People in elite sports set the bar high. Those of us in business can do the same, whether  you are just starting out on your business journey or are well into building your startup. These cross-industry insights can be great hacks for business and personal growth.

Here I have outlined five sporting lessons that you can apply in your start-up business to kickstart your growth in 2022 and beyond.

Embrace uncertainty — failure only makes you stronger

Once you let go of the need to control, and see the success in failure, you are free to refocus your mind, release it from fear, and drive efforts towards your main business goals. In the same way that you cannot predict your opponent's every play in sport, you cannot expect to prepare perfectly for every challenge of running a business.

Mahela Jayawardene is a former elite sportsman. He has won world titles and is now a champion cricket coach. More importantly, he is an all-round good human. When I interviewed Mahela, I asked a semi-serious question: “Which saying would your teams accuse you of overusing?” “Control what you can control” was Mahela’s instant response.

This is a hugely powerful mindset in business, particularly for startups, There is so much you still don’t know. These could hold you back if you dwell too much. Embracing uncertainty is a mindset and superpower that leaders (and aspiring leaders) need to keep working on because it reduces worry, frees up energy, and helps us reframe our thoughts.

Never stop learning

Staying informed involves learning across various industries and disciplines; the way you channel your mind to absorb new information has a massive impact on performance.

In the sporting world, rugby learns from wrestling and cricket learns from baseball. You might not think that your challenges are comparable with the challenges in a completely different sector, but you would be surprised. In fact, I have seen large, Global 1000 clients borrow practices from exciting startups. Why not flip this on its head and look for and adopt relevant practices from these larger organisations?

Embracing proven, transferrable insights will help you drive better outcomes. So, think creatively about how you can infuse your teams with outside-in learning. Start first by clarifying your top few challenges. Then look for how sectors outside of yours solve for these. The inspiration and insights could come from personal research,  active workshops, or event series’ with external minds, to name a few.

Unite your team through aligned goals and values

Of course, the main objective is always ‘to win’ but an effective team is achieved when values and objectives are aligned.  Understanding each other and your consumers deeply gives you the edge. The most successful sporting teams are those that are working towards the same goal, with personal egos parked.

Take Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 England Squad as an example. The team were completely united around the same goal; winning the competition. As the country could see enthusiasm, commitment and success of the team, more and more people tuned in to the games and were united around the same common goal. This momentum was key in driving the England team forward.

Within your startup, work with your team on what the aligned goals and values are. Work towards the same mission with impetus and your customers will respond and join alongside you.

Train your business through innovative methods

While everything exciting happens on the field, sports would never be as gripping if it wasn’t for the hard work and innovative thinking that goes on behind the scenes. Every good coach understands their team, and incorporates new plays to strengthen them for the next game. Why should a business be any different? To secure a win, you must seek out and utilise all the innovative tools and skill sets at your disposal.

The pandemic accelerated technology adoption in so many ways. If your organisation is on the slow train to tech uptake, you will get left behind. Advanced video analytics is one sporting example. Jalal Shaik and team at Gameface.ai are applying machine learning and computer vision to deliver an edge to enlightened sports teams. Hesitant teams will lose competitive advantage — on-field and off.

Know your role in the grander scheme of things and play to those strengths

Taking a knee in sports has become a notable tradition for sports teams everywhere. It says that they’re not ‘just’ sports players. They are human beings that speak out on injustice and express their values. Using their visibility and platform to influence change appeals to a majority of their audience. Being on the right side of history is important to them.

Just like sports people, businesses have a key role to play in furthering the inclusivity of their own business as well as society. The same goes for other inequalities, poverty, and climate change.

When conscious leaders come together and put their minds to it, fantastic positive outcomes can be achieved. There are so many inspiring socially-conscious initiatives for inspiration. MSDUK runs an Innovation Challenge that highlights fantastic young ethnic minority-owned startups. LSE hosts students and alumni from several universities in the Aspect Accelerator programme for social impact businesses.

Legal Core is a cross law firm initiative to increase diverse representation in the sector. When people come together and businesses recognise their wider role in society, as we are seeing sports people do, we can achieve a positive future.

The above are just a handful of lessons and inspiration business leaders can take from sporting elites. It’s not about idealisation or idolatry. If you reflect on your sporting heroes, and stories behind sports successes and failures, you will find many more behaviours you could emulate for startup success.