I nonetheless keep in mind that American Beginner Baseball Congress (AABC) championship recreation the place, with the scoreboard studying 1-1 within the closing inning, a floor ball shot towards me and every part slowed down. The essential double-play required absolute precision – one fraction of an inch off, and our season would finish. We executed flawlessly, establishing the game-winning dwelling run moments later. Years later at Lawrence Stadium in Wichita, Kansas, I discovered myself in a fair larger highlight – the NBC World Sequence with 16,000 followers making a wall of sound, the vitality electrical as we battled by means of 9 intense innings with each fan on their toes for the dramatic conclusion.
These epic video games taught me one thing I’ve carried into enterprise: in high-stakes conditions, the margin for error is vanishingly small. Groups that succeed aren’t simply gifted — they’re exactly calibrated machines the place each part works in excellent concord to ship outcomes that matter.
Whereas my experiences come from baseball, these ideas of teamwork, preparation, and execution apply throughout all sports activities and aggressive endeavors, whether or not it’s soccer (soccer) groups coordinating intricate performs, biking groups working collectively within the Tour de France, or cricket gamers executing below strain. The common classes of elite sports activities transcend the particular recreation.
Rising up in a baseball household formed my method to enterprise technique. From following my father Luis Pujols as he coached the Montreal Expos to spending numerous hours in clubhouses watching Corridor of Famers put together, sports activities knowledge has influenced how I work with our companions at Cisco to create distinctive buyer experiences.
As we put together for the Cisco 360 Companion Program launch in February 2026, I see clear parallels between sports activities coaching and customer-focused companion enablement. Each are about preparation, assessing capabilities, and making needed changes to ship successful outcomes.
The Best Group That By no means Was
Within the early Nineties, my father was the bench coach for what many take into account “the best workforce that by no means was” – the Montreal Expos squad stacked with future Corridor of Famers like Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, and Vladimir Guerrero. This wasn’t only a good workforce; it was a traditionally nice assortment of expertise poised to win a World Sequence.
Then the 1994 MLB strike occurred, reducing the season quick and shattering these hopes. I skilled this firsthand, transferring between Houston, Montreal, and Florida as my father’s profession dictated our household geography.
Like that Expos workforce, our companions have assembled spectacular capabilities. However in contrast to that workforce, we received’t let exterior elements derail our momentum. The Cisco 360 Companion Program represents our window of alternative – an opportunity to align our enterprise mannequin with buyer wants in ways in which generate measurable worth for them whereas creating sustainable progress for our total ecosystem.
The Psychological Sport: Creating Buyer Worth
What most individuals don’t perceive about sports activities on the highest stage is that it’s primarily psychological. The refined changes, anticipation, and strategic considering separate good gamers from nice ones.
I used to be reminded of this when an outdated teammate visited. As we watched a recreation collectively, my spouse listened to our dialog about catcher positioning to shave treasured tenths of a second off throw occasions and different refined changes invisible to most viewers. She was shocked at this hidden layer of the sport occurring proper earlier than her eyes.
Equally, the Cisco 360 Companion Program isn’t nearly altering incentive constructions – it’s about reworking how we collectively create worth for patrons. By rewarding companions throughout all the buyer lifecycle – from land to undertake, develop, and renew – we’re incentivizing the exact behaviors that result in superior buyer outcomes. The companions who succeed will probably be those that perceive how these refined changes of their method ship the experiences clients must thrive of their digital transformation.
Dedication, Consistency, and Braveness in Buyer Success
Throughout my teenage years, I spent numerous hours at Olympic Stadium practising the identical transfer repeatedly. Someday, pissed off by the monotony, I complained about doing the identical drill for weeks on finish.
A veteran participant overheard me and walked over. “You’re complaining about doing this for days and weeks,” Larry Walker mentioned, trying me straight within the eyes. “I’ve been doing it for 20 years. That’s what it takes to be nice: dedication, consistency, and braveness.”
These phrases modified my method without end. All through highschool and school, I wrote “CCC” below the brim of my baseball cap as a reminder that greatness requires these three parts.
For our companions navigating the transition to the Cisco 360 Companion Program, this similar “CCC” precept applies to buyer success: Dedication to understanding their enterprise challenges, consistency in delivering dependable experiences, and braveness to evolve your service mannequin to fulfill their altering wants. These qualities separate companions who create transformative buyer worth from those that merely fulfill transactions.
Respecting the Technique of Transformation
Studying to respect the method of transformation got here to me the laborious method. After one recreation, I made a careless resolution to swing an chubby bat that I had no enterprise utilizing. The end result was a torn rotator cuff that sidelined me for a 12 months and a half.
Pressured to look at others play the sport I beloved, I mirrored on my mistake. I hadn’t correctly ready my physique for that transition. Transformation requires a full dedication – your total system must be prepared for change.
The lesson applies on to our clients and companions right this moment. Digital transformation requires systematic preparation and holistic change. Our clients want companions who perceive this journey and might information them by means of it safely. With the Cisco 360 Companion Program, we’re enabling companions to develop the capabilities wanted to reduce buyer threat whereas accelerating their transformation outcomes.
The Excessive-Efficiency Routine
Certainly one of my most vivid reminiscences is watching Pedro Martinez – all 150 kilos of him – in his post-workout routine. Whereas I might almost match his weightlifting numbers as a younger participant, what separated Pedro was his meticulous method to physique upkeep, diet, and restoration.
For our companions navigating the transition to the Cisco 360 Companion Program, there’s an identical mindset required for delivering buyer worth. Success isn’t nearly making the large performs when the highlight is on – it’s concerning the constant, typically unglamorous work of constructing capabilities, understanding applied sciences, and creating repeatable processes that create distinctive buyer experiences each single day.
The Buyer-Centered Ecosystem
What made nice sports activities groups particular wasn’t simply particular person expertise – it was how these abilities complemented one another inside a system designed to win. Every participant had a job, and the entire grew to become higher than the sum of its elements.
That’s precisely what we’re constructing with the Cisco 360 Companion Program. Shifting past transactional relationships to customer-centric worth creation requires specialised capabilities and cross-industry experience. Simply as a workforce wants gamers with distinct expertise, our ecosystem wants companions who excel in several areas – managed companies, lifecycle assist, vertical options, and extra – all working collectively to ship full options that handle our clients’ most advanced challenges.
Prepared for the Buyer-Centered Future
As we method February 2026, we’re in our preparation section. It’s our time to construct capabilities, perceive the place we have to enhance, and make investments earlier than the brand new program launches.
After I suppose again to that Montreal Expos workforce that by no means received its shot at a championship, I’m reminded that we will’t take alternatives with no consideration. With the Cisco 360 Companion Program, we’ve an opportunity to align our companion economics with buyer success in methods that may drive mutual progress for years to return.
The query is: Will you be able to ship the transformative buyer worth that may outline our shared success?
Earlier than his expertise profession, Alex Pujols performed Division 1 baseball (the very best stage of U.S. collegiate athletics) as a catcher and third baseman. He’s the son of former Main League Baseball participant and coach Luis Pujols, who’s cousin to Albert Pujols, one in all baseball’s biggest hitters of all time.
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