A Lesson from the Inner Game of Tennis

In the 1970s, a tennis coach by the name of Tim Gallwey wrote a short but influential book called The Inner Game of Tennis.

People realized soon after that the advice in the book was equally relevant to golf, coding, teaching, and many other human endeavors.

In fact, though it’s rarely talked about at business conferences, the book contains a treasure trove of business advice.

We can discuss more of the gems it contains later perhaps, but for now I want to focus on just one:

It’s crucial to know what game you’re playing.

You’d think this would be easy.

I mean, if you’re in business, the game you’re playing is business, and if you’re on the tennis court, the game you’re playing is tennis, right?

Not exactly.

What Gallwey observed was that tennis players actually had different motivations for being on the court and were thus playing different games on it.

To quote him:

Some care only about winning. Some are amazingly tenacious about warding off defeat, but can’t win a match point if it’s offered to them. Many don’t care how they play, just as long as they look good, and some simply don’t care at all. Some cheat their opponents; others cheat themselves. Some are always bragging about how good they are; others constantly tell you how poorly they are playing. There are even a small handful who are out on the court simply for fun and exercise.

In tennis, a host of problems arise when you don’t know what game you’re playing, or you find yourself trying to play different games and of course not really succeeding at either.

It leads to standards that are constantly changing, if not impossible to meet; to the inability to focus on what you should be trying to do in the moment; to confusion about whether or not you can ever truly win.

The same is true in business.

People start a business and manage one for a wide variety of reasons.

Some want to create the biggest company, others the best.

Some focus on creating a fascinating product, others on delivering a captivating experience that wows their clients.

Some chase after ever-growing revenues or earnings, others after long-term relationships.

Imagine not being clear about what you’re after.

It’s an obvious recipe for confusion and for actions that—however quick, well-meaning, or coordinated—never quite add up to anything.

Like a tennis player who both wants to win but also doesn’t want to feel guilty for making his opponent lose, such business owners will constantly be of two minds, and maybe even sabotage themselves.

At best, they’ll continue to bounce around to different games—games where the goal, for example, is to be the biggest one year (at the expense perhaps of being profitable) or to be profitable another year (at the expense perhaps of being the biggest).

Now imagine the benefits of having clarity on this issue.

When you know exactly what you want to do and why—when everybody on your team knows what game they’re playing and what winning it means…

• decisions are made faster and without drama
• avenues to pursue or steer clear of become obvious
• fans who value what you are after actively seek you out

If you’re thinking this isn’t always easy, you’re right

Knowing what you want above all is rare.

If anything, a business with a crystal-clear purpose is even rarer.

But the rewards of doing the work and being able to clearly state your mission are enormous.

This clarity is in fact what the best brands have.

So how do you get it?

Sometimes, you have to do some good old-fashioned soul-searching, both by yourself and with the key people at your business.

Other times, it takes an outside viewpoint to help you see for yourself what’s true.

As they say, the spectator sees the whole game.

Such clarity is actually one of the things people receive after working with our marketing team to complete a brand brief, which brings together all the important information about a company’s brand in one place.

Either way, however you figure it out for your business, do so!

The clarity is worth it and the rewards are plentiful.

Just look at Amazon, which set out to be Earth’s most customer-centric company and is currently one of its most valuable.

Oh, and it goes without saying: contact us for help in this area or any others.

We have decades of experience helping our clients in Charlotte, as well around the country, to thrive.

To say we’d be happy to help you and your business do the same is an understatement!