The Olympic Games and Going for the Gold

Have you been glued to your screen, watching the athletes of the Olympic Games? I have been, along with 30 million other viewers from around the world. One of my favorite parts of the Games is hearing about the stories of the Olympians themselves – it seems as if each of them have struggled, sacrificed and faced failure along the way to Rio. What strikes me when I hear the interviews of gymnasts, rowers, swimmers, cyclists and more, is that each one sees themselves as part of a team – the individual goals taking a back seat to the team goals. Sounds a lot like values-based Team Building and “Beyond You” leadership – behaviors and core values of Leaders Worth Following. (You can find dozens of amazing speakers sharing their insights on “beyond you leadership” and building true team collaboration.)

Kim Hamilton-Anthony certainly knows the struggle between individual glory and team collaboration. Kim was the first African-American woman to receive a gymnastics scholarship to UCLA, and later was inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame. She is also a commentator for ESPN. As a four-time U.S. National Champion, Kim discussed with Leadercast Now what it takes to build a winning team.

It’s all about you – until you reach the Olympic Games

“Gymnastics is very competitive. We literally compete against each other. It’s an individual sport for the most part—until you hit the Olympics, and then the college level,” Kim begins.

“So when you show up at UCLA, and you have been the athlete that was the standout back home, and you’re now among elite athletes from all over the world who have it going on—there’s a temptation to compete against them, instead of with them. But, in order for a team to be a winning team, you have to work together.”

Kim adds that the right coach – the right leaders – can make that happen. “A coach will have to look at each individual and coach them as separate entities, but yet, figure out a way to bring them all together so [the team] works and they win. One of the things that my coaches did at UCLA was to help us understand that each individual had something exclusive and personal to offer to the team.

“And once we bought into that,” Kim continues, “Once we figured out that, “Hey, GiGi is great on bars.” Or, “So and so is great on floor.” Then we were able to say, okay, my contribution will be here and [my teammate] will contribute in another manner. And that’s okay. I don’t need to compete against her, or tear her down, or be angry and have tension among us. I can cheer for her because I know that I’m going to offer something great in a different area. And when we come together, we’re going to win—as a team.”

According to Don Yaeger, former Sports Illustrated editor and currently a public speaker and author of 11 New York Times best-sellers, struggle and failure are drivers for many athletes. Don, who has worked with Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, among many, many others, explains that he interviewed hundreds of top athletes to better understand what made them winners.

Don also talked with Leadercast about becoming the ultimate teammate, and he netted it down to a set of 16 characteristics that all of us can learn – you don’t have to be an athlete to incorporate them into your own life. Some of them may surprise you – like this one, near the top of the list:

“You gotta hate losing more than you love winning.”

He explains that for Michael Jordan, losing a spot on his high school basketball team was the impetus that drove him to become one of the best basketball players in history. Michael told Don that he could have blamed being cut from the team on the fact that the kid who beat him out was 6’7” – Michael at the time was only 5’11.” But the key, Michael told Don, is not to let failure turn into a loss. “A failure only becomes a loss when you make an excuse for it,” quotes Don from his talk with Michael Jordan.

And greatness, adds Don, does not make excuses. “It makes progress. Greatness readily accepts blame, and acknowledges responsibility and ownership of a situation. It requires action and dedication.”

In discussing the star athletes that he interviewed for his book, The 16 Characteristics of True Champions, Don says, “It seemed to me that what set the truly great athletes apart were small, almost imperceptible things that made them dramatically different from their peers. There were incremental improvements in who they were and how they acted. These were the tiny changes, the ever-so-slight differences that gave them an edge in competition and in life.”

We all need a coach at some point in our lives

Another common theme among the Olympic athletes is that they have great coaches; coaches who give their time, motivation, wisdom, and insights. We saw them hug, cry, laugh, fist-bump, and cheer loudly over the weekend.

“It doesn’t matter where you are—from Little League to the highest level of the pros—you cannot gain success by raw talent alone,” says Don. “The great ones of our time know that it takes continual help from effective coaches to advance to the next step in their professional lives.”

Don’s not just talking about athletes here; he wrote that statement while attending a Leadership Development Program at the Harvard Business School.

“Is there something that makes our work as leaders so different that we don’t need coaching?” Don asks. “If you want to improve and haven’t made the progress you need or hope for, do you have a coach? If not, this is the single most important thing you can do for yourself and those you lead to create significant improvement.”

Do you have a coach?
Did you know that when you “take home the gold” with a Leadercast Now Gold Membership that you have hundreds of coaches? (Shameless plug ahead.) The Leadercast Now digital platform literally has hundreds of videos featuring real leaders sharing their true struggles and failures, insights and successes. As Gold member Shane Meder puts it, “It’s like having a team of leaders who have gone before me, who have experience and expertise in areas I don’t have, quietly leaning over my shoulder and guiding me.”

If watching the Olympic athletes has motivated you to be the best you can be in your organization, why not lean into the coaching of Leadercast Now? Build your leadership effectiveness in less than five minutes a day, with clear takeaways from each speaker and action items for you to complete to put your learning to work right away, wherever you are.

As Don says, “Great winners accept the challenge to improve their own skills, allowing them to move forward to bigger, greater things.”