Transcript

Maria Sharapova’s centre court tricks for the boardroom

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1:20 Join us at masters of scale dot com slash apply twenty six. That's mastersofscom slash apply. Twenty six. I think handling disappointment and the emotions are quite similar. Business it's more mental than physical, but

1:40 You give so much for an outcome that that wasn't up to your standards, and so that's just that's really deflating. I feel like I have a good understanding of investing your time into something that has no guarantees of results. You can put in hours and hours, you can have all the talent, but until you get there and you do it, like there no one's Giving it to you. That's Maria Sharipova, the iconic women's tennis champion, five-time Grand Slam winner, and the world's highest paid female athlete for a decade. Since hanging up her rackets, Maria has leaned into business as an investor, an entrepreneur, and as host of a new podcast appropriately named Pretty Tough. Sports analogies are rampant in business, but I wanted to hear from Maria firsthand about how the mix of both intense planning and instinctive reaction that's essential to success on the court.

2:44 Трансляції бізнес- Maria takes us inside her on the job business training and shares where sport and business really do collide right now and where they don't. It's a fun back and forth, so let's get to it. I'm Bob Safian, and this Із рапід респанс.

3:06 I'm Bob Safian. I'm here with Maria Sheripova. Maria, uh great to chat with you. Thanks for having me on. I'm a huge fan of your work. Well, so so first of all, I I wanna welcome you to the community of podcast hosts. I understand you're launching your own Show pretty tough conversations with high achieving women in all fields. Are are you excited? Are you nervous? Do you get nervous?

3:35 Oh, definitely. I get nervous. Yes. I've been working on uh on the concept of pretty tough. It's been several years since I left the sport of tennis, traveled a little bit, um, had a son who's three and a half now, and um slowly have been working on this concept around the meaning of a pretty tough woman. Um, you know, playing into duality of being gritty and strong and persevering, but also having a side that is soft, that is motherly, and um and allowing women to be both without putting a filter on it. The the end of the Ice Queen, I'm sure you love that label, right? I mean I played into it pretty well with that fist pump. It's true. It's true. Um listen, what one of the reasons I wanted to talk with you s

4:23 You know, many successful celebrities, athletes, actors, musicians, they don't want to talk about the business of themselves, of their brand, like they want to talk about their craft or their art, but it it it's very much a business too. Did you Did you always get that? Yeah. Well, sport is a business. Um, walking through the tunnel of

4:47 of the US Open, you know, the the door opens and uh that is your platform. That's you know, win or lose. Um the check gets bigger, the check gets smaller. Um, you know, and the more you win, the more opportunities you have to say yes. And it's also I mean amazing lessons because the more The more that the more chances you get to say no, the better opportunities come about. But I I I don't think I realized it. I mean I you know, I I moved to the States as a young girl. I don't think I really acknowledged um what Like the full picture. The three sixty approach to being an athlete. I was so I had my head down. I mean, I had horse blinders on for A majority of my career, um, where all that mattered is the ball and and and the result. I was

5:32 From the moment I woke up. But I also as I started making a little money and recognized that okay now I'm now I'm supported, my family's supported, my team is supported, I can you know I can hire a physio now. Oh, maybe now I I don't need that immediate check. Maybe I can actually invest in a company that perhaps, you know, three, five, ten years down the line, I'll see. something, you know, in return. So the mindset shifts. You were so young. When you

5:59 you know, first had success even. I mean you won Wimbledon Yeah. Two thousand four first of five Grand Slams, you were seventeen at that Point, do you remember How strategic you were about sort of

6:11 Brand alignment. Were you were you even making the decisions? I I was from the first day. I mean I I remember After that victory, I remember getting out of the car to the Wimbledon ball and my manager, who's still my manager till this day, he looks over and he's like, There is not a camera lens that you will not love this evening. Like you make the most out of this opportunity tonight. Right. A week later I'm back in California and I'm training for seven hours a day, but in that moment maximize the potential. Um within that week, you know, I took a few days off. I I flew to Portland. Um I re-signed my Nike deal. My dad told me to get in the room. Um and there may be things you don't know. There's certain um You know, elements of the deal that you're not gonna be familiar with, but you know what, this is your future, this is your money, and you need to be in that room. So he gave me, you know, I was I was a teenager, I'm 17 years old. What do I know about money? But for him to say

