My wife will be the first to admit that I have an internet problem. There are all sorts of junkies out there in this world and my addiction is the internet. I've always been an avid reader/news hound and the internet provides me the opportunity to read constantly about sports, business, Lindsey and Brittney - there is always something new to read (damn you ESPN and Perez Hilton!). Because of this, I have an attention span that provides me at the most 7 - 12 minutes of focus at any given time. This is not great for productivity but it great for coming up with ideas to blog about which fortunately for me is now part of my job.
What has caught my attention this week in news is not the overwhelming number of stories about my beloved Red Sox winning the World Series, interest rate cuts or surging oil prices. Rather, I've been intrigued by the clamor in the sport pages regarding the New England Patriots willful disregard for their opponents feelings. Last Sunday the Patriots beat the Redskins by 45 points which has continued a season long trend of domination. To date they have beat their opponents by an average of 25.5 points per game! Some of the opponents have begun speaking out as they consider this "classless" and "disrespectful to the game". These comments have led to many sportswriters questioning whether its right for the Patriots to show no mercy.
From a business perspective, I've found this to be a rather interesting point of view. Baseball and football each generate annual revenues of $6 billion so I think there is a universal agreement that sports are a business. Those writing about the sanctity of the game and the need to show respect to the game appear to live in an era that likely never existed. When it costs $200 to go to a game its probably fair to say that the romanticism of the game as a pursuit of sportsmanship should no longer be part of the sporting dialog. Yet, for some reason sports still has this stereotype and the press - defenders of all that is sacred still expect our sports teams to abide by a mythical unwritten code of conduct.
Isn't it time for the American public to recognize what games really are - another operational element of the strategic plan that this particular business executes (appropriate word for the way the Patriots are playing). After all, can you imagine what the reaction from Wall Street would be if it was perceived or confirmed that a company held back its performance because in the spirit of competition it didn't want to disrespect its competitors! Stock prices would drop, CEO's would be fired and the press would be writing article after article about how America is losing its killer instinct and will soon be a province of China. Fortunately, ass Apple has demonstrated with its domination of the music player business and Microsoft has demonstrated with its inability to extended its domination of the desktop into other businesses we live in a business environment where businesses are not only expected to destroy their competition, but are penalized for not doing so.
Given this reality, shouldn't twe be applauding and celebrating the Patriots domination and decimation of its competition? Shouldn't the press and the blogosphere be praising Belicheck and the Patriots for their ability to execute their business plan better than anybody else? Should we not begin to study the Patriots so we can learn what they do and apply their approach to other business sectors? Should we not recognize the Patriots for what they are - the best run sports business in America - a business that warrants to be mentioned in the same breath as other companies that have dominated their industry?
I believe its time to recognize the Patriots for what they are. Based on what I've seen of the season so far, I believe that the Patriots are now the model sports franchise because they understand completely that their job is not to embrace the spirit of competition but to crush it. We live in a world today where winning isn't good enough because a win likely means your competition lives to fight another day.
The Patriots provide a good lead in to our latest white paper topic which covers the concepts outlined in the book Blue Ocean Strategy. Those who embrace the book recognize that the goal is not to compete with your competition, but to make them irrelevant. We don't believe in spending time worrying about the competition because you can't control it and every moment spent worrying about what the competition is doing is a moment we are not focused on our business. Based on the results so far, it appears Belicheck and the Patriots agree. So, if you get the opportunity, read the white paper. And, if your interested in seeing how you can become more like the Patriots, give us a call and we'll help you build a plan to crush the spirit of competition!
What has caught my attention this week in news is not the overwhelming number of stories about my beloved Red Sox winning the World Series, interest rate cuts or surging oil prices. Rather, I've been intrigued by the clamor in the sport pages regarding the New England Patriots willful disregard for their opponents feelings. Last Sunday the Patriots beat the Redskins by 45 points which has continued a season long trend of domination. To date they have beat their opponents by an average of 25.5 points per game! Some of the opponents have begun speaking out as they consider this "classless" and "disrespectful to the game". These comments have led to many sportswriters questioning whether its right for the Patriots to show no mercy.
From a business perspective, I've found this to be a rather interesting point of view. Baseball and football each generate annual revenues of $6 billion so I think there is a universal agreement that sports are a business. Those writing about the sanctity of the game and the need to show respect to the game appear to live in an era that likely never existed. When it costs $200 to go to a game its probably fair to say that the romanticism of the game as a pursuit of sportsmanship should no longer be part of the sporting dialog. Yet, for some reason sports still has this stereotype and the press - defenders of all that is sacred still expect our sports teams to abide by a mythical unwritten code of conduct.
Isn't it time for the American public to recognize what games really are - another operational element of the strategic plan that this particular business executes (appropriate word for the way the Patriots are playing). After all, can you imagine what the reaction from Wall Street would be if it was perceived or confirmed that a company held back its performance because in the spirit of competition it didn't want to disrespect its competitors! Stock prices would drop, CEO's would be fired and the press would be writing article after article about how America is losing its killer instinct and will soon be a province of China. Fortunately, ass Apple has demonstrated with its domination of the music player business and Microsoft has demonstrated with its inability to extended its domination of the desktop into other businesses we live in a business environment where businesses are not only expected to destroy their competition, but are penalized for not doing so.
Given this reality, shouldn't twe be applauding and celebrating the Patriots domination and decimation of its competition? Shouldn't the press and the blogosphere be praising Belicheck and the Patriots for their ability to execute their business plan better than anybody else? Should we not begin to study the Patriots so we can learn what they do and apply their approach to other business sectors? Should we not recognize the Patriots for what they are - the best run sports business in America - a business that warrants to be mentioned in the same breath as other companies that have dominated their industry?
I believe its time to recognize the Patriots for what they are. Based on what I've seen of the season so far, I believe that the Patriots are now the model sports franchise because they understand completely that their job is not to embrace the spirit of competition but to crush it. We live in a world today where winning isn't good enough because a win likely means your competition lives to fight another day.
The Patriots provide a good lead in to our latest white paper topic which covers the concepts outlined in the book Blue Ocean Strategy. Those who embrace the book recognize that the goal is not to compete with your competition, but to make them irrelevant. We don't believe in spending time worrying about the competition because you can't control it and every moment spent worrying about what the competition is doing is a moment we are not focused on our business. Based on the results so far, it appears Belicheck and the Patriots agree. So, if you get the opportunity, read the white paper. And, if your interested in seeing how you can become more like the Patriots, give us a call and we'll help you build a plan to crush the spirit of competition!
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