Did you know that the address for the Tiger Woods Foundation is 121 Innovation, Suite 150 Irvine, CA? It’s true.
Did you know that Tiger Woods was signed by Apple Computer, a leader in innovative product design and implementation, to be the spokesperson for Apple’s most recent operating system, Tiger OS X? "I am thrilled with my new relationship and involvement with Apple Computer, the personal computer industry's innovation leader.” – MacDailyNews, April 2005.
Did you know that Tiger Woods, currently the greatest golfer in the world, actually re-invented his golf swing only seven years into his professional career – while still considered the best in the world.
Do you see a pattern here?
Tiger Woods lives and breathes innovation. Do you? Do your co-workers? Does your company?
The truly amazing thing about Tiger Woods and innovation is that when he re-invented his swing, he didn’t take years off from the game of golf. He worked on his swing AND continued to play at the same time.
So let’s think about this. Tiger Woods, one of the world’s most famous and talented individuals, recognized the need to come up with new ideas and innovative approaches to his overall game. He didn’t wait years. He focused on how to make things happen rather than why things can’t happen. And, voila, he made it happen.
When he became a professional golfer in 1997 he announced a goal – to win more major tournaments than any other golfer in history. Quite an ambitious goal for someone who had yet to play on the professional stage. By setting this goal, he now has to constantly come up with new ideas to make this goal happen. He has created a mindset and a vision that focuses on the positive which in turn effects everything he does.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Do people in my company focus on how to make things happen or do people focus on why things can’t happen?
Are we constantly trying to push ourselves to find innovative ideas?
Do we have an aggressive vision that is clear and motivates employees to constantly share and implement new ideas?
Have we created a CULTURE that has eliminated phrases like ‘yeah but,’ ‘the problem with that is,’ or ‘that won’t work because….’ These simple, every day phrases destroy innovation.
Tiger Woods is truly a unique and especially talented individual. He will most likely be remembered as the greatest golfer ever to play the game. Would we be making that statement if he had not embraced innovation?
Hit ‘em straight,