7:08 Just be there. You know, and someone in the room, the the C suite individuals that will be, you know, talking this big game, they're gonna see your face and it's gonna be a little tougher, you know, to bring the deal lower to you. So I remember being in that room just being uh like amazed by some of the zeros they were discussing. Right after that I signed my first like non sport deal with Motorola. They were just coming out with the razor phone. It wasn't a big check, but the opportunity was big because I was gonna be on billboards all over the world and my manager, he's like, just just wait. You take this one, people will see your face, will know your name, and that will grow into bigger things. Um

7:48 So that was a really great lesson. I mean it's it's so interesting because you you put so much time And from an early age, sort of into the tennis, in into, you know, what gets you this attention. And then when the attention comes, it's like you have to learn that business piece of it on the fly a little bit, right? Like it comes at you, but you don't

8:10 You know, and and the things that maybe from the outside look like it's fun, like you get to be celebrating Winning Wimbledon, it's not fun. It's a just a different kind of work. No, and the next day. I mean, you're focused on winning the next one, which is the US Open. There's only a certain amount of time that you're really allowed to think about your success, which in some ways is sad, but while you're holding the trophy, all the other opponents are Our training, you know, the world doesn't end to watch this this big moment in your life. And although you have to appreciate it and take it in, you can't believe the hype. You have to get back on the horse and and train and get better because they're you know, people will now know your game and your name and they'll wanna beat you even more. But

8:51 Back to it. business as as a young twenty year old. You're not playing till until you're sixty, right? Or retire. You're you're there until m perhaps I mean thirty-five at your very best. And so in my early twenties, I recognize that there will be an end. And whether that's at the end is because of an injury, whether that's because I want to start a family, whether it's because I lose interest, um, the time will come and so

9:19 That business frame of mind I loved every meeting that I got to participate in. And so I learned through people in boardrooms. I learned from not knowing. I learned from asking questions. For a lot of athletes and celebrities, their business is endorsements. I mean, that's sort of as far as they go. Uh you've pushed farther as an investor, as an entrepreneur, and and as a strategic business leader. I mean, you're on the board of Luxury fashion house monkler, a public company valued at more than sixteen billion dollars. Is being on a board

9:52 A different kind of pressure. Like how how do you see your role on the board? It's a different type of intensity. I mean, every meeting is like a UN meeting. They're done in Italian'cause it's an Italian uh public trading company. So every time you speak, I mean there's A similar microphone like this, you press a button, it's your time to speak. There's a little bit of a delay. And the one thing I I've really like that you really miss is the sense of like a match point, like in sport, you know, where there's there's this tension. You're constantly under a little tension. When you finish something that you've held this tension in there's nothing really like it there's nothing that really like

10:28 gets your juices flowing. And being in that boardroom was one of the first times where I was like, wow, I'm in unfamiliar territory. I like this feeling of having to show up and having to prove something. Not for everyone, but for myself. I took it as an opportunity to learn. I mean you know, sitting in a room with Roma Ruffini talking about, you know uh potential succession plan talking about the evolution of business. You know, Montclair is a seasonal business that's mostly focused on the winter months, right? How do you become a company that's not just relevant for seventy percent of the time, but for like ninety-five percent of the time. So it's I learn, I love it, um, and I get to be in a room with smart people. You always had a reputation on the court as being a kind of a a killer competitor. Are you as competitive about business in the same way?

11:15 Mm. I I don't think I'm as aggressive. I'm um I don't pump my fist as often, but uh I have a competitive nature. Um

11:30 I love I love teamwork. I love the idea of of having a goal and and everyone having different perspectives and aligning on a same goal. Even though I played an individual sport team was was everything to me, right? Getting off the court, having a crap performance and like acknowledging that we just lost as a team. Like There are those moments that they were tough parts of my career, but I I really miss them. You've got An investment portfolio. Better up, they're about a supergoop. You've also been an entrepreneur. I know you you launched a premium candy brand, Sugar Povova, which unfortunately didn't work out well and and shuttered in twenty twenty one.

12:08 What lessons have you learned from From leading a startup, from investing in startups. I had sugar pova for over ten years while I was playing, um, and got it profitable after several years. It was an MBA on the job. Ultimately, I mean I going into it, I didn't know what a P L was. I didn't know, you know, what a a strategic marketing plan was. Do you sell at a savings store or do you sell premium? Are you scaling a product that costs five dollars? How are you doing it but maintaining its quality? That was incredibly valuable and something that I now get to think about as I as I invest in companies.

