Playing the Corporate Game: A Guide Inspired by Basketball

At work, I found myself trying my best to meet our performance goals but not reaching them and constantly getting negative feedback from management. Eventually I felt pretty drained and realized I was clearly taking the wrong approach to things. That’s when I stumbled upon a video about playing “the corporate game.” It hit me — maybe I needed to operate differently in my corporate work environment. By the end of this article, you’ll have a general idea of what the corporate game is and how it relates to a sport we all love: basketball.

Lesson 1 — What Sport Are We Playing?

First, let’s understand the game we’re in. Think of business as the sport we’re playing. Your team is your company, and your teammates are anyone within the company who isn’t part of your direct management chain. The only opponent you have is yourself — strive to set gradually greater and greater goals that help serve your customers better and to improve your own performance.

Lesson 2 — What Does Offense and Scoring Look Like in This Sport?

In basketball, you score points by shooting the ball. In the corporate world, you score by doing a repetition of whatever your job’s main statistic is. For example, I currently work a tech support where we score by closing inquiries. If I worked a sales job, I’d score by making a sale. If I worked at a restaurant, I’d score by serving a table. Each job has its way to score, and identifying that in your role is crucial.

In basketball you get free throws. These are the “easy shots”. Well in the corporate world you get the same things. There’s always opportunities popping up for “easy shots” that can turn out to be easy to miss. So to keep your “free throw percentage” high, make sure you can always answer yes to these 4 questions in terms of your customers:

1. when they call or try to get in contact with me, do they get a response quickly and get the greatest help/customer service opposed to no response & bad service?
2. when I say I’ll do something do I do it?
3. did they get the product or service in the time that I promised?
4. do they feel that the product or service delivers or over delivers on the results I promised them?

Lastly, assists in this game come from recognizing and praising others’ good work. Instead of focusing on critiquing, find ways to compliment your teammates. Also when you get praise for doing well, find ways to share the credit with anyone who helped.

Lesson 3 — What Do Defense and Hustle Stats Look Like in This Sport?

In basketball, defense involves hustle stats like rebounds, blocks, and steals. In the corporate world:

- Rebounds: Grab the second-chance opportunities that others miss or avoid. This could mean volunteering for additional tasks or projects that other people don’t want to do.
- Blocks: You get blocks by always keeping a hand up. The goal is to never let an opportunity go over your head. This means that when someone needs help, you’re always the person with a hand up volunteering to help them.
- Steals: In basketball, the more times you touch the person dribbling the ball, the more likely you are to steal the ball from them. In business, maintaining frequent contact with my teammates and our customers prevents a lot of issues from happening. It keeps everyone informed and reduces unnecessary stress and complaints.

Lesson 4 — What Does It Look Like to Have a Strong “Basketball IQ” in This Sport?

Understanding your coach(your manager) — Know their preferences, strengths, and weaknesses. Make their life easier by compensating for their weaknesses and aligning with their goals.

Being a floor general — This means taking charge even when you’re not in charge. It also means stepping up during tough situations and always being willing to admit when you make a mistake.

Study film — In basketball, studying film usually means watching the games and highlights of your team and opposing teams. In the business game, studying film means to read books. The more you read, the better you get.

Preparation is key— Come to meetings with questions. And if you’re ever gonna bring up a problem or complaint, try to always have a possible solution to go along with it.

Lesson 5 — How Do You Interact with Media?

Consider customers as the fans in the crowd — they’re always watching. This means your actions are always under scrutiny.

Eventually you will have a performance review with management. Handle these “post-game interviews” with professionalism, the same way a great basketball player would give a great interview to the media.

Lastly, never take criticism personally. Always try to take it as feedback as long as it’s valid and reasonable.

Lesson 6 — What’s the Path from a Role Player to a Superstar in This Sport?

In business, everyone has a position defined by their skill and skill level:

- Role Player: Performs a job(entry-level to $80k). Your main resources are your labor and time. Both are limited, which is why the salary here is limited.
- Starter: Manages a team ($60k to $150k). Your main resource is the people on your team. Other peoples’ labor and time are less limited resources than your own labor and time. So the more people you manage, the more money you’ll likely make.
- All Star: Excels in communication ($100k to $1M). Your main resources here are your audience, relationships, and ability to sell. The more people you can reach or influence with your voice, the more money you’ll make.
- Superstar: Owns and invests (unlimited potential). Your main resources here are your creativity and your money. You’d use these resources to invest in a business and/or create one of your own.

To become a great role player, you’ll probably have to score a lot of points and give a lot of assists(lesson 2). To become a starter, you’ll probably have to show a high “basketball IQ”(lesson 4). To become an all star, you might start to post things you learn at work on Linkedin and grow an audience there. And to become a superstar, maybe you can take some of they money from your paychecks and invest in a company you believe in. If the company you work at offers an “employee stock purchase plan”, it might be something worth looking into as well.

In conclusion, I’ve started to use the analogies above to play the corporate game effectively at work. I haven’t tried this long enough yet to see if it takes me to some new height of success. But I do believe that this mindset is a big step towards that.

Try it out yourself. I hope it helps!

Have a business or personal goal you’re currently going for but struggling to reach? I’ll help you put together a game plan to get it done. You can sign up for one for free at goaldoctors.com. We’ll be happy to help! — from Nick