Seb's Observations

I can’t remember the last time I looked forward to buying a newly published book. When I discovered, via The Telegraph, that one of my quartet of boyhood sporting heroes has a new tome out on the 16th, and furthermore as its title suggests (The Winning Mind) it’s all about how winners think, I began to salivate.

His qualifications to write such thoughts are immense. A middle-distance running multi-Olympic gold medal and world record holder. Inspirational management and final presentation of a winning, yet hugely unfancied, Olympic ‘host city’ bid.  Here’s a few snippets from Seb Coe’s round of PR to whet the appetite:

“It’s having that dream. You are interested in how far you can take something.

“People in my sport who get there are most curious about what they can do to be a little bit better than the day before. I’ve noticed that characteristic in sport, business and politics.

“The characteristic shared by people at the top of their profession is that, to get better, they crave criticism. Most people don’t like criticism, but if you are trying to shave two tenths of a second at 800 metres, that is what you crave.

“You have to have the vision, too. Vision is a romantic thing. We have got into ‘talent identification’. I am much more interested in passion – finding people who are really excited about doing something.”

Bring on the real thing.