12:47 mentioned your son uh Theo and uh and you know how young you were when you when you moved to the States to to train. You were you were five, not really not not much older than he is. Your dad was with you, but your mom wasn't able to join for like two years. Do you reflect on the choices your parents made? Well, when you're six years old, your parents are making choices for you. Let's but we can make that clear. Um But ultimately If things don't go well, it's not like where you came from of what you had.

13:20 Wasn't good enough. It's just you have an opportunity and a little bit of hope that maybe there is a chance to become great at something, and perhaps that's going to college. You know, that's not necessarily number one in the world. So kind of I think when we think of success we ultimately We go to the very top, right? We think of oh, you know, winning a grand slam, but I

13:43 I don't ever remember like thinking that that I know that that existed, but I didn't really understand the magnitude. Of what that victory is, or what it meant to others. All I knew is that I loved playing the sport. I was the first one in line. Like I want every weekend I played a different tournament in Florida. You know, someone I'd lose to one weekend, the next weekend I'd play them again and beat them and like

14:05 Wow, I mean how incredible that within six days I improved. So those little things like encouraged me. They kept me you know, they kept me up at night because I wanted to be better. And I think those are all Those were all the signs that, you know, both of my parents saw and said Wow. You know, she like loves this thing.

14:25 You were the highest paid female athlete in the world for like a decade plus. And and in a lot of ways you sort of set the bluepr athletes That followed. So so much is changing right now so fast. Social media has such a role. Women's sports outside of tennis is is getting a lot more attention. Do you look at the

14:47 blueprint for female athletes differently? Like is that is that blueprint in flux in some ways? Well, there's never been a playbook and and if there was, I think it's certainly being rewritten right now. Um You know, for female athletes. I think there's positives to it. There's also negatives. I think it's easy to get distracted in the world where There are more opportunities to make money and there are more opportunities to take advantage of of a successful career, whether you are a Grand Slam champion or whether you are A college player, I remember

15:19 You know, great. Financial deals that I I had to say no to, you know, because I knew that they would take up, well, one, too much of my time saying yes to incredible events that at the time as a young girl might seem really fun and interesting, but you also know that, you know, you got to be on the other side of the world competing in Asia or Europe. There are a lot of sharks out there. Um And you have to find the right people

15:46 Saying no to potential opportunities is an essential part of business success. To focus on what matters most, as a wise colleague once told me, Bob, we can do anything, we just can't do everything. So, what are the toughest trade-offs that Maria's struggled with? And is failure really a good learnce? We'll talk about that and more after the break. Stay with us. The Wired Newsroom is known for award winning reporting on how technology shapes our world. On Wire's Uncanny Valley, we take that curiosity even further. Each week, journalists from Wired break down the biggest stories in tech while speaking directly with the people building, challenging, and reshaping the future.

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18:07 I hope to see you there. Before the break, tennis icon Maria Sharopova shared her in-the-moment business training, from Nike's negotiating table to her now shuttered candy brand. Now we talk about the mental side of business and sports, what's similar, what's different, plus what she's learned from actress Zoe Seldana, and whether anything in business really matches. The intensity of center court. Let's jump back in.

18:41 We talked about Montclair. You are a Sports, fashion. Icon. What was so important to you about

18:49 Fashion on the court, off the court. Well, fashion on the court was a huge part of of an athlete's identity in my career over fifteen, you know, twenty years. I worked with many different teams within Nike and we're always striving to create unique looks, making sure that I was comfortable on court. How do you make it exciting? How do you You know, wearing shorts, like that was shocking for many. Um, you know, having a tuxedo jacket. Um, so all those little fun bits. I mean, it's it's it's your armor, it's your uniform, it's it's how you showing up, you know, the feeling of of putting on a dress um in the locker room and knowing that there are a few eyes on you. I love the element of surprise and and doing something different. I love being different. I loved wearing something that others weren't, right? If everyone was wearing black, I wanted to wear red. I want it to stand out because you don't always have to follow the pack and you you um you will be respected for it.

