We must Give Underdogs a Fair Go!

At those crucial moments, you need to find extra momentum to shift you into that next gear. It is natural to slow down to survey the scene when decisions have to be made, and it is often hard to regain traction when you have decided on a new direction. For me, part of that traction is the passion that you feel about your new destination, but much of it is also dependent on the partners that you pick to accompany you on the journey.

Some of the most successful journeys that I have taken have been with people and businesses that others may consider as “underdogs.” On the face of it, they may not have had decades of experience in the market, and they may not have polished CVs or marketing campaigns or impressive long client lists. When people want a safe pair of hands, they might not be near the top of the list. I should state that this is not because of their lack of ability or attitude….They simply haven’t been given a reasonable chance.

While past success does have a bearing on future potential, the lack of success does not automatically mean that a successful future is impossible. Actually, for the person with the right temperament, you could say that a history of some near misses makes them even more likely to succeed in their next project. The fear of failure simply has to be taken out of the equation for a while – let an underdog know that you have absolute belief in them, and they will often exceed your expectations.

There is often an openness and willingness to explore change that isn’t present in the experienced achievers. No one project is the same, and being set in your ways is the first barrier to maximising opportunities. When you are blinkered by past success, you are vulnerable to blind spots and your powers of observation are often not quite as acute. If you have spent your life aspiring to chasing your dreams, you can be sure that your analytical awareness will be more finely tuned than most. You learn far more from analysing failures than you do from celebrating successes. It stands to reason, it’s a success, why would you want to over analyse it!

Underdogs also have a never-say-die determination to make the best of what they have. They are used to addressing issues and managing a large amount of skeptical stakeholders. Their influencing skills are highly tuned simply because they are so used to listening, rather than dictating. When it comes time to make a change, you have to listen for a long time until you understand exactly what needs to be done. Rushing in with half-baked solutions just because they are what worked before is never the way to do business.

We all must accept that in most new undertakings, there will always be an amount of failure. If you are not failing, you aren’t trying hard enough, but your reaction to this failure will dictate both your and your team's fate. Underdogs are thick-skinned, fighters who are used to swimming against the tide and underwater; they need intensity in order to breathe and solving problems comes as second nature to them. These sorts of people I certainly want as part of my team. Throughout my whole career, I have not felt alive unless I have been facing a significant amount of challenges – you need a really special team beside you to tackle these with you. I have been fortunate that this has been the case. However, stress and anxiety are not for everyone, but certain people are able to thrive on it, and some even grow gills!

Of course, with all this personality profiling, it must still be said that the idea should still come first. You buy into a person as your partner, but you also buy into their ideas and their “why.” Someone with the right personality, but the wrong ideas will make many friends, but they won’t go too far for too long. If partnering with them materially enhances a facet of my business, that is the point at which their underdog spirit will make the greatest difference. As you engage with them, you assimilate with their ideas, you see how they cope with the challenges of advancing with what they believe in, and trust and co-operation ensues as you both learn along the way.

Historically, the underdog has not been given a fair chance. Risk management approaches of major corporations have ensured that their doors are closed, and not enough is written about the virtues of working with people who might not have quite “made it” yet, for whatever reason. They might have fantastic ideas, a great proposition, but because they have not yet got the scale, they fall at the first hurdle. Size is definitely not everything!

In the retail property sector that I spend a good deal of time in, the safe option is always the national or preferably international tenant. They have a proven business model, and the deals are sophisticated and commercial – they are the mainstream “partners” of retail landlords. I have had the pleasure to work with a number of such exceptional companies, however some of the most rewarding deals are often with smaller businesses – who can have their own special commitment to excellence, and their more flexible approach can enable the delivery of the very best possible projects in a shorter time. The customers flow through the doors for a truly unique experience.

In summary, I strongly believe in investing in relationships and underdogs should certainly never be overlooked. In helping them to develop their visions they can become a strong and loyal partner that few could rival. When you enable people to grow, you are making your difference in their world and that becomes their life changing moment which they will never forget you for.

In backing the underdog, you invest in their resilience and their brilliance!