Years ago, with TerryStorch.com (1.0) I did a weekly Leadership Tip that I called 52 Leadership Tips. When TS.com (1.0) went away it was one of the many casualties of war. However, this week I had a great conversation with a great friend and referred back to this concept because it was exactly what we both needed. So here ya go…Throw back TerryStorch.com stuff.

52 Leadership Tips- #21 (Throw back!)

Swing Change, originally posted April 11, 2005 @ 04:44

April 10th, 2005 Tiger Woods won his fourth green jacket from the illustrious Master’s. This was in my personal opinion the finest two hours of television that I might have ever seen.

But what many non-golfers might not know was the huge controversy going around about Tigers “swing change” back in 2004. If you are not aware of Tiger success, let me give you some bullet points.

- 1975 Tigers born
- 1996 Won 2 tournaments
- 1997 Won 5 tournaments (1 major)
- 1998 Won 3 tournaments
- 1999 Won 11 tournaments (1 major)
- 2000 Won 11 tournaments (3 majors)
- 2001 Won 8 tournaments (1 major)
- 2002 Won 7 tournaments (2 majors)
- 2003 Won 5 tournaments
- 2004 Won 3 tournaments
- 2005 Won 3 tournaments (1 major)
- 2006 Won 8 tournaments (2 major) update
- 2007 Won 7 tournaments (1 major) update
Career Won 61 tournaments (13 majors) $76,579,376 earnings

All of Tiger’s critics are saying that he made a stupid decision to change his swing. Tiger was on the top of his game, the best golfer in the world, and he goes off and changes his swing. Why? Why would Tiger do that? Simple, he wants to get better. Tiger saw that with his current swing, he was as good as he was going to be. And that was not good enough for him, so he made a change. A change that set him back, a change that everyone was against, a change that not many people understood.

So, a lot of golf talk today but please do not miss the point. “Swing Change” can be replaced with many different words. What do you and I need to change? Where do we need to go against the grain, against what everyone is saying and change in our companies, churches, organizations? It might be working perfectly now, humming along. Your profits might be higher than they have ever been. Your church may be packed with more people that you have ever had. Who knows what it is, but can it last, are you as good as you can be? Look around the corner, and do not get caught up in being the best today and lacking vision. You might need to change your swing and take a few steps back so you can be even better in the future.

“I don’t want to get back to (year) 2000. I want to become better. I want to become better than that.” -Tiger Woods

How about you…is it time for a Swing Change?