19:48 And that that uniform, that armor, or it sounds like was also uh a support for the the mental part of the game. So you thought about yourself the right way when you were When you were going into battle. sport teaches you to be selfish, to take care of your body, to take care of your mind. The idea of what is a routine, you know, of starting your day with Focusing on yourself, strong body, strong mind, all those things flow into life. You know, how you handle challenges. There's no loss that I look back on and think it didn't teach me anything. Every loss taught me something. And and a lot of times it's when I ended up doing my best work.

20:26 There are times you've got where you've got a felt have felt like I just don't feel like doing this right now. Like I'm just ti it's not a good day for me. Looking back, I remember We had like a an intense season where it was an Olympic year. So on top of the four Grand Slams, you add the Olympics, and I remember

20:45 you know, getting off the court with a silver medal and um And my my manager at the time was saying well what When do you want to fly to Montreal? Or I think we had a a tournament in Canada. And I was like, wait, we're not going to pull out of that? We're I'm playing that like next week. We had just come off of Wimbledon and then you had the Olympics, and then you're meant to fly to Canada. And so There's just the it's it's almost like a nonstop grind. And then you arrive in the city, right? And the city hasn't had a tournament in twelve months. So everyone is

21:15 you know, all fresh and ready to see you and you know, you've had a you have a bunch of commitments to the tournament. Um, so Yeah, I mean are you But that that comes down to the team. Like managing time. When you start a season, I mean planning that schedule is so important and being ready to pivot when you've had a result that's subpar and that you know you thought you were gonna be

21:38 toward the end of the tournament, you lose first round. You have to make adjustments to your schedule and And you have to right have the right people to make them with you. Failure or disappointment sometimes is endemic. It's endemic i in business and in sport, right? It's a tennis player point to point, match to match. You sort of have to get comfortable with things not going your way sometimes and you have to be willing to take risks on the fly. Yeah.

22:02 Business people. talk about sports as an analogy all the time. Do those experiences practically translate into business? Like what have you found to be similar and what's different? Hm. I think handling disappointment and the emotions and with which you handle them are quite similar, right? In business, it's more mental than physical, but you give so much for an outcome that that wasn't up to your standards. And so that's just that's really deflating. I feel like I have a good understanding of investing your time into something that has no guarantees of results. You can put in hours and hours, but you can have all the talent

22:42 But until you get there and you do it, like there no one's giving it to you, you know. The only time I ever felt that was last year at the Hall of Fame ceremony where my dad turned around to me and said, he's like, this is the first time I felt like I'm at a grand slam and I know who wins. Cayti and you get to an event You can be the number one ranked player in the world. You can be as confident like All the way up here. But until you go there.

23:10 And until they put the net up. And you play the match. and you win match point, no one knows who's gonna win. Whether you win or you don't win is in your control. To a certain degree, obviously you're playing against somebody else. But in but in business sometimes there's so many things that aren't in your control.

23:30 And And I wonder whether there are business lessons that tennis didn't prepare you for? The only thing. And control is your serve,'cause it's the first shot. Of the point. Um, but everything else is is

23:43 is based on adjusting, is based on pivoting, is based on unfamiliar territory. I mean and and within uh seven days of a tournament you can have it can hail there c it can be sunny. Sometimes you go on the court being prepared to play a two hour match. It's it It's three and a half hours. Your your recovery's very different. So the idea of change was always part of of my life and and my career. Um, and always thinking about where I want to peek. Like I wanna peek at the majors. I wanna peek toward the end of the second week of the major. I don't want to play my best tennis on a Monday of the first week. And that's not required. I just want to be better than the person that's in front of me. Right. I don't know. You have to be good enough to get through. You don't have to be at your best for that matter. You don't have to be and that's hard that's hard to accept.

24:31 Mm-hmm. You know,'cause we always want the best from us. And in some ways you don't wanna be'cause you don't wanna expend resources on something that doesn't shouldn't require those resources, right? You want to give enough, but not too much. I always strive for being you know, deliberate about

24:50 how I played and the choices that I was making on court, my coach would say just like Don't be stupid. It doesn't have to go into three sets. Uh Since you're talking about on the one hand sort of the

25:04 The mental agility in a game about once the serve starts, like you have to react to what's going around you. And And at the same time, this sort of prioritizing of, you know, how much do I put into this? Those are very much you know, big themes in business right now about both dealing t with environments that are uncertain and being ruthless about how you how you You know, prioritize your resources.

