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IWAS sitting in a West Highland hotel when Andy Murray lost to Roger Federer in a Wimbledon final that was as emotionally draining on spectators as it was on Centre Court participants.
A year later he became the first British man in 77 years to win arguably the world’s greatest tennis tournament against arch rival Novak Djokovic; he’d already acquired a thoroughly deserved 2012 Olympic Gold against Federer on the same hallowed battleground.
Ivan Lendl’s continuing ministrations as well as ‘our Andy’s’ modified mental approach were credited as responsible for the pace of change, according to the pundits; remember he had also by this time notched up an electrifying victory in an unfeasibly tough game against the Serb at Flushing Meadows, simultaneously breaking his Grand Slam duck. A remarkably rapid pace of change.
You’ll be wondering what this has to do with employment markets. With Wimbledon opening its gates on Monday to the great and the good of world tennis, I wonder whether the papers will give the Scottish star centre stage on Centre Court, or reserve the spotlight for his new employee?
If Murray had set out to create pre-game pressure of the type that he now seems to thrive upon he couldn’t have made a better job of it.
The announcement Amelie Mauresmo would be Lendl’s replacement – a woman, for heaven’s sake! – hit an unsuspecting men’s tennis community with much the same impact of female partners storming the dining room of a gentlemen’s club. There have been more than a few raised eyebrows. To use the immortal words: “You cannot be serious!”
But Murray is exactly that – and why not. Indeed the inventor of that catch-phrase, US legend John McEnroe, was one of the first to publicly praise the move.
The reactionary detractors must be thinking: “Good grief! What next – women occupying top advisory positions in global businesses?”
But we’ve already done that. Oddly, there are no obvious signs of permanent damage. In fact, women are said to have brought another perspective to the boardroom table – and the comment is not intended to patronise or damn with faint praise.
It’s worth remembering that while Lendl, now 54, is a former world number one, Mauresmo, who is 35, also claims that honour in women’s tennis.
She is a one-time silver medallist in the 2004 summer Olympics and a double ladies Grand Slam holder, with the Australian Open and Wimbledon appearing in her sporting CV though her native Roland Garros courts were never as kind.
Some months ago I highlighted a UK government campaign, championed by the former British trade minister Lord Davies, aimed at accelerating the presence of women at influential job level in our larger organisations. It works on the premise that women bring a different and ‘highly beneficial’ dimension in decision making. A fresh approach, if you like. People who are said to know Mauresmo well talk of her alternative way of doing things, in a good way.
According to Lord Davies women now account for 20.7% of board members among FTSE 100 firms. In 2011 the figure was 12.5% and by 2015 he wants further progress towards a 25% target. Currently, 98 of the FTSE 100 boards now include at least one woman. “We are finally seeing a culture change taking place at the heart of British business,” Lord Davies states. Another example of a (moderately) swift pace of change.
Diversity of thought and balance are the drivers in the business scenario. Given the similarly clinical process of training and strategy that has become the hallmark of modern sporting achievement, it is fair to compare the two situations.
Time Magazine, America’s weekly commentary on world affairs through stars and stripes-coloured spectacles, carried a story a few months ago on the very subject. It reported that 18% of senior executives in that country’s sprawling financial services sector are women, while the corporate features specialist Fortune Magazine – coincidentally at around the same time – carried a piece lamenting the fact that “only” 23% of CEOs in the top 500 US companies are female.
However, both of these statistics are growing, just as the figures are moving upward for senior women influencers in the UK. In a decision-making context, women tip the scales to optimise negotiating tactics and presentational polish, according to research carried out in 2012 by respected US economic consultancy Booze & Co. It quantified, in percentage points, a healthy margin of additional success in commercial deal making where at least one woman was present on the winning side’s board.
People who know Mauresmo will talk of her alternative way of doing things, in a good way
The business of sport isn’t any different, it just needs to understand this latest lesson in balance to move beyond the trivia of gender traditions. Ivan Lendl took Andy Murray a long way; the player won’t forget the legacy. But now it’s time to build a new, complementary strategy, a task to which Mauresmo is surely well qualified.
It’ll take more than a fortnight at the All-England Club to tell us whether this particular appointment has been correct – just as it would do in selecting a new finance director to a prominent enterprise.
For me, there is only one pressing matter: Mauresmo’s right of entry to the gentlemen’s lockerroom may be a more difficult issue to resolve.