Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see. That’s one of the many quotes Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) delivered to the world. And like this one, many can be considered as sound business practices as well: if you are blind to what happens around you, you can’t be successful.
Muhammad Ali could take out a man with just one punch (I have borrowed and adapted this line from Bob Dylan) and he had 37 knock-outs. To do this, Ali said, “you need to be aware of your surroundings and yourself.” Isn’t it exactly what we mean when we say that businesses have to be agile? And yes, like in boxing, speed matters.
Download the native mindmap format on the following link: Business Lessons from Muhammad Ali
He lost as well, five times to be precise. Only one of them by knockout. Muhammad Ali had learned a lesson from losing: “Getting knocked down is part of being in this business”. Failure is a prerequisite to learning. In business, it forces you to quickly track the causes of failure and either solve it or find a way to go around the problem (Thoughtworks, October 2015).
My favorite Ali quote? About focusing. Stay focused. Many people say they are focused, but the big question is on what? Muhammad Ali had a good one about that as well: “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out. It’s the pebble in your shoe.”
If you are interested to find out how mind mapping can help you to better optimize business processes and improve the overall performance of your company, join the free webinar on 09th of June at 14:00 (CEST) or 08:00 (EDT). Based on my knowledge and experience I will elaborate on how mind mapping can be used in business, how it can make a difference and add value, and what the challenges to implementing it are. Furthermore, we will discuss real cases of mapping implemented in business. You can join in by following the live broadcast on the following link: Free webinar: Mind mapping in Business. Looking forward to answering your questions and discuss with you on the topic!
About the author
Hans Buskes is a business consultant, marketing communications manager, and mind mapper. He’s the author of several mind map books and mind map blogger on Mastermindmaps.
