How Being an Athlete Can Help Women Advance in Business

Guest Contribution by John Keyser

I read with great interest Hadley Catalano’s article “What Do Sports Teach Women in Business” in the recent issue of Glass Hammer. It’s an important perspective, certainly helpful to a great many women, and men should listen up as well! As Hadley states, where prowess in athletics and competitive sports can give us an advantage, so can our emotional intelligence skills. Here’s where women can have an advantage in business leadership. Business is about relationships, how we influence others, how we make others feel about themselves. Women generally have higher emotional intelligence skills than men, and that matters, greatly!

Being athletic gives many of us a sense of inner-confidence, which is so important in business leadership. Yet, to keep egos in check, inner-confidence is best balanced by humility. Certainly, sports keep us humble. Let’s face it, a good batter gets a hit three out of every ten times to the plate, a good free throw shooter may make seven or eight of ten tries at the basket, and certainly a golfer is used to a number of poor shots in every round.

I had the privilege of serving on the board of the Women’s Sports Foundation for a number of years. The foundation was established in 1974 by Billie Jean King and has remained a force ever since. In fact, the foundation is considered the guardian angel of Title IX, standing up for equity for women in sports, business, academia – in life!

Many of the people I know through the work of the Women’s Sports Foundation are simply amazing people, outstanding athletes in soccer, tennis, golf, swimming, diving, sailing, softball, running, gymnastics and other sports. I am talking Olympic caliber, the very best in the world. Yet, they are humble and truly interested in others, helping others succeed.

Are all athletes secure and successful in business? No, certainly not, and here’s a lesson. I cannot take credit for this lesson; credit goes to Mariah Burton Nelson, whom I met through the Women’s Sports Foundation. Mariah was a competitive swimmer and a star center on Stanford’s basketball team. She is now an author and motivational speaker.

One of Mariah’s books is called, We Are All Athletes. It is written to two audiences, one being athletes and former athletes. Her message is to use the mental strength from competitive days in their business and personal lives. For example, when faced with challenges, take the same attitude you used in basketball to erase a missed shot from in your mind and to think, “I am going to make this shot.” The same goes with a putt in golf and a serve in tennis. “I am going to make this.” It’s about being positive and visualizing success. “I can and will ace this presentation.”

Then there is Mariah’s wonderful message to her second audience, those who are not athletes, who may not have the coordination or physical attributes athletes have. She says, look how an athlete strides purposefully into a room, shoulders back, head high. Okay, we may not be as coordinated, but can’t we stride like an athlete and smile? Own a piece of the room, carry ourselves with that confident air? It makes a difference.

The combination of humility and inner-confidence is key to being a good teammate in business and as a leader. A highly effective leader realizes that it is not about her or him, it’s about helping team members do good work to achieve shared goals. It’s about helping team members learn, grow and succeed. And that takes both humility and inner confidence, to feel secure enough to want to see others succeed and to help them grow.

We all know a whole lot of bosses who do not help others succeed, who don’t surround themselves with the best people. This is an insecurity that makes for ineffective leadership.

In business, as in sports, the best way to succeed is to be a great teammate, a source of positive energy and encouragement to help bring out the best in others, to be all about the team. In my 40 plus years of executive experience, many of the most inspiring and effective people I have worked with have been women.

Hats off to Hadley Catalano! Great article and messages!

Guest advice and opinions are not necessarily those of The Glass Hammer

John Keyser is the founder and principal of Common Sense Leadership, www.commonsenseleadership.com. He works with executives helping them develop organizational cultures that will produce outstanding financial results year after year.