November 16th, 2009
A lot has been said about Andre Agassi’s book. Whether you like the guy, or you don’t, or you were a fan, but aren’t now, you’ve got to admit that being honest about your deepest darkest secrets is no easy caper.
Since the book’s launch, Andre has been battered from pillar to post. He’s had support too. But the majority of feedback has been scathing. And little wonder. Some of the revelations warrant a negative response from sports administrators and current tennis role models. That’s to be expected.
But dig a little deeper and I think you’ll find a very troubled soul who has finally found peace with himself.
For years Andre was worried about other people’s expectations. He was worried about what his father thought of him. He was worried about what the media thought of him. He was worried about what his fans thought of him. I’m betting a lot of people can relate to this approval seeking behaviour. Well Andre was king of it. But no longer.
The message from Andre’s book is this; “This is the real me. You either like it or you don’t. Either way I don’t care but I hope you learn something from my mistakes.”
There is no doubt Andre’s brand has been dealt a savage blow, and Andre himself knew that was coming. More importantly for Andre is the fact he no longer bows to other people’s opinions, something that contributed to his struggles in the first place. He is now a free man and that’s way more important to him personally, than what you or I think.
Living life according to other people’s expectations and approval is a dangerous game that will leave you exhausted and without a sense of purpose. Andre made that mistake for a long time but it seems he’s treading his own path now.
Tags: Andre Agassi
Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Personal Development, Tennis | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009
Continuing the Tiger theme this week, I thought his 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night was extremely refreshing.
In the interview, Tiger confessed that ‘winning’ was the big motivation to his success and work ethic.
Winning drives most elite sportspeople but few admit it.
Maybe it’s an Australian thing. We expect our heroes to be humble and promote enjoyment as their main motivation. But let’s be honest. Winning is a major carrot for elite sportspeople.
You only have to look at Andre Agassi. He admits in his autobiography that he hated tennis. So what drove him? It certainly wasn’t ‘having fun’.
Now don’t get me wrong, fun plays a major role for most sportspeople, but fun alone doesn’t motivate an athlete to rise at 5:30AM and do 1000 sit-ups. Winning does.
And that’s why Tiger’s interview was refreshing. Winning shouldn’t be a dirty word. Australian’s more than any other nation like to win. Athletes themselves like to win. So let’s not sugar-coat the truth. There is nothing wrong with wanting to win. It’s why the Michael Jordan’s, Kelly Slater’s, Lance Armstrong’s and Tiger Woods’ of the world are on top.
They use the concept of winning to drive them to be better. Aint nothing wrong with that. Refreshing isn’t it?
Tags: 60 Minutes, Andre Agassi, Kelly Slater, Lance Armstrong, Micha, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods
Posted in Communication, Media | 1 Comment »
November 9th, 2009
Does anyone remember when David Beckham visited Sydney two years ago? I do. I was front and centre at ANZ Stadium when he bent-it-like-Beckham against Sydney FC.
David Beckham was a busy man that week. Sponsors, media, fans, everyone wanted a piece of the guy. Most people would have buckled, but to his credit, David showed tremendous grace under all the attention and just when everyone thought the exposure was way over top, he delivered with that magical goal to justify the hype.
And so we come to Tiger Woods who touched down in Melbourne today ahead of Thursday’s Australian Masters.
There is no bigger name in world sport right now. The man is a phenomenon. So you can expect a whirlwind week of media attention for Tiger.
This is a great week for Australian golf and Tourism Victoria. And don’t underestimate the impact Tiger’s appearance will have on the young kids out there who are deciding what sport to play this summer. It’s a huge bonanza and the Victorian group that pulled it together should be congratulated.
Tiger’s schedule this week is hectic, the expectations enormous. But he’ll do it all with a smile on his face. And just when you think the attention is all too much, he’ll deliver with a gold jacket and justify the hype.
Perhaps that’s wishful thinking. But then again, we’re talking about Tiger Woods.
Tags: ANZ Stadium, Australian Masters, David Beckham, Sydney FC, Tiger Woods
Posted in Media, golf | No Comments »
October 26th, 2009
I had an ugly situation today when I had to pull an athlete from a major event because they had double booked and not informed me.
In most cases I would enforce the prior obligation with management, but the circumstances on this occasion didn’t allow for that. This left me frustrated and embarrassed but it also reinforced the importance of diary management.
An athlete’s personal diary impacts their professional diary.
Traditionally I would rely on the athlete to update their own diary with commitments I send them. Or I would email them the diary I manage so they could update their own diary.
This system has worked ok in the past, but I’m not in the business of being ok. I need a better solution.
Upon further thinking I would encourage athlete managers to keep a gmail account with a diary that you and your athlete have public access to. One diary. No confusion.
This system still relies heavily on the athlete but once both parties are in a good habit it should become second nature.
Sometimes we need problems in order to see new opportunities or in this case better ways of doing things.
