Yao Ming thanks LinkedIn users

Many of you regular readers of the blog must have read my earlier post on a question asked by Yao Ming, starting center of the Houston Rockets, on whether "participating in sports made an important difference in your professional life." Yao Ming has been pleasantly surprised by the response from LinkedIn users to his question. In his own words:

"I'd like to thank the LinkedIn users for taking the time to respond to my question. I appreciate your many thoughtful answers and would like to thank you for the kind words and good wishes. I hope you will continue to support the rebuilding efforts in China to help deserving children find schools where they can learn in safety."

Yao has also picked five respondents to receive 20 raffle tickets each. Here are their five profiles and excerpts from their winning answers:

1. Debbie Elicksen

"There are many similarities between the playing field and the boardroom. Both strategize their next move, both are continually updating the tools of their trade, both use key personnel to inspirit employees to reach success. Regardless of your profession, the following key points can help you reach your potential..." Read more here.

2. Aaron Sault

"The discipline of setting goals and constant evaluation of my performance and associated equipment related perfectly with business. Being pragmatic in meeting business objectives and benchmarking all of the critical factors of success is exactly the same. In my sport a lot of the results were dependant on not just the athlete but the equipment, training programmes, diet etc. Measuring and evaluating what my competition was doing and using in small detail helped me to understand what factors were making the biggest impacts and also helped me asses my strengths and weaknesses..." Read more here.

3. Merlin Giles

"As someone who has played sport (rugby, cricket) at a high level but never professionally I have taken with me many qualities which you learn on the field. Team work, leadership, competitiveness, resourcefulness, cooperation, dogmatism, quick thinking and drive. These things have helped me in my work life but were obviously noticeable when I did a year of teaching for 7 to 13 year olds..." Read more here.

4. Leslie Dudley

"Yao, Finding my sport was tough as I believed that I had little athletic ability. But when I began learning dressage, I found my passion. I learned that an athlete can be created with hard work and mental toughness. The gift the sport and horses gave to me was self-confidence.  And most of my life lessons I learned by experience riding..." Read more here.

5. Lisa Matthews

"Yao Ming - Yes, playing sports growing up made a significant difference in the way I approach business today. (and still helps today when I get frustrated and need a good outlet!)  Some of the lessons that carryover from sports:

1) You're only as strong as your weakest link..."

--> And, read 6 other lessons Lisa learned.