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THE POWER OF INSPIRATION, PERSPIRATION, AND COOPERATION—IN SPORTS AND IN BUSINESS By Peter Tollman, Josh Serlin, Michelle Akers, and Anson Dorrance Editor’s note: Two authors, Michelle Akers and every single game, as individuals and as a Anson Dorrance, participated in the events de- team,” said Michelle Akers, one of the star scribed in this article. For the sake of simplici- players. ty, their experiences and recollections are pre- sented in the third person. The team was notable not just for its victo- ries. The players redefined the role of e play for each other.” women in sports, fighting for gender equal- W ity, equal pay, and the reputation of wom- en’s soccer. They willingly subjected them- This guiding philosophy of the 1990s US selves to brutal training and conditioning women’s national soccer team—as articu- sessions in order to attain those goals. lated by Anson Dorrance, its coach during the first half of the decade—propelled the “They can be credited with nothing less squad to unparalleled success. The team than the founding of women’s soccer as an won the inaugural Women’s World Cup in international game,” wrote Sally Jenkins in 1991 and the first gold medal awarded to a The Washington Post. “The worst that could women’s soccer squad at the 1996 Olym- be said of them was that they were joyous pics. It concluded the decade by defeating carousers. They were one of the few things China in the thrilling 1999 World Cup final. left in sports you could watch without sus- picion.” The team did not just win the big games but dominated throughout the decade, How many businesses and organizations compiling a remarkable record of 155 wins, today have been equally dominant? How 21 losses, and 9 ties while outscoring oppo- many can say that their employees truly nents by an average of three goals per “play for each other” and for a higher pur- game. “We wanted to dominate, to crush pose? In our experience, not many. To be every single team every single minute of sure, the US squad had stars, such as Akers and Mia Hamm, but the stars themselves The Mess Facing Organizations attributed their success to team alchemy. Today Most businesses and organizations do not Playing for each other is what happens at perform close to their peak potential, and effective organizations. In these institu- even when they do, they struggle to sustain tions, people cooperate—they seek group that level of performance, especially in to- success over individual attainment and ac- day’s climate. We know this empirically complish more than the sum of their indi- through shorter corporate lifespans and ris- vidual achievements. Unfortunately, this ing volatility rates. (See the exhibit.) happens infrequently because few organi- zations are designed to promote coopera- And we know it in our gut. High-perform- tion. ing organizations are buzzing with activity, excitement, and possibility. Teams work to- A BCG approach called smart simplicity un- gether—they cooperate—to achieve com- locks organizational effectiveness by sys- mon objectives. But at many organizations, tematically encouraging cooperation. the lethargy is palpable. People are moti- While hard to achieve, cooperation is easy vated, just not on the job. They apply their to see in the success of such dominating talents in their hobbies and volunteer sports teams as the Golden State Warriors, work, or with their friends and family. the New England Patriots, Bayern Munich, and the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national Why do great things happen so seldom or men’s rugby team. so fleetingly at so many large organiza- tions? One major reason is that most orga- We chose sports teams as the canvas to nizations still rely on outmoded manage- show how other organizations can promote ment theories born of the assembly line. cooperation and improve performance be- These theories were developed in a sim- cause of sports’ consistent rules and binary pler time when most work was rote and outcomes. We chose the US women’s soc- precision was more important to organiza- cer team of the 1990s, specifically, because tional success than critical thinking. They it was arguably more successful for a lon- assume that people are the weak link and ger period than any team in any other need to be controlled through rules (the sport. “hard” approach) or through team-building Strong Performance Is Increasingly Hard to Sustain COMPANIES ARE STRUGGLING . TO MAINTAIN THEIR . .TO REMAIN PUBLIC . TO STAY ON TOP INDUSTRY RANKING Share of industries in which the leader Likelihood of remaining public1 (%) remains for an extended period (%) Leadership volatility2 100 80 0 95 90 –15% 2 60 –27% –5x 80 4 –3x 40 70 6 68 20 60 8 –1x 50 0 10 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 5 years 10 years Sales leadership Market cap leadership Net income leadership Sources: CapIQ; BCG Henderson Institute analysis: BCG ValueScience Center analysis. 