There must be hundreds of self-help and motivational management guides out there and lots of them end up using sports metaphors as a seemingly clever short-hand for how to think and behave in business. A lot of these sports terms tend to be from American football and baseball, phrases like ‘hit it out of the park’, ‘dropping the ball’, ‘step up to the plate’ and ‘take one for the team’, but they can really stretch things too far; in most cases they are, to use another American-ism, baloney. Business is not really much like sports and the occasional similarities are far outweighed by the overwhelming differences.
One way in which there is an overlap between sports and business, however, is in how your competitor can affect things. There are certain sports where an individual’s ability to win is unaffected by competitors (e.g. running the marathon, golf, downhill skiing, swimming); one can win by being the fastest against the clock or by getting the best score. In other events, your performance is directly affected by what the opponent does (e.g. tennis, boxing, judo, football) and how well you can perform is not solely down to your abilities. So in one case you can perform well and win without worrying about your opponent, in the other you actually have to overcome your opponent to come out on top. In this aspect sports and business can be seen in the same light.
There are some markets, particularly those with low profit margins, which are deemed ‘cut-throat’ where it seems to be the case that for one company to win, another has to take a hit (with the market differentiator usually being price). This position can mean that the business is on an unstable footing and small external factors outside of its own control can then have huge influences on the company’s survival. The dominance of online book sales (which have been really bad for physical bookshops) and parcel courier companies which operate in a price-per-package world (where margins are relentlessly diminishing as more companies enter the fray) are just two examples of this kind of situation. The all-too-regular demise of businesses under these conditions is a sad testament to these competitive pressures.
An antidote to this is to have a distinctly different offering from your competitors or an added-value component, something which gets the business away from simply being compared on price. In an ideal world, of course, a company would not have any competition but that is not easily achieved, so in practice it is really about getting by on one’s own strengths as much as possible. There can be two main types of approach: one where you look at the market and copy or chase the competition and another where you define what you want to do and offer that confidently. There is a big temptation to see someone else succeeding at something and say that we should follow and try and do the same thing. Some go even further and actively try and put another competitor down so as to make their position stronger. However, this is a risky approach and can often backfire, so beware – it is good to remember the ancient Chinese proverb, ‘before you embark on revenge, dig two graves’.
A bolder course of action is to know your own USP and not to be distracted by someone else’s actions. Looking at someone else succeeding and saying ‘no’ to following in their footsteps can often be the harder decision but it is one which can pay dividends in the longer-term. There is a huge benefit in having a definitive identity and individual offering – make others envious and let them chase you rather than following them! It is always the case that one will never see the downsides of someone else’s success, only its obvious, outward attractions. So by all means look around at your competitors but remember, as sports people will say: play to your strengths and stick to your own game plan!