Tennis

Many of us play sports and many of us strive to become better and better. We spend hours practicing or just playing for fun to relieve ourselves of stress. For me, this sport is tennis as I play for our school team, go to lessons and use it as a way to spend time with my brother. (How unfortunuate that most of these brother-sister quality times end in arguing over pointless shots or points!) Anyways, the point of this post is to show how we can apply these sports to leadership. Since I play tennis, I will be using tennis to exemplify this concept.

Let's use bullet points to demonstrate these points...

• You always want to be in control of the point and move your opponent around - As a leader, you always want to be in control of your situations and decisions, causing others to move around to fit their schedules or actions around your choices. However, as a leader you must cause the 'opponent' to move around, because they want to. Similarly, your opponent is only going to run for a brilliant shot, only if they have that desire to win or desire to get it back.
• You always want to give it all you've got and bring out that killer backhand, rather than stick to an always consistent lob - When you enter the realm of leadership, it is important that you understand the concept of taking risks. Those who win are the ones who know their true potential, and are not afraid of using their strengths to their advantage. They do not allow that percentage of failure to stop them from trying at all.
• The winner will be the one who can hold out longest and hit that shot 20 times more than the other person - It is neither common nor likely for a leader to simply enter a situation, win and leave. You must fight for what you want; you must fight for every situation. The winner, the true leader, will be able to give it back once again. A leader is not defined by one action, but a series of actions and the ability to repeat those actions.
• Add a little finesse and personal touch to everything, changing the shot to something that has your name written all over it, not your coach's - Leadership is about revolutionizing processes to put your touch to it. The moment your actions lose their personal touch and become predictable is the moment you lose your leadership. This is because you are no longer a leader, but instead a follower using another's method to solve a problem. A leader always uses their thoughts and their experience to change these common methods to something more powerful, something more effective, and something they can call their own.

Annnnnnnd.... now you see it! Tennis can relate to our desires and goals to become good leaders, so keep your eyes out on your sports. :)