Don your tennis whites (with adjustments as Wimbledon moves into the 21st century) and grab your glass of champagne, strawberries and cream – Wimbledon is upon us.

The oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, the Championships draws international attention annually, with millions vying for tickets. While celebs and royalty are guaranteed the best seats in the house, us mere mortals battle it out for the chance to get a seat at centre court and be witness to legends and superstars of tennis.

The names centre court has hosted over the past 136 years is a who’s who of tennis’s greats, many now are household names. From Nadal to Djokovic, Murray to Federer, Navratilova to Williams, Laver to King, these titans of tennis have amazed and entertained us for decades – but now, the next generation are gearing up to take up the baton.

This summer, we are seeing a host of young talent leading the drama at Wimbledon following the spectacular emergence of Emma Raducanu. The likes of Carlo Alcaraz, Katie Boulter and Coco Gauff are not shying away from the task of filling some pretty big boots and the result is exciting and captivating tennis for both fans and newbies to the sport.

As I watched this generation of bright young things take centre stage (and, incidentally, I have discovered the TV drama ‘Succession’, I am late to the party I know!) I have been thinking about how we can make it easier to usher in new talent that is geared to success. For those of us who have been in our respective careers and functions for a period of time leading to a level of expertise and knowledge, we have a responsibility to support those who are starting out – whether it be by sharing the knowledge gained through experience and training, mentoring and coaching or helping them to build their internal and external networks to enable the next generation to open their eyes to the opportunities that lie ahead – much broader and diverse than when I entered the work place!

In an increasingly competitive and often challenging employment market for those at the outset of their careers, we need to build a bridge between the past and the future – the benefits to the individual and their employers are obvious; but do we really focus or shape career and personal development plans to align with business strategy? Success stories in careers and employers do and those that don’t miss a huge opportunity and consequently suffer in performance, often struggling with staff retention and attraction. It is an exciting and privileged position to be in to be able to nourish emerging talent and, as we have seen in the case of Wimbledon, the rewards for both the individuals and the tournament are great. Carlos Alcaraz’s arrival on the biggest stage has not happened by accident.

If you want to find out how we at ABPM+ can help you and your team support careers and business people strategy, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

 

Rej Abraham, Sarah Torrington, Matt Byrne, Alex Handford