Photo by Martine Jacobsen on Unsplash

Olympic Lessons in Leadership

It’s the Winter Olympics and I am getting my fill of sliding and gliding.  Some sports make me wish I were out there and some make me glad I’m enjoying them on the sofa.

Another thing I love about the Olympics are the stories of the athletes, both their journeys with their sport and during their events.  A great moment happened on Sunday with the “skiathlon”, a cross-country skiing race.

18 Miles For Gold

All of the cross-country ski events are dominated by Europeans, especially the Norwegians and this was no exception.  This race is 30 km (about 18 miles) and the winner finished in one hour, sixteen minutes.  Think about it.  A 14-mph pace.  Faster than a marathon.

In Sunday’s race, one of the Norwegian skiers, Simon Krueger, had a fall about 30 seconds into the race.  Two other skiers fell on top of him and he broke a pole.  The announcers counted him out at that point.  “He’ll never catch up,” they said.  “Too bad,” they said.  Besides, they were focused on a 21-year-old Norwegian, who was the golden boy destined for the gold medal.  It seemed to be just a matter of watching how the golden boy was going to do it.

He’ll Never Do It, They Said

But periodically, they would mention Krueger.  At the 6km mark, he was 37.8 seconds behind the lead, in 38^th place.  At 15km, the halfway point, he was 15 seconds behind.  At 17 km, he was in 10^th place.  At 24.75km, he was in first place, and never looked back. At one point, he was about 22 seconds in the lead.  His lead did drop a bit, and I was sitting on the sofa, yelling, “Come on!  Come on!”   He won by 8 seconds.

The golden boy?  He finished 10^th.  He was first at the halfway point and stayed within 4 seconds of the lead for quite some time.  But at the 26km point, 4 km from the finish, it looks like he just ran out of steam and slipped further and further behind.

Leadership Lessons

We can see several lessons in this.

• Stumble at the beginning? Trust your training and keep going.  You never know.  It’s not over until it’s over.  Sometimes this happens with new leaders.  Something unfortunate happens and you wonder if anyone will ever take you seriously again.  They will, as long as you do.  Krueger clearly didn’t give up on himself.  Forgive yourself and keep going.
• The anointed one doesn’t always perform. We’ve all seen that in the corporate world, too.  There often seems to be someone early in their career who somehow gets a halo and everyone seems to think they’ll be the next CEO.  Again, that’s great for them and I hope they do well.  But more often than not, hard work and persistence triumphs and the anointed one fades from view.
• Help is out there. The rules allowed someone from the Norwegian team to hand Krueger a new pole to replace his broken one.  There are coaches on the sidelines shouting encouragement and letting the skiers know what their pace is.  You have helpers willing to hand you a new proverbial pole, and you have mentors and career coaches ready to help.  You’re not in this leadership thing alone, even though it may sometimes feel that way.  Reach out for help, and you will find it.  (If you’re reading this, that’s a great start.)

I hope you, too, are enjoying the winter games!  Look for the stories that provide you with inspiration.