Just Sayin’ Blog – A Lesson in Perseverance

(Autographed Pin Flag from Ernie Els last major win in 2002 at The Open Championship held in Scotland)

Perseverance is a key trait to achieving success in any undertaking. It doesn’t matter if it’s a personal one or one that you have in your business life. It doesn’t matter whether the undertaking is a big or small one. The ability to maintain an unrelenting focus on any goal that you are pursuing requires you to work through the difficulties and obstacles that confront you.

This past Sunday you saw that trait in the 2012 Champion Golfer of the Year – Ernie Els – by his winning The Open Championship that was played this past week at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancanshire, England. The Open is the 3rd of the four majors (The Masters, The U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and The PGA Championship) which are held each year and where winning one of them defines a PGA Tour player’s career.

Sunday’s final round was a test for the 83 tour players who had made the cut after the end of the second round on Friday. Only Ernie and 8 other players were able to shoot under par on Sunday with Ernie carding a 2 under par. After 72 holes were played during The Open Championship this year only 18 golfers scored level par or better. Ernie was able to put pressure on Adam Scott who had started the final round in the lead at 11 under par and who led the tournament through 16 holes. Ernie made a crucial birdie putt on the final hole of his round that placed added pressure on Adam Scott who ended up bogeying the final 4 holes on Sunday and saw his goal of winning his first major championship slip away.

Ernie Els is a storied professional golfer who has certainly had great successes in his 22 year career, but at 42 years of age he hadn’t had a win on the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour since 2010 (the Arnold Palmer Invitational) and earlier this year he was questioning whether he would ever be able to find a way to win again, let alone win a coveted major. With all the success Ernie had achieved in his career he seemed to have lost many of the considerable natural talents, along with ones he had developed over years of practice that together made him a successful PGA Tour Pro. Over the past several years he changed a number of people he surrounded himself with who he felt could help him find the right mix of ingredients that would allow him the opportunity to win again. As he focused on 2012 he had a number of heartbreaking near misses at winning tournaments which would have allowed him to gain an invitation to The 2012 Masters Tournament, a tournament which he had played for 19 consecutive years. Having suffered that professional setback to his career Ernie continued to work on his game, despite many opining that his career was over or certainly had to degrade to a level where he would be unable to again regain the level of play he had achieved.

Ernie’s ability to utilize all of his talents to emerge as The Open Champion this year is a testament to his perseverance. After winning he thanked his wife Leizl, along with his daughter Samantha and his son Ben for all the support they give him. Ernie also thanked a number of others who stood by him as he worked his way through the many issues that he faced in his journey to again win. And winning a major; a feat he felt he may have never achieve again, but did with hard work, dedication and perseverance.

If you operate a business in the retail or wholesale automotive glass repair and replacement (AGRR) industry; or if your business sells products to those in the industry, 2012 has probably been a year full of difficulties and obstacles requiring you to show perseverance. As I mentioned in a recent blog titled “Hopes for the New Year (Summer Update)”, the key drivers – the weather, the economy and miles driven – have not been trending positively this year and have been affecting many (6 out of every 7 of you in a recent survey question I asked) in the industry. Without those key drivers being a help to many in the industry, business owners and those who lead organizations are required to find solutions which will allow them to survive the negative environment we find ourselves. How you persevere and deal with the issues your business faces today will have a long-lasting effect on your business and for all the people who work for you. The various steps that you’re taking now will unquestionably determine whether your company will be able to take advantage of opportunities that will certainly exist in your market when the key drivers turn positive and business improves. What steps are you focusing on in your business to ensure that you’re in position to take advantage of your competition when the current environment begins to improve?

Ernie Els didn’t lose sight of what was most important for him to focus on during Sunday’s final round at The Open and that was his own game. He could only do his best, making the best decisions in ensuring that he played at the highest level he could which would allow him to post the lowest score possible and put him in a position to win. Ernie was able to accomplish that by changing his strategy on how he was going to play those final 9 holes. He knew he was lagging behind and that Adam Scott was leading by 4 strokes with just a few holes to play. Ernie decided that he would become aggressive in how he played those final holes. At age 42 he never lost hope that he could play with against the best golfers in the World and find a way to win. By utilizing skills he had accumulated over his lifetime; and with the help of those he surrounded himself and trusted most he once again found the path to success and to win and win a major.

It certainly isn’t easy to make the hard choices that business owners or business managers must make in order to be fully prepared for when business does improve, but those who just sit by and watch their market share dwindle as they hope for better days aren’t going to be in a position to take advantage of opportunities when they do appear. You have to be able to take an honest look at your business and assess the value proposition that your business brings to customers in your market, you have to evaluate the capabilities of your competitors and take all of the appropriate steps that you can to ensure that you are positioned correctly, which will allow you to take advantage when things do improve in your market.

Ask those people closest to you that you trust and respect for their opinions; solicit their honest views of the pros and cons of your abilities, of your company in the marketplace, ask them about their views of your fellow workers. Are you marketing your company properly? Are you just copying what your competitors are doing or are you trying new things to improve how your business operates? You can’t just sit back and hope for the key drivers to improve because they might not improve fast enough, you certainly can’t just sit back hoping that a competitor or two in your market will falter or that something else will somehow happen to improve your business prospects. You have to focus on what can you do to improve your business; without worrying what others are doing around you. What steps can you take to ensure that you’re ready when things turn positive for you in your market?

You will find that by your continually working hard to find ways to improve how you market or position your business to your customers, making sure that you have the right mix of talented people to work with you in your business and then ensuring that your business is operating as a “low cost” provider in your market that you will be prepared to find new success and to win in your marketplace when the key drivers begin to improve. Work through difficulties and obstacles that you face so that you can persevere.

Admittedly, sometimes even by working hard and being dedicated to your business things may not work out for you, but you can’t stop trying. Ernie Els never gave up on his goal. He believed that if he worked hard and continued to tweak his game; he’d find a way to beat his fellow competitors and win again.

So can you.

Just Sayin’……

 

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