THE MtlST IMPtlRTANT IS A Gt|tlD

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Keep your eye on

Having attended many industry events this past year, clearly golf is the industry's sport of choice.

As the new season gets underway, let me say at once, that I am probably the world's worst golfer. At my last attempt, I hit one of my longer efforts-a magical 50 foot drive up a bank. There, I proceeded to entertain the crowd by trying to hit on a slope, doing a pirouette that would have scored 6.0 in another sport, and ending up at the bottom of the slope bloodied and bruised. Not satisfied. two holes later while trying to extract my driver from the bag, I brought it up with full force into my subsequently bloodied eye. Needless to say, I decided the safest place for me (and others) was driving the cart, and getting an early start on the refreshments.

Golf is much like business, and can be the most challenging, complex and frustrating of endeavors. For both business and golf, no two days are ever the same, and both take discipline and patience, a good grounding in fundamentals, and a continuous review of performance.

If you look back to when you first learned golf, unlike me, you probably received instruction from a pro. or from books or tapes. You learned the game's fundamentals, and then you practiced, practiced and practiced. You learned that that same shot yesterday did not have quite the effect it did today under differing conditions. Some days your game was terrific and others terrible as you struggled to keep your patience and focus. When you were down, like even Tiger Woods, you went back to the fundamentals, and got feedback from a coach, playing partner or video cam. Over time you improved as your playing experience grew, and you realized tomorrow is always another day. You learned

ALAN OAKES publisher

The Ball

you could take nothing for granted due to different conditions each and every round, due to weather, course and hole layout, playing partners, as well as other conditions out of your control.

Business is much the same, it can be energizing, frustrating, motivating, but above all it needs constant fbcus, discipline and patience, and a monitoring, review and feedback of performance.

When we started our careers, we were given tasks to learn, and as we improved, we were given additional tasks and responsibilities to further enhance our value. When we had a bad day at the office or in the field, maybe we did not focus or under pressure we took short cuts. When we did not get the order we were counting on, maybe we did not cover all our bases. We learn particularly when we hit management that often to succeed we have to fail first. The only question is how long do we stay down on the ground before getting up. Like Tiger, after failure we go back to the fundamentals before we win again.

Every day we face an ever-changing business climate; our contacts and customers change, there are new products and hungry competitors out there, and the terms of the deal last month are not good enough this month. What we learn by experience is that no two days or deals are ever the same, and as we build our careers, and improve our own personal performance and skills through practice, we all still make mistakes if we take business for granted.

At the end of the day, the skills of golf-dedication, focus and discipline-will help you reposition yourself when you struggle. As for me, I will drive the cart and drink the refreshments. Cheers!