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23 décembre 2009

Exciting Careers

Filed under: Non classé — Mots-clefs :bill bartmann — scottlogan1967 @ 22:05

As the 2000s decade comes to a close, it will be remembered for many things. Terrorism, war, and economic hardships certainly highlight the history of this decade twenty and thirty years from now. But in terms of MMA, the 2000s could go down as the most important decade in its history.

It seems so much more than just 10 years ago that the UFC was struggling to survive as it was banned from television and arenas around the country. The sport of MMA was at a tipping point, and the UFC's January 2001 sale to Zuffa undoubtedly saved the sport.

The introduction of the The Ultimate Fighter reality show, securing sanctioning in Nevada, and the creation of the unified rules of MMA all pushed MMA from a dying taboo sport to the mainstream of sports and eying the top slot of martial sports.

The move into mainstream coincided with the prime of several Hall of Fame careers and infamous rivalries. Champions like Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn, and Matt Hughes clashed in epic matches, and all the time the UFC perfected its hype machine around these exciting fighters.

The results were stupendous, and while other promotions put on excellent shows, the UFC's Couture v. Liddell trilogy, Liddell and Ortiz matches, Hughes run of dominance rivalry with Joe Riggs and his upset at the hands of Penn made it difficult to top the UFC in terms of excitement from 2002 to 2006.

During this decade, the strong fan base created by the TUF and the great matches put on by Liddell, Ortiz, Couture, and Hughes helped the UFC outlast its rivals, including PRIDE FC, Elite XC, and most recently Affliciton.

The UFC was mainstream, had a solid fan base, and a strong group of superstars, but at the end of 2006 and 2007 was the UFC's strength of brand. It started in November 2006 when Matt Hughes lost his rematch and his belt to Georges St Pierre, never to reclaim the title again.

A few months later, a Rampage Jackson right hook sent Chuck Liddell tumbling to the canvas, relieving him of his belt and starting a string of knock outs that have basically ended the career of the Iceman.

Tito Ortiz's only fight of the year was an inspiring draw with then a very one dimensional Rashad Evans, and then was sidelined the rest of the year by injury.

Randy Couture turned in an excellent year, with dominating wins over Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga, but at the end of 2007 MMA fans were informed that due to a dispute between Couture and Dana White that Couture was leaving the UFC.

In the span of one year the biggest stars of the UFC had been seriously dimmed. Lesser promotions have collapsed from the equivalent of one of these events, but the UFC is the only promotion to ever survive the setbacks or loss of four major draws in a single year.

But instead of crumbling, the UFC was able to transition a new generation of stars. Some where homegrown and well-known like GSP, some were stars that burst on the to scene for many fans like Lyoto Machida and Brock Lesnar, and some reenergize their career like BJ Penn, who bounced back with a 5-1 record after losing back to back bouts in his return to the UFC.

The ability to seamlessly transition from a declining set of stars to a rising set of stars is what sets promotions and sports leagues apart from one another. The NHL struggled in the years following the retirements of Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, as did to a lesser extent the NBA with the retirement of Michael Jordan.

Transfer of interest from one star to another as been a serious problem for boxing, which has been unable to transfer the interest that was generated by Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, or Mayweather and Pacman to a larger interest in boxing for the majority of sports fans.

Olympic sports experience this problem, because people do not tune in for the less popular sports unless there is star power drawing them there. Americans like to watch stars unless the sport and league they are watching is an established brand, like the NFL, where they can except that the athletes they are watching are the absolute best in the world, the action is interesting and even the mediocre players have something to offer and the stars of tomorrow are playing today in the league.

Making prospects an exciting event in themselves is something the NFL has mastered. Does any group of young players enter any league with as much pomp and curicstance as a 1st round draft pick? A single, untested player can become a teams biggest draw for a season and if he plays well, he is the talk of the nation.

The UFC was very smart in that while it had the mainstream attention they not only cashed in on their superstars but they also made their prospects a big part of the excitement. The Ultimate Fighter House is a celebration of the search for new talent (and the effects of alcohol on 20-something tailor trash, but mostly the talent thing), and anytime a serious fighter is making his UFC debut he is paired with a serious fighter so if he wins he already has a memorable, statement win.

