The Pickleball Effect

In Business, there is no Glory in the Easier Softer Game

Many years back, I remember watching a Simpsons episode where Homer was giving Bart some fatherly advice. He assured him that, “If something's too hard to do, then it's not worth doing"

It was funny 21 years ago because of the absurdity of bit. Pre-“New World Order, “ we knew that the opposite was true, that all worthy goals were hard to do. It was precisely hard work that brought the rewards that eluded idleness.

It appears that the business world has heeded the wisdom of Homer Simpson. Chasing ESG status and work/life balance formulas, as displayed by most corporate boardrooms, is easier than pursuing outdated capitalistic profit. Just like playing pickleball is much easier than mastering the classic game of tennis.

First off, I need to say that I love the sport of tennis. I have been playing the game since I was a young boy. When it comes to the sport, I am a purest. I like the game the way it was prior to adopting the tiebreaker rules. I was glued to my television for the entire 6 hour 36 minute Wimbledon semifinal match between John Isner and Kevin Anderson in 2018. The original way the game was played can teach us a lot about business. Tennis is a game of skill, endurance, and strategy. The best in the world cannot win a major without mastery in all three.

So, what does pickleball have to do with business? Businesses are jettisoning the old profit game for new ESG approved competitions, just like tennis is making way for the new, and much simple game, of pickleball. Pickleball courts are replacing tennis courts at many of our municipal parks and recreation centers at astonishing rates. Health clubs are also paying homage to pickleball enthusiasts by creating indoor and outdoor courts. I am old enough to remember racquetball becoming a popular sport in the 70s and 80s only to see racquetball courts now converted into pilates studios and spin rooms as health club members' workout preferences evolved. Pickleball is our new racquetball sensation. It may produce a workout, however, chasing a plastic ball about a tiny court will never require the skill, subtlety, and stamina of the game of tennis.

Pickleball is a simpler game played on a smaller court that does not require the disciplines of tennis. It is basically life-sized ping-pong without the the ability to smash the ball. I know pickleball is becoming very popular and I will garner no new pickle baller friends by using this analogy to explain why the business world is becoming as light and porous as the pickleball itself.

In business, like tennis, we fight for ever single point. String together four points, you win a game. Take six games and you win the set and put together three sets you win the match. Then after a brief celebration, you start training for the next match. Professional tennis players keep repeating this cycle until they mentally and physically play the game no more. If they were good, they become a highly paid commentator! The same is true in the business world except when a successful business executive throws in the towel, we call them consultants instead of commentators. LinkedIn is loaded with these types of retired players!

Going to work each day in the business world is like trying to win a point. Sometimes losing the right point at the right time can help win a tennis match. A good point lost in tennis is one that has your opponent chasing all over the court, expending tremendous amounts of energy in a drawn-out volley. So too in business. Once, when I was selling restaurant POS systems, I utilized this strategy on my major competitor. A very high volume, highly visible restaurant was in the market for a new POS system. I knew the owner and had an inside track to making the sale. However, that knowledge also came with the understanding that this restaurant was going to consume massive amounts of my time and the energies of technicians for a long and difficult implementation. I passed on the sale and my competitor won the bid. My instincts were correct, and the install took 18 months. This one customer consuming my competitor’s time and energy, cleared the runway for me to sell many more systems over that same18 month period. Not making that sale was a good point lost.

So why pick a fight with pickleball? Because pickleball is emblematic of the current business environment. In our corporate boardrooms, business stamina, skill, and strategies are being replaced with a simpler version of the game. Although the C-Suite occupants would have us believe the creating corporate diversity models, employee work/life balance programs and coddling the whims of environmentalists is hard work, the truth is that those initiatives are relatively easy to implement. All these ESG supporting policies are simply edicts issued by corporate leadership. In our executive branch of government, we call these directives “executive orders.” When ESG standards are issued as corporate policies, employees have one of two choices, accept the decrees, and stay employed or reject the policies and leave the organization.

Running a business for profit does not get to operate under such light and trifle “pickleball” rules. The CEO cannot issue a memo stating the company must become more profitable, that employees must work harder or that wholesale costs must remain stable. No, the executive team interested in the old-fashioned pursuit of profit, must play the match to its conclusion under current economic conditions. They must take the talent, knowledge and knowhow of their current team and figure out how to string, first a wining game, then a winning set and finally a winning match before they can claim victory. In the game of business, we do not have the time to sulk over a missed call by the umpire or the sudden brisk breeze that pushed our shot foul. In business, we must shake off the disappointment of the lost point and stand up to the line and serve again.

The “pickleball effect” in corporate boardrooms is the result of ivy league economics professors, media pundits and World Economic Forum types and influencing the company executives to remove their old hard courts and 130 MPH serves and replace them with more friendly courts with easier and less intimidating volleys. For anyone still looking to conquer the business world and reap its profits, I recommend you stay clear of the “pickleball effect” and set your business plan on the tried-and-true strategy that prevailed prior to our 21 century corporate makeovers. It is true that it will still take skill, strategy, and endurance to play the game, but look on the bright side, all your competitors are now playing pickleball with ever growing audiences of Homer Simpsons. You should be able to surpass them wearing street shoes!