From sports to business, to develop a Performance Mindset

Performance Mindset is a concept inspired by sports champions. It is about being able to manage your emotions, organize your mind, be motivated and inclined towards relationships as well as about focusing on your attitude to life and work. This was the “playing field” for 74 new executives from Leonardo, the leading Italian company in aerospace, defense and security, who gathered at an event organized by SDA Bocconi in partnership with their company. The sports metaphor is no coincidence since sports and competitive performance were the backdrop for the meeting, from the location at the Bocconi Sport Center to the meeting with Sasha Djordjevic, former basketball star and coach of international level teams.

Beppe Soda, Dean of SDA Bocconi, and Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, welcomed the participants and introduced the event, which was an opportunity to celebrate the 74 new executive appointments but also to start a process of discussion and sharing with the company’s top management around Performance Mindset in business contexts, the central theme throughout the day. The initiative was led by Dino Ruta, Professor of Practice Leadership & Sports Management SDA Bocconi, who linked sports concepts to the Leonardo context also through his conversation with coach Djordjevic

Performance Mindset is commonly used in sports to explain the top-level performance of athletes who are able to develop their talent through a success-oriented competitive mindset. It can also be extended to business contexts since it consists of a set of personal attitudes, behavioral inclinations, motivational factors and beliefs that determine top-level performance. Those with a winning mentality strive for excellence even in the most challenging and difficult situations, are convinced that they can overcome hitches and hurdles, and work hard to succeed. Their growth is the result of careful planning, accomplished by setting ambitious, long-term goals and closer subgoals.

According to Ruta, sports have always been a source of inspiration in daily life, including in the professional sphere. Notions like talent, training, skills, performance, results, and team, lay a common ground for sports and business. Studying these variables, and training like champions, enables people to absorb the sports method and achieve important or even sometimes extraordinary results.

SDA Bocconi School of Management