The UFC puts a premium on exciting matchups for contenders and this also helps the prospect, giving him several highlight reel fights during the developmental period and then once he is deem ready is given a contender-ship test and then a title shot.

Moving forward into the new decade we can already see the UFC building the stars of the 2010s in Jon Jones, Anthony Johnson, Dan Hardy, among others. And the UFC and its fans can rest easy in the fact that the once the process is there, it normally is there to stay. Even people in the mainstream media with no connection to MMA have stated that MMA is here to stay, due to solid business practices and an exciting product.

In my last post, “India’s Response to the US Dollar“, I ended with a question: What comes next?

After the competition on cost alone, we had competition based on value. Then we had xPO (BPO, LPO, KPO, etc.). Today, we see competition based on deeper and broader ways to deliver value to the end client.

So, what comes next? Herein lies the answer to the question about new careers in outsourcing.

Think about what outsourcing really is. You have someone giving the orders (client, a.k.a. “master”) and someone executing them to perfection (outsourcing provider, a.k.a. “servant”). Today’s outsourcing is really a glorified master-servant relationship.

The easiest way that I can think about is to illustrate my initial discoveries of Silicon Valley in the US and Hyderabad in India.

I had heard about Silicon Valley for years. My thought was, “Fine. You have a bunch of nerds that did well financially.” But when I got there and drove around, I was amazed. Neighborhood after neighborhood, street after street, building after building, there were high-tech startups and young companies doing millions of dollars of business. Everyone had ideas for new businesses. The whole place from San Francisco to San Jose was buzzing with activity, energy, and enthusiasm.

A few years later, after hearing about Hyderabad for many years, I had the chance to go for a month. It was exciting. I was going to the #2 IT hot spot in India. I had visions of another Silicon Valley in India.

Big disappointment.

What I saw was huge business parks owned by the monstrously large multi-national companies. Tens (or maybe hundreds) of thousands of highly intelligent, very enthusiastic, very capable people were excited about “working for” a great company. There were no visible startups. There was no sense that this was a hub of creativity. It was just a large hub of well-paid people who chose to trade their creative potential for a good job.

In the big picture, it makes sense. If Infosys gets a contract to deliver work at a fraction of the American cost, then they need people in India to do the work at a fraction of the American cost. So, having these large information processing plants is necessary.

But go back to Silicon Valley for a minute and what do you see? The people doing exceptionally well financially and creatively are Indians. Many of the movers and shakers in technology are Indian. Take a trip to Seattle and you see that Microsoft and Boeing depend on Indians to do well. Hike across the country and you see that business and technology leaders are Indian all across the US.

And yes, these are the same people who were once drones in the Hyderabad intellectual factories.

So, the problem is not with the people. The problem is with the opportunity to do more with what they have to offer the world. Outside the corporate infrastructure, there is opportunity. Many enterprising Indians are discovering this. I am currently employing two such people. They work at their jobs during the day. In the evening, they work for me. Still others started this way and now have thriving businesses of their own, where they created products that are being used by American and Canadian clients.

On the other side of the pond, we are seeing American companies, headed by both Americans and Indians, who are starting to realize that viewing Indians as a cheap source of labor only saves them $20 per hour. Instead, seeing them as joint venture partners can yield hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra profits every year.

The new careers in outsourcing are not simply based on providing value to a foreign master. Instead, they are based on offering value as an equal partner in a global joint venture. It is taking intellectual property that was developed on one project and packaging it into an offering for the broader industry. It is working with the resources of the foreign partner to open up markets in India and other countries where they have no presence.

In the next 5 years, you will see advertisements for people who can manage teams in multiple countries. You will see advertisements for people who can open markets in different parts of India. You will see advertisements for people who can source reliable technology from India for the purpose of offering it to clients in America and Europe.

The landscape is changing rapidly. And again, I will end with the question: What comes next?

Pawan Varma
IntraWorld Outsourcing Management Center
http://www.IntraWorld-Outsourcing.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pawanvarma
www.twitter.com/outread
pawan@outsourcingreadiness.com

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