Posts Tagged ‘notre dame’
Is March Madness Good for the Office?
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Every year corporate efficiency wonks (or as I like to call them, the Fun Police) estimate the many billions lost by employees following the NCAA basketball tourney. People take off work to watch the games, they talk about upsets (likeNotre Dame’s stunning loss to Old Dominion), and I’ve heard that people even participate in office betting pools. Those sound fun…I should that out some time.
Admittedly, focusing on college basketball isn’t business focused, but I think March Madness is good for business for a few reasons:
1. Office morale: Betting on basketball games is an office equalizer. The CEO is no smarter than a sales rep on who is going to win the tourney — and taking money from the bosses, if you do win, is a sweet thing.
2. Enhance your ability to make small talk: often when talking with customers (or potential customers), you don’t have anything in terms of small talk. For the next several weeks, you have endless amounts of small talk (how you’re doing in the office pool, your favorite team getting beat by Old Dominion etc…etc..). It’s the same reason why I like People Magazine, it gives me material so I can talk with anyone.
3. Improves your project management ability: anyone who has ever run an office betting pool will tell you that it is a nightmare unless you’re organized. What better way to break in your new project manager than by throwing him an illegal office pool.
What’s your thoughts on the NCAA tourney?
