Since the Masters Tournament is in full swing this week, let’s talk golf. Specifically: golf as it relates to business, because I know of no other sport that is more similar to business.
Golf is all about performing under pressure, and the same is true for leading a company, running a division and being a “rainmaker” salesperson.
It’s not enough to just perform under pressure; you also have to continue to improve your performance. So what does it take to improve performance? Consider this sign that I saw decades ago at my elementary school: “Improvement begins with I.” Take that to heart, and then incorporate these ideas:
Know yourself. Greg Norman once said, “Be brutally honest in the appraisal of the state of your game.” Likewise, in business you have to understand your strengths and weaknesses. You have to know what you are good at today and what you can be good at tomorrow. Also, you must understand when you’re simply not going to win, despite your best efforts.
Improvement takes time. Sam Snead, who won three Masters Tournaments, was right when he said, “You can’t make some casual ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ half-decision about where you’d like to go with your game. Improvement takes time and patience.” True winners—on the golf course and in the boardroom—know success means a long-term commitment to improvement that will involve learning, trying new things and staying focused.
Be confident. I don’t believe enough has been said about the importance of confidence in sports or business. You gotta have it. You gotta believe you can win. In both business and golf, you have to be confident in your abilities, ideas and approaches if you want to succeed. You gain confidence through game experience, evaluated practice and hard work. Beware of coming across as arrogant. Be confident, not overconfident.
Work on the fundamentals. When golfers stop focusing on the fundamentals, they tend to get in trouble. The same holds true for businesspeople. For leaders, the fundamentals start with hiring and training talented people—helping them be the best they can be. This also means holding them accountable for their actions, and if they don’t (or can’t) perform, helping them become successful in another way that works. Many people think of themselves as leaders, but over time they act more like managers of work—not leaders (and developers) of people.
Have a consistency of purpose. You have to think long term in golf, in work and in life. You have to be resilient enough to let today’s difficulties be forgotten before playing tomorrow’s game. Even at his prime, Arnold Palmer, a four-time Masters winner, said, “Nobody putts well every day.” The important thing is to learn from today’s setbacks and successes and use that knowledge for tomorrow’s challenges.
Gay Brewer, the 1967 Masters champion, was right when he said, “Practice makes pars,” but Tom Watson, who won The Masters twice, took things a step further when he said, “Never lose your will to improve.”
Enjoy The Masters.