Two important lessons from the great comeback of Tiger Woods

When Tiger Woods roared back to one of sport’s greatest comebacks on Sunday by claiming a fifth Green Jacket, it had significance not only from as a sports victory and historical moment but also from leadership, management and human endurance perspectives. 

In the last decade and more, Woods had battled a series of injuries as well as dealt with the damage from a public divorce, substance abuse and an arrest. Written off as too old, at the current age of 43 years, to the public eye, he had lost credibility, sponsorships and wealth. However, at a personal level, what he did not give up was hope and optimism. With these two as the foundational pillars of his comeback, slowly but steadily, he worked on himself. 

What then are the lessons from the comeback of Tiger Woods for business leaders and managers? This exercise is especially useful in the context of understanding institutional corporate comebacks and individual managerial return to career highs. Two lessons stand out.  

The first lesson is that of the need to face reality and failure. At the same time, it is also about being self-aware of them while reinventing oneself from that position. As Oprah Winfrey once said, “Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” In a situation of failure, people often do not face reality and understand that to be the current truth. This is especially important of leaders who achieve extraordinary highs as opposed to those with moderate achievements. Definitely, this was the case with Tiger Woods. Psychologists say that we shy away from challenging situations for fear of failure. It also involves lack of courage in decision making for fear of failure. There is also the aspect of listening to and learning from those who disagree with you. Finally, when we fail, there is lack of understanding of one’s personal strengths and weaknesses. Even the most extraordinary leaders reach a point where they no longer have what it takes because they may have lost the energy, motivation and skill sets. Says New Delhi-based psychotherapist and founder of IPDIDAAH, Dr Vimal Sawhney, “Failure is a narrative that we give ourselves. We can change our narrative by making different choices.”
 

The second lesson is the imperative of building resilience. To be sure, this Sunday’s win was not something that came out of the blue. The sporting great had been preparing and making determined tries at winning major tournaments in the last few years especially after his injured back had been more or less mended. But although he came close to winning major titles, he never came back to the top in any of them. Indeed, there were some moments of the Old Tiger, but he was not consistent. He missed most of 2017 to back surgery, and in May of that year was arrested for driving under the influence. But he kept on going without giving up. The implication from this is that not only is one’s physical health important, but it is equally crucial to build one’s mental muscle with a a never say die attitude. Management psychologists call this resilience. This definitely came to the benefit of Woods and is an important lesson for business leaders. 

How and why do some people bounce back with strength from daily setbacks, professional crises, or even intense personal trauma? Adds Dr Sawhney, “ To some extent, resilience is a trait that we are born with. But sports persons in particular build resilience by building it as part of their daily routine unlike many of us who look at building resilience through specific exercises. They wake up every day at 5 am and do their exercises irrespective of whether they feel good or bad that morning.” Recent works of Daniel Goleman, Yale’s Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, and Shawn Achor point to ways to emerge stronger from challenges. In management parlance, they help managers to a career reboot by making specific acts of practicing in a daily, consistent manner. This way, we can make the best of our failures.  

The author studies management issues and is a former editor of Indian Management.