What we can learn from Anthony Joshua’s Ruiz redemption – Business and Career insights

What we can learn from Anthony Joshua’s Ruiz redemption – Business and Career insights

We either watched it live, read about it or heard about it. Anthony Joshua, a man who held all the belts got knocked out by Andy Ruiz in Maddison Square Gardens on his American Debut. Casual boxing fans could not comprehend how someone with a “dadbod” could beat a muscular man mountain so convincingly. (I have nothing against the “dadbod” by the way lol!!)

In the rematch Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua beat Andy Ruiz in a boxing masterclass to reclaim his titles. There are great lessons that can be learned from this – especially as it relates to career and business. Check out some parallels below:

• Realignment to your why and your purpose.

Anthony Joshua went to visit Nigeria in a bid to reconnect with his inner passion and purpose. His trip included visits to a floating slum and a shrine to musical legend Fela. This experience showed him that boxing is about more than just him, he has an opportunity to make give back and inspire others through his success. This realignment with his roots was needed to help rekindle his fire. As he walked out to Nigerian musical legend Fela you could sense there was a different air about him.

In our careers sometimes we need to take a step back and refocus on our true purpose and vision. Why do you do what you do? What impact can you have through your career or business? Who is counting on you? Who could be looking to you for motivation in a dark time? Answering these questions can help you plug in to a source of inspiration that can power you to more success and happiness.

• Execute your strategy and don’t get distracted.

In the first fight AJ knocked Ruiz down in the 3rd round. It looked like it would be business as usual. Once Ruiz got back to his feet Joshua went in to try and finish him off, then unthinkable happened – Ruiz knocked down AJ TWICE in that 3rd round. Joshua did not recover.

Coming into this fight we knew two things. Anthony’s mindset had to change, and his strategy needed to be different. The trip to Nigeria and self-reflection fixed the mindset part. The new strategy was essentially to patiently box and move and not be reckless in trying to knock out Ruiz. Anthony was clear on what he SHOULD do and what he should NOT do in order to win. He executed this plan flawlessly – even when Ruiz was getting frustrated and calling him to fight in a more aggressive way, AJ stayed calm and did not get distracted from his game plan.

Sticking to a career game plan is also crucial. Identify YOUR career strategy for success. What is your roadmap? What qualifications do you need? What type of companies should you work for? What responsibilities can you add in your current role? What tasks are not in alignment to your ideal career trajectory?

It is important that you take time to create a plan for your career or business. Like with most things you may need to pivot or add to the strategy as time goes on, but the foundation of a plan sets you in the right direction.

Strategy is only one part of the equation though. It is in the execution of our strategy that the success is realized. Take time to set out a strategy for your career then work tirelessly and patiently towards executing this. It won’t be easy, but at least you are giving yourself the best chance at success.

• Never being complacent – always be working and improving.

Boxing great Marvin Hagler once said, “It’s tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5am when you’ve been sleeping in silk pyjamas”. When everything is going well, we can take our eyes off the ball and stop doing the things it took to get us there in the first place. AJ and Ruiz are BOTH guilty of this. Joshua did not have a killer mentality for the 1st fight and Ruiz admitted to not training properly for the 2nd fight.

Having a growth mindset is one way we can combat this. We can also remind ourselves in subtle ways to not get complacent. I believe Anthony Joshua not getting his usual slick haircut was an attempt to recreate a hunger that had maybe been lost in all the glitz and glam. If you keep reminding yourself that you could get replaced in your role, or that challenger firms could wipe out your business if you don’t keep evolving – would you get complacent? I doubt it. Jeff Bezos and Amazon have the “day 1” philosophy which is a similar mindset. These are truths that we should use to our advantage in keeping us from being complacent and coasting.

Carl Konadu used this quote to round up AJ’s win: “The wolf at the top of the hill is never as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill”

In our career it is important that we retain the mentally of the hungry wolf. Always be learning and improving. Invest into yourself. Always work to add value. Whether you are at an all-time professional high or going through challenges in your career, this attitude will ensure that you have the skillset to navigate setbacks in the same way Anthony Joshua did. Remember, a setback is a set up for a comeback!

What is one actionable lesson you learned from this fight? Please let me know in the comments and feel free to share if you found this useful!

By Joseph Kala, Founder & Director