By
Denise LloydJonty Rhodes, Protea Cricketer speaker at George Business Chamber
APPLYING CRICKET TO YOUR BUSINESS
“Focus on your strengths and you will succeed” Jonty Rhodes, Protea cricketer and previously the world’s best fielder, told the more than 100 Southern Cape business men and women at a breakfast held by the George Business Chamber and Standard Bank.
Jonty, who is a sponsorship manager at the Bank, was never the most gifted stroke player in cricket, but with his energy and the will to chase every ball, he made sure that he would go down in history books. According to him the lessons he had learned on and off the field have moulded and shaped his life, especially in the field of relationships.
Jonty Rhodes, Protea cricketer and the world’s best fielder, was the guest speaker at a hugely successful breakfast held by the George Business Chamber and Standad Bank in George. Here Jonty enjoys a joke with (from left): Henk Gregorowski (Standard Bank Business Centre Head, George Region), Colleen Till (George Business Chamber), Madi Nothnagel (Manager Southern Cape of the new Budget Van Rental), Jonty and Malcolm McClelland (President George Business Chamber).
QUICK LEGS
During his first match for South Africa he was a 22 year old ball of energy with “quick legs”. He knew that his batting abilities were very slim and that if he was to play more than one game for SA he would need to make his mark in that game.
His captain, Kepler Wessels, spoke to him and asked him to try and speed up the game to get them through the 50 overs as quickly as possible. “I stole a second here and two there by making sure that the bowler’s marker was in place and that the ball got to the bowler asap” he said and added “imagine me telling Alan Donald to speed up, but I did” because all that I could think of was “what can I do for the team in the next 60 seconds?” By taking the focus off your own performance you take the stress out of the situation.
EVERYONE HAS A ROLE
“Although nobody else knew about my role, I kept my focus on it and succeeded in saving us some time” he said and added that one should remember that a team is made up of different components and different skills. So much work is done behind the scenes, but without everyone’s contribution the team cannot succeed.
He urged the business community to recognise the contributions made by the employees behind the scenes. Often in business people are asked to fix their areas of weaknesses, when in actual fact they should be focussing on their strengths and opportunities “Encourage your people to focus on their strengths and not on their weaknesses. In this respect Hansie Cronje was a fabulous leader – he always recognised your strengths and allowed you to persue your talents” he said.
ADJUST AND EMBRACE
During 1995 and 1999 the Proteas were top One Day Cricket team in the world. Under the captaincy of Hansie they had managed to maintain consistency and to retain that position. He attributes that fact to two things. Not only did the team want to embrace the changes and initiatives in the country, they also wanted to initiate changes. Here he quoted the example of Sri Lanka who lost every game except against South Africa during 1992. They relooked the way cricket was played and decided to change the whole game. They became adventurous and instead of standing at the crease blocking the balls and waiting for the right shots, they hit everything that came their way! And in 1996, against all odds, they won the world cup when they beat Australia by seven wickets.
ONE RUN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The second lesson that he learned was that one run counts and that your contribution can make a difference. Here he referred to a match where Makhaya Ntini hit only one run, but by doing this he placed Mark Boucher, who was on a role in the batting position and the latter hit the team to victory.
He also urged the businesses to continue to curb expenses. “You have now trimmed the fat and have make your businesses lean and mean machines and although the recession is now officially a thing of the past, in real life it is going to take much longer for the economy to recover.
2010 OPPORTUNITIES
He also shared his thoughts about the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the opportunities that it brings for local businesses. We as South Africans are hard workers and excellent entrepreneurs and as in cricket we should get out there and do the running! “Be different and initiate new changes as Sri Lanka did way back in the nineties. Work on your strengths and remember the one run philosophy – just think how many sales/accounts have been lost because people think they are too small or too weak to make a difference or to close the deal.
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