Today’s blog comes Ingar Grev, a Growth Coach franchise owner from Annapolis, MD. \u00a0Ingar\u00a0played football for four years at Annapolis and graduated\u00a0with a BS in Systems Engineering\u00a0and a commission as an Ensign in the US Navy. \u00a0He is a guest blogger for the BizBeat feature of The Washington Business Journal and a regular speaker for business, government, and service organizations throughout the nation. Ingar created a methodology for aligning systems engineering principles to designing organizations \u2013 an approach that he has used successfully throughout his career to help organizations work better.<\/p>\n
You can learn more about Ingar at his website here\u00a0\u00a0www.IngarGrev.com<\/a><\/p>\n In\u00a0remembrance\u00a0of the War of 1812, I wear a special 2-flag lapel pin. On the left-hand side is the U.S. flag and on the right is\u00a0Oliver Hazard Perry<\/a>\u2019s iconic battle flag: \u201cDon\u2019t Give Up the Ship.\u201d It holds place of honor at the Naval Academy. A replica of the flag hangs on the wall in Memorial Hall, over the list of our alumni who were killed in action. The original is in our museum. Perry had the flag made for his friend Captain\u00a0James Lawrence<\/a>, who said the words after he was mortally wounded in battle\u00a0on board\u00a0the USS Chesapeake in 1813.<\/p>\n Victory at all costs may be critical in war, but taking a \u201cwin at all costs\u201d attitude into sports or business can be a dangerous maneuver (sports \u2014 we can be disqualified, kicked out of the game, banned for life, etc.; business \u2014 we can get convicted, go bankrupt, make our families destitute, etc.). Understanding that we must follow the rules, act ethically, and be men and women of honor, here are a few of the rules for winning that I picked up from playing and coaching football at Navy:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0Don\u2019t give up the ship!<\/strong>\u00a0In you’re lifetime you\u2019ve witnessed astonishing, come-from-behind, impossible victories.\u00a0I was in the stands for this one in 2008<\/a>, getting ready to walk out of the stadium when Navy was behind 27-7. The only time you are guaranteed a loss is when you give up, lose sight of the end goal, consider the price of victory too high, or don\u2019t even bother showing up. You’ll never win if you give up. Don\u2019t give up the ship!<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Don\u2019t let someone take your ticket.<\/strong>We called the guys who didn\u2019t play full speed until the play was over \u201cspectators.\u201d If you\u2019re a spectator, someone\u2019s going to take your ticket. That means that you are going to get knocked down and embarrassed in front of thousands (or millions if the game is on TV). If you\u2019re holding the ball, someone\u2019s going to take it from you. It’s the same in business. In business, you need to be on your game until the whistle blows. There’s no time to be a spectator. That means you need to perform your best for that customer for as long as you are in business. Period. If you do that well, they\u2019ll always be your customer \u2014 or at least your advocate. If you don\u2019t bring your \u201cA-game\u201d every day, someone\u2019s going to take your ticket.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Don\u2019t accept unacceptable performance.<\/strong>\u00a0When you mess up, learn from it, fix it, and don\u2019t repeat the mistake. We make mistakes so we can learn from them. As a leader, don\u2019t accept unacceptable performance from your people. Don\u2019t set the standards low because you feel that no one can do it like you can; set the standards where they need to be. Then, don\u2019t accept performance that is below your standards. If they blow it, train them. If they keep blowing it after training, replace them. If you don\u2019t have anyone else, re-think your organization so you can live without that person. Yes, I do mean that. When your team feels no\u00a0repercussions\u00a0for not meeting the standards, guess what? Your standards are not the true standards; the lower, \u201cunofficial\u201d standards are.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Don\u2019t lose your feet.<\/strong>\u00a0A football player lying on the ground during the play is useless. Diving in to make a play is \u00a0an all-or-nothing gamble. When you\u2019re on your feet, you have power and the ability to react. When you fall down or dive, you don\u2019t. In business, you need to think really, really hard before making all-or-nothing gambles or by pursuing business not in line with your core competency. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m all for taking big risks (like diving to make the game winning catch), just be sure that the risk is really the best and only way you can achieve your objectives.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0This is a football.<\/strong>\u00a0As the story goes, legendary football coach\u00a0Vince Lombardi<\/a>\u00a0would start each new season of practice by holding a football and saying, \u201cGentlemen, this is a football.\u201d The idea was to keep a relentless focus on BASICS. Know the basics of a good business (there are thousands of books and articles out there on the subject \u2014 I recommend “Becoming a Strategic Business Owner” by\u00a0Dan Murphy<\/a>), and get awesome at blocking and tackling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today’s blog comes Ingar Grev, a Growth Coach franchise owner from Annapolis, MD. \u00a0Ingar\u00a0played football for four years at Annapolis and graduated\u00a0with a BS in Systems Engineering\u00a0and a commission as an Ensign in the US Navy. \u00a0He is a guest blogger for the BizBeat feature of The Washington Business Journal and a regular speaker for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[908,855,871,857,876,930,1111,1105,951,1106,987,858,931,859,988,1194,860,861,1059,863,897,1225,864,935,865,937,867],"class_list":["post-1901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-coaching","tag-balance","tag-benefits-of-business-coaching","tag-business-blog","tag-business-coach","tag-business-coaching","tag-business-coaching-advice","tag-business-coaching-client-success","tag-business-coaching-guarantee","tag-business-coaching-tips","tag-business-complexity","tag-business-development","tag-business-owner","tag-business-owner-break","tag-business-owner-burnout","tag-business-owner-emotional-management","tag-business-owner-leverage","tag-business-owner-mindset","tag-business-systems","tag-delegation","tag-entrepreneur","tag-growth-coach","tag-ingar-grev","tag-leadership","tag-marketing","tag-small-business-management","tag-strategic-business-owner","tag-strategic-mindset"],"yoast_head":"\nFive Great Ways to Fail in Business<\/h2>\n