Pros in Soccer vs. Pros in Corporate
Two great books for this coming analogy: (1) The Inner Game of Tennis and (2) Quiet Leadership.
The corporate world is like professional soccer. Like in soccer, if a company offers someone a jersey to play on their team and the pro agrees to put it on then: (a) they should be honored and (b) until they take it off- the pro should want their team (company) to win.
Pros know:
1. To win requires a desire to win, a plan, focus, and action. Pros put ego aside for the team+work hard to help the team win. Pros want to work with other pros that want the team to win- and will work hard to help win. Pros have a self awareness like “How can I help? What could I be doing better" etc. Experience, instinct, and desire is what makes them a pro.
2. Winning requires trust and synchronization between the players on the field, coaches+ admin staff. Pros are honest and speak up when they see a pattern that could create unnecessary loss, a tweak to improve, or an opportunity for a point or gain and pro coaches listen.
3. Pros let each other know if there is a personal issue or distraction that could cause a loss- and other pros step up and in for a bit. Pros know sometimes they’ll be traded or benched but while they’re in the jersey they’re trying- without excuse. They usually keep personal issues at home and show up ready to go but understand things happen and speak up early because they know fellow Pros will step up and in because caring leads to wins.
4. Pros know the scoreboard isn’t about them but the team. To win, Pros will assist, score, or defend from the other company - risking themselves in the trenches as needed for the team. In doing so, they have great careers. They don’t play dirty - or cheat - that hurts the team’s reputation.
5. Within the corporate world - if a pro no longer wants to or can’t pull their weight for a bit- they raise their hand or a coach sees it and shifts them to ticket sales, bench for for a breather, tries to help, or eventually lets them go. Pro coaches know it hurts the team to keep someone on the field who just doesn’t perform or want to win.
6. Pros Pay attention to the score. Wins are lovely. How can you replicate it? Celebrate and thank folks. Loses teach lessons - debrief/postmortem from them. Ties work. But how do you get back to winning?
7. Pro coaching matters. Is coach paying attention, taking ownership, driven? Does coach care about the folks in the jersey? Is coach upskilling, observing, trading, and benching effectively to win? Does Coach know the score? Creating plays that work, helping pros perform better, tweaking culture+policies that aren’t helping the team win? Coaching cant be overlooked in the win/loss discussion. In soccer the pro coaches give pro players full credit for the wins + often get and take the scrutiny for every loss - in corporate not so much.
8. Pros are fans of other teams and opposing players and always play with character but until the jersey changes, they want and try for their team to win.
Is this how y'all view it?
Good luck,
The OneVie Team
*Gemini AI image
