Personal diversity is all around us and helps us to have many different experiences on a minute by minute basis. There are many ways to describe personal diversity and most often these relate back to the core phycological principles of our brain that drive our beliefs, that in turn drive the behaviours we demonstrate and the decisions we make. TetraMap is a great way of making this simple and can help provide a deeper understanding of the personal diversity that we all have. Like nature we need all 4 elements to survive and be as strong as we can be. These elements are known as:
Earth – based in facts with a key focus on results
Air – based in logic with a key driver on being structured and bringing clarity
Water – based in feelings with a desire to build connections and relationships
Fire – based in possibilities, creating ideas and spontaneity
I have always been fascinated by sport. I grew up in the Northern rugby league town of Wigan watching my Dad play the professional game for local rivals St. Helens and remember my first FA Cup final, as Norman Whiteside scored a spectacular goal to win the game for Manchester United. One sport that I didn’t play a lot of (other than once a year during Wimbledon) was tennis. In recent years this sport has fascinated me more than most, partly due to the phenomenal era that we are in for both the men’s and women’s game. The physical and mental strength required for such an intense sport, where you are the sole participant, under a spotlight for up to 4 hours at a time, is just insane. Personal diversity is apparent in most sports and I wanted to share my observations from the tennis court.
Milos Raonic, world number 3, is the big hitting Canadian ace. Milos doesn’t hang about winning 91% of his service games with one of the most powerful and accurate serves in the game. His no nonsense style appears to be purely focussed on winning each point with the least number of strokes possible. He attempts to dictate play and is generally more aggressive than his opponents, as evidenced by having more winners. To finish points quickly, Raonic occasionally approaches the net, with either a serve and volley or chip and charge strategy.
Novak Djokovic appears to be calm, collected and extremely precise with his game, wasting little energy by picking his shots to perfection. His groundstrokes from both wings are consistent, deep and penetrating. His backhand is widely regarded as one of the best in the game, helping him to 12 Grand Slam titles, spending a total of 223 weeks as world number 1 and winning 30 masters 1000 series titles, the most in history.
Jimmy Connors was such an emotional player, throwing his heart and body into every single point and was a massive favourite with the crowd. He really connected with the audience, often pandering to the crowd and becoming one of the most influential men in the sport. He had an indomitable spirit and had a passion for the game that helped him win more singles titles than any other male tennis player. A true legend.
Kei Nishikori is unique in being the only Japanese male professional tennis player the be ranked in the world’s top 10. Nishikori has a flamboyant playing style and is powerful and dominating of both wings, hitting groundstroke winners in a ‘win or bust’ mentality. He has one of the best forehands in the game, hitting a very high percentage of winners but also has one of the highest percentage of unforced errors. He has a habit of taking the ball early with a short backswing anticipating which direction the ball will go and is one of the most energetic and engaging characters on the tour.
Andy Murray has recently climbed to the top of the world rankings having had a sensational year on and off the court. He has learnt to channel his emotions into each point and is connecting much more with the crowd and his fans. He has dialled up his ‘counter punching’ style making precise, powerful shots from the baseline and is trying the most audacious of drop shots and lobs that have caught the imagination of the viewing public. The results speak for themselves, as he once again became Wimbledon Champion, retained his Olympic title and reached the number one spot with 25 wins in a row. All of the elements have played out in his performance and he has known went to dial some up and when to dial some down.
The player that can balance these elements the most and deploy the right strategy stands a better chance of coming out on top. This is exactly the principle that TetraMap teaches us to apply in business. The world of business often looks to our sporting champions as a point of reference, but there is less said about the reverse. However, with it’s simple holistic approach to achieving the ideal mindset, I don’t expect it’ll be long before TetraMap has a prominent place in sport to rival other physical and mental strategies.
