A grand sacrifice

It’s grand final weekend around Australia, with Collingwood and Geelong to contest the AFL Grand Final on Saturday and Manly and Auckland to do battle in the NRL Grand Final on Sunday night.

As a Collingwood supporter I don’t mind admitting that I am very nervous – we were lucky to win the preliminary final last week and I’m not sure that we are in the sort of form required to win the big game.

We’ve got some fitness worries, with several key players taking injuries into the game and young forward Dayne Beams has withdrawn from the side with a groin injury.

Actually, “withdrawn” isn’t the right word. Beams ruled himself out of the side yesterday after admitting to Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse that he did not know if he could see out the game with his slight injury.

Malthouse said his young charge should be congratulated for following the lead of former Collingwood defender Simon Prestigiacomo, who last year ruled himself out despite passing a fitness test.

The selfless decisions of those two players might contain some important lessons for entrepreneurs, particularly leaders of smaller and medium-sized businesses who often need to adopt an air of invincibility to lead their teams.

Admitting weakness and standing aside for “fitter” colleagues is something many entrepreneurs find difficult. 

Would you be prepared to hand over a major project to someone who could do it better, even if it meant losing the personal glory that might come with success?

Could you step down as the leader of your company and hand the reins to a better manager, even if it meant no longer being the face of the firm?

Those are tough questions, but as the AFL Grand Final examples show, sometimes being a member of a team sometimes means stepping down rather than stepping up.

Go Pies!