1One-year likelihood of delisting calculated as percentage of 35,000 publicly listed companies that ceased stock market trading in each calendar year. Delisting is an outcome of bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, going private, or other factors. 2Average change in industry ranking per year of companies in 69 industries. The Boston Consulting Group | The Power of Inspiration, Perspiration, and Cooperation—in Sports and in Business 2 activities such as offsite retreats, affiliation ration are not enough to break through the events, and even lunchtime yoga classes entrenched bureaucracies of most large or- designed to foster camaraderie (the “soft” ganizations. People, teams, and entire orga- approach). nizational units also need to work together, since few of today’s complex problems can These approaches to management may be solved by individuals acting indepen- have been effective when most work was dently. Hence the need for cooperation. algorithmic—routine—based on following a set of rules. But thanks to increasing com- People are not irrationally uncooperative. petition, globalization, digitization, and reg- They behave the way they do in order to ulation, today’s economy is far more com- meet individual objectives and are influ- plex. Business problems have become more enced by the resources and limitations of dynamic, and ambiguity and uncertainty their workplace—or what we call context. have grown. Work has become heuristic, an There are always good reasons for their be- exercise in problem solving requiring intel- havior—even when, if viewed from the ligent judgments and the resolution of of- perspective of the organization and its ten contradictory requirements. goals, that behavior appears irrational or dysfunctional. Heuristic work is responsible for 70% of new-job growth in the US today. For this Smart simplicity encourages cooperation, type of work, people cannot simply fall not by attempting to control people or back on rules, because the nature of the force them to behave differently, but by un- work requires the interpretation of rules— derstanding their objectives and changing and there are no rules to interpret the the work context in such a way that coop- rules. In fact, rules have become counter- eration becomes a rational goal. By shap- productive, creating bureaucracy, hindering ing context, leaders can inspire, foster hard cooperation, and frustrating employees. work, encourage cooperation—and achieve incredible results. (See the sidebar “Six Simple Rules.”) A Smarter and Simpler Approach That may seem abstract, but it was exactly Smart simplicity is an antidote to organiza- what happened during the magical run of tional complexity, bureaucracy, and lethar- the US women’s soccer team in the 1990s. gy. It unlocks latent energy and enthusiasm by encouraging cooperation. Lessons from the Team Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% The US women’s victory over Norway to inspiration and 99% perspiration. That fa- win the 1991 World Cup was a wakeup call mous quote misses the critical role that co- for more storied soccer nations that had operation played at his labs, which were long dominated the men’s game. Tradition- populated by teams of “muckers”—tinker- al powerhouses such as Brazil and Germa- ers, machinists, and scientists who collec- ny dedicated themselves to building world- tively tested, tweaked, and built his inven- class women’s teams. But despite their tions. When cooperation, inspiration, and efforts, the US women kept winning, culmi- perspiration come together—as they did in nating in the victory over China in the 1999 Edison’s labs and with the US women’s World Cup. Two head coaches and a rotat- soccer team in the 1990s—great things ing cast of supporting players were respon- happen. sible for this dynasty. The role of leaders today is to provide in- Two of the contributors to this article were spiration while encouraging perspiration integral members of that team, and we and, ultimately, cooperation. Inspiration rounded out their perspectives and experi- gives people a reason to perspire—to work ences with multiple in-depth interviews their butts off. But inspiration and perspi- with other team leaders, including captains The Boston Consulting Group | The Power of Inspiration, Perspiration, and Cooperation—in Sports and in Business 3 SIX SIMPLE RULES These rules help unlock performance by people more power without taking encouraging cooperation. The first three power away from others. empower people. The rest harness that autonomy in the service of cooperation. 4. Increase reciprocity. Make each person’s success dependent on the 1. Understand what your people success of others. really do. Analyze the work context to understand what people actually 5. Extend the shadow of the future. do and why they do it. With this Create direct feedback loops that understanding, you can use the other expose people to the consequences rules to foster cooperation.

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