Sherri May & Co.

The Winter Olympic games have been the recent buzz lately and for good reason. Every four years they allow the country to band together with a renewed sense of patriotism as we cheer on our favorite athletes. Lately, the event that has gotten my attention has been snowboarding. As I was watching the halfpipe competition on Wednesday, I realized the fun-natured, non-conformist attitudes of the snowboarders can directly apply to a cutting edge business strategy.

First, the American snowboarders’ apparel has been a reflection of the fun-loving, defiant nature of their sport as well as a topic of controversy. Their uniforms consisted of casual plaid jackets and Gore-Tex fabric snowboarding pants that resembled faded jeans.¹ They’ve gotten heat over their uniforms because critics believe the Olympics are a prestigious event—one that doesn’t warrant wearing ripped denims. The snowboarders have stood by their decision, though, and said it’s a reflection of their sport.

Apparel aside, when it came down to the competition, the boarders were strictly business. 23-year-old, Shaun “The Flying Tomato” White, easily swept the competition using a combination of big air and flawless tricks.² In fact, his qualification score (45 out of 50) was higher than any of his competitor’s scores even in their final rounds. Then to top it off, at the end of his victory lap he landed a Double McTwist 1260. (If you’re like me and think that sounds like an item off the dollar menu from McDonalds, it’s actually a trick that involves 3 ½ twists and 2 head-over-heels flips). By doing so, he scored a 48.4, which topped his previous score.

Jake Burton, one of the founding fathers of the sport, said “With a gold medal already in his pocket, Shaun went out and beat his winning score. What a testament to how much fun snowboarding is and what a true champion Shaun is.”

So how can you apply this to your business strategy?

1. Add the Fun Factor
If you’re in the advertising industry, break away from that corporate letter package and let your customers lift up tabs, play games, or wear 3D glasses to reveal your message. Think that’s too much work to get your message out there? Think again … think fun. It’s definitely a change for the better. For more on this read Make Way for Fun, 2010’s Newest Marketing Tool.

2. Challenge the Process
Is your motto, “if it isn’t broken, why fix it?” Well now’s the time to see if there’s a better, more efficient way of doing even the most basic tasks, even if the models themselves aren’t “broken.” For White, he challenged himself to invent a new trick, even though his older tricks were keeping him in front of the pack, but in doing so, he allows for the growth of the sport. So push yourself to try new techniques to get better results and expand your business.

3. Defend your Ideas
Sometimes a sound business strategy involves adding the fun factor and challenging the process, but if you don’t defend your ideas, they might get lost in a colleague’s email inbox. According to advertising maverick, Lee Clow, “ninety-nine percent of our ideas never see the light of day. Which is why we fight so hard for the 1% that do.”³ Even if your project is in its beginning stages, plan how you’re going to present it to your peers, your boss and finally the client. Always assume you’ll need to explain your thought process, and describe how it could benefit a client rather than just attaching it in an email with a nondescript subject line.

So there you have it, the 3 ways you can improve your business strategy, inspired by my favorite Olympic athletes (the ones who wear ripped blue jeans, not feathers and sequins).

¹ESPN http://espn.go.com/action/snowboarding/blog/_/post/4722162
²NBC http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-features/news/newsid=425101.html
³Twitter