many athletes don’t know how to do simple tasks such as booking their own flights online. Everyday jobs are lost on some athletes simply because they have always had someone else do it for them.

You are expected to manage everything that is sponsorship or media driven but often athletes will rely on their managers for totally unrelated personal jobs. And it’s not their fault, it’s just that no one has ever taught them these skills. As a manager, it’s your duty to educate your clients. Athletes really appreciate this, in fact they take ownership and feel empowered to manage themselves better.

Ultimately your job is to build your athlete’s brand and align them with great sponsors, and this will be much easier with a client who is domlife-esticated.

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Time Management with Big Rocks

Monday, April 20th, 2009

There are so many theories on time management, in fact I don’t have the time for them all! So I stick to one simple strategy that is well known and works for me.

Its called Big Rocks. Basically it’s about using your time to focus on the things that will yield you the biggest results. It goes something like this:

Imagine a glass cookie jar. (The jar represents your time).

Next to the jar you have some sand, some small pebbles and some big rocks. These are your ‘things to do’ (big rocks = important things, sand = trivial things).

Your job is to fit all these things in the jar.

You have two options.

1. You can steer clear of the big rocks (otherwise known as procrastinating) and first put in the sand and then the pebbles.
The problem with this strategy is after putting in the sand and pebbles you find that the big rocks don’t fit!

2. The second option is concentrate on the big rocks first. Once these are in the jar, put in the pebbles and notice how they wedge themselves in the gaps between the big rocks. Lastly put in the sand and watch it sneak its way through the jar filling up any air pockets. Tad arr you have a full jar!

Next time you’re wondering how you will fit everything in your week, make the big rocks your priority and watch everything else fall into place.

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Balancing Act

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

Success is black and white in the world of sport. It’s easy to measure with statistics, you either win or you lose. An athlete’s day job is constantly on public display and is open to debate among fans and media alike.

This scrutiny can lead many athletes to believe their job defines who they are as a person. Their life rides the emotional rollercoaster that is their sporting results. Every thought is geared towards their performance especially in their downtime away from training and competing. Their minds tick over and over because they have nothing else to focus on, sport is No.1 and nothing else matters.

This is a very dangerous mindset which can lead to burnout, poor results and early retirement.

Athletes need to learn to separate the athlete from the person. The best way to do this is to find outside interests and passions they can focus on away from their sport. This can be anything from part time study, to learning a new language. Essentially what I’m talking about is achieving life balance. It’s no surprise that athletes struggle with self identity when they retire. Suddenly their super sports hero status is no longer and they feel lost.

Having worked with elite athletes I appreciate the critical need for this life balance in their careers. Encourage your athletes to chase outside interests, not only will they grow as a person and perform better but they will walk into retirement confident having separated the athlete from the person long ago.

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Think like an Elite Athlete

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Having worked alongside elite athletes you soon realise they are incredibly disciplined, focused, and competitive and have a laser vision of what they want to achieve. You might not be an elite athlete, but if you want to achieve something then you need to think like an athlete.

The first step is to know what you want to achieve. A good question to ask yourself is what would you do in life if you couldn’t fail? Dream big, because the more desire you have for something, the more you’re willing to fight for it.

Next step is to believe you can achieve it, imagine you have it, Olympians won’t tell you but they believe they are gold medallists long before they get to stand on the medal dais.

Take one step at a time. Do this by chunking your dream into achievable goals with dates to achieve them by.

Brainstorm a list of ACTION items you can do to achieve each goal, pick the best ones and here is the secret……take action. It’s amazing the power one little step will give you, the energy and confidence you get from taking any sort of action strengthens your belief to achieve it.

Stand on the shoulders of giants, that’s people who have achieved what you want, successful people love to give advice, simply ask.

Review your progress but don’t dwell on the strategy, as your desire, belief and willingness to take action will get you there. P.S. 90% of people won’t do this, and that’s why the top 10% get all the rewards.

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