BUSINESS SOLUTIONS Sovereign Magazine
T h e Sp ort of Bu s i n e s s | By B ri gi tte Lawle r , CEO o f L e ge n ds S A
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hroughout my career I have used sports metaphors while delivering key note addresses or facilitating workshops. In these situations, I have kept the comparisons at a high level to avoid getting tangled up in the finer details. Even at this high level of comparison, using sports to illustrate concepts in the business world has proven effective time and time again. Recent events have brought me into the world of sport and I have discovered two things: The first discovery is that I knew even less about sport than I thought I did. Not being much of a sports follower, I had not paid it much attention. Thanks to the imagination and sheer determination of my team, we are now enjoying new relationships and new business activities. The lesson in this discovery: be open to where business opportunities may arise. Forging unusual relationships can give you an edge that no one else has and can open new market segments for you. The second discovery is that my knowledge about business has helped me to understand the world of sport. The irony is that throughout my career, I used sport to illustrate business and now I use business to understand sports, which brings me even greater insights into business. The lesson in this discovery: business is indeed a form of sport, and here is why: There is more at stake than scoring goals. In sport, the final score determines the winners and the losers. In business, financial performance is the score that determines the profitability and continuity of the enterprise. There is no doubt that the score is the ultimate measure of success, but the score is not all there is to it. In sport, we follow the strategy of the play. We get emotionally invested in the character of a team. In business we do the same.
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Inset: Brigette Lawler (left) with Roberto Carlos (Brazil/Real Madrid) and Moises Cardoso at Estadio Santiago Bernadeu Stadium (Madrid, Spain) during the Legends SA event bring sport and business together
