March Madness—Why the winner wins

March 17, 2010

It’s that time again, March Madness!!

The time when businesses lose billions of dollars in lost productivity due to office pools, employees sneaking peaks at games and score, and those lost mornings from late night game watching.

I was watching all the hoopla on ESPN and the “bracketology” shows. Analysts picking winners, sleepers, upsets, etc. At the end of the day, the majority went with a one seed to win. Makes sense, statistics show that one of the four usually do.

It started getting me thinking about why and how it could apply to our aspiration of “building great companies”.

I listened to the Kansas coach, Bill Self and took away a couple of key points.

Great Talent. The recruiting process is endless and must be committed to year round.
Set Goals. The team sets goals down to a weekly rhythm. 
Great Coaching. The coaching staff is loaded with talented leaders.

If they win the championship, it will be for many reasons, but it wont be luck.

By the way, I went with a one seed too, Kentucky.

SVP Marketing & Sales

<strong>Brian Zimmerman</strong> was a Partner at OpenView from 2006 until 2014. While at OpenView he worked with our portfolio executive teams to deliver the highest impact value-add consulting services, primarily focused on go-to-market strategies. Brian is currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at <a href="http://www.5nine.com/">5Nine Software</a>.