Sport is a profession, is it not? By this we mean that there are people who make a living out of it – people who have studied and worked hard, who have made the sport their life’s focus, and who “sell” their time and expertise to the profession of their choice. In everything except the academic qualifications required for entry, sport is pretty much like any other profession on the planet.
Right now, there are many “interesting issues” floating around various sporting codes around the world. These issues may be instructive to the corporate world, as big companies also learn how to deal with demanding “players” (talented staff) and “fans” (empowered customers). The analogy itself is worth spending a few moments pondering, as you consider what professional sports codes must do to attract and retain both players and fans. Some of those techniques would be helpful in the corporate space, too.
But I write this blog entry just after one of the most bizarre races of Formula 1’s half century history.
F1 is one of the world’s “most” professional sports. It takes huge money to even enter a race, let alone win one. So, as 14 of the 20 cars pulled into the pits before lap 1, the race descended into farce. Michelin, a tyre supplier for the 14 drivers, had made a massive miscalculation and brought the wrong tyres for the race. The simple version of a complicated story, is that they needed a change made to race course to slow the drivers down, or else their tyres might burst. No changes were made to the track, and so Michelin withdrew their tyres, leaving the drivers unable to race. The three teams who use Bridgestone tyres raced, and all drivers finished.
Bridgestone are seen as the inferior tyres – at least, they have been blamed for some poor results over the past few seasons. Its commonly believed that Ferrari win despite their Bridgestone tyres, rather than because of them. The race commentators (particularly James Allen) stupidly and disgustingly placed the blame for the farce on Ferrari and Jordan. This is not true – the blame belongs squarely, and entirely, on Michelin. It is a professional sport – they made a mistake – they will now bear the consequences.
The losers are the fans. The losers are the teams who use Michelin. The losers are Michelin. The loser is F1 as a sport.
The fall out from this race will be monumental – the discussions will rage, for years I am sure. But this is the nature of professions the world over. One major slip up can destroy you. Messing with your talent (the drivers and teams) and your customers (the fans) can be disastrous. But you cannot blame your competition. Nor can you beg for “rule changes”. You have to face the consequences of your actions, and deal with the fall out. Right now, Michelin’s website is uncontactable (I suspect a series of DoS attacks over the next few days will keep it out of action). The FIA, who control motor sport, have published the correspondence on its website. The Indianapolis motorway has already issued a response to fans – basically instructing them to contact Michelin, the FIA or F1 management. All of these entities will be scrambling to deal with the issues – lets see how they do…
At the same time, I spent this past weekend arguing with an ardent Liverpool supporter (who has now gotten his way as Liverpool have been granted access to the basement entry level of pre-qualifying for UEFA next year – see his blog entry on this). He was arguing that Glasier, the US mogul, who has purchased a controlling interest in Manchester United, will ruin the club and the sport. I believe that this American businessman is just making a good business decision, acquiring the world’s best sport’s brand. But my friend believes that unless he has a passion for soccer, he has no right to do so, and will make decisions that are not good soccer decisions. We’re probably both right, but if a sport is professional, then its professional. You make decisions based on shareholder returns, maximising profit, etc.
Don’t you?
Maybe that’s what’s wrong with business. When you don’t take passion into account, you get into trouble. When you place shareholder wealth above the passion of the “fans”, you lose your focus and eventually the fans vote with their feet. Strong brands might survive for a while (as both Man U and F1 will), but the passion of the fans is eroded, and the earning potential of the brand reduced. The same is possibly happening in the corporate world at the moment, as customers become more empowered, and are starting to exercise that power in interesting ways.
Watch this space. There’s a lot more to come in these stories.
Another great sports/corporate world analogy from the last week – the sudden, shocking change of fortune Ricky Ponting’s Indomitable Australian Cricket Team are experiencing.
After almost a decade of unquestionable world domination, the Aussies are losing their vice-like grip. They suffered FOUR losses in SEVEN days, two at the hands of England, one to county side Somerset (what!?), and believe it or not, one to non other than the World’s Worst One Day Team, Bangladesh.
Australia, and Ricky Ponting, are in trouble.
So how does a superpower go from hero to zero in one week? Well, there are a number of theories.
1. They are not getting any younger. The core group is losing it’s relevance. The Kevin Pietersens, Muhammed Ashrafuls and Graeme Smiths (BYT’s)of the cricketing world are looking at them and saying, “these guys are past their prime. I can beat them – I can do a better job”.
2. They have underestimated the competition. They may be getting older, but they should by rights still be winning. They are better on paper than any other team in the world. Ricky Ponting is quoted as saying that only one English player (Andy Flintoff) would be considered for an Aussie XI. Yet they have been beaten comprehensively twice by the same team. Corporates cannot afford to forget how hungry the little guys are. Everybody was small once.
3. They have become arrogant, and have lost their respect for the game. Andy Symonds has just been suspended for stumbling into the team’s hotel, drunk, after a big night out, in the middle of a tour. The team bus has been arriving late at matches, blaming it on traffic. The captain has been making rash, illogical decisions, without doing the homework. They look tired, frustrated and downcast on the pitch. They have lost the passion.
4. They have stopped INNOVATING. To get all Tom Petersy on you, one gets the sense they are relying on past successes to carry them forward. They have stopped raising the bar, and the rest of the world has caught up quicker than expected. They have stuffed around some of the new, young talent (Kasprowicz, Clarke).
Look, they’re still Australia. And they’re still the favourites to win the upcoming Ashes series. Perhpas I’m wrong, and their current slump in form is only a hiccup in the Oz Dynasty. Either way, their are some interesting analogies to be drawn from their current learning curve.
Another angle is that this is about an inability to adjust to a change in the way the game is played. This entire year of Grand Prix has been dominated by excitement driven by rule change, and not spectaculor driving. The FIA makes some changes to the rules (needed in order to keep the Grand Prix interesting) and a whole lot of key people can’t adjust to the changes.
The cricket story above is a similar one. Rules of the game change, or the way the game is played, and chaos ensues.
The entertainment industry is suffering the same issues. We’ve just started a new category for this Blog (Burning and Ripping) because we think the entertainment industry doesn’t know how to adjust to the rules being changed. What’s interesting is that the entertainment industrie’s rules have been changed by fans and supporters and not administrators.
Nuf Sed
Another angle is that this is about an inability to adjust to a change in the way the game is played. This entire year of Grand Prix has been dominated by excitement driven by rule change, and not spectaculor driving. The FIA makes some changes to the rules (needed in order to keep the Grand Prix interesting) and a whole lot of key people can’t adjust to the changes.
The cricket story above is a similar one. Rules of the game change, or the way the game is played, and chaos ensues.
The entertainment industry is suffering the same issues. We’ve just started a new category for this Blog (Burning and Ripping) because we think the entertainment industry doesn’t know how to adjust to the rules being changed. What’s interesting is that the entertainment industrie’s rules have been changed by fans and supporters and not administrators.
Nuf Sed
Glasier has ‘every right’ to buy MU but I believe (for the reasons already posted by GC) that it will prove to be a mistake. Pressure is on MU. Pressure is on Australia. Pressure is on F1. Interesting spaces to be watching in the coming months even years.
The soccer authorities had the good sense to ‘break their own (stupid)rule’ in allowing their Champions to defend the Champions League. They have also seen their own stupidity and inconsistency of their rule (had some other nations been in the same situation they might not have had to swop out a team which had qualified)and made changes so that this situation won’t be repeated