Bizlife Smarts

We all strive to get to the mountaintop. But few are able to get there. What is the key to success that drives those who get there? In the workplace, many people often state the platitude that success is all about attitude. However, is that really true? The attendant at your front desk has a great attitude, but she’s still a front desk attendant at age 60. The can-do guy who works long hours and takes on all tasks will retire as a clerk at age 65. Mindset is more than just attitude.

Whenever I look at aspirational issues, I find solace in drawing analogies to sport. On the back of Tiger Woods’ winning his 15th major just the other day, let’s look at the mindset of some of the greatest athletes of our times. People will easily confuse this piece to be about greatness – it is not! I’m simply using the clearest, best examples to illustrate that mindset is more than just attitude and bringing that analogy back to the corporate world.

The question of greatness

So, if mindset is more than just attitude, what is it about? Let’s kick the thought process off with some rhetorical questions.

• Why does Tiger’s presence transform the game of golf in new players and fans, viewership and prize money than all the young phenoms? https://www.golfdigest.com/story/how-tiger-woods-latest-masters-title-could-have-a-bigger-impact-on-golf-than-his-first
• Ali was considered ‘the greatest’ and universally revered by boxers and fight fans alike. This was from when he was 22 years old and for the following half century. Why was this?
• How did skinny Michael Jordan rise from failing to make his high school basketball team, to bring such sublime joy to fans the World over, displaying the most indomitable spirit to ever play the game?
• And what about Amazon? Rising from anything but a money pit and then proving us all wrong by becoming the behemoth it is today.
• Weren’t we all amazed when Steve Jobs resurrected Apple from the scrap heap, to become the World’s most valuable brand?!
• Who could foresee that Facebook would transcend all understanding of what social networks could be, and completely overtake our very existence?

Let’s address the elephant in the room. This list has a bias towards race and technology companies. I however make no apology, as it was not conscious bias. Tiger achieved the greatest of comebacks this past weekend; Ali is ‘the greatest’; Jordan is the G.O.A.T.. I’ve also been consistent in writing about the rise of technology companies in the past, as reflected in this Interbrand motion graphic https://youtu.be/BQovQUga0VE , as the sector of the future.

Here’s some additional insight into my thoughts regarding these technology brands.https://bizlifesmarts.com/brand sustainability

Mindset as the key to greatness – the magic 5

So, what do these 6 people/ entities share that supersedes all others and that makes it so their mindset is more than just attitude?

1. Tunnel-vision focus.
2. Mental fortitude and a certain lack of fear. https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/science-shows-alex-honnold-feels-no-fear/news-story/57b006f2ea85b6f913c69e5915e0fbd6
3. Steely determination.
4. Self-belief against all odds.
5. DNA imprinting past success into the psyche.

The Greatests of All Time

This is not an exercise in comparison of who is the G.O.A.T., but is to analogize, rather than to compare and contrast. I repeat, it illustrates that mindset is more than just attitude. Now, I could look at these “magic 5” attributes in various ways. However, for clarity of a convergence of various points, I’ve paired each personality with a corporate entity. But you could nonetheless pair each in your own unique way, to draw similar analogies.

Tiger and Facebook

Tiger

So of course Tiger goes first, and get’s the most attention for his recent astounding accomplishment.

Surprisingly, many of us are all giddy about Tiger winning his 15th major after an 11 year major-win drought. I’ve been thinking; ‘what hypocrites, what fair-weather fans!’. Almost every analyst and so-called golf fan had written him off. For the last 10 years all we heard was, ‘he’s a terrible human-being’, ‘he can’t recover from his injuries’, ‘he’s too old’, ‘he’s lost the mental focus and toughness’. Pffft! So, I’m not going to gratify these naysayers by rattling off the stats to justify the immensity of Tiger’s achievement just to make them feel better about supporting him again.

Tiger’s magic 5

1. Tunnel-vision focus: It’s all about majors, the day 4 red shirt and the Tiger-charge. Everything else is closed out, including the watching, stampeding spectator hordes.
2. Mental fortitude and a certain lack of fear: Be it a broken leg, a broken swing, a broken reputation, a back that feels like its broken, or hitting that impossible shot, he doesn’t let anything break him. He always bounces back!
3. Steely determination: The goal is constant, and that is to win. Tiger will find 1,000 ways to do that, no matter the difficulty or adversity. https://youtu.be/Cjjb-_cvwH4
4. Self-belief against all odds: 2nd is never a part of his imagination; even if he is one shot back on the final hole, with his approach shot to the green in the deep rough, behind a tree.
5. DNA imprinting past success into the psyche: Nobody expects less than a win from him, every time, based on his past success; he himself least of all.

Let’s not get it twisted. We must differentiate Tiger the golfer, from Tiger the man. Yes, the marriage dust-up and injuries to his body and reputation derailed Tiger’s career for a time. Tiger the man had not yet matured into existence back then. For those ten years, he had to use the 5 attributes to become a better man and ultimately a better father. Not to mention, also having to recover from debilitating, career-threatening injuries. His golf suffered for it.

