How to deal with what we are dealt
Thoughts on women's tennis, managing pressure, outfitting ourselves for victory, on the court and otherwise
I have a mild new obsession called Break Point. Not to be confused with Point Break (young Keanu Reeves — or current Keanu is a fine obsession, too), this brilliant Netflix docuseries produced by the streaming platform in collaboration with the ATP and WTA (Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association) gives us unprecedented access to the rising stars of the sport and their challenges against the legends they grew up admiring. It’s gripping. The athletes offer us a play-by-play commentary on their state of mind during key matches of last season. We also get context and opinions from the greatest players of the last few decades, from Martina Navratilova to John McEnroe, and Andy Roddick to the top coaches in the game.
As someone who grew up with a tennis-loving dad, and so spent a large part of my childhood summer holidays watching the European grand slams. That’s basically all that was on TV at the time. And I fell in love with it! And as a result, I feel that this series was made for me.
Since I’ve not used a terrestrial TV for years, the option to watch the sport has naturally disappeared. So for me, Break Point feels like coming back to a first love. And how thrilling a show it is to watch. I’ve got a mild girl crush on Ons Jabeur, the trailblazing Tunisian tennis player who reached the number two spot last year, despite being defeated in the final at Wimbledon (sadly she lost again this year).
TENNIS IS ON THE UP AND UP
I’m not the only one feeling it! There’s been a huge surge towards the sport after the pandemic.
Was it that we all wanted time outside? or was it playing with others, as opposed to working out next to strangers, that attracted us?
Reconnecting to our childhood (my case, clearly), or the desire to try something new?
Fashion is also having a love affair with tennis.
Vogue Business quotes the numbers with a 43% in annual growth for the UK in 2022, with two million adults playing monthly (the highest number ever tracked), including an increase of participation from women and those coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Clearly there’s something in the air, and many fashion brands are jumping on the bandwagon.
And it’s fair enough. Why leave it only to the sportswear brands? When I started playing again a couple of years ago, kitting myself out was a priority (all white is mandatory at my club, so my yoga pants weren’t going to cut it). I was thrilled to see some smaller independent brands offer cool and sustainable new staples, like the brand Girlfriend Collective, and my current favourite outfit is by Adidas x Parley.
Meanwhile, Gucci, Dior and company are battling to sign new tennis talents to attend their shows and retail store openings, as they are eyeing the court as a marketing stage, as well as dressing the crowd. Fashion definitely wants to get a bite of the sportswear market.
FASHION WANTS TO BE SPORTY, SPORTS BRANDS WANT TO BE FASHIONABLE
And on the other side, Nike ‘crashed’ (per Vogue again) Paris Couture earlier this month with a big 45 min show entitled ‘Goddess Awakening’ with the goal to reignite their own stake in women’s fashion, aligning the brand with Fashion Week and nodding to the Olympics, taking place in the French capital next year. They want a bite out of the women's fashion lifestyle market themselves.
Fittingly, Amy Montagne, Nike vice president and GM of women’s, was quoted in their press release saying that: “Nike is making its biggest investment in women yet as we expand sport for a new generation.” Just watch their new campaign that celebrate the upcoming Women’s World Football cup to get a sense of that energy.
About time too, was my first response. Which then led me to wonder: could they rethink sportswear to be inclusive and more representative of varied generations? I’m not twenty years old and I’d like to be marketed appropriately, if you know what I mean.
Then, this happened. At an event this past week, I was introduced to a friend of a friend, an older guy, probably close to his sixties, who was very into tennis. Wimbledon was mentioned in conversation and he immediately quipped:
‘Oh, I tried to watch women’s tennis but yesterday’s women’s final just showed me that I was right all along, it’s a waste of time.’
Shock, horror! I took it in. This guy basically said that women’s sports was a waste of time. I mean… Two other women were present. No sign of reaction on their part either; one is married to him.
This sexist idiot was a guest, like I was, he had just arrived and I’d never met him prior to that. I wondered, can I say something and launch into what looks like it will be a heated debate or can I let it go? I mean he just insulted Ons Jabeur, my girl, and yes, she was defeated but I feel strongly that he is very, very wrong: that game was great tennis!
Given that I was about to leave, I chose to shut up and let it go. Until I sat to work on this email, at which point, the incident crept back to haunt me. If this is who sports brands, advertisers and TV channels market to, no wonder women aren’t getting the pay or the air time they deserve. No wonder Nike is only now making its biggest investment into women.
