Do you run the numbers…

Do you run the numbers or do they run you? (a great line from Accenture… thanks for that!).

Just been reading about Kevin Pietersen, the England cricketer, getting out for 97. He was out playing a typically KPish type shot. KP, please stay true to yourself and keep playing the way you play. Ignore the ill-informed, myopic commentators who believe that a number is more important than a performance. Had Pietersen scored 101 and then got out with the same kind of shot, he’d still be criticised, but not as much as he is now.

Why? Because he’d have had a score on the board that had 3 figures against it, rather than 2 (which are very, very nearly 3). Had he got out in the same way for 156, he’d have been criticised less again, because the number was bigger. Had he got our for 36 in the same way, less criticism again.

Here’s a quote from the BBC, “Pietersen has now missed out on two Test centuries which he would have achieved and that must hurt“ (BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew). Why must is hurt? It hurts if Pietersen defines himself by numbers rather than talent. It hurts if Pietersen is more worried about his personal statistical record than taking any opportunity he sees to score runs. It hurts if Pietersen is aiming to suppress his natural ability and let just 1 element of performance feedback cloud his judgement, change his thinking and redefine himself as a performer.

Fortunately, KP does not think like the commentator who is imposing a limiting mentality on a player that has a superb performance temperament.

Never, let the pursuit of an arbitrarily determined number get in the way of your quest to make the most of your talent. You control numbers, they should not control you. KP, we applaud you. Thankfully, you are not a sufferer from number fixation syndrome!