Management Lessons from Nadal v. Federer

• The Find: Not every business lesson has to come from dry academic research â€" instead, one blog is mining one of tennis' greatest rivalries for lessons on how to take down seemingly invincible competitors.
• The Source: A fun and informative post on The Business Insider.

Nadal's plan of attack was simple but powerful: identify Federer's (few) weaknesses and exploit them. Also, and this is certainly the harder bit, he took a cold, hard look at his own weaknesses and worked doggedly to improve them. And what did Federer do? Like many people (and firms) at the top of the game, success got to his head and in his overconfidence he did nothing. The blog deduces three business lessons:

• Everyone can be beat. You have to find a weakness that plays into your strengths (The weakness doesn't do any good if you can't attack it.)
• If you want to stay No. 1, you'll need to keep getting better forever. The moment you stop, you leave room for a Rafael Nadal. Remember how many times Tiger Woods has rebuilt his swing?
• Play a long game. Taking down a competitor like Federer will likely take years. Accept that. Plan for it. Be patient. Make adjustments as you go. Never quit.