Tag Archives: steve nash

The importance of having real-time vision

 

 Steve Nash dribbling the ball

 

We can draw many lessons from the world of sports onto business, I was watching a feature video on ESPN on Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash on a and couldn’t help but see the correlation between vision in sports and in business. In business there’s talk of the need of having a vision or a BIG idea behind and organization’s direction, but there’s also the real-time vision a leader needs to possess to make sense of things in a rapidly changing world and make a right decision.

 

Just like an NBA point guard is defined by how well he runs his offense and assist his teammates to a position where they have the advantage, a business leader is judged by the strategic decisions he makes to position his company so it’s business strategy gives it an advantage.

 

Strategy is all about making choices and in a rapid changing world the ability to see the play develop (Observe), read the defense (Orient), seeing the gap (Decide) and exploit it (Act) by making the perfect pass is of vital importance.

 

See a pattern there? The OODA loop.

 

, improvisational, rapid strategy development and . The OODA is not going to work all the time, it’s a tool to assist in learning about an environment and making decisions, it doesn’t make visions come true but it’s better that relying on a static plan of action in a dynamic world.

 

The lesson is: As business leaders we must develop real-time vision to strategize on the fly and create order out of chaos.

 

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Strategy: Keep the ball moving

I’m a basketball junkie so I was delighted to read Fast Company’s excellent which examines how Nash runs his work life outside of basketball, just like the Suns offense, in constant chaos. Nash runs THE most unorthodox offense in the NBA, which is unplanned, unpredictable and all on the fly.

 

No one better embodies the metabolism of our times, when industries, technologies, and careers are in constant flux. In leading Phoenix to the league’s best record to start this season and, most likely, to a return to the play-offs, Nash demonstrates how to navigate uncertainty — with flexibility, collaboration, and inventiveness. He has developed a gift for finding order in chaos. He adapts to new information, assesses the risks, and creates opportunities for him and his teammates to succeed. Nash improvises.

We all need to be improvisers now, to transition between the jobs we have and the backup plans we may need to pursue in the current economic crisis. Between the ways we’re accustomed to working and the new habits shaped by Twitter, Facebook, and other new tech tools. Between the recession and the postrecession world.

Both on and off the court, Nash’s exploits illuminate lessons about how to manage these transitions.

 

Why you should you read it? Very simple…because he improvises strategy on the fly and that is how companies business strategy should be developed. Learn from Steve Nash, stay ahead of the game by keeping the ball moving.