Cricket, Business and Leadership

Ok…I must admit to start with I am a huge fan of cricket and am heavily involved in playing active cricket for the last year and a half or so. Hence every analogy involves cricket these days J

 

Nevertheless I often wonder the amount of changes, progression, phases and learning’s our team have gone through in cricket in this past year or so. The moment we hit on Thursday/Friday the mind starts to get ready for the coming session on Sunday. As I was beginning to think about the events and progression in the game, the resemblance of the same with corporate world hit me. The evolution of our team is similar to what a Corporate goes through; the job of a captain is so similar to that of a corporate leader.

 

So here goes the events of our game and the similarities:

 

• We started playing with a tennis ball in a small park which had more bushes than players….that was great fun to say the least. However as time went our greed increased. We then found a new ball that swung a mile and made the game more challenging…then found a new ground with no bushes and clear area to play…..then started playing with a cricket ball….then starting competing with corporate teams. Even before we realized we were regular in tournaments. The fact that the desire for more never reduced we just kept upping the bets and the roller coaster continued. Business is much like that I guess…..one needs to have passion for what they are doing and a constant desire to up the bet. That thrill to experiment the next level of success has to be there.
• Somewhere in the middle of the season I realized that we were playing some players more than others in desire to win…ofcourse since they had more skill than the rest. But then it started to become boring for the rest of the players. Just being part of the game was not enough…everybody wanted an opportunity to desire. We started to question basics like if winning was more important than playing, can a team game by won by just a handful, even if a handful can win it at times is that what we want. Corporate world is a bit like that as well. Unless everyone has a chance to perform, irrespective of whether he or she is the most skilled person, there is no chance of having them engaged in the business. Am not too sure also if that’s the winning formulae for a team game. Allegation being that corporate world is a team game as well.
• Job of a captain is like that of a corporate leader. It seems fun in the beginning but it takes time to realize it’s a job of great responsibility. Almost everything that goes wrong will get attributed to the top job person. The ownership of ensuring everybody is part of the game, everyone gets tips to improve their skill, and everyone gets their moments of glory, sets all with the captain. Assuming that the captain is usually someone with higher level skill set, there is usual trap of expecting similar level from all others and strong need to succeed at any cost. Corporate world is a bit like that.
• If one keeps doing the same routine of playing a corporate match every week one will soon come to a point where some players will start getting injured and some will start getting bored. You start to loose some invaluable players. Corporate world in their pursuit for growth often commit same mistakes. Its very important to keep the thrill alive….change the ball, change the rules of the game, change the ground….the day the element of newness goes away, be sure downslide has begun.

 

Well so much so for the similarities. Am sure more deeply one thinks about this issue, more insights reside therein. In the end everyone must feel part of the game as much as others and take responsibility for their fun. If everyone walks forward and speak their mind in terms of ideas and issues, lot can be changed….or atleast change can start.

 

Rohit