25:33 It's all up here, right, in our mind of how of how we approach it. Of how uh you know, the mentality that you have when things are not going well. Are you deflated? Are you, you know, like that. the composure that you show on a call in a meeting, um, the way that I I think of business is like Composures everything. People people see how you feel, how you, you know, how you react, um, use your words wisely. Um, you know, no matter who you meet in life, there there may be a time most likely they will come back in your life. Happens in sport all the time. It happens in business even more frequently. Um

26:12 So all those little lessons I I know. Get to apply. Mm-hmm, and and others respond to you. based on your composure also, right? Both on the court and in business. And so You're you're trying to elicit certain kinds of responses from them sometimes.

26:30 With your composure. That sounds a lot more complicated. I was like there's a net and I can only take care of you know my side of the court. You know, that's why I had a little routine in between every point. I was like I went back No matter if I was winning or losing, I would fiddle with my strings. It was a little just practice that I had for five, ten seconds just to think, just to be clear, just to kind of be composed about My next decisions.

27:01 And who you're playing against doesn't necessarily matter. I mean you kind of had a a legendary rivalry with with Serena Well, which you said. That made you better, you felt like it forced you up your game, right? Of course. Yeah.

27:17 When I was young, I m my father made sure that I would always play up in my age group because He didn't think there were so many there was as many valuable lessons when you're beating everyone to when you know, people are showcasing your weaknesses, right? And Like with Serena, she's a she's a business person also. Do you do you have a rivalry with her in business like you do in tennis? I mean, I know you, you know, your relationship has softened and she surprised you with the tennis hall of fame induction last summer, but like do you push each other on business impact too?

27:52 No, we we actually sh there's there's a lot of deal flow amongst us now. Which is a lot of fun. Cause we get to see, um we get to see a lot of the same or similar um business opportunities and we occasionally run it by one another. So that's been fun. For the podcast pretty tough. You've started recording some initial guests. Our first launch.

28:17 Guest is uh is Zoe Saldana, um, who is a friend and someone that I deeply admire. Um And to talk through like the frustrations and coming up and being a young actress and her you know her young beginnings in Dominican Republic. Um and then you get to the pinnacle of winning an Oscar and then it's like, Well now what? Now where do I go? You know? Um, and having like those just honest reflections of life and and bravery, I love challenging like the duality of You know, I you can be at the pinnacle at your toughest self, but then you come home and you know, you may have

28:57 There's challenges with your kids. You know, there's challenges in your relationship. There's grief. There's and how do you balance that, right? How do you not apologizing from going through all of these phases in life um and being a Pretty tough badass. I love the the name of the show because, you know You wanna stay pretty.

29:19 And you want to stay tough. And then you also have to be pretty tough. It's not about achieving that that Perfection. It's about the journey and not having to um I guess soften your ambition.

29:32 Acknowledging that that is That is equally as important as as being soft, as being vulnerable. And that that uh that joy, that uh you know, exulting feeling that we see from athletes when they win a big event or a big tournament. Like it's inspiring and it's infectious, and we all want that that buzz and that high. Does does business success ever give you that same kind of charge? I'd I'd say that that match point feeling is

30:00 It's hard to replicate. Very hard to replicate. Cause it's in the moment in front of thousands of people. There's just there's nothing quite like it, which is the beauty of sports, right? Of seeing Seeing the sweat and the tears, the emotions, the The the pressures that's why it's so special. There's nothing that could replicate it.

30:22 Maria, this was This was so great. Thank you so much for uh for joining. Thanks for the opportunity. I remember watching Maria when she first came onto the tennis scene and admiring how composed she seemed, no matter what came her way.

30:39 Her focus on composure as a critical business skill is especially true when so much is moving around these days. To become unsettled and panicky doesn't help our teams or ourselves. At the same time, I keep coming back to Maria's observation that you can't plan out a tennis match, that once the serve is played, you need to rely on instinct and reaction. All the training we do, whether on the court or in our businesses, it's about building the muscle memory to act with confidence, whatever situation is presented. That's what enables us to stay in the game. Whatever life spins our way.

31:19 I'm Bob Safian. Thanks for listening. Rapid response is a wait what original. I'm Bob Safian. Our executive producer is Eve Tro. Our producer is Alex Morris. Associate producer is Mashimaku Tonina. Mixing and Mastering by Aaron Bastanelli.

31:44 Our theme music is by Ryan Holiday. Our head of podcasts is Letal Malad. For more, visit rapidresponsshow.com. Yeah.