Business Management – what can Amir Khan teach us?

The link between business management and sport is usually confined to “team building” exercises and a few former sportsmen becoming inspirational speakers.

I suggest that business managers could learn much from the examples set by sport and sportsmen. Amir has joined a growing list of British boxers, for example Herol “Bomber” Graham and Frank Bruno, who could hit hard but never learned how to protect their glass chins. Boxing used to be called The Art of Self-Defence, and whilst there’s strong evidence that attack is the best form of defence, the boxers who have stayed top of their game have the all-round attributes of attack, defence, superb physical fitness and mental toughness.

Business management needs all those attributes too. Successful businesses need to be lean and mean, quick to attack opportunities, work hard to strengthen their weaknesses, and business managers need the mental toughness to deal with the difficulties that stand in the way of achieving long-term goals.

Managers need to work on developing businesses with all-round strengths and a basis of robust systems. Once they have these in place they should be prepared to take quantifiable risks.

Look at the performance of the England team in Euro 2102. The defensive system could hardly be faulted, but we didn’t have a forward able to hit a barn door with a banjo. We didn’t have all-round strength, so we failed.

One final thought on the subject. We all like to have confidence in the people we’re buying from, so it’s important that businesses have marketing that makes justifiable claims and customer service that can fully support those claims. Think here of the many British sprinters who, having made the podium in some minor events, seem more interested in adopting weird hair styles and wearing bling than in training for success at major events.

Contrast Michael Johnson. Four Olympic Gold medals and eight World Championship Golds. Now there’s a man who deserves to wear golden running shoes! Talent, perseverance, and his success as a coach and as an articulate commentator prove that he was smart enough to plan for the future.