Stephen H Baum Leadership

Twenty-five years of coaching reveal certain truths and patterns of behavior. But once in awhile one of my clients expresses thoughts about these in a memorable way. That happened in a coaching session this past week. 

“Spencer” is an accomplished investment manager and deal-maker who yearns for a position in his firm that recognizes him for the senior leader he has become . He is highly skilled at structuring deals, negotiating on behalf of his partners and getting things done. His own career, while successful, has not reached the elevation he seeks.

During a recent tennis match, Spencer mused about the parallels between his play and his work. He has invested a great deal in raising his game and now has a full arsenal of strokes which he executes really well. He can rally with the best. But when it comes to a competitive match, opponents of no greater talent usually beat him. He realized that he is focused completely on how he plays and not on winning points. Not to say that he should resort to any chicanery or mean-spiritedness — on the contrary, he has determined that he competes the way he rallies and needs to have a strategy, a plan for winning points. This means thinking ahead as to how to tire the opponent by hitting corner to corner and front to back, how to wrong-foot the opponent by changing the pace of the game, how to put the opponent mentally off-balance by varying the type and sequence of shots. Or setting the expectation that he will run after every ball. 

If this were tennis doubles, there would also be the dimension of collaboration and communication with, and encouragement of your partner. 

In your life, playing to win (by all fair means) requires a strategy and a plan. Do you have one?