This topic of sexism wasn’t touched upon in the documentary series, not that I remember — but then again I devoured the show and perhaps need to give it a second watch. Thankfully, Break Point seems well balanced, giving us equal access to men and women’s tennis. But how does that sit with these amazing women players? How many times a day, a week, a month, do they hear this kind of negative, sexist talk? No one deserves to hear this kind of BS, and with the pressure they are under, they certainly don’t.
I can’t help but think that Nike and others can bring on all the shows they want, it’s still going to be an uphill battle for women (athletes and others) to get the respect they need (and deserve).
Will being fitted in fashionable outfits on the court help their cause?
My feeling is yes, it will help. After all, clothes are like soft armour, and can be identity-affirming. Plus technical sportswear can be performance enhancing and I believe we can harness the power of fashion as self-care.
SPORTS, MINDSET, AND LEADERSHIP LESSONS
On that note, Nike, like the rest of the world, is aware of the tragic growth in anxiety and depression disorders, particularly in young women, coming out of the pandemic. As a result, the brand has started to shift its positioning from sport to holistic fitness. More than a tactic, Nike is connecting with what their customers want. Wellness, self-care, these have been trending topics post-pandemic, but this also means that Nike is coming for dance, yoga, mindfulness, nutrition, etc, with a new platform called the Nike Well Collective.
My first instinct is to say: Can they do it well? Can they do this from a place of c
aring for their consumers, rather than making money?
But then again, another part of me is thinking: ‘Good, good!’ A giant like this has the potential to touch multitudes, make change happen and make lives better. Which will it be? We’ll have to wait and see, but I choose to be hopeful.
Returning briefly to Break Point, and in line with Nike’s wellness strategic pivot, what struck me beyond the talent and athleticism on display in the series is witnessing the mindset and mental health challenges experienced by these players: their narration of the joys and the many struggles faced daily, what they have to push down, need to learn to live with or let go of in order to be their best selves and play their best games.
We often use sports metaphors at work, and for good reason, since we are who we are all over the place, right? We can be creative, smart, playful, strategic, or overwhelmed, anxious, emotional, on a tennis court, a stage, in a meeting room and at home. How we deal with what we are dealt is the game we are all playing.
‘Pressure is a privilege,’ I heard John McEnroe say, commenting on Wimbledon's women final. Right, tennis (and life?) is all about mental stability and sharpness, so to withstand the pressure.
Several players have integrated a sports psychologist in their team, including current world number one, the Polish Iga Światęk, who even has a mindfulness coach travelling with her. The introverted champion wrote a touching personal essay earlier this year in which she talks about her difficulty connecting with people, her energy-sapping perfectionism and how she never thought she’d make it to the top. This was someone else’s dream first, her coach, her father. In Break Point, we get to see snippets where we feel the metaphorical weight on the athlete’s shoulders, the pressure, where she copes and where she doesn’t. The lesson for me here is that she is smart enough (so smart!) to work with people who teach her how to deal with the pressure, relieve it and crucially (if only occasionally) let it go.
Rather fittingly, after an impressive win of hers, reminding us that Iga is only 22, a TV commentator concluded:
‘She (Iga) has tools in her tool kit to dominate for a long time.’
She has tools, yes, but she is working on them, on herself. A lot.
I would like to make this a nod to leaders outside the sporting world to contemplate and perhaps mirror.
Can you dare to do the work, dare follow the lead from elite athletes like this fabulous 22 year old goddess of a woman? And with that, learn to better manage the pressure and become a better leader?
FROM NIKE TO SHAKTI
On another note, one of my favourite teachers passed away earlier this week, meditation master and tantric philosophy teacher Sally Kempton.
Known, among other things, for her wisdom and her exploration of Hindu goddesses and devotional practices in her book ‘Awakening Shakti,’ I think she would have greatly appreciated the ‘Goddess Awakening’ Paris spectacle, given that Nike the sportswear giant took its cue from the other Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, to display and celebrate feminine power.
Sadly I never had the chance to interview Sally for the podcast, which was a great desire of mine, but I am so grateful for the subtle and powerful tools she gave me. You see, like Iga, I’m working on myself and still building my toolkit.
I’ll do my best to channel my own inner Shakti (and Nike) when I hit the court next week for a five-day tennis ‘stage,’ and who knows, I may even win a few points.
Until next time.
LOOKING AROUND
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
Albert Schweitzer
INTENTIONAL BOOK MERCH
I had a lively conversation last night on a favourite topic of mine: books! The summer season and the warm temperatures lead me to follow the example set by my mother before me: all I want to do is lie down somewhere comfortable with a good book. Preferably fiction, though nowadays, anything goes. My friend and I were discussing the merits of our favourite publishing houses and specialist bookstores like my fave London spot (well-known but always worth a visit) Daunt Books and she suggested I check out Rare Birds Books in Edinburgh.
