The PGA Championship starts this morning and of course the most notable thing about it so far is who isn’t there. The scary thing is that you know that even a few weeks after ACL surgery, El Tigre would be competitive and there’s no doubt in my mind that if the Tour hadn’t fought golf carts in court (ironically vs. Casey Martin, one of Tiger’s Stanford teammates), they’d let him ride if that meant he could play.
What makes Tiger, and Annika for that matter (Lorena has to prove it over time, kids) so hard to beat? Their confidence. They believe in their souls that they are going to win every time they tee it up. More importantly, they make YOU believe the same thing which is why their peers tend to go in the tank when they see either one making a charge.
Confidence is something every person in business needs to have. There was a book written a few years ago on this by Rosabeth Moss Kantor.
In her view, success and failure are not events, they are self-fulfilling tendencies. “Confidence is the sweet spot between arrogance and despair–consisting of positive expectations for favorable outcomes.” says Kanter.
Bob Rotella, the preeminent golf psychologist, has a new book out as well called Your 15th Club (under the rules, one can only carry 14 at a time).
The 15th Club is the tool that golf stars like Tiger Woods use to block out negative thoughts, doubt, and fear. It is what allows champions to perform at their peak both in practice and during the game. Golfers who lack it find the game elusive and frustrating. Confident golfers play the game as they have always sensed they could play it.
How is your confidence level? I’m a believer that part of my job as a manager was always to get people to perform at the highest level of which they were capable. Mostly, that just meant giving them the guidance and tools they needed and staying out of their way. One of the biggest tools we had was confidence – the belief that we could get great things done. Do you believe? If so, does the rest of your team? If not, what are you doing to address it?
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