We must realize that for the first 33 years of his life, Tiger was purely Tiger the golfer, 100% focused on the “magic 5”. However, for these past 17 months he’s matured and been able to compartmentalise his two personae. Tiger the man off the course, and Tiger the golfer on the course. He maintains the “magic 5” in both, so as to be great at both. That, for me, is the more impressive achievement!

So what’s the Facebook analogy?

I summarized my view on some of the Facebook strengths in the brand sustainability piece, linked above. Many more have been outlined in other people’s writings. Tiger’s mindset is not just about attitude and neither is Facebook’s, as we see below.

1. Tunnel-vision focus: Like Tiger’s 10 years in the wilderness, Facebook had a torrid 2 years in 2017 and 2018. They lost their focus, as they pursued business growth and expansion over the voice of customers. Once FB regains their focus on being the vanguard of social network evolution, and establishes privacy ethics they will, like Tiger, resurge.
2. Mental fortitude and a certain lack of fear: Like Tiger, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg are steadfast in the pursuit of their goals. They are resilient, no matter the hits they take and the criticisms from compatriots and public opinion alike.
3. Steely determination: FB never strays from or backtracks on their overall plans and direction, no matter the bumps along the way.
4. Self-belief against all odds: Here FB may be criticised that their self-belief has crossed the line into being tone-deaf to their customers and society.
5. DNA imprinting past success into the psyche: They have ring-fenced their future by learning from FB’s journey and making it ubiquitous; while future-proofing with the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions.

Ali and Apple

Ali rose from the ashes of being banned for conscientious objection, to once again become the champion of the World. Apple rose from the ashes of near bankruptcy, to become one of the World’s most valuable brands. Because their mutual mindset is more than just attitude, their were both able to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

Ali and Apple’s magic 5

1. Tunnel-vision focus: Everything that Ali became in life, emanated from being ‘the Greatest’ boxer of all time. Everything that Apple has become has emanated from it’s i-series technology. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Apple-s-rise-from-near-bankruptcy-to-most-13128136.php
2. Mental fortitude and a certain lack of fear: Ali and Apple shared this attribute in their most epic moments. Ali faced down scary Sonny Liston and beast that was George Foreman, felling them both. Apple believed in a technology that everyone said was crazy, to transform our computer lives today.
3. Steely determination: They are both perfect examples of having experienced the greatest failures, only to come back to achieve the greatest glory.
4. Self-belief against all odds: If you’ve seen Ali in the ring before a bout, or the Apple leader on stage before a product launch, their self-belief is overwhelming.
5. DNA imprinting past success into the psyche: Both Ali and Apple learned from their past experiences and come through victorious. This even when their backs were to the wall and defeat appeared imminent.

Jordan and Amazon

Jordan and Amazon have gone on and on to ascend to new heights of greatness. They both best epitomize that mindset is more than just attitude. Jordan was the skinny kid who got cut from his high school basketball team, to the greatest player in the World, to a sports industry icon in the game, with his apparel lines and as franchise owner. Amazon went from not making a profit for it’s first 7 years, to being just an online seller, to being the leading online and offline combined retail, data and distribution company.

Jordan and Amazon’s magic 5

1. Tunnel-vision focus: Both Jordan and Amazon ever let anyone or anything stand in their pursuit of their objectives. Be it failing multiple times before you succeed, maintaining your resolve as your industry declines around you, finally acquiring a team after previous unsuccessful attempts or using your core strength to become a leader in multiple related fields.
2. Mental fortitude and a certain lack of fear: Jordan careening towards the hoop, 4 feet off the air with his tongue hanging out, into a crowd of Detroit Pistons goons ready to swat him down to the ground, symbolized his fearlessness and strength of will. Similarly, the mind-boggling, visionary growth of Amazon in starting out in a declining market category and challenging economy, required a fortitude not for the faint of heart and mind.
3. Steely determination: Jordan’s court persona has been characterised as so relentless that, in his domination of them, he either diminished or destroyed many a player’s career. Neither the “Jordan Rules”, nor Jerry Krause, nor the flu could stop him when he had his eyes on the prize. Amazon exists on such a different trajectory from the market, that literally no company can compete with them.
4. Self-belief against all odds: Jordan would still take the game-winning shot, even if his team was down 2 points with a tenth of a second on the clock, even if he had missed all his shots that quarter. Similarly amazing are the new Amazon-related companies that are hugely successful, that you would never have imagined they would acquire or create.
5. DNA imprinting past success into the psyche: Both Jordan and Amazon are the definition of success in their respective universes. They are the standard by which all others are measured.

Attitude, plus, plus

So, the next time someone tells you, ‘It’s all about your attitude’, tell them that it’s really not that simple. Yes, attitude is the first step, but there’s a whole lot more to it.

So, we must pay homage to Tiger for being the G.O.A.T. in golf who, with his 15 majors (and counting), has achieved more overall and transformed golf even more than Jack Nicklaus. Jordan is transcendent and revered as the G.O.A.T., even by his compatriots like Tiger and other top athletes. And Ali proved to the end of his life, that he was ‘the Greatest’ and was thus esteemed.

We in the business community should use these lessons of the “magic 5” to chart the road to success for ourselves and those around us. Just as these great athletes are transcendent, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and companies like them, show us that companies too can be similarly outstanding. Companies may not be as magical and breathtaking, but can be consistently and enduringly great nonetheless.