I recently attended a virtual panel presentation in Minneapolis about women in sports that highlighted the important benefits of participation.

One of the panelists cited a study that discovered nearly 90% of women in C-suite positions have a sports background. The moderator, Mary Jo Kane, a retired professor in the School of Kinesiology and the former director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport, both at the University of Minnesota, asked the four panelists what role sports play in developing this executive skill set.

Everyone mentioned mental toughness and resilience, which translate to all aspects of life, especially business.

Mental toughness is persevering through difficult circumstances, conditioning your mind to think confidently and being able to overcome frustration. Athletes must be in tip-top physical shape, but if they don’t prepare themselves mentally, they will never become champions.

Mental toughness needs to be exercised to grow and develop. Get out of your comfort zone by taking on new tasks, and then seek out other duties to test your determination.

As for resilience, nearly all the successful people I know have dealt with defeat, slumps, failures, change and adversities of every nature. The reason they are successful in spite of all that is they had the confidence and courage to face those setbacks and find a way to overcome them.

Remember, you can’t live life with an eraser. You can’t anticipate every possible problem, no matter how hard you try. But you can resolve to face challenges as they arise.

The panelists also discussed teamwork, goal-setting, hard work and the importance of having mentors.

“Sports teach you about wins, losses and failures,” said Pam Borton, CEO of PBP Consulting Group and former head coach of the women’s basketball teams at the University of Minnesota and the University of Vermont. “As a coach, you have to build highly skilled teams. You learn how to hire, fire and recruit. All these skills are transferrable to business. As leaders, you learn how to help people and enhance people skills.”

Laura Day, executive vice president and chief business officer of the Minnesota Twins, said she learned to “surround herself with champions -- both men and women. You also need to be comfortable with change. Sports unlock a lot of things.” She mentioned that she is curious by nature and has an insatiable desire to learn.

Day added: “Culture is important because you can thrive in an organization that shares your values. It’s tough to fit a square peg into a round hole.”

Lisa Lissimore, associate director of the Minnesota State High School League, said you learn a lot from winning and losing. Sports gave her the confidence she needed because she had a complex about being tall and skinny growing up. Sports also allowed her to work with a variety of people.

Julie Manning, executive associate director of Gopher Athletics at the University of Minnesota, said she learned grit from competing in sports. “You stay in there when you get knocked down. You have to perform under pressure with calmness. There is always a sense of urgency, but you must remain calm.

“Sports teach you to solve problems. For example, if you have a bad tee shot on the golf course, you have to think about how to get out of that situation. Sports also builds consensus. You learn to strive to get better every day,” Manning added.

So, what can parents and grandparents do to help their daughters and granddaughters be successful?

Manning talked about her older brother, who always told his daughter to dream big and then dream bigger.

Day also talked about “feeding your dreams. Tell your daughters and granddaughters to stay positive. Trust yourself. Many people are willing to help, so don’t be afraid to ask them.”

Borton also mentioned the importance of being role models for your children and to provide support and encouragement. “Everyone needs positive reinforcement,” she said.

“We need to make visions of possibilities available to young women,” Lissimore said. “You can do a lot of things if you put your mind to it.”

Truly, it’s mind over matter.

Mackay’s Moral: Training for sports is good training for business and life.

A newlywed young man was sitting on the porch on a humid day, sipping iced tea with his father. As he talked about adult life, marriage, responsibilities and obligations, the father thoughtfully stirred the ice cubes in his glass and cast a clear, sober look at his son.

“Never forget your friends,” he advised. “They will become more important as you get older. Regardless of how much you love your family, you will always need friends. Remember to go out with them occasionally or keep in contact with them somehow.”

"What strange advice," thought the young man. "I just entered the married world. I am an adult, and surely my wife and the family that we will start will be everything I need to make sense of my life."

Yet, he followed his father’s advice, kept in touch with his old friends and made new friends along the way. Over the years, he became aware that his father knew what he was talking about.

Children grow up. When they become independent, they begin their own families. Grandchildren are a blessing, but we can’t expect them to be at our beck and call. And besides, your family will love you regardless of who you are or what you do.

Jobs/careers come and go. People can't do what they did physically when they were young. Parents pass on, but you persevere. Colleagues forget the favors you did. The race to achieve slows.

But true friends are always there, no matter how long or how many miles away they are. Love your parents, take care of your family, but keep a group of good friends.

My good friend Dale Brown, former LSU basketball coach, sent me this story, and it reminded me of a fascinating study by Harvard University that tracked the physical and emotional health of 700 people. They followed these people and tested them (e.g., blood samples, brain scans) for 75 years.

Here’s the primary conclusion: “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period,” said Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.

The analysis showed a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships.

