Cross-learnings #1: from international athlete to analyst relations

(Cross learnings is a series about how skills, experiences, and insights translate from one discipline to another. Whether it's an interesting hobby, a life-long passion or a previous career arc, how do these experiences shape professionals and what they do? What lessons did they carry over, and how are they able to apply them at work?)

Akshaya Sona Sri is a decorated athlete who has not only won gold medals at state and national levels for long jump and triple jump, but also competed on the global stage. Despite an injury that eventually stalled the momentum of her athletic journey, she represented India at the Asian Youth Games. Today, she represents Zoho as part of the AR (analyst relations) team at analyst meets, interfacing with organizations such as Gartner, Forrester, and IDC. Her efforts ensure that Zoho is placed in enviable positions on important market research reports such as Gartner's Magic Quadrant and IDC's MarketScapes, driving credibility for the brand, and helping create serious momentum in user adoption.

Could lessons and insights from her journey in athletics have informed her growth in the world of AR and her career in general? We talked to Akshaya to find out.

Thinking fast  

In athletics, winning positions are so often separated by fractions of seconds. 0.2 seconds could be the difference between the gold and the silver, between "I did it" and "if only..." It's not surprising then that the ability to make split-second decisions is a crucial asset when it comes to one's metal haul in a competition.

"In long jump, you need to calculate your run-up and your strides to make the best jump you can. If you get it wrong even by a bit, it can really affect the jump or it can result in a foul.

If there was a problem with how you jumped in your first attempt (jumpers get six attempts), you need to be aware of it and correct the mistake in the next attempt."

This ability to handle pressure and think on her feet is a strength Akshaya painstakingly cultivated—on dusty practice grounds in the scorching sun, in sports academy campuses, and in the bustle and din of tournament stadiums where expectations are high. But it's also one that has served her exceedingly well in her profession.

"You can never anticipate how an analyst might react to information. I can plan for what I'm going to do but I won't know how others will react. There might be something that I felt was great and expected a positive reaction for, but if the analyst approaches it differently, I can't afford to freeze. I need to be ready with the best response, change my narrative instantly to address any negative comment, and still put us in a positive light."

Onward and upward 

Coincidentally, the market reports that Akshaya has to work on in her job are similar to sports in a way—there are coveted positions that every brand covered in the report wants to be in, like the winning places on a podium. For example, after companies submit their product capabilities and other details, analysts classify them into challengers, niche players, visionaries, and leaders for the Gartner Magic Quadrant. All companies want to become leaders, but the climb is a gradual process.

"Sometimes, you don't get the position you want. But the next year, when the same report is published again, it's on you to make sure that you get a better positioning than last year. You might not be able to go from 0 to 100 in a year, but you're always trying to be on an upward trajectory. That way, I think sports and AR are pretty similar."

That leads us to another mental trait of athletes. A social media influencer can dream of a piece of media going viral and their viewer count growing exponentially. A shareholder of a company's stock can consider the possibility of their stock price skyrocketing. But the realm of sports is bound by the limitations of the physical world and the human body. The fact that improvements happen in gradual increments is deeply ingrained in sportspeople. This gives them the ability to frame their goals in a grounded manner.

"I can't be setting a short-term goal that's out of my reach. If I'm not even a district medalist in long jump, I know I have no business setting a national gold as my immediate target. The first short-term goal will be to work on myself, eventually get a district medal, then a state medal, qualify for the South zone, and then finally get to the nationals. The national medal is a long-term dream I have to work towards over the course of a few years. So I think sports definitely helps set healthy and realistic goals."

To use a sports metaphor, achieving your dreams is more like a marathon than a sprint. Which is why sporadic bursts of effort just won't cut it, no matter how intense they are. It demands that you put in the daily grind, that you don't phone it in. But while this is just the expectation in high-level athletics, it's a mindset that becomes a superpower when it crosses over into the professional world.

"You can't just work really hard one day and expect results out of it. If I'm supposed to win in a competition, I can't be giving my 100% just once in a while. I have to do it consistently. My coach even used to tell me that every single day I take off, my body is going to detrain. I'm not sure if that's an actual fact but it definitely stayed with me."

Going all in 

From cutting out junk food to following up on a strict diet to doing hours of workouts and practice every day, there is a lot that is required from a serious athlete.

"It takes a lot of effort to stick to the routine. Knowing what has to be done and following through on it are two completely different things."

"When I was not consistent, especially early on, I felt like my passion was also decreasing. But when you keep doing something every single day, it keeps your focus and your interest in it, and you strive to become a better version of yourself."

According to Akshaya, this helps her relate to other sportspeople. It's only natural—after all, they've experienced the same life of discipline and rigor. They have the same mindset when it comes to chasing a target, the same competitiveness and aversion to failure that makes them overprepare, and also the resilience to emerge from setbacks.

"In fact, it's not just sports, I can relate to anyone who's been into anything competitive. I hate failing but sports also taught me that if I do lose, I can work on it to become better and win the next time. I'm not just going to sit back and take it. I'll identify why I lost, go work on it, and try and win that medal the next time I participate. I think if not for sports, I would have never gotten that attitude, and that ability to bounce back. I think it gave me that confidence."

The team game

Akshaya also learned key lessons about collaboration and teamwork from other sports. In relay races, for example, there is no time to even look at your teammate because every fraction of a second matters. This makes it supremely important to be able to trust the person who's handing you the baton as well as the person you're handing it off to. It operates on faith.

"In the time I take to turn back and look at my teammate and run, I could have taken two strides, so I think that's the level of trust you need to have on your teammates.You have to work with the team, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of everyone."

It's not unlike the mutual trust that's necessary between her and the product managers and marketers she needs to work with. She trusts in their process, and they trust in hers.

Feedback. For the win.

Being a team player also makes it easy to share opinions without judgment. Not everyone takes feedback the same way—some people are just not comfortable with receiving inputs on their work. The fact that coaching and feedback are an integral part of competitive athleticism, however, means that athletes are comfortable accepting and giving out feedback.

"I think sports make you very receptive to constructive criticism. If someone says, 'You could have done this better,' I might be disappointed that I didn't do it great the first time, but I would still be open to it. I would not feel like that person is putting me down because we are used to it, and it's useful. At the end of the day, it makes me better. Sometimes, we actively ask for it."

But as athletes who are used to clear and constant feedback, can the lack of it be disconcerting? After all, sportspeople have coaches to observe their every move, analyze their performance, and offer a constant stream of feedback to make improvements.

Akshaya believes it's not practical to expect that in the professional world. While managers can sometimes fulfill that role, giving feedback and performance reviews, they don't have the bandwidth to always guide and help improve direct reports unlike a coach whose job revolves around that. Moreover, work is not always so linear or black and white; there are gray areas where it's difficult to determine what the right direction is. There are simply a lot more factors involved.

But it's okay because sportspeople realize early on that they cannot be dependent on others. Despite competitive athletes having coaches and a support system, they are also used to relying on themselves.

Being your own cheerleader  

"You have to be your own motivator and coach at times. When my coach is not there, I have to realize what mistakes I'm making while doing a jump and then correct them for the next one. I have to be my own support system. Sometimes, you're alone in a different country, and after one jump, you're just upset. I can't step out and ask someone to motivate me. I have to keep hyping myself up and be my own cheerleader."

While it's something she puts in practice in her professional life today, the seed of this spirit of independence was sown as far back as her school days. Akshaya used to go with her school friends to practice grounds and to the sports academy. But over time, she realized that when they weren't consistent, it affected her motivation as well. She was afraid that she was losing her drive.

"One day, I thought 'oh my God, what's happening, why am I not going anymore?' And that's when I decided 'you know what, even if no one's coming with me, I'm just going to go', so I just took my bag and went to the academy."

And there was no looking back after that.

Several gold medals and international tournaments later, here we are.

So now that we've seen what she learned from her sports journey, let's wrap things up by taking a look at some of her fondest memories from then.

Getting the call to represent India was definitely one of them. So was having her name and photo appear in magazines and newspapers, and having one of her favorite Tamil film stars recognize her, thanks to them.

But winning the national gold for long jump on her first appearance (a rare feat) is, not surprisingly, right up there.

"I still remember my coaches and my parents and friends, all cheering from the stands."

As a first-time contender on the national stage, she was not taken seriously by her peers and remembers feeling left out of conversations, not having anyone to talk to. But when she proved her worth, she immediately became the center of attention.

"It gave me a very important life lesson. That's when I realized performance speaks for itself."