Why every U.S. executive needs to know about cricket

In some industries, such as insurance, the business development sport of choice is golf. Many a deal has been cultivated and closed on the golf course. I venture to say that billions of dollars in insurance policies are generated every year somewhere between the front and back nine.

Golf, of course, isn't the only sport that aids business development. Many executives and marketing professionals have different sporting poisons. I'm sure we all know someone who leverages prime seats at baseball, football, basketball, and hockey games; and even boxing matches. We do this to court new clients, and bond with existing ones, all while enjoying a hot dog and a beer.

Interestingly, perhaps sadly, this American synergy of sports, business, and sales doesn't travel well across the Atlantic or Pacific. We've all heard stories about how companies have stuck their corporate thumb in their eye with bad translations of product names and tag lines in places such as Japan, Brazil, India, or Russia.

The untold story is that, every day, American companies miss myriad opportunities to forge better relationships and close bigger deals with their global counterparts, simply because they lack one international edge over their competitors. That edge is a knowledge about a sport little known in the U.S., but a passion for 2 billion people internationally: cricket.

It's one of the hottest sports in the world (second only to soccer) with ESPN paying over $1 billion for broadcast rights in certain countries to air the World Cup of Cricket. And interest in cricket is growing everywhere except, interestingly, in the U.S.

It's expanding rapidly in India, in lockstep with the growing middle class; it's become a virtual religion. Fandom is growing like kudzu in Brazil, Russia, and China. And of course, cricket is entrenched as the dominant summer sport in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, Pakistan, and South Africa.

If you accept the fact -- which is inarguable -- that every American business is now part of a global economy, then cricket is an ESSENTIAL topic for every U.S. executive to get their head around.

Learn to talk about cricket. Learn who the players are, who the teams are, and what the standings are. Go even further, and learn to play cricket (you learned golf and softball, didn't you?). This knowledge will be a potent competitive weapon when marketing one-on-one with potential partners and customers overseas.

A good place to start your journey is Wikipedia, which has a very good overview, and an introductory video.

I can talk about cricket with some authority, thanks to my background. I was born in Zimbabwe (what used to be Rhodesia, a British colony at the time). I was educated in South Africa, and moved to the U.S. to attend MIT in 1977.

Those who know me get to hear my Southern African accent. What they might not know is I'm a rabid cricket fan. I have made successful use of my love for this sport in my dealings in Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia. In fact, I credit my knowledge of cricket for helping forge some important partnerships here at Alpha Software.

Once you demonstrate your interest and knowledge of the game, you will stand out from your competition when you bring the conversation around to cricket. Your English, Indian, etc., guests will likely be floored upon hearing an American business leader wax authoritatively on their favorite sport.

What do I hope to accomplish with posts on cricket? I hope to raise awareness of the sport here in the U.S. among our customer, developer, and VAR base. I hope to provide conversational tools to help friends and colleagues form relationships and compete more effectively, in a way they never would have dreamed of.

So keep your eye on this tag for more information on using cricket as a competitive weapon in coming days.

(Note: The articles on cricket are part of a broader plan to post on topics such as Web marketing, search engine optimization, Web site design, copyright issues for developers, etc., that will help make developers and users of Alpha Five more successful -- in addition (of course :)) to the use of Alpha Five Platinum with all its cool new features including client-server, Ajax, drill-down reporting, supercontrols, etc.)