Is it cheating to use a coach?
Chariots of Fire
With the kickoff of the summer Olympics, I’m reminded of the classic movie Chariots of Fire that tells the story of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell winning gold medals in the 1924 Olympics. I was reminded of two scenes from this movie recently while listening to Michael Lewis’s Against the Rules podcast.
In the first scene, Harold Abrahams is a college student and professors label him as “ungentlemanly” because he’s using a coach to help him with his running. Later, during the Olympics, Harold’s coach is seen sitting in his hotel room during the race and not knowing if Harold won until he sees the British flag raised above the stadium.
Lewis explains, “There’s a reason the coach isn’t inside the stadium watching the race. He’s been banned because he’s a coach. In 1924, professional coaches are taboo. They’re considered a form of cheating….or a sign of natural inferiority.”
Today’s Athletes
Fast forward to today where the athletic world is filled with coaches. The MLB website lists 13 coaches and a staff of 46 others (with titles like Mental Skills Coordinator, Hitting Coordinator, Catching Coordinator, Pitching Coordinator, Dietician, and Athletic Trainer) on the Arizona Diamondbacks. Or, look at the career of Tim Grover – Michael Jordan’s personal trainer for 15+ years who also trained Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and many others.
Today’s elite athlete knows they can’t just rely on their natural talents and instincts. They need to bring in professionals and specialists to take their game to the next level.
Personal Application
Are you like the British aristocrats who thought their natural gifts and talents needed no help from coaches? Do you worry that using a coach might suggest to others that you are in some way “inferior” and unqualified? Or, are you like Michael Jordan who is looking for every advantage and welcomes coaches and trainers? Using a coach signals to others that you’re taking this seriously and you’re playing to win!
Law of Comparative Advantage
Modern economies are built on the concept of “comparative advantage”. Yes, you could bend your own paperclips, but you don’t! Why? Because you can easily outsource that task to someone with more experience who can do it faster, better, and cheaper than you can.
Yes, you could research and experiment and eventually master all the different aspects of your business. You could do your own training, build your own leaders, do your own analysis and build your own reports. But do you have time to do that? Do you have experts on your staff who can do that? How much progress have you made on these strategic priorities over the past 12 months? What if you could make one big leap on all of these things in the next 12 months? And what if you could do it without increasing headcount or burning out yourself or your team?
Running a business, leading people, identifying KPIs, developing and executing on strategies are all extremely complex. It’s impossible for any one person to be an expert in all these things.
You Can Do It. We Can Help.
As Home Depot used to say, “You can do it. We can help.” Our team at DPX has decades of experience to help you and your team get to the next level. We provide leadership and execution training, executive coaching, analysis and reporting, and process improvement support that has helped a variety of companies in various industries. We’re confident we can help you too!
Please reach out to us at https://dpxconsulting.com and let’s talk about how we can help ease your burden and take your team to the next level!
