Elite Minds: Creating the Competitive Advantage by Stan Beecham

Author:Stan Beecham [Beecham, Stan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781610053501
Publisher: BookLogix
Published: 2013-08-13T14:00:00+00:00

9

FUN EQUALS SUCCESS

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.

– Michael Jordan

Throughout my career, some college coaches have allowed me to come in on a regular basis and meet with their players without the coaches being present. This is a big deal because collegiate coaches are typically very protective of their players and tightly control who has access to them.

I was given access to a baseball team that was into their second season and struggling to find success in their conference, a very competitive league. During one of our weekly meetings, I could see that the tension was very high in the room.

One of the athletes had shared with me during an individual session that the cause of the tension was two-fold: two of the guys were fighting over a girl and the team had lost a couple of close games they should have won. Furthermore, there was a lack of confidence in the coach’s ability to help them get past these events.

The meeting began with me asking the team how things were going and what they wanted to discuss during the session. The response was dead silence.

“Anyone have anything they want to say?” I asked. More silence.

I just sat with them in the quiet, knowing that eventually the pressure would build to a point where someone would blow. Finally, one of better athletes blurted out, “This isn’t any fun. Playing baseball has been the most fun I’ve ever had and for the first time, I hate it. I hate coming to practice, I hate the games—I just hate it.”

Silence again.

“How about the rest of you?” I asked. “Does anyone else feel the same way?”

Surprisingly, almost all of the hands in the room went up. The men looked around at each other. Finally, one of those who didn’t raise his hand said, “But we’re not here to have fun. We’re here to win games.”

“What’s the difference?” I asked him. “What’s the difference between having fun and winning?”

“I don’t understand your question.”

I then asked everyone in the room to think of the team they were on when they had the most fun playing baseball—any team, any age level. I told them to raise their hands when they had it.

In less than ten seconds, every hand in the room was in the air.

I then went around and I asked each of them to tell me in some detail about that very fun team—how old they were, who they played with, who their coach was, and finally, what their win-loss record was.

The majority of the men told a story of a championship team that had entered each game expecting to win. After five or six told their stories in detail, I asked the group, “Does anyone see a trend developing here?”

“Sure,” said the guy who had first started the discussion. “Winning is fun, losing sucks.”

“There you go! If you all want to have fun playing baseball, you’re going to have to find a way to win. There’s nothing fun about public embarrassment, making mistakes and playing below your ability.

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