“The most important shot in golf is the next one.”
Ben Hogan, american golfer.
A great leader is someone who is aware that he needs to surround himself with people who are better than him in the areas he manages. Nowadays, leadership is one of the most interesting and important topics, but sadly, it is one of the most difficult tasks to fulfill. Leadership is confused with imposition, like an authority that becomes an obstacle for others.
Leadership consists of the opposite of what someone eager to excel often represents in work environments.
Although it is true that the leader is someone who is capable of responsibly delegating each activity in his environment, he is also someone who is capable of directing himself. He is the one who must practice, with greater reason and circumstance, empathy above all else.
In golf, this matter is completely relevant when acting. A great golfer must always maintain confidence in himself, but also in the caddy who accompanies him, in trusting him with the clubs he will choose for his next shot and, of course, in the performance he will perform. His company is the journey itself, which he makes from the first to the last hole.
THE VALUE OF THE SWING HIT
In golf, the swing is not just a stroke that propels the ball. It requires a certain amount of strength and speed to make the ball travel smoothly enough to land at the moment of glory. And what is that moment of glory? Unlike in football, it is not about hitting the hole on the first try, but about getting as close to the goal as possible.
In life as in sport, great goals are achieved through a process of concentration, effort and action; not only immediate results are taken into account. It is extremely important to take into account that, when making a decision, we are aware of the consequence/reaction to the type of cause/action we will undertake, whether short, medium or long term.
In golf we could define it this way: the short-term action is hitting the ball, the type of swing that will define the course; the medium-term action is hitting the hole with the fewest possible shots (that is, economizing movements and improving strategies); Finally, the long-term action is the game itself, completing the 18 holes.
It is not for nothing that we constantly see the same phrase: “life is a game.” This phrase can be taken in any positive or negative sense, it all depends on its context. But what is certain is that it is an infallible truth, a reality that, taking full advantage of and accepting its forms and uses, we can be prepared thanks to a conscious decision-making.
To make a good swing you need preparation, control, serenity, patience and passion. Exactly what is necessary to make a transcendent decision.
In his book ‘The Gift of the Star’, the American writer, Og Mandino, defined life as “a blink between two eternities.” I interpret this in the following way: if you do not know how to live well, you do not have two opportunities.
The swing is also a blink that, if you take advantage of it, you will have good results. And both life and the swing depend on oneself.
A swing performed with the fluidity of true decision-making (conscious, active and effective), can provide a very memorable image for those who witness this brief, but important achievement: the movement of a swing will always bring a smile to their faces.
THE VALUE OF THE GOLFER IN HIS OWN GAME
The golfer needs to fight and overcome the disappointment of a bad shot, an action that he himself provokes. In everyday leadership, a leader is accustomed to attributing his failures to the people he leads. There are times when we wonder if this is conscious or unconscious, if they completely forget that they were once in a different position than their current one in the corporate hierarchy, or if they simply forget that leadership is also synonymous with risk.
It is irresponsible on their part to freely distribute blame, just as it is irresponsible for the golfer to face the failure with nothing more than frustration and anger directed at his caddy, his audience, even at his own work tool. That is not professionalism, the core of every leader.
A leader is followed by what he represents and inspires, even without an official title. If the golfer and caddie are their own leaders on the course and are able to work together as this key unit, it doesn’t matter if the swing wasn’t strong enough or if it took too many shots to hit the hole. What matters is that collaborative process that allows the game of life to continue, in the best possible sense.
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF GOLF
Golf strengthens the spirit, because to learn to play golf, one must overcome long stages of frustration in which many people give up, to the point of abandoning the game. Giving up is an obviousness imposed by that frustration, which unfortunately becomes a fairly common comfort.
Effort is a constant novelty. It requires perseverance and risk, something we encounter daily. And when you learn to play, you learn to immediately overcome a bad shot to play, you learn to overcome immediately and only someone with a strong spirit can do it.
Practicing spirituality is being in contact with something much bigger than ourselves. From religious belief to faith in oneself, from the constant encounter with our strengths and weaknesses to the simple, but powerful fact of living for a cause. Sport is undoubtedly one of the most powerful spiritual practices that humanity can have.
Golf is an intimate sport, to a certain extent, providing enough space for reflection, even with an audience filling the stands and surroundings. Golf provides the necessary landscape to reconnect with an environment that we have pushed away, or enclosed in containers: NATURE.
In the midst of the elements, we return to the primitive vulnerability of our nature, but with the tools that are the power of decision, the awareness of oneself wrapped in a game of possibilities and, of course, the privilege of taking advantage of every moment.
Each swing is a whole process of meditation. It requires 124 muscles to take flight and hit the ball and, in that journey of thousandths of a second, we inhale and exhale that gives us the strength with which the rise and fall of the ball will be significant, both for the game and for our aspiration.
In life as in golf, the most difficult is always yet to come. For life, we must always be prepared, attentive and willing to give ourselves completely to our actions. That is love, something much greater. Life and golf are a constant challenge that drives us to always give our best. When you live and play golf with love, you overcome every challenge.
Raúl Cisneros Velázquez (Irapuato, Guanajuato, 1952) is a veteran in Industrial Relations from the University of Guanajuato. He founded his own Human Resources consulting company, Edúcere, which he has been working with for 25 years. Considered a guru of human resources and organizational development in Guanajuato, his passions are divided between family, work, reading and golf.