Management Lesson From The Movie "Sultan"

Recently I happened to watch Salman Khan's latest movie "Sultan" which packs a punch of management lessons worth learning. It's been quite sometime since Chak De India a movie with sports in backdrop touched chord with the masses. So here are few lessons that the movie brings to the fore:

Don't rush into making decision / form opinion about people. When Akash Oberoi the promoter of mixed martial arts league and Fateh Singh, who goes on to coach Sultan, meet Sultan for the first time take him to be plumb, obese out of shape person who may not be able to survive the rigours of the sport till they see him in action. In process they teach us go beyond and look at strengths and potential rather than going by what is evident.
Touch a chord with people by winning their hearts, finding what matters to them and they will climb Mount Everest for you. While ending Sultan's story, his friend Govind gives this advice to Akash Oberoi for convincing Sultan to participate in mixed martial arts league. Akash does precisely that by sensitizing Sultan to the fact that the league can help him realize his dream of setting up the blood bank in bereaved sons memory.
Find a purpose and commit yourself to it. When Sultan takes to wrestling it is for the sole purpose of winning Arfa's heart. In the process he goes on to win World Wrestling Championship. When he returns to back to mixed martial arts league a somewhat similar sport the purpose is to win back Arfa who has grown apart from after the death of their first child due to anemia and Sultan's absence. The other purpose being to setup a blood bank in his childs memory.
There is no substitute to hardwork and training and learing with rigour. When rebuked by Arfa as a aimless and wasted youth, Sultan uses it as a way of subjecting himself to rigourous training and picking up the nuances of wrestling. In almost a repeat of provocation by his coach Fateh Singh as a dead soul weighed down by his now apart wife and dead son Sultan works hard and trains rigourously learning the nuances of mixed martial arts while getting himself back in shape.
Know what motivates you. An out of shape Sultan finds it difficult to run while getting back in shape till the time he stumbles upon a kite during one of his runs reminding him of his penchant for catching kites. He compels his coach to use it means of training him to get back in shape.
Hang in there. Perserverance matters. Watch your opponents move. When Sultan fights his first fight in the Pro Take-Down League, he is not able to guage the the agile and quick movements of his opponent. Sultan fails to makes sense out of it and takes severe beating. However he hangs in and resists tapping out despite almost getting choked with 10 seconds to go. His perserverance pays off as Sultan gets to analyse the movements of his opponent during the break which he picked up while fighting the first round and defeat him.
End what you have started. When a Arfa comes to meet a badly injured Sultan she tells him that she still has confidence him in winning the league title. For if he looses he will be nothing but a dead soul inside a body which she does not intend to see him as and hence it is important for him to finish what he started.
Appreciate sacrifices people make for you. Sultan while climbing the steps of sucess fails to see and appreciate the sacrifices which his wife Arfa has made in the process by putting him before herself and sacrificing a promising career, giving up on her dreams of winning a Olympic medal. The lack of acknowledgement constrains their relationship.
The real hero is not the one who wins but the one who looses for he knows the real worth of winning. The piece of advise given by Sultan's coach Fateh Singh highlights the importance of not getting bogged down by defeats rather rising up to the ocassion and fighting yourbattles.
Three lessons which Sultan learns from wrestling. Three key lessons which Sultant eventually realizes when he is fighting the fight of his life.

Wrestling is not about fighting in ring but about the fight within, a fight with yourself.
A real fighter is one who fights life and comes out victorious in life.
No one can defeat you till you have conceded defeat to yourself.

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