10 Ground Rules for Being a Great Founder and a Great Athlete

On Friday, I sent a letter to all our founders and CEO's on the similarities of being a great leader and an Olympic (World Class ) Athlete.

Hi Guys

Loved the Olympics and so good to see how well Australia has performed.? I couldn’t help noticing the similarities between what it takes to be an amazing founder and an amazing athlete.

So, here are 10 of my observations

1.???? If something ain’t broken, Fix It - Cam McEvoy competing in his 4th Olympics.? Was the outright favourite to win the 100m freestyle in Rio in 2012 and came 7th. Having never achieved his dream of winning gold, he decided to do something radical.? He cut his swimming volume from about 80km per week to 7km and added rock climbing and won his first Gold in the 50m freestyle. This is what you call disruption

2.???? Innovation - to stay relevant you must continue to innovate.? The IOC have added sports including BMX, Skateboarding, Surfing etc and how good has this been for Australia.

3.???? Definition of Excellence - Consistently overachieve over an extended period – consider Kaylee McKeon - the Double Double – winning the 100m and 200m in back-to-back Olympics or US swimmer Katie Ledecky winner of 800m at the past 4 Olympic Games.? Can you imagine how motivated you must be to put in all the work – (80km in the pool a week ;) to come back and defend your title again, and again and again!

4.???? No one is bigger than the team, the team always comes first - Jamaican two-time gold medallist Runner Shellee-Ann Fraser-Pryce didn’t stay with the team at the Olympic village and came in her own car instead of with the team on the shuttle and security didn’t give her access (due to protocol) so she missed her heat –whether you have won two Gold Medals at a prior Olympics, you have a lot of money or a title on a business card – everyone’s pee is the same colour and we all get out of bed one leg at a time.

5.???? Matilda’s – Toxic Team Culture

Stunning revelations have been made about the disorganisation and disunity in the Matildas camp as their Olympic campaign ended in disaster. Quite simply, the Matildas have become the Brisbane Broncos. Their heads are so far up their bums they’ve believed in their own hype.

They think you’ve just got to turn up and what happened at the World Cup, those performances will just replicate themselves. “The harder you work, the luckier you get and right now it appears that the Tillies don’t appear to be working very hard

Contrast this to the team spirit of the Dolphins Swim Team – despite her obvious disappointment, the warm embrace of Arnie Titmus after losing the 200m to arch rival and training partner Molly O’Callaghan and then Molly inviting Arnie to share the gold podium with her as the Aussie National Anthem was played.

6.???? Performance under pressure - Israeli athletes delivering their best ever results at an Olympics despite Israeli athletes receiving invitations to their own funerals before the Paris Games.

7.???? You can only control what is in your control – The date of the triathlon was changed at the last minute because of pollution in the Seine.? Then it was will we swim or wont we?? Or what about our own Matty Wearn winning gold in his sailing race a day after the scheduled event because there was no wind on race day. If you are obsessive about doing the things that are within your control, the uncontrollable become far easier to manage

8.???? Winston S. Churchill — 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”? US Gymnast Simone Biles coming back in 2024 and winning 5 medals including 3 Gold after having to leave the Tokyo Olympics because of the pressure.

9.???? Theodore Herzl – “If you will it, it is no dream” – Noemi Fox – “I dared to dream”?

10.????Grit, determination, persistence or simply what we Aussies simply call good old hard yakka. The captain of the Sharks, the Men’s Water Polo Team , Nathan Power had this to say – “for us, all our success has been on the back of hard work, and being willing to do that work that no one else wants to do. We know that we have to go and give everything we possibly can to give ourselves a chance.? We know that we’re not the most skilful team, so before every game our price of entry is always effort”

?Finally, I thought I would add how good are those Fox Sisters – Jessica and Noemi.? Did you know that they had to race against each other and the competition was fierce but once Noemi had proved victorious, big sister Jess became just that – her loudest and biggest supporter jumping into the water to celebrate Noemi winning gold.?

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This reminded me of OIF Ventures partnership with our founders – while sometimes we may have different views and provide our input, once we – our founder and OIF - decide on the right course, we are there to back you to the hilt to achieve your medal – Gold, Silver or Bronze – a great exit, the outcome of your grit, determination and perseverance

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