What's on my mind? March madness, underdogs and advice from Wladimir Klitschko

They say a lot can happen in a day in politics.?I would say a lot can happen in a day in banking, a day in big tech and …. a day in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) March Madness.?OMG!?The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind!?Silicon Valley Bank blows up, big tech companies announce more lay-offs and everyone’s March madness bracket is in absolute shambles!?For the first time, zero number-one seeds have made it to the final four.

For those unfamiliar with March madness, it’s the annual NCAA college basketball tournament.?Teams are ranked by seed, and the higher the seed, the “stronger” your team is perceived to be.

This year, it is THE story of the underdog starting with Farleigh Dickinson (FDU).?Who is Farleigh Dickinson??They were the 16th-seeded team winning against a number 1-seeded team, Purdue.??

From here, the momentum gained, brackets turned red and egos fell.

Kansas (1 seed) lost to Arkansas (8 seed)

Alabama (1 seed) lost to San Diego State (5 seed)

Houston (1 seed) lost to Indiana (4 seed)

The final four: one 4 seed, two 5 seeds and a 9.

San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, UCONN and Miami.

Each year, there is a bracket challenge. The bracket visualises the tournament and the path each team follows to become the final four. Spectators compete in the bracket challenge to predict who will win.

Now I know there has never been a perfect bracket and even chatGPT cannot use history to develop it.?Warren Buffet is offering $1bn to a fan if they have one – this probability tells me there will never be one.

So it got me thinking, maybe Warren should not reward a perfect bracket. Maybe he should reward the most imperfect bracket as a celebration of the underdog.?

If I were to win it (and I won’t because my bracket blew up in the first round), I know exactly what I would do with it. Give it to Silicon Valley Bank? No, the government is already bailing out the underdogs in that scenario. Big tech? No, although they are going through their first major cost-cutting exercise since inception, there is still more than enough money to continue driving digital infrastructure investment and innovation. These are not the underdogs or the egos I would award. I would give the money to the real underdog in all three of these recent struggles - Ukraine.

Maybe they are the ones that ultimately started the rise of the underdog. At a recent CEO Summit in New York City, I had the?opportunity to meet Wladimir Klitschko, who holds records for the most wins and title defences of the unified championship in professional boxing history and is also the brother of the mayor of Kyiv.

He said, “the best thing you can do as an underdog is show up to the fight.”

I believe Wladimir’s words ‘showing up’ don’t just mean being physically present. I believe it means being both physically and mentally present.?Believing in yourself and your team, even if the competition is bigger, has better equipment and is professionally trained.??

“Showing up” is belief that you have a chance.??

“Showing up” is having passion to fight.

“Showing up” is caring about the outcome and the impact on others.

“Showing up” is being your best when it really matters

So, maybe we could all take a lesson from the underdogs. From Farleigh Dickinson and from the front line fighters in Ukraine -?let down our ego and really ‘show up’. We may not be college athletes.?We may not be soldiers fighting a war, but if I learned anything from the past few weeks, it’s that the future is uncertain, and just because you are the best today, it does not mean you will be the best tomorrow.?Wladimir is the all-time best at boxing, but he is also one of the amateur soldiers fighting for his country.

We must continue to be humble as we lead through this uncertainty.?We must continue to think like the underdog and show up daily with passion and belief that we will find a way to overcome these challenges.?We must let our values and our morals guide us.

I don’t know who is going to win this extreme March Madness, and I do not know if Ukraine will continue to hold off Russia, but I do know I have never been more energised and inspired by a group of amateur athletes and amateur soldiers, both fighting for their team and their country.

I’m committed to showing up in this challenging year.?

While talking to Wladimir, he said you don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, but if every day you bring your values and morals, you will find a way to survive.?

One of our values at Colt is that we win together. So let’s show up today and every day, to fight for our values, for our colleagues, friends and family.?With this passion and belief, even IF we are the underdog, we will find our place at the top of the bracket.