Am I the only one who sees this? We have a workplace in complete disarray with a bunch of people running wild. So when they started taking matters into their own hands and trying to get people fired, did they really think they had that much power and influence? Apparently they did. There is also an action known as the rule of unintended consequences. Whenever you make a play, you need to think at least three steps ahead. You need to have defensive, or covering moves for each likely action, you cannot just make it up as you go. But, this is exactly what they are doing.

So you need to plan each move, if they respond with a) you covering move is [response a], if they respond with b) you covering move is [response c] or if they respond with c) your move may be [response b]. Then you need to map out your covering moves for each possible response. It can get very complicated, my preference is the Vroom-Jago decision tree to map my counter moves.

Naturally, none of this mob are that smart or organised, they make their big move, there is only one course of action and if that fails, their plan falls apart. I like to combine business strategy with yacht racing, this is a very strategic sport. I also utilise boxing tactics, planning and executing a fight plan is very satisfying. You are eye-to-eye with your opponent, you need to defend, attack and move, it is very fluid. You have a strategy, but it needs to sometimes change quickly based on their responses.

So, they made their big bold move, using boxing parlance you move into a full defensive shell to block their shot, this is then immediately followed up with lateral movement to change the target, a quick change to the Philly shell for deflection of their shots and this gives you the ability to counter punch. You are going to get hit, so you need to condition yourself to take some punishment, ribs, solar plexus and chest. A body shot will put you down, you need to be aware of that.

Duck, dodge, weave, bounce off the ropes, jab, jab and then cross. If the jabs land, it is time to open them up with some cross, hook and uppercut combinations. If you don’t open them up, back to jab/move, jab/move plan. You have to stay on plan, yes you need countering moves, this is why bowers have trainers, they need a different perspective, they need insight.

Similar to yacht racing, you work averages, you attack when you are behind, defend when you are in front. If you are leading a fleet, you cover a fleet, you look for opportunity and cover opponents. For fleet racing, you cannot cover the whole fleet, so you need to cover the boats that will likely challenge you, that is usually the best skippers

Ok, so where does this leave us, the sporting arena is fluid, you need to have an overall strategy to begin with. But that is where it gets interesting, Mike Tyson was once quoted as saying “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Ironically, this was before the Holyfield fight where Tyson was TKO in the 11th round. So you need the skills to execute a plan, you may need to change tactics if your plan isn’t working as there is no value in sticking to a plan that is not working. You need to defend, to counter and attack when required.