David Jenkins, Founder of Mickey Llew, discusses the strategic parallels between MMA warfare and corporate success.
South Africans are incredibly lucky. This might not be something you hear every day, but it is true in many respects. One notable aspect is that we have an abundance of great sporting icons that we can be inspired by. This time ‘round’ I have been personally and professionally motivated by Dricus du Plessis, also known as Stillknocks or DDP.
What can we learn from DDP as marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs and just as South Africans? More than you think.
Du Plessis has an inspiring story but I want to focus on his biggest and most recent victory, securing the UFC middleweight championship, as I believe his approach highlights a few key characteristics and tactics that we can draw inspiration from:
1. Failing To Plan Is Planning To Fail
Du Plessis is without a doubt one of the best strategists in the game; you won’t find him carelessly charging into the octagon relying solely on raw talent and a ‘wing-it’ attitude. Instead, his entire team has an in-depth understanding of their opponents, – their weaknesses, strengths, and a carefully devised plan to capitalise on their own advantages to overcome the adversary.
This single characteristic sets him up for success, no different to the importance of an owner, marketer, or entrepreneur knowing, both individually and as a team, knowing what their specific plan is to achieve success in any client, campaign or business challenge.
Sometimes we overlook the simple practice of sitting down, leveraging the team’s collective knowledge, and creating a strategic plan.
2. Stick To The Plan
Du Plessis intentionally dedicated the first two rounds to ‘fighting Strickland’s fight’ – he willingly conformed to his style of fighting and allowed the fight to unfold on Strickland’s terms. Why? Well, I feel that there are multiple strokes of genius at play here, but crucially it was to lull him into a false sense of security while providing du Plessis with a deeper understanding of his opponent’s weaknesses and to plan how he might overcome them. This is incredibly bold and brave despite being super risky playing to your opponent’s strengths.
In my mind, the takeout here is clear and two-fold: plan boldly and, no matter how tough it gets (as evidenced by du Plessis taking his worst blows and more hits than he anticipated during these rounds), stick to the plan.
3. Execute, Assess, Repeat, And WIN
This is often the part that catches people out – take decisive action, fully commit to and back your plan. Go into the metaphorical Octagon, whether that is your office, business, or dealing with clients, and confront the challenge with all you’ve got.
After executing, assess how you are doing – listen to the ringside feedback, evaluate your trajectory, and adapt as quickly as possible where needed. This phase often proves to be the key factor between victory or defeat. The funny thing (but never in the moment) is that plans seldom go as anticipated. So plan for the unexpected!
Apply what you’ve learnt from your initial foray and get back into the metaphorical ring with all you got, and, much like du Plessis, you are very likely to achieve a nail-biting, extremely close, yet historic win, with more positive upsides than you could’ve imagined for the short, medium and long term.
We live in an increasingly hyper-competitive landscape, no matter what field we engage in. The margin for victory seems to get narrower and narrower. I truly believe that South African sporting greats serve as a testament that self-belief, meticulous planning, unwavering commitment, and the ability to adapt, are key factors to succeeding in today’s challenging and competitive environment.
MICKEY LLEW
https://mickeyllew.com/za/
