The Super Bowl, for me, reinforced some lessons about business and life.
Experts are often wrong. Nearly every expert picked the Patriots to win. Las Vegas had the Patriots as 13 point favorites. Venture Capitalists and well known business experts are often wrong too. Work hard for what you believe in. Don't give up. You can succeed.
Records only matter for the history book. An 18-0 record doesn't guarantee your next victory or scare your competitors into laying down. I'm sure you have heard the expression "That is why they play the games". Meaning, just because based on the win/loss record the opponent seems to have no chance doesn't mean they won't surprise you and beat you. Unknown startups win business from big market leaders all the time.
Success is a terrible teacher. You learn from adversity and failure. You learn nothing from success. In fact, you "learn" some bad things. You attribute success to the wrong things, which can mask underlying issues. How many times have you seen the early innovator become a market leader only to get overtaken by a fast follower imitator? See "Innovate or Imitate...Fame of Fortune?"
So why do sports captivate millions of fans? I think because sports are the ultimate one on one match up in a winner take all contest. The winner goes into the history books. No one remembers the loser. The biggest moments in sports all come down to one play...one moment...one player.
Bill Buckner - the mere mention of his name makes Red Sox fans groan and curse. Buckner let a routine ground ball go between his legs...and with it a probable World Series win.
Carlton Fisk - his home run in game 6 of the 1975 World Series won the game for the Red Sox and tied the series. The Red Sox ultimately lost, but this play extended the series to game 7.
Larry Bird - with one second left and Boston behind, Bird stole the ball on an inbounds pass from Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons. Bird spun around, almost falling out of bounds, and passed the ball to Dennis Johnson for an easy lay-up as time expired. Celtics win the 1987 Eastern Conference championship.
Magic Johnson - hit a running hook shot from the foul line over the outstretched arms of Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to beat the Celtics in game 4 as the clock expired. The Lakers went on the beat the Celtics 4-2 in the 1987 Finals.
Eli Manning - somehow escaped the grasp of Jarvis Green, an almost certain game ending sack, and throws a pass to seldom used David Tyree, who catches it on top of his helmet with Rodney Harrison trying to pull it away. Two incredible feats in one play. There were 132 offensive plays in the Super Bowl; 63 for the Giants and 69 for the Patriots. The winner was decided on this one play.
Adam Vinatieri - kicked a 48-yard field goal on the final play to give the New England Patriots their first Super Bowl victory, a 20-17 win over the St. Louis Rams.
Business and life isn't like this. Businesses rarely compete head to head for all the marbles. Most businesses have lots of competitors and hundreds or thousands of customers. A single customer win doesn't change the outcome that much. The financial results for one quarter are announced, and the next day everyone is hard at work on the next quarter. No celebrations. No parades. No agonizing depression. The great thing about business is that you don't need to wait another whole year to gain redemption. There will be another big sale or another new product next quarter.
Robert Kraft and Mark Cuban have the best of both worlds. They are enormously successful businessmen and they own two of the most successful franchises in professional sports. But it wasn't always this way.
Both Kraft and Cuban were successful in business long before they became involved in professional sports. Both were huge sports fans. Both bought struggling sports franchises that hadn't won in years.
Mr. Kraft bought the New England Patriots, hired a new coach, built a new stadium, and took the Patriots to four Super Bowls in seven years. Mr. Kraft is the most respected owner in the NFL, maybe all of sports.
Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks basketball team when they were a laughable bunch of losers. Mark hired a new coach, made some incredible trades, and turned the franchise around. The Mavericks had the best record in the NBA last year, and the 6th best of all time.
The Mavericks came within a couple plays, and a couple bad calls, of winning the 2003 NBA championship. With the best record in the NBA last year they headed into the playoffs favored to win the championship. They lost in the first round to the 8th seeded Warriors.
The Patriots were a perfect 18-0 going into the Super Bowl and were heavily favored to win. You know the rest of the story.
Will heart breaking losses defeat them? No way. They come back next year stronger and more determined than ever. Just like in business, they will look at the results and make the necessary changes.
Entrepreneurs are like that. Losses and defeats are just learning experiences. They don't agonize or despair. They learn, make changes, and charge ahead. It is no mystery why Bob Kraft and Mark Cuban are the best owners in professional sports. They were businessmen first...and still are.
As Red Sox fans always say..."Just wait 'til next year".
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Love the sports and entrepreneurship parallels. Also think the Giants didn't let an incumbent leader scare them away from the game. They recognised their strengths, the leader's weaknesses and executed like crazy.
Posted by: Farhan Lalji | February 06, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Great post. As a Pat's fan I'm obviously disappointed, but that doesn't mean I'm getting rid of my season tix next year. Like my financial investments in the market, you have to ride out your emotional investment in your team when things are volatile and more than likely you'll reap rewards.
Very jealous you got to go, sure you had fun regardless.
-Rob
Posted by: Rob Toole | February 06, 2008 at 02:12 PM
Nice post.
By the way you should add "Wordstar" to your hall of fame. (Didn't they have like a 90% market share in the very early days of the PC?)
One nice thing about sports is that the results, win or lose, are utterly inconsequential in the real world. (Aside from athletes, agents and owners who have a vested financial interest). That's a luxury most businesses don't have. When GM fails to execute it changes lives and communities in much more tangible ways.
The Pats had a good year, they got to the big dance and still have three Super Bowl trophies to show for the past 7 years. That beats the hell out of being a Buffalo Bills fan. Best of all, the end of the NFL season means baseball season is right around the corner.
Cheer up!
/Angels Fan
Posted by: l.a.guy | February 06, 2008 at 05:41 PM
What is your obsession with Mark Cuban? Damn - every other article is about what a freaking genius Mark Cuban is.
Mark Cuban is lucky. He is not a genius. Broadcast.com is one of the biggest dot com failures of all time. Sure he made a couple billions of a bogus company, but that doesn't make him a genius.
Steve Jobs is a genius.
Bill Gates is a genius.
Sergey and Larry are a genius.
Posted by: Harold Goth | February 08, 2008 at 07:30 PM
Harold, Mark Cuban is smart..and lucky. Most successful people have some degree of luck.
Do me a favor. Read this post by Mark about success and motivation. Then tell me if you still think he is just lucky.
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2007/12/24/success-and-motivation/
Mark is a friend so I may be a little biased. But I assure you he is incredibly smart, passionate, and a lot of fun. How many billionaires do you know that will talk to anyone, pose for pictures with kids, and yell and scream like a real fan at a basketball game? Yup, I am a Mark Cuban fan. Guilty as charged.
Posted by: Don Dodge | February 08, 2008 at 09:45 PM
Some lessons about business and life are interesting.
Especially conclusion shows the importance of the topic, Thank you.
Posted by: start franchise | February 28, 2008 at 03:12 AM