The legend MS Dhoni does not need any introduction. Any cricket fan in the world will be aware of his contribution to Indian cricket. He holds some wonderful records in International Cricket. Dhoni is the only Indian captain to win 3 ICC trophies- World T20 2007, 50-over ODI World Cup 2011, and Champions Trophy 2013. However, we are not here to discuss his heroics on the field but how we can learn from his leadership abilities and apply them in our corporate lives. So, without much ado, let’s go straight into discussing those points.
Here are the top 5 corporate lessons from MS Dhoni :
1. Be calm
Many cricket experts praise Dhoni for his ability to remain calm in extremely tense situations. Dhoni is one of the best finishers of the game as he won a number of matches for India. How do you think he can chase a target when 15 runs are required from the last 4 or 5 balls? The answer lies in his ability to remain calm during the crucial stages of a match. When you are calm, you can think clearly of your strategy. The same does not happen if you are anxious or tensed. In a similar way, when one needs to make an important decision in corporate life, he needs to remain calm in order to take an effective decision.
2. Have trust in your team
If some team members could not perform well in a certain match, Dhoni never blames them for the loss. Instead, he says they just had a bad day and they could figure out themselves what went wrong for them. He supports his team members even if they could not live up to their expectations. That’s how a leader should be. He should trust his team even if something went wrong with the deliverables of his team. If their leader backs them, the employees will get further motivated and would make sure next time they put their best effort to meet the project deadline.
3. Set short term goals
Dhoni believes that to chase a huge total, setting up small goals along the way is very helpful. If India needs to chase a target of 320 runs in 50 overs, Dhoni would rather focus on achieving 60 runs for example in the first 10 overs, then maybe 70 runs in the next 10 overs, and so on. Once you can meet those small targets, you would easily be able to achieve the bigger target. The same concept applies in corporate life as well. For example, let’s say you want to be the domain expert in your field. Would you be able to achieve that overnight? No, that’s not possible. You will have to understand all the skills you need to acquire to be the best domain expert. After identifying, you would need to lay out a short-term plan on how you would acquire each of those skills.
4. Don’t be obsessed
In the book ‘Think and Win like Dhoni‘, the author Sfurti Sahare mentioned that Dhoni was never obsessed with the end result of a game. He also likes to win but he is not obsessed with winning. When you are obsessed with something, you focus on the end result so much that you lose track of what you actually need to do at present. As we all know, MS Dhoni is one of the greatest finishers of ODI cricket. If India needs to chase 15 runs in the last 6 balls and if Dhoni is still there in the crease, there is still a great chance of India winning the match. But how Dhoni does it? Dhoni knows about the target but he tries focussing ball by ball instead of thinking too much about winning the match. By doing that, he can remain focused and also at the same time can avoid obsession. Thus focussing on the present actually helps in winning the game finally.
Similarly, if you want to get promoted to a senior position in your corporate life, don’t be obsessed about getting that position. Instead, focus on the work you are doing each day and see if you can upskill yourself. Learn from the mistakes you are doing and improvise yourself. If you can do this regularly, you will soon be able to get to the next level.
5. Follow the process
Dhoni believes in preparing yourself to the best of your abilities before any match so that when the time comes, you can give your best without getting anxious. He never crumbles under pressure as he does not think about the final outcome. But how does he manage to do that? The author Sfurti Sahare in her book ‘Think and Win like Dhoni‘ interviewed Dhoni with this question. Dhoni mentioned he just followed the process every time. Preparation is part of the process. It’s the fear of losing the match that would keep one anxious. Dhoni believed in his preparation and fear never came to his mind and that’s how he could keep himself calm in a tensed situation of a match.
Did you ever think why people get nervous before an interview or before an important exam? It’s the fear of not performing well that drives the nervousness within them. However, Dhoni says ‘Is fear part of the process?’ It is not. Hence keep yourself away from any kind of fear and believe in your preparation and hard work . This will eventually help you to perform better at any interview or your stage performance in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
Conclusion
These are the top 5 lessons one can implement in his or her corporate or professional life. These are the skills which made Dhoni one of the greatest captains of all time and I am sure these will also help you immensely in your corporate life. Good luck and all the best!
If you want to add any other skills which one can learn from MS Dhoni, don’t forget to add your comment below.
Recommended Reading
