Voices

Think Like an Athlete to Win as an Advisor

Two competitors stand on the starting line of an Olympic run, both with identical abilities, personal bests, and identical body compositions. Who crosses the finish line first?

The one with the better mindset. The same happens in wealth management.

Pick two advisors working at the same location, similar personalities and given identical opportunities and advantages. Mental ability for managing stress and success make the difference.

The mindset for advisors and successful athletes alike can provide the competitive advantage they need. Athlete advisors who I spoke to agreed that being an athlete gave them a distinct advantage over their colleagues who did not consider themselves the same. It didn’t matter the sport: golf, football, baseball, basketball, running, or even finishing a triathlon. The competitive spirit they embrace as athletes translated into the way they do business.

Stan Beecham, sport psychologist and former athlete says in his book Elite Minds: Creating the Competitive Advantage, “Your brain is software, your body the hardware. Simply put, your body does what your brain tells it to do, or what your brain thinks your body is capable of doing.”

MORGAN ATHLETE

Senior Financial Advisor Scott Cruse of Morgan Stanley in Los Gatos, Calif., a former semi-professional baseball player with the Atlanta Braves, agreed. He says in sports and in business, his attitude is, “I’m not going to fail; I’m going to make it happen.”

An all-around athlete in his spare time, he continues to play competitive basketball. Not only does he enjoy the competition and camaraderie, but he also appreciates the mindset that comes with being fit. It adds confidence to all that he does, including success in his business for himself and his clients.  Bestselling author Alison Levine of On the Edge, a book on leadership and about her quest to conquer Everest, told me the differentiator for athletes in business is that, “Athletes know that they can spend all the time in the world strategizing and planning, but when it comes down to it, they know success is going to depend on their ability to quickly adapt to various changing environments.”

Levine writes about not reaching the summit of Everest the first time and her decision to go back and finally reach the top. She says, “People who are willing to get out there and really push their boundaries may stumble and fall every now and then, but their failures may help others to succeed down the road.” She speaks about this mindset to business leaders.

RETENTION OPPORTUNITY

With the volatility of the markets this year, this mindset can help manage both your personal fears and your clients. Many advisors have gotten client calls and embraced these concerns head-on. Having the confidence for these conversations is essential for client and asset retention. Rather than thinking of it as "putting out fires", change your mindset and see it as an opportunity to have important conversations about risk tolerance and future goals.

Athlete advisors usually have a strong a threshold for pain and can discuss having a similar threshold with clients for challenging investing and market situations. “Change can be painful. Growth can be painful. You just have to accept that discomfort as part of the process," Levine says, "And when you're used to operating in an environment where you're uncomfortable a lot of the time, you pretty much get used to it. Easy situations allow you to coast a bit to balance out the really hard stuff, but rarely are the big rewards and payoffs associated with ‘easy.'"

'TRAINING PLAN'

Advisor and runner Patty Black, First Vice President at Morgan Stanley in Syracuse, N.Y., says her competitive nature gives her the mindset of “never wanting to lose.” When she got into the business, she told herself, “I’m not doing this job if I’m not going to do it well.”

She approaches her business and her running with a similar “training plan,” which involves making a list of things to accomplish every day and feeling the satisfaction of crossing them off, just like ticking off the miles. Like Levine, who worked with a team to reach the top of Everest, Black says she loves the group approach to her business as well. Even with her individual strengths and mindset, she says it’s great to have colleagues to be able to bounce ideas off each other and rely on. It also takes patience and compromise, but with the appropriate mindset there can be a great advantage. Like any competitive athlete, there are times when it’s important to slow down to go faster. 

Another essential element of the athletic mindset that translates to business is “failure tolerance.” Cruse of Morgan Stanley says that in sports and life, oftentimes what you learn from failure can carry you forward into success. Being able to embrace failure can frequently make success that much sweeter. “Non-athletes are often afraid of ‘losing,’ so they're sometimes more risk-averse. Rarely is any person or team 'the best,' 100% of the time.  So sometimes you win (or reach your goal) and sometimes you don't -- and you move on.”

Perhaps you’ve spent time with a potential client developing a proposal and they decide against it. You may deem that a failure, or waste of your time.

Upon further reflection, one may realize the client isn’t a good fit and your business acumen might be better suited for someone else. Great athletes and business people know how to target their niche to emphasize strengths. It’s a great mental strength to know what isn’t working, what can be fixed or when to walk away.

Most importantly, failures should not stop you from moving forward. Mental strength is essential to the notion of not physically or mentally giving up. As a mountaineer, Levine had to convince herself to just take one more step, no matter how excruciatingly slow, and while oxygen deprived, as she ascended to the top of Everest.

“You have to find that voice in your head that tells you that you can take just one more step. And then one more after that… eventually you make it to your goal. And once you've done that once in your lifetime, then you know that the voice is there (and it's always going to be here) -- and you can summon it whenever you need it,” Levine says.

This is what makes an athlete stand out from the rest: the knowledge that if one keeps going and pushing forward, and in the case of an advisor, pushing forward with their business, they will find success.

Athletes believe that growth and success is in their grasp and they are willing to fight for it, get help and take calculated risks.

You don’t have to be very competitive to take advantage of this mental training tool. The casual athlete who golfs regularly can utilize the mental mindset of wanting to perform better and translate that to business. If you're a golfer, you know that a lack of concentrated effort can ruin your handicap. Although it may not work for every round, noticing that effort and the opportunity it brings is the first step to improving your game.

Train your mind like an athlete and you may land the opportunity for more success in your business. In articulating the power of mindset, know that “Top performers have mastered how to think and who to believe," Stan Beecham, the sport psychologist says, "In order to maximize what they do—their performance—again and again.”  

Read more:

 

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Practice management Career planning
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING