Sir Clive Woodward OBE, England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning head coach, director of sport for Team GB at London 2012, and Seat Unique investor helped the team kick off the new year with an inspirational talk on the DNA of a champion.
2022 was a very exciting and successful year for Seat Unique; the team grew from 5 - 50, our list of official partnerships grew from 12 - 36, we secured the naming rights of 2 stadiums, welcomed Ospreys, Wales Rugby and British & Irish Lions player George North as a brand ambassador, and helped 45,000 fans enjoy premium experiences at a number of incredible live events.
Entering 2023, we show no signs of slowing down. Just 3 weeks into the new year, we have launched the German-language version of the Seat Unique website and announced our first-ever Formula 1 partnership with the Baku City Circuit. And we have plenty more announcements of this kind in the pipeline.
In order to keep the momentum going, we invited Seat Unique investor, Sir Clive Woodward to our office in Victoria, London to meet the team and to discuss what makes a champion.
Great teams are made of great individuals
Based on experiences throughout his career so far, Sir Clive delivered his presentation on ‘The DNA of a Champion’ which delved into the traits that make a winner, his leadership style and his learnings over the years.
Sir Clive discussed the criteria that he believes make up a champion individual or team in both business and sports, as well as how leaders can develop these characteristics to build high-performing teams, based on the idea that "great teams are made of great individuals."
As Sir Clive dived deeper into this notion, he explained that if you “invest in individuals they will not let you down” and the importance of “getting every individual working at an optimum level”. At Seat Unique, we pride ourselves on having built a great team made up of talented individuals. We’re passionate about our people and believe that each individual plays a crucial role in achieving our vision for the future. That’s why investing in our employee's professional development is important to us.
Whoever wins at IT tends to win
Giving insight into his leadership style, Sir Clive revealed that throughout his business career, he learned that “whoever excels in technology tends to come out on top.” He then shared the story that when he took on the role of England coach, one of the first things he did was provide laptops for all players.
This generated a lot of attention at the time because these were tough, physically strong players and only a small percentage of them knew how to use a computer. The underlying purpose of this was to distinguish the players who were willing to learn from those who were not. In Sir Clive's words, to differentiate between the "sponges" and the "rocks."
Being a tech startup, we have our finger on the pulse of the latest advancements and trends in the industry. Our cutting-edge technology is revolutionising the premium ticketing market, but we are focussed on encouraging our team to be open to change and adapt to new technologies, to keep us ahead of our competitors.
Winners perform at their best when pressure is at its greatest
One of the most inspirational takeaways from Sir Clive’s talk was his insights and advice on ‘thinking correctly under pressure’, or ‘TCUP’ as it’s referred to in business. Alongside talent, teachability and having an outstanding work ethic, Sir Clive regards TCUP as one of the core criteria for being a champion.
Drawing on an example from the men's synchronized 3 metre springboard competition in the 2004 Olympics, where an unforeseen sequence of events led to the then-leaders Peng Bo and Wang Kenan of China failing their final dive, Sir Clive explained the importance of planning how teams and individuals handle pressured situations.
As Sir Clive so eloquently put it: “winners perform at their best when pressure is at its greatest.” Seat Unique operates within two fast-paced industries: the event ticketing space and technology. Outside of this, as a business, we need to be quick to react to unforeseen circumstances. The pandemic presented unprecedented challenges, but our ability as a team to adopt the TCUP method helped us survive and emerge as winners. Having this trait is vital to our success as a team and individuals, and is something that we endeavour to uphold.
Sir Clive delivered a truly engaging and inspirational presentation that has given the team the motivation to take on our most important challenge: to become the go-to premium ticketing marketplace for live events.
Everyone at Seat Unique would like to thank Sir Clive for his time, guidance, and his support of our business. We have big plans for 2023 and we are very excited about what the future holds.
About Seat Unique
Seat Unique is the trusted premium ticketing marketplace enabling clubs, rights-holders and venues to increase fan access to hospitality experiences at live events. To understand how Seat Unique can help drive new customers for your premium ticket and hospitality offering, please email [email protected] and join the ever-growing community of partners benefiting from Seat Unique’s innovative technology and services.
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