Fletch’s favorite sports metaphors, similes and analogies easily repurposed for the business world…

“We believe in the wisdom once expressed by the hockey star Wayne Gretzky, who explained his success by saying, ‘I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.’”

– Norman R. Augustine, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., in the “Harvard Business Review,” May-June 1997

A more contemporary example of fortitude during this economic downturn, is by Lance Armstrong, the record-setting, seven-time champion of the grueling Tour de France. Armstrong said: “It is in the steep hills when the lead changes. Once we are on flat ground everyone maintains their position in the race.”

– I contend that we are in the steepest hills, economically speaking, of our careers. The business moves we make now will ultimately shape how we will grow when normalcy returns.