PEOPLE
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B usiness is often told to consider what it can learn from sport . But what about the other way around ? What could sport learn from business ? Sport focuses on winning , the team spirit and match analysis , but could it also learn how to focus on customers , empower teams and better use technology ?
Could technology disrupt sport and the talent-scouting process ? I think it could definitely benefit from technologies that could decentralise decision-making .
I had an experience in Africa that convinced me to try and develop a solution . In Abidjan , a city on the southern Atlantic coast of Côte d ’ Ivoire , I came across a group of young footballers . Boys , with sandals on their feet , were playing on a field that looked more like scrub than a Premiership stadium . They let me join in for a little game . And we lost 10-0 ! Despite having never set foot in a training centre and playing in sandals , one young player scored 8 goals ! It disappoints me that this boy ’ s raw talent could go unspotted due to a lack of resources and visibility .
The sports world wouldn ’ t be the first entertainment industry to be challenged by technology . The music industry has had to reinvent itself by harnessing , rather than
AUGUST 2019