What Penalty Kicks Can Teach Us
- Joe Middleton
- Jul 4, 2018
- 2 min read
I'm no fan of deciding games on penalty kicks (as a Canadian hockey fan I would prefer sudden-death extra time). But I will admit that ultimately, deciding games via penalty kicks pits a team's best against the other team's best, and that's what championship sports is all about.
A significant part of a penalty-kick shootout is that the goalie stops the ball only 15% to 25% of the time. The shooter has a massive advantage, and usually the goalie either jumps in the wrong direction or flails around like a salmon that has mistakenly jumped into a fishing boat.
Popular Mechanics has applied some solid theory to the mystique of the penalty kick, and the following online article is worth a read. I recommend you check out the link below, as long as you promise to come back:
Thinking about the 15% of the time that goalies stop a penalty kick, 15% sounds like a failure. But for a football/soccer goalie, 15% can make you a national hero.
How can we apply that to our business life? When we are searching for success in business, 15% is not a failure. Like a football goalie in a penalty shootout, if you are successful 15% of the time, you are an elite player.
Whether that applies to networking, to lead generation, or simply to what percentage of foot traffic chooses to walk through the front door of your store, success is not about the 85% of people that don't do business with you. Success is about the 15% that do.
Sometimes you might jump in the wrong direction. And sometimes you might feel like you're flailing around. Don't get frustrated by the 85%. Celebrate the 15%.
Photo credit Popular Mechanics link 2018
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