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It’s a foregone
conclusion that the greatest athletes and business leaders have
more than an ample supply of talent, ability, drive, focus and
perseverance. What then distinguishes the greatest golfers and
business leaders—even the legendary ones—from the “best ever”?
Read the current
best-selling books by Tiger Woods, How I Play Golf (©2001
Warner Books) and by Jack Welch, Jack: Straight From
the Gut (©2001 Warner Books) or better yet, go out and watch
Tiger play a round or Jack give an interview and the secrets to
being the “best ever” will become clear.
1)
Anything less than Best or 2nd Best Need Not
Apply. One of the first edicts that Jack handed down when he
became CEO was to intensively evaluate all the GE’s businesses
and eliminate any that were less than 1st or 2nd
in their market. If a little effort could push them into that
category, make the effort. If not, sell them or shut them
down.
The fact that Tiger was the best golfer for his age was a happy
coincidence, given his father’s love of the game. If however,
you read biographies about Tiger, you have the sense that if he
had been equally gifted and passionate about baseball, football,
tennis or basketball (enough to clearly be the best or next best
in that sport) that his dad may have steered him in a different
direction.
But Tiger started swinging a golf club rather than a baseball
bat, and the rest is history. TOP
Interestingly, by the end of his career, Jack redefined and
expanded his “be either 1st or 2nd”
strategy into two parts. First, stay with businesses in which
GE was 1st or 2nd; second, redefine each
of those businesses as representing only 10% of their potential
market. This would enable GE businesses to proactively keep
their eyes on their future, rather than defensively looking in
the rear view mirror and doing things to keep the 3rd
best companies from catching up.
It will be interesting to see if Tiger can parlay his success in
golf such that it represents only 10% of his eventual influence
in the world. Whether this be in the form of empowering third
world children or being a global ambassador a la Muhammed Ali,
remains to be seen.
2)
Any of the best NOT committed to what’s best for
the company need not apply either. Nurture and grow stars
not prima donnas. Help the talented be “all that they can be”
without becoming bullies who prevent others from being all that
they can be or becoming people who sabotage rather than support
other people’s ideas. Jack would say this is about Values. TOP
His approach: generously reward those with great Values and
great Numbers; get rid of those with poor Values and lousy
Numbers; give those with great Values and poor Numbers a second
chance; and resist the temptation to reward, promote or even
keep those with poor Values (and no intention of changing) and
great Numbers.
Similarly, Tiger has committed himself to growing each part of
his game into the best that it can be. He is not seduced into
letting one aspect of his game becoming sexy at the expense of
another part. You won’t catch him “driving for show, putting
for dough.” Every shot counts. He reserves his playfulness for
exhibitions and outtakes from his advertisements. TOP
3)
A Comfort Zone that Begins Only When You’re Out
of Your Comfort Zone. Wayne Gretsky (arguably the Tiger
Woods of hockey) was once asked, “What’s it like to be in a
timeout with 5 seconds left to play in overtime of the seventh
game of the Stanley Cup, and know that as soon as you take the
ice, the puck goes to you?” Wayne smiled “ear-to-ear” as if he
was a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar and replied: “I
play the entire season waiting for just that moment.”
Similarly, Tiger doesn’t seem to enjoy needing only a two putt
from 15 feet to win on the 72nd hole of a Major. He
would prefer having to make the putt to win. The problem for
Tiger is that when he is on a roll, he can usually six putt and
still win. TOP
What both Wayne and Tiger who were and are the “best ever” in
their sports know is that competing against others isn’t enough
to grow and improve. They know that you only learn, grow and
stretch when you’re up against the “nearly impossible.”
Anything short of that challenge doesn’t do it.
This gives these players an unbelievable edge, because the
further they extend themselves out of their comfort zone, the
more focused and determined they become. Compare that to their
competition who take on a “Just don’t blow it” mentality as
they’re standing over a four foot putt. Where the feeling goes
out of their competitors’ hands at that moment; Tiger’s arms,
hand, club and ball are set in what the Japanese would call
“sartori” (where everything fitting together is as it should
be). TOP
Within a short period of taking the reigns at GE, Jack Welch
knew that his company could only reach its potential if he did
away with a comfort zone complacency that led to good but not
extraordinary results. By constantly raising the bar at GE and
losing the bottom players (instead of trying to rehabilitate the
un-rehabilitatable), Jack proclaimed loud and clear, that if you
stayed within your comfort zone, you shouldn’t count on staying
too long at GE.
4)
Talent executed through flawlessness (= zero defects) The
Eye of the Tiger meets Six Sigma and Jack’s ABC Rule. If you
watch Tiger’s swing, one of the first things you notice is that
it is mechanically perfect without being mechanical. Follow the
path of his club head. No loops, no lunges, no weird
acceleration or deceleration, no funny stuff and most
importantly nothing he has to compensate for. TOP
This didn’t come naturally. In 1998, Tiger did something that
no other professional golfer had ever done. Tiger took time off
from competitive golf to undertake a zero defect
re-engineering of his game. Before he was done, it would
encompass both the mechanics and the mental side of his game and
result in a swing and mindset that didn’t require him to
compensate for anything. He gets set, takes his club back and
like his Nike insignia commands—whoosh!
This was Tiger’s Six Sigma and way of removing the flaws (=C
players/bottom 10% according to Jack) in his game and keeping
only what is mechanically pure (= A part of his game, the Top 20
% of his game a la Jack). What the customer’s P.O.V. is to
GE’s Six Sigma, “golf flawlessness” (from a golfer’s head to his
club head) is to Tiger’s. This is why it is nearly impossible
to beat him when he is playing anything close to just his usual
game. TOP
Prior to Tiger, all the greatest golfers—Nicklaus, Palmer,
Watson, Snead, Hogan and Jones—had talent, and had heart.
However their swings were flawed. Fortunately their talent,
heart and fierce competitiveness compensated for these flaws.
This is what enabled them to become winners, champions, and even
legends. But to be the best ever you can’t waste any of
your energy or focus, compensating for flaws.
And about GE… Jack Welch may have pulled off an even greater
feat than did Tiger. When he instituted Six Sigma at GE, he
didn’t have the luxury of shutting down business to improve
quality control. It’s tough to work on your business and
in your business at the same time, but that’s what Jack
and GE were able to do. Furthermore, when he instituted his
policy of yearly appraisals—generously rewarding the top 20 % A
performers, developing the middle 70% B’s, and firing the bottom
10% C’s he had to mould a meritocracy and fight for it against
the prior more politically biased bureaucracy. As difficult as
it is to overcome your own resistance to change (as Tiger may
have needed to do), try doing it with a company of tens of
thousands of employees who believe their job security is more
related to who they know than what they do. |
