Anand Mahindra Schools Startup Owners Via Football Analogy On Twitter Try football-esque back and forth-ing of approaches before going for the kill when the time is right, advised the veteran entrepreneur
By Soumya Duggal •
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From architecture to politics to sports to homeware, Anand Mahindra's Twitter corpus offers the Indian billionaire's amusing takes on a range of topics, especially in relation to entrepreneurship. In one of his latest tweets, the Mahindra group chairman encouraged his followers to run their startups by taking cues from the teamwork, perseverance and ingenuity displayed by football players in a recent match between intercity rivals Manchester United and Manchester City.
In the video shared by Mahindra, the Manchester City team can be seen passing the ball for 44 times before getting a chance to make the final pass that leads them to a goal. "A lesson in teamwork of course. But also an analogy for how a startup company needs to operate. Success comes not from relentlessly advancing together in one direction but back and forth, trying new angles of approach and then going for the 'kill' when the strategic path is clear," the industrialist captioned the video, which has received over 354,000 views so far. The post has also received 2,319 retweets and 14,900 likes.
As is the case on the microblogging site, many a comment followed Mahindra's tweet. "When the reds (Manchester United) could not touch the ball for such a long time, they should have done some out of the box thinking because the longer they delayed the higher the probability of a goal. Can't sit back when the market is giving warning signs to adapt and change," said one user, in keeping with Mahindra's sports analogy.
"After 44 passes they achieved their goal. This shows the patience and trust amongst each other. These days everyone wants everything in a flashlight, leading towards the in-synchronisation of the team which leads the failure," added another user.
However, there were some naysayers as well. "That's the difference between football and running a company. You cannot fluctuate back and forth while running a company. You have to cement the gains and experience and keep moving forward. There is no looking back," pointed out one user.
Another shared a video featuring Arsenal's top five team goals and said, "I think this video is a better example of a focussed team-based approach rather than endless meandering."
