Do Your Skills Translate?

Vivek Ranadivé is well known in NBA circles for his interesting and often unconventional ideas as owner of the Sacramento Kings.

Vivek’s unconventional ways are what made him the successful founder and CEO of a multi-billion dollar software company. It’s also what helped him coach his daughter’s middle-school basketball team to a national championship – despite the fact he knew absolutely nothing about basketball.

Growing up in India the primary sport for Vivek was cricket, so once he learned the rules of basketball he was immediately perplexed at why teams would allow opposing players to advance the ball half way up the court before getting ready to defend.

It seemed obvious to him that this gave competitive teams the chance to run pre-set plays and create a high-percentage of scoring opportunities. And in a basketball league of 12-year-old girls, this was particularly true.

Because Vivek knew his team couldn’t play conventional basketball and stand a chance to win, he bet heavily on an unconventional approach to the game. Seeking the expertise of former NFL running back Roger Craig, and former Duke basketball star Rometra Craig, Vivek and his experts taught the girls how to run and play defense.

Vivek had suspected that no single player – at the age of 12 – would be good enough to crack the armor of relentless and suffocating, full-team defense.

So he had Roger and Rometra build a strategy to exploit this.

All defense. All game. Every game. And it worked.

As the owner of the Sacramento Kings, Vivek continues to propose unconventional strategies. But strategy that works against seventh graders doesn’t necessarily translate to the pro level.

Since 2014, Vivek has been criticized regularly as one of the worst owners in the NBA.

The reason most commonly quoted is his inability to follow the same strategy that led to the success of his daughter’s team: seeking guidance from the experts.

Instead of consulting basketball experts, he inserts himself into decision-making roles where he has no qualifications, even going so far as to override decisions made by his general managers and coaches.

When you’ve experienced success in your life an important question to ask yourself is “do these skills translate on all levels?”

What we find when we meet with successful professionals and entrepreneurs who are not our clients is that they’ve once held a false belief, which is: “because I am successful in my career, I can translate that success into a portfolio of wealth independently, without any help.”

That success rarely translates.

If you have spent years concentrating your time and energy building a successful career, you deserve to have the fruits of your labour managed by a professional who understands the life you’re committed to building.

Seek someone with the proper expertise and dedication.