Are entrepreneurs athletes?

What if we looked at entrepreneurs as athletes? I think this would cause a profound shift in how they see themselves and how others regard them. To explore this topic, I will first provide an account of an athlete and then show how entrepreneurs fit the mould. Then I will draw the implications of this view.

Google’s definition is that athletes are people who are proficient in a given sport. Wikipedia says they are people who compete, which implies striving to win. In the philosophy of sports, athletics is described as an arena for “cultivation and demonstration of excellence.”

So, I think it is fair to define athletes as people who strive to cultivate and achieve excellence in an endeavour, and one of the ways this is achieved is through competition. It could be argued, therefore, that competition is not necessary, but it is a catalyst.

With this in mind, do entrepreneurs strive to achieve excellence in their endeavour? And is competition a catalyst for achieving this? Entrepreneurs would see business as more about realising market opportunities than a means of perfecting oneself. However, sentiments regarding personal growth as a consequence of entrepreneurship are difficult to deny. It is arguably the continuous personal growth and cultivation that translates to better choices and ultimately the realisation of market opportunities. Therefore, while athletes have an overt attitude towards self-perfection, entrepreneurs might hold a more outward-looking, opportunistic view. However, I argue that like athelete, realising these outward goals requires inward cultivation the development of excellences of character and skills.

Furthermore, the marketplace is undeniably competitive. Therefore, it serves as an arena for culling bad ideas and poor characters, similar to the competitive environment in sports. The difference is that entrepreneurs tend to be permanently on display, since every decision has market implications, whereas sporting athletes spend more time beyind the scenes and make appearances. Nevertheless, the catalytic impact of competition seems similar.

In light of this, it seems acceptable that entrepreneurs should be regarded as athletes of some kind because (a) they are (although not overtly) in the business of personal cultivation, and (b) the competitive environment catalyses this process.

The idea that entrepreneurs are athletes makes certain demands of their conduct. Among others, it would follow that for entrepreneurs to perform at the highest level, they also [like sports athletes] need regimens to help cultivate and develop their skills. Where athletes are required to eat properly, get sufficient rest, attend regular training, have strict routines, and consult with various experts to understand themselves, this should also apply to entrepreneurs as well. They should also have a regimen, experts, routines and codes of conduct to achieve peak performance.

However, entrepreneurs tend to go at it alone, which seems odd.

Having worked with exceptionally successful entrepreneurs, I can attest that they were obsessive about achieving their goals. Like athletes, they worked long hours, had teams of people to counsel them, and often watched their health and kept score of their business performance like a hawk, much like athletes would. However, I am not convinced that this obsession came as an institutional expectation, as is the case in sports. Rather, it seems more plausible that either fear of failure or a personality quirk resulted in the obsession, and therefore, an athletic mindset.

I am tempted to explore why entrepreneurs do not ordinarily think of themselves as athletes. However, I do not have space for that in this article, except to provide anecdotal evidence as an entrepreneur myself. Often, entrepreneurial obsession is seen in a negative light and followed by calls for work-life balance, whereas athletic obsession is seen as work ethic and a striving for excellence. Morever, It is widely accepted that athletes go to camps or in solitude to prepare for their work. However, it would be strange for an entrepreneur to go to away for three or six months to work on their business in solitude with coaches and team members.

So, it seems successful entrepreneurs, explicitly or implicitly, adopt an athletic mindset, thereby adopting athletic regimens and disciplines. However, this is done in resistance to other demands that would not ordinarily be made on athletes, especially during critical times of their preparations.

In closing, looking at entrepreneurship as a form of athletics opens the door for a level of seriousness about which entrepreneurs ought to take themselves and about which others ought to regard them. After all, livelihoods depend on entrepreneurial excellence.