Stephen Billing’s Blog

Sports are like business only in certain superficial ways. The differences are far greater than the similarities, and bear strong warning for any leader of change.

The other day I participated in a group discussing leadership. It was apparent that to many people, that lessons from sport were highly applicable to leadership and business, and further, that it was taken for granted that there are strong similarities between business and sports.

I think that the use of "lessons" from sport highlights certain apparent similarities, such as having winners and losers, a game plan, tactics, coach and so on.

At the same, the highlighting of these similarities disguises some very crucial differences between sport and business:

• The rules are quite different. Both sport and business are played to the laws of the land, but sports have extra specific rules that govern every aspect of play, and limit the options as to what can be done in certain circumstances. These rules are far more limiting than in business. Also, the rules of sport are written down. There is no equivalent in business to the written rules of a sport. For example, in rugby, when the ball goes out, everyone agrees that people will line up and the ball will be thrown by a particular person. In business, it is highly unlikely that the other team would line up and wait for you to throw the ball in.
   
• Sport is played on a prescribed field or court with clear boundaries about what is in and out. This is not the case in business, where sometimes it is hard to see exactly what field you are in, and what game the competitors or other players are engaged in. Hence the need in strategy and marketing to define your markets, and the premium given in business to those who can invent new variations or see their market differently from others.
   
• The referee is another big difference. In sport the referee is expected to watch the play carefully and judge right and wrong in accordance with the rules and award penalties for infringements. In business, the nearest approximation to this would be a Judge in court, perhaps a regulatory body such as the Commerce Commission or a complaints tribunal, or perhaps an Ombudsman. But these “referees” are not expected to watch the play carefully and proactively blow the whistle. Instead, they get involved only by exception, if someone else draws attention to a transgression or potential transgression.
   
• In sports, the teams have the same numbers of players and play with standardised equipment. Sports such as Formula 1 racing are criticised because of the advantage those teams with better technology and resources have, and swimming has recently had controversy over the new swimwear which allows a significant advantage to those wearing it. In business on the other hand, it is quite common for the “players” to have differing numbers of players and resources. This is all considered to be part of the strategy of business, if you are small, working out how to compete with bigger firms with access to more resources. Being a niche player is perhaps similar to being allowed to play only on the left hand side of the field and to not venture into the right hand side. This would not be tolerated in any sport.
   

You need way more accurate analogies and comparisons that take into account distinctions such as these if you are to lead change successfully.