“Social relationships, or the relative lack thereof, constitute a major risk factor for health -- rivaling the effect of well-established health risk factors such as cigarette smoking, blood pressure, blood lipids, obesity and physical activity,” stated the three authors of the study.

Good relationships will help you deal with life’s minor annoyances and your most challenging problems. Without good relationships, you’ll have a hard time finding customers, making a sale, securing a job, hiring the right employee and having great friends.

As I like to say, you must “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty,” which coincidentally is the title of a networking book I wrote. Here is the most important line in that entire book: "If I had to name the single characteristic shared by all the truly successful people I’ve met over a lifetime, I’d say it is the ability to create and nurture a network of relationships."

You can take all my money! You can take all my factories! You can take all my land! But leave me my network of relationships, and I’ll be back to where I was today in three to five short years.

I am so convinced of that fact that I’ve worked constantly to build relationships. It has served me every day of my life in ways I could never have imagined. And I am honored to be my friends’ go-to guy when they need a favor, a reference or someone to lean on.

If you want one year of prosperity, you grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, you grow trees. But if you want 100 years of prosperity, you grow relationships. With the coronavirus tipping the world upside down, one thing will remain constant -- the relationships we develop over a lifetime.

Relationships matter.

Mackay’s Moral: In my entire career, I have never once heard a successful person say he or she regretted putting time and energy into working on their relationships.

One of the reasons we admire people who take risks is that most of us are scared stiff at the prospect of taking risks ourselves. “I could never do something like that,” we say. The “something” we could never do might be anything from starting a new career to learning how to cook something. It doesn’t matter. Sometimes, it seems that the only people who can take risks successfully are the people who have nothing to lose.

You’ve got to go out on a limb sometimes -- but not so far that you fall off. To help you in these perilous times, I’ve come up with my ABCs of risk-taking:

A is for apprehension. Taking a large or small risk comes with a degree of apprehension.

B is for bravery. Afraid to try something new? Most people are.

C is for challenging. Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks. If you win, you will be happy. If you lose, you will be wise.

D is for differentiator. Some risks can make or break your business.

E is for enterprising. Thinking outside the box to find the information you need or to get the project accomplished is one of the traits that I really admire in people.

F is for flexibility. Nearly all the successful people I know have dealt with defeat, slumps, failures, change and adversities of every nature. The reason they are successful despite all that is they had the confidence and courage to face those setbacks and find a way to overcome them.

G is for genius. Recognizing a genius idea is one of the traits that characterize serious risk-takers.

H is for healthy. Approach risk with a healthy skepticism, then assess the real hazards and benefits to reach a reasonable path to fulfillment.

I is for inherent. From taking your first step to investing your life savings in a new venture, nearly every activity we undertake in our lives involves taking risks.

J is for jealousy. Never take a risk out of jealousy for another’s accomplishments, because it will end in disaster. Instead, study their success and learn how they turned risk into success.

K is for knock it out of the park. You can’t hit a home run unless you take a swing at the ball.

L is for leap of faith. Every major decision requires a leap of faith. In the final analysis, what your inner voice tells you is the best advice you can get.

M is for mission. A clearly defined mission makes managing risk considerably easier. If you know where you want to go, you can anticipate some of the landmines along the way.

N is for nerve. Risk-taking often requires nerves of steel to face the inevitable challenges and failures involved with big risks.

O is for originality. Hanging around with creative people helps you understand different ways of looking at the world and stimulates your thought processes to more original ideas.

P is for possibilities. When you see what is possible, you are more inclined to take a risk that will pay off.

Q is for quit. Quit complaining, quit dragging your feet, quit talking yourself out of what could be a fabulous opportunity because you are afraid to take a risk.

R is for realistic. Taking risks can reap big rewards, but only if the venture is realistic.

S is for stepping out of your comfort zone. No risk, no success.

T is for turtles. A turtle only makes progress when it sticks its neck out.

U is for undaunted. Understand that failure will happen. There will be some pain and failure. It’s part of life.

V is for visionaries because risk-takers don’t see things as they really are. Visionaries exercise a lot more control over the outcome of events.

W is for willpower, which keeps people hammering away. Determined people possess the stamina and courage to pursue their ambitions despite criticism, ridicule or unfavorable circumstances.

X is for eXhilerating. Young people especially take risks for the thrill and as part of normal development.

Y is for yes, you can. When others say no you can’t, but you see a better way forward, ignore the nay-sayers and tell yourself yes, you can.

Z is for zinger. When you get a zinger of an idea, zero in on how you can make it happen. There’s no greater feeling in business than to know the risks you take are paying off.

Mackay’s Moral: Sometimes it’s risky not to take a risk.