In excess of 110,000 people will make a rite of passage this weekend to Churchill Downs for the “Run For The Roses” (Kentucky Derby), approximately 16 million people will watch from their living rooms and re-connect with a sport for one day in the year. Yet the long-term health and prosperity of the sport in North America is mired in acrimony, vested interests and falling fan appeal. To the once-a-year viewer the reasons why are largely unclear.
It is fundamentally a lesson for entrepreneurs, businesses and indeed, governments, when ego, greed and self-interest are allowed to triumph over common sense and good judgement. Going back to the 1960’s, power and influence has resided in a small number of people, who controlled the racetracks, the legal parimutuel betting, the licencing of the sport (the state racing associations and the Jockey Clubs), the media rights and the most successful horsemen. From that period forward, the fan (the customer) was subservient to each stakeholder’s selfish attempt to further their own interests, at the expense of others.
In businesses that are seeking profitable growth, leadership of this kind and neglect of the consumer or client is tantamount to business suicide. When those that have shown real leadership and vision (John Gaines and others) find that the sport’s best interests are constantly diverted and change is diluted, is it little wonder that the industry is in today’s parlous state? Fighting drugs and integrity issues, largely dependent on the growth and liberalisation of slots and other forms of of gaming to fund purses, midweek attendances at all time lows and mainstream television coverage a rarity outside the sport’s very biggest days.
Transformation is urgently required. Vibrant strategies are important but above all else, strong leadership is required and a cultural change within the sport needs to rapidly take place. The sport desperately needs a “talisman”. Someone who can say “follow me”, a Lee Iacocca or Lou Gesterner-figure. It needs a focus on the winning line, not the quarter-mile marker. Maintaining a focus on the long-term and not allowing the short-term mishaps to lose sight of where it needs to end up. It needs key stakeholders to set aside differences and run the sport not fight each other. It needs strategies and a belief system that says “we will not invest in anything unless we can demonstrably see that our customer (the fan) is better off”.
As someone, who has had a box seat at some of the most spectacular victories and defeats in business and the sport of horse racing that individual cannot arrive soon enough.
© James Berkeley 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Tags: accountabilities, business growth, Customer Experience, decision-making, leadership, managing change