Poise amidst Noise

One key element that fascinated me about great Indian batsmen was how they could demonstrate great poise in playing a tiny ball with a slender bat (and the run a little later) with all the noise around. Noise from on-field sledging, on-ground howling and all the silent billion expectations in the head.

In business and profession, too, we realize at OfBusiness that there are 3 critical noises to stay away from.

• (From) unreasonable ecosystem members: Supplier asks for more unfairly, Customer asks for freebies, team member asks for raises unreasonably, investor asks for growth impractically. It’s like the sledging on-field. You know it will fade away as you stay focused and keep delivering reasonably to them.
• (About) competitors: They raised this much. They’re growing that much. They’re doing this, that. Their numbers are better. It’s good info, but good only to fuel you to drive more of what you are doing. This is like on-ground noise; spectators are having a (field) day out in pointing the info out to you. Tough yet best to ignore.
• (From within) yourself: The hardest one to beat. For they are silent and grow with time, much like the billion expectations in the batsman’s head. And much like the batsman, the ones who keep it away are the ones who move from good to great.

What helps the batsmen in dealing with the noise? A great team that also demonstrates the same poise amidst the noise. Here’s to all #OFBians for having shown that these years.

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