It's not just cricket
(June 13, 2005)Bob Woolmer, coach of the Pakistan cricket team, shows what business can learn from cricket
Let me begin with a disclaimer: I know little about cricket. My encounters with cricketers have been nothing short of disasters. On two different occasions, I just looked through Mohammed Azharuddin and Anil Kumble, to the horror of my family. So while I delve into a great cricket personality today, I do not want pass off as someone who has a profound understanding of the game or its actors.
After the Bangalore Test between India and Pakistan in late March, a Star News correspondent asked me if I would join him and Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer for breakfast. Why should I have breakfast with Woolmer? I wondered. "To hear from him what business can learn from cricket," the journalist replied. The next morning, I showed up for breakfast.
Born in Kanpur in 1948, Bob Woolmer studied up to high school and worked his way up - playing Test cricket for England between 1975 and 1981 and one-day cricket between 1972 and 1976. His claim to fame has, however, been coaching. The high points include shaping the South African team in the wake of their return to international cricket. At present, he is the 'high performance manager' for the Pakistani cricket team. Coaching, he feels, is a gift that life has given him, and he must share this with people far and wide. "Coach the way you would like to be coached," he says. Woolmer is also credited with bringing technology into cricket to enhance performance, being one of the early ones to see the significance of software and video in sport. If people can "see" what they are doing, their problems will get solved, he says. The pity is most of us do not "see" what we do.
In a captivating presentation, Woolmer told us that good cricket and good business are about patience. He cited how Test players are selected - it is not just about skills. He talked about testing emotional quotient and the use of neuro-linguistic programming to determine how balanced the player would be! Cricket, according to him, is a mirror of life. So, a person's ability to handle inter-personal relationships and adversity on and off the field indicates how much of a Test player he would make. Woolmer presented a new definition of TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More.
He also spoke about the importance of leading from within. In teams that are led from within, people have well-defined roles, take responsibility and help each other achieve. Every player has a unique learning style, which slots him in one of four categories: the Imaginative who learns the touchy-feely way, the Logical who is led by intellect, the Dynamic who learns through enthusiasm, and the Practical who learns by being hands-on.
Woolmer said that when 63 per cent of any team is committed to the objective of winning, the team wins! That is an amazing insight. Managers often worry about taking everyone along. But all we need is 63 per cent of people in the Ideal Performance state. Talking about the psychology of performance, he shared the Theory of Four States that a player can be in: The Awakened state, which leads to the Ideal Performance state. This often leads to the Complacence state, which invariably leads to the Failed state. What was mind-blowing to me was Woolmer's theory that the first sign of complacency is seen when a player becomes materialistic. When he asks you for another raise or is chasing another new car, you know his eyes are off the game.
Finally, Woolmer talked about the astounding power of adversity. It is through personal adversity that the best comes out. Dennis Lillee became what he turned out to be after a fracture that nearly ended his career. Lance Armstrong battled cancer before winning the Tour de France six times. Finally, of course, look at the man called Albert Einstein who reportedly failed school five times because he could not speak English, being a Czech immigrant!
In closing, Bob Woolmer said that everyone wears an invisible sign around the neck that says: "Make me feel important." Now, that's not just cricket!
