One Shining Moment

People have been wondering who sang One Shining Moment at the end of the 2010 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game. The honour went to Grammy award winner Jennifer Hudson.

Hudson, who is the first female to sing the song, joins an impressive cast of past singers who have recorded the song, including Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass.

“This is the biggest honour to be the first woman to record ‘One Shining Moment,’” Hudson said in a statement. “I am so excited to be singing such a great song behind the likes of Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass. The song inspires you. It moves you. It motivates you and helps you reach that goal and that dream.”

One Shining Moment is an inspirational song written by David Barrett about the Men’s College Basketball Championship (at the end of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament). One Shining Moment is traditionally played at the end of CBS Sports’ coverage of the championship game of the tournament. The song is played as the winning team’s players cut down the nets, to a montage of highlights from the tournament.

Barrett, a singer/songwriter from Michigan, wrote the song after seeing Larry Bird star for Indiana State in the 1979 NCAA tournament. In 1986, he passed the song along to high school friend Armen Keteyian, an investigative journalist for CBS Sports and, at that time, Sports Illustrated, who in turn passed it to CBS Sports Creative Director Doug Towey. However, Towey originally planned to debut the song not after a basketball game, but after a football game, Super Bowl XXI. It was to have been the postgame montage from that contest, but CBS ran past the expected airtime and had a primetime show to debut in the next time slot, so the montage was cancelled. CBS then asked Barrett for use of the song after the 1987 NCAA championship game, in which Indiana beat Syracuse. Towey decided to use "One Shining Moment" to close CBS' coverage of the Tournament. The positive public response led to it becoming an annual feature. It has been used to end CBS' coverage ever since.

The first verse is about inspiration and hard work. The second verse deals with adversity, accompanied by highlights of injured players and missed shots. The bridge includes lines such as "Feel the beat of your heart", often shown with players thumping their chests, and "Feel the wind in your face", with video of drives towards the basket.

Listen to Jennifer Hudson’s One Shining Moment rendition below:

One Shining Moment

Preparing for Peak Performance

Witnessing the commitment, focus, fortitude and performance of the world’s best athletes competing in the recent Winter Olympics and Paralympics was inspiring. Athletes train their minds and psyche as well as their bodies so they can be the best in the world. So what can the business world take away from sports psychology to apply to developing winning business strategies, particularly in a still challenging economic environment?

The field of sports psychology recognises that succeeding requires a holistic approach of mind, body and spirit. Controlling emotions and gaining self-confidence are as important as game strategy, muscle building and skill.

Here are some of the techniques used in sports psychology and examples of how these can be applied in a business setting:

Goal setting

Writing down a goal and referring to it daily re-enforces the goal so it’s more likely to be accomplished. Repeating it out loud daily and having it at the top of one’s mind engages the subconscious mind in finding ways to achieve the goal. Effective goal setting in sports as well as in a business context includes developing skills for achieving results, identifying target dates for attaining goals, identifying goal-achievement strategies, and regular evaluation of the goal. Goal setting, while a left-brain activity, is closely linked with right brain activities, such as emotions, patience, optimism and learning to overcome obstacles.

Visualisation

Imagination plays an important role in achieving a vision and realising one’s dreams. Visualising success through imagery is one of the techniques athletes use to get them into a state of peak performance. This puts the athlete into a relaxed state, enhances mental preparation and helps manage anxiety. An effective application of visualisation in business is with sales staff. Perhaps more than any other field, sales requires a strong positive mindset.

Positive thinking

Your inner dialogue affects self-confidence and your ability to deal constructively with obstacles. Creating a positive mindset requires positive thoughts and self-talk. This includes recognising negative or irrelevant thoughts, identifying the thoughts that are sabotaging, or envision failure and catastrophe, and replacing them with affirmative and positive thoughts. In a business environment, these techniques are as useful for managers trying to build confidence in a work-group, as they are for individuals. By focusing on progress already made, keeping feedback constructive and instilling confidence, a team or individual magnifies their chances of achieving their goals.

Concentration

Being able to focus energy and awareness helps athletes maintain mental intensity and concentrate on doing their best. The ability to block distractions; whether from a crowd or other competitors is an important advantage for maintaining the steely mental discipline required for achieving peak performance. It also requires an ability to stay focused and to re-focus in spite of setbacks. (Such as the other team scoring.) In a business setting, applying this technique involves creating an environment that minimises distractions so that staff can concentrate on their work. It can also help you to focus on your goal despite downbeat news about the economy, or temporary setbacks in landing the latest contract, or job.

Preparing for Peak Performance

Purpose

Purpose is one of the key values of Positive Leadership.

‘Purpose is what gives life a meaning.’ Charles H. Perkhurst

Here is a reference material which speaks to this value:

Purpose