I read that book lovers, just like fashion or sports fans, as well as influencers in general, can be moved (or incentivised) by merchandise created to accompany a book launch. With #BookTok being the driver of many overnight success stories (a healthy change from the NYT bestseller list), book publishers are now in intentional merch-producing mode.
Just as their friends in fashion do, they seek to create influencer ‘unboxing’ moments to create hype and sales for their authors. This is funny, and then again, when the combination is clever, it can elevate a title’s first impression.
I used books in the past as part of my influencer and journalist gifting strategy. We were hosting a press trip in Naples, culminating with a dinner on the island of Ischia, and I decided to give the first three novels of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels (the fourth wasn’t yet out in English translation) to our group of journalists. So I guess it can go either way.
Bookstores, I remind myself, can use the ploy too. After all, Daunt Books’ totes are famous collectables. I winced when I saw someone on the streets of Geneva walking around with one. These may be less obvious identity markers than famous brands, but they say something about who we are to those in the know.
Read about the merch trend and #booktok at Esquire.com.
Check out Daunt Books here and Rare Birds Books here
LOOKING OUT
THE NEW INFLUENCER GAME PLAN
A few days ago, I entertained a conversation between a client and a PR firm about relevant influencer programs. Some brands are made for this Instagram ploy, some less so. Naturally, we are all averse to advertising, so the lighter lifestyle endorsements have been good to some. But the brand/influencer space has moved on a lot.
What many in my field may know, or feel, that the decline of influencer marketing is accelerating because audiences want more organic or value-aligned content, has now been measured in a new study by Shunyuan Zhang, an assistant professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, and Maggie Cheng, an HBS doctoral student.
The research is thorough, with the pair analysing engagement and feedback of over 85,000 YouTube influencer videos, and the result shows that sponsored content led to significant numbers of people doubting the influencers’ authenticity and unfollowing. Does this mean brands shouldn’t work with influencers? There is no one-size-fits-all, every company needs to work on their own marketing mix, but the way forward, at least for now, seems to concentrate on micro- influencers (under 10,000 followers) who are more likely to have an engaged community and with whom a real relationship can be struck. After all, we don’t want to be ‘sold’ more content. Influencer marketing is no quick fix for sales; it’s relationship building, after all.
Read the study at the Harvard Business Review here.
LOOKING IN
ETIENNE SALBORN ON FOSTERING INNOVATION, “FREESPONSIBILITY” AND BUILDING SELF-ORGANISED COMMUNITIES
My guest this week on the Out of the Clouds podcast was my dinner-mate not too long ago. Etienne Salborn, like me, attended TED in Vancouver earlier this year. Despite my fighting tonsillitis, I had the pleasure to meet Etienne over dinner one night, although we didn’t have much chance to speak, as we sat at opposite ends of the table. Luckily we kept in touch, and what a treat it was to be able to interview Etienne!
Etienne is the co-founder of SINA, the Social Innovation Academy, a talent campus in Uganda. He is also a guest lecturer on social innovation and social entrepreneurship in several programs, as well as a facilitator.
The Berlin-born social entrepreneur has had quite the life journey, since taking off for Uganda at age 18 for a volunteering community service (an option to eschew the German military service). In our conversation, he tells me about how he set up his first and then second non-profit organisations, after he found his life mission, to support the empowerment of marginalised youth in rural Uganda. We talk about how his choice of a master’s program in Austria, called Peace, Development, Security and International Conflict Transformation, led to a huge impact, personally and later professionally, leading him into a journey of self-discovery and experiential learning (which included simulation of a conflict war zone as well as mindfulness, meditation and contemplation on Austria’s mountains by minus 27-degree celsius).
Etienne tells me how SINA came to be created, the three pillars that hold the project together, how young students, or SINA scholars, are onboarded and grow within the community. He shares how they built the non-profit as a self-organised system that runs on what they call ‘freesponsibility.’
With people living and working in the community, he explains how they have used models from Non-Violent Communication, holacracy, and his masters program facilitation tools to help navigate change, conflict and feedback, something of a challenge in a flat structure of 60+ individuals.
With a goal to help young people unleash their potential and create their own change, and build their own social enterprises, he tells me how SINA has grown into a replicable model, building a new generation of social entrepreneurs who are solving challenges for society and the environment. With more than 12 communities across Uganda and other African countries, Etienne tells me about what’s next for them, how we can support, engage or visit SINA, and why we should all explore the power of community.
A unique interview with an influential and impact-driven change maker. Enjoy!
