Panama sports icons a business lesson

By Mark Scheinbaum

MIAMI (Aug 26,)—Two Panamanian athletes come to mind this week as we hit the final stretch in a Presidential Election Cycle and business pundits ponder interest rates and the rest of 2016.

There is an entire industry of motivational speakers and sales training seminars using past and present sports stars to inspire business folks looking to rub shoulders with the rich and famous and pick up some tips for a shortcut to success.

Today a new movie “Hands of Stone” about the life of boxer Roberto Duran hit the screens with some lukewarm reviews. Also it was 24 years ago this week that a skinny pitching prospect for the New York Yankees named Mariano Rivera underwent arm surgery that changed his life for the better.

In the case of Duran, former Middleweight Champion (four titles in four weight classes total) and a public hero in Panama the world mockingly remembers his throwing in the towel and the shout of “No mas” (No more!) in a losing effort in the boxing ring. But as a true folk character, businessman, pub owner, and “man of the people” he is sort of a lovable rascal embraced by most of his countrymen.

The business lesson is truly one of trying your hardest, even working through pain and adversity. The adulation Duran now receives in the boxing world and in a larger circle of sports fans who perhaps are not thrilled with his sport comes from a lifetime of working with kids and communities and being a simple guy in the same tee shirt or jeans in the same bar or restaurant where he has been hanging out for years and years.

In the case of Mariano Rivera who went on to become (as his biography is called) “The Closer” en route to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it was the same determination not to let big city lights and stardom change his view of success. In his book he writes about relief pitchers who in a losing effort or a meaningless game from the point of view of the league standings are asked to pitch by their manager, responding, “I’m a little tired today, skip me today.” Those pitchers only wanted a “save” in an effort which hits the score card and care nothing about the team.

Rivera near the end of his career extended his contract with the Yankees even when his agent said there was a good chance another team would add $20 million to the contract. My guess is that his endorsements and Yankee legacy in many personal and perhaps even financial ways made his decision a good one. But in any case his example to other athletes was a good one and I would rather listen to his point of view about business relationships than some of the drug-tainted stars of his era.

Sports figures such as Duran and Rivera allow us to live vicariously through their championships and awards. We assign superior philosophical, business, and sometimes even theological wisdom to these men and women. But it is not necessarily time wasted.

Take the time to think about a kid from a tiny fishing village, injured as a soccer player in school, who makes baseball his career. Think about Mariano River.

Take the time to think about a sometimes outrageous, loud and controversial boxer named Roberto Duran who was not defined by one moment of failure but by a lifetime of being exactly who he is: himself.

Make guess is there another Hall of Fame with names such as Gates, Job, Schwab, Dell, Hershey, Bezos and others who would understand these lessons?

Mark Scheinbaum is managing director of Shearson Financial LLC in Boca Raton and a frequent contributor to these pages. His comments are his own and do not reflect the view of his firm or its clients.