Posted in Communication, Strategy | No Comments »
October 23rd, 2009
Golf Australia yesterday announced a good initiative aimed at increasing participation in the sport.
They have signed a number of ambassadors for a new campaign that will target children and young females to play the game.
The campaign includes “Tee Times” a new central booking system on the PlayGolf.com.au website that enables golfers to find and book a casual round.
Golf Australia has tapped Masterchef’s Sarah Wilson, musician Shannon Noll and media personalities James Mathison, Shelly Horton, Tony Squires and Kerri-Anne Kennerley for the initiative.
This is a great initiative by Golf Australia. Firstly, “Tee Times” will allow a number of B2B opportunities. Eg. An automotive sponsor would get the unique opportunity to offer a free round of golf to a customer if they test drive a vehicle.
And the ambassadors will help drive PR across media channels that talk to females and a younger audience. It would have been hard finding ambassadors that already play golf and are relevant to the target audiences so not a bad job.
Personally, golf is one of my favourite sports. I love the game. And so I’m pleased to see initiatives like this one. Golf Australia know what they have to do to progress the sport, the hard thing is doing it. This campaign is a great start.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
October 19th, 2009
I’ll never forget the day I received my first pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes. Growing up in the basketball crazy era of the 1980’s and early 90’s Michael Jordan was my hero. And Nike was my favourite brand. Funny that.
There is no doubting the influence Michael Jordan has had on the Nike brand. It’s a great story of an athlete and a sponsor coming together to create something special. But it nearly didn’t happen. Read this article about the history of Nike Air Jordan.
Nike believed in Michael.
So much so, they were willing to bet the company on him. But it took some convincing at the time.
This story provides us with a few lessons.
1. Athletes are sometimes better off aligning with a sponsor that is passionate about them, and not just the other way around.
2. Sponsors need to communicate and get their athletes involved when it comes to leveraging the name, image and likeness of the athlete.
3. Loyalty is important. Athletes should be prepared to stick with a sponsor that showed belief early in their career. Swapping to another sponsor in the same category can dilute an athlete’s own brand.
4. Get creative when selling sponsorship. Nike knew that had to convince Michael to sign with them and that wasn’t going to happen with boardroom drawl. They created a video to appeal to Jordan’s emotions – very creative for back then.
Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Media, Personal Development, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
October 16th, 2009
Whether you’re an athlete in a team sport, a CEO of a large company or a young entrepreneur starting a business, getting “TEAMWORK” right is critical.
The corporate world can learn a lot from the sporting world and the principles are not hard to follow.
1. You need a great captain/coach. Someone that leads by example. Someone that can make quick decisions and is willing to die by the sword. Someone that stays calm under pressure. Has confidence. Has ethics. And is a people’s person.
2. Everyone in the team must have clearly defined roles. The more specific the better. And just like footy players have hit ups, tackles and disposals, the role must be measureable. Let team members take ownership over their role and make them accountable. And when delegating tasks, be ridiculously specific.
3. Get the team to socialise outside work. You learn so much more about a person away from the office. This casual interaction has the ability to create friendships that are a bit deeper than the typical “workmate relationship”. Athletes always talk about “not letting their teammates down,” and this comes out of friendship.
4. Create a fun and comfortable work environment. Team members have to enjoy coming to work. One of the first things Wayne Bennett did when he went to the St George Illawarra Dragons, was to improve the training facilities. You want your team to be proud of their workspace and take pride in it.
5. Have a clearly defined mission statement that inspires. Every sports team has a mantra. A key set of words that inspire and reminds everyone what they’re striving for.
5. Focus on the process. Sporting teams don’t focus on a premiership. They focus on the process of what they must do each day to achieve a premiership. A salesperson could focus on $1 million in sales, or they could focus on how many phone calls and proposals they’ll need to send out to achieve that $1 million.
6. Communicate. Sporting teams are very candid in their communication. They don’t let things fester. If there is a problem, it’s discussed and solved before it divides a team. The captain/coach needs to be approachable and always have their ear to the ground.
7. Constantly review performance. Sporting teams regularly meet for video analysis to learn from their mistakes and improve performance. They are constantly striving to get better. After a project or business deal, its worth asking “how could we have done that better or what worked and what didn’t.” Don’t go through the motions. Stop once and a while and look at the big picture.
7. Encourage mentoring. Senior athletes love taking younger teammates under the wing. Don’t wait for this to naturally happen. Appoint your senior people to someone. This proactive move works at Australian Olympic team level so it should work for you.
6. Celebrate success. You don’t need to swap shirts, spray champagne and shout a song to the beat of a wheelie bin, but you’ve got to enjoy the wins. If you can’t do this then really what is the point? Celebrating success also has the added benefit of bringing the team closer together so have fun.
Tags: Australian Olympic team, captain, Coach, St George Illawarra Dragons, teamwork, Wayne Benn
Posted in Communication, Rugby, Rugby League, Strategy | 4 Comments »
