The Winning Way 2.0Learnings from Sport for Managers

by Anita Bhogle

because you are afraid, you will fail … disappears.

pioneer

auda...

clincher.

sceptics,

Imran Khan, one of the all-time greats of the game and an outstanding leader, often talks of how he tried to be

the best fast bowler from Pakistan. When he set the goal, he was very far away from achieving it, he was in fact just another privileged eighteen-year-old whose ego had been bruised by the real world that so many of us are usually sheltered from. Imran did eventually get there, through a process of understanding his action and remodelling it. He wouldn’t have gone through the danger of doing that if he didn’t have a clear goal in sight; a goal that he believed was slightly out of reach but never out of sight.

This assessment of how good you are, or indeed can be, is critical.

raptures

audacious

loath

So too with Sehwag who, after a brilliant century on debut when he batted at number six, was asked by Sourav Ganguly to open in England. At first, he was hesitant, but took up the challenge and became one of the most destructive players in cricketing history in that position. On either occasion, if the player had worried about what happened if he failed, he would never have taken up the challenge. It is a great lesson for all of us.

In 1976, India was set a target of 403 by the West Indies to win the third Test. Only one team in the history of the game had scored more than 400 to win a game and India weren’t the best batting side in the world either. They surprised everybody by scoring 406 for four. A few years later when he was asked what the strategy was, Sunil Gavaskar said the plan was to just keep batting session by session; at the start of a session to take care not to get out, then tell yourself you had done the difficult part and would be foolish to throw it away and towards the end to ensure you were around at the start of the next. The assault on 403 only began much, much later.

At Hobart in 2012, India were set a stiff target of 321 by Sri Lanka in a one-day international. Unfortunately, to go ahead on net run rate, India had to get those runs in 40 overs or less. A young Virat Kohli gave an early glimpse into why he eats targets for dinner scoring 133 in 86 balls and finishing off the target in 36.4 overs.

When, for example, Australia had made a world record 434 for four against South Africa in 2006, the immediate reaction would have been to sit in the dressing room with drooping heads and hope that the day would end quickly and South African players wouldn’t look like fools. Instead, one of the senior players, Jacques Kallis, suggested that given the weather and the pitch conditions a score of about 450 was par and that Australia were probably 15 runs short. It broke the ice, cleared the air of despondency in the dressing room and set the mood for a historic chase and subsequent win. The comment didn’t win South Africa the game, it merely created the atmosphere in which the run chase could be mounted.

Or again, when India were set 360 to win the World Cup in 2003 against an outstanding Australian team that seemed to add a further 30 runs to the total by the way they caught, fielded and bowled. The dressing room in the break couldn’t have been the happiest place to be in. Until Sachin asked a simple question of them: ‘Can we score one boundary an over?’ It’s not easy but neither is it impossible. When he heard a few players say yes, he asked what the target would then reduce to … a boundary an over means 50 balls produce 200 runs and the objective shrinks to 160 from 250 balls. Very achievable. Again it was the manner in which a seemingly impossible target was reframed that made it seem surmountable. It didn’t change the target, or as it turned out, the result, but it put the team in the right frame of mind to tackle an overwhelming goal.

erudite

Stephen Fleming, their erudite former captain, says that given the small player base they learn very quickly to make the most of what they have to be competitive. It is something, he said, he was told as a child: make the most of what you have. Think about it and you realise why they are such respected competitors.

obsessed

impediment

‘I want to be 100 per cent at every tournament. I’m not concerned about rankings. If I win, my ranking will improve. My focus is on improving my game and fitness. If that happens, everything else follows.’6

The swimmer for example, rather than swim for gold swims for the timing, which is in his/her control and that is most likely to produce gold.

For to lose is not a crime, to offer less than 100 per cent is.

winger.

If you only ever give 90 per cent in training then you will only ever give 90 per cent when it matters. —

‘Business,’ Jack Welch says, ‘is a game and winning it is a total blast.’

melange

‘Self-awareness is very important,’ says the serious-minded Ajinkya Rahane. ‘What works for you doesn’t work for someone else.’

Talent Alone Is Not Enough

chisel

As Dr. Shailesh Ayyangar says, ‘A talented individual without the right attitude can’t be a long-term sustainable winner. A person with great attitude but with limited talent could still be a great champion member of the team. A combination of these two will make the person a real winner.’

perseverance.

Indian cricket is that of Vinod Kambli who was abundantly blessed, had put in sincere hard work through very difficult times but struggled to adjust his game to the demands of international cricket after his extraordinary entry. He had the talent, but perhaps could not show the determination and discipline required to play at the highest level.

Saina sacrificed the comfort of a luxurious home and cars in Hyderabad and opted to live in a small room within the stadium premises in Bengaluru to focus on her game. It’s one thing to want to win, quite another to do whatever it takes to get there.

There is this delicious story told about a sixteen-year-old Tendulkar who went to Pakistan with the Indian team and had to be told that at this level bowlers needed to be respected; it wasn’t something he had ever worried about, because no bowler had really challenged him until then.

demeanour

‘Spin is no more a mystery,’ says R. Ashwin. ‘You tend to watch a lot of videos and the batsman knows exactly what cues to take. It’s not about skill anymore. There are bowlers all over the world who are good at their art, know how to pick up wickets. What separates you from the rest is how well you handle pressure and how brave you can be in testing times.’3

‘batch parity’

No wonder then, A. S. Ramchander lists ‘the skill to work with people who know more than yourself’ as one that will be critical for leaders of the future.4

towns. M. S. Dhoni once famously said that players from small towns are tougher because they try harder.

fettered

hostile.

erode,’

Sieve

If you are succeeding all the time, you should ask yourself if you are taking enough risks. If you do not take enough risks, you may also be losing out on many opportunities. —Azim Premji

infallibility

‘Everybody on a championship team doesn’t get publicity, but everyone can say he’s a champion.’ In

pastures.

exuberance

spur