NFIB

Image Matters to Champions
01/ 27/ 2003

by Rex Hammock

In working with the writers of this issue's cover story, I was reminded of the now famous 1990 Canon Camera advertising campaign featuring a young Andre Agassi proclaiming, "Image is everything!"

Before he was a great tennis player, the flashy young Andre Agassi was famous. Obviously talented but still unproven, Agassi as a teenager was the closest thing his sport had to a rock superstar. At that point in his career, image was everything.

But like the small business owners we feature in this issue of MyBusiness, Agassi soon learned that the substance of long-term success requires much more than style. Ironically, his greatest success came after entrusting his game to a coach famous for a style of tennis called Winning Ugly. As with this issue's story, "Letting Go," in which we explore the importance of delegating responsibility, Agassi found success when he gave up trying to do everything his way, and began to depend on the skill and experience of others.

For the past decade, Agassi continued to work on the basic fundamentals of his game and of his health, and by winning ugly went on to become one of the few in the history of his sport to capture all four Grand Slam championships.

But he never forgot the business benefits of image. And according to estimates of his endorsement deals, he has multiplied by a factor of 10 his on-court winnings, far outstripping anyone in tennis, past or present.

Image isn't everything, we learned from the savvy small business owners interviewed for this issue. But polishing your image may prove to be just the stroke your game needs.

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This article originally appeared in the December/January 2003 issue of MyBusiness magazine.

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