What are the Business Lessons from NCAA Tournament?
I am a little weird. I look at sport events with a different lense. My interest is always team dynamics and business lessons.
So what have I learned from the NCAA tournament?
The most obvious one is the one and out format. You can not assume that your competition will not be up for a battle. The team has to come in prepared for the battle and fight as if their life depends on it. If they do not, they are out.
Sometimes a high ranking team looses to a lower ranked team. My school Purdue is one who excels at winning the Big Ten conference BUT yet even when they were ranked pretty high tend to loose in the first or second round. The lesson is that you should act as if you are the underdog even when you are the top dog.
There is a Cinderella story that everyone loves. Every year a school seems charmed and manages to string a few wins. And then they get crushed. If a team is a lower ranking team there is a reason why they were ranked lower. In business there are competitors that are better than you. Respect their game and improve yours. You might win a few battles you do not expect.
To get to the final four you have to put together a string of wins. In order to put that streak of wins requires you to improve your game each time. IT forces you to raise your level. Same in business, things that got you here will not carry you in the future. You must innovate.
UCLA beating Michigan was a stunner. Michigan was a better team BUT UCLA just outlasted them. Sometimes just staying in the business game creates win opportunities. You must figure out how to survive another day.
At times you get lucky. Gonzaga shot in the last 1 second against UCLA from half court was a lucky shot. Probability wise it should not have happened. BUT it did. Sometimes you have to get lucky to survive. The only way that works in business if you hang around long enough and not give up.
Now to the final game…
Gonzaga strung together a perfect season. They were the top dog that everyone was gunning for. They beat everyone so easily that they truly did not get tested. They were never down more than several points in any game during the season. Their comeback powers were limited. From a business perspective, you will go through team and business cycles that will challenge you. BUT you must prepare for a drastic change(i.e. 2020) that no one is seeing before it happens. That is hard to simulate BUT you must look for your weaknesses and reduce them. Eliminating them is impossible in self and others.
In the final game Baylor got ahead so fast that Gonzaga was on their heels the whole game. The pushed and pushed BUT just could not make up the difference. In business you must not get behind too far or you will never catch up.
Why couldn’t Gonzaga catch up?
Baylor has a very talented team. When Gonzaga played one on one defense they found the guy with the best shot and he executed. They were able to hit their open 3 point shots. Gonzaga could not. In business you must execute every opportunity to the best of your ability. There will be times when everything works and at times when everything does not work. You and your team have not changed BUT the environment has changed.
When Gonzaga played zone it started to come back. BUT they soon forgot that and went back to one on one defense. When you see improvements you must stay with them until they no longer work. Exploit your products until they no longer are valid.
It is hard to win against a better team. Baylor was a better team. They had three true centers and Gonzaga did not. Key positions with interchangeable team members allows you the freedom to pick up where one stumbles.
I was routing for Gonzaga. I was hopeful for their coach to win it. He has run a great program for many years and deserved to win. BUT in life deserved and win are different. MY heart goes out to him and the great team he created. There is a reason why he has had an average of 30+ game winning seasons for his career. He and Gonzaga will be back next year.
Most teams and businesses do not live in a one opportunity and done world. It is the people, process and products that differentiate them over time as being great.
Your team has to have grit to win. Your people got to want it more than your opponent. Your process has to always keep improving BUT not become too big. Your products have to be great.
Business, like basketball, is a contact sport. You have to feel your way by bumping into things and learning along the way.
