Mental toughness and business performance

What can we learn from sports psychology?

My daughter is a showjumper. She recently competed in a major event at an international venue. She was up against a huge field of Olympic riders on high-class horses bred specifically for the sport. It was a major step up for her. There was no shortage of stress ahead of the day.

Stress turns up in any competitive situation and it’s easy to be distracted by factors that work against your performance. They preoccupy your consciousness, crowding out the ability to focus on the things that matter. It takes a particular mental toughness to let go of the things you can’t control and stay on the things you can master.

Sports psychologist at Condor Performance, Gareth Mole, defines mental toughness as not being distracted by the things over which you have no absolute control. Top performers, he says, focus on the things they can guarantee and leave aside the things that, at best, they can only influence.

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Product innovation: finding better ideas

Evolution versus revolution

The trouble is, innovation is now a management buzzword. That makes us think innovation is somehow “new” and therefore potentially revolutionary.

In reality it’s more like evolution. It’s going on all the time. In business, you can spend a lot of time looking for an innovative breakthrough while your competitors are constantly evolving.

Innovation is a lot closer to outmoded terms like “product development”. Not quite as exciting, I admit, but that’s a similar process that achieves the same outcome: it makes things better and more marketable.

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What type of leader can you be?

Start by managing what you manage well

High profile leaders get a lot of attention. They are invariably media-savvy and articulate, able to glibly deliver inspiring speeches on big concepts like mission and vision. Sometimes they even just look good. Never mind what they are saying; you just enjoy watching them say it.

In an age when celebrity status has become the key to newsworthiness, is this the model for leadership? It's as if the glamour CEO defines business leadership in the same way a bony cover girl defines the right body shape. It's a narrow definition that won't include most people, be they aspiring executives or standard-size teenagers. It's just one kind of leader. There are plenty of others.

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The sins of synergy: buying business growth vs building it

One plus one usually equals one, or less

Of all the great strategic buzzwords, the dubious merit award goes to synergy. Often trotted out as the most remarkable logic behind some of the greatest mergers, its track record is dreadful.

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E Marketing & Money: what do you expect for free?

Warning: about making money on the internet; if not interested, read no further

The only thing free about the internet is the method of delivery. Everything else costs – be it your internet connection, or the free downloads you put up to encourage engagement, or the time you put into making it happen. None of that is free.

That’s a good thing. It means that commercial principles still apply. It means that anyone who understands how to run a business can probably make the internet work for them.

Like any marketing campaign, nobody knows if it worked until the results are in. That’s why monitoring return on investment (ROI) is so important. It lets you know whether your investment is creating value or destroying it.

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