Three things you can learn about leadership from Olympians, Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders.

Recently I was lucky enough to attend a private Chatham House dinner with two Olympic medalists and several of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs and business leaders.

The aim of the dinner was to swap tips on leadership from the world of sport and business so that both sides could learn from one another. Whilst these worlds are very different, they have so much in common; from strategy to tactics, planning for success, managing talent and leading teams – to win at sport or business, you need to be at the top of your game. Whilst the content and attendee list of the dinner was private, with 150,000+ Bright Network members and 250+ blue chip clients all working in the talent space, it was agreed that I would confidentially share what we all learnt so that everyone could benefit.

Over cocktails and a superb three course dinner, the conversation ranged from team dynamics to overcoming adversity, getting the most out of high performers to different leadership styles.

If you’re a leader of any kind, these were the three main tips that came out:

1.      Consistency is KING. One of the entrepreneurs shared a story about how, as a young man, he had trained in the military. Despite the hardship, early wake-up calls and relentless drills, the entrepreneur rated their Sergeant Major as the most inspirational leader they had ever come across. Why? His sheer consistency. Whatever the weather, time of day or physically demanding exercise being undertaken, the Sergeant Major was always consistent in their approach. We all naturally experience the highs and lows that come with the human condition, however teams thrive on consistency. Are you always doing all you can to be a stable and consistent leader for the people you lead?

2.      Refuse to give in and lead by example. One of the great maxims of leadership is ‘never ask your team to do anything you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself’. One of the Olympians shared a superb example of this. It was half-time in Rio and the Olympian’s team was losing. As team captain, it fell to her to rally the troops to up their game. Her tactic was to share her experience with the team about how bad it had felt to lose when she has been in a similar position in the London Olympics four years before – the pain of losing had never left her. She absolutely refused to give in, stressed to the team how bad losing would feel and rallied the team – as a result they went on to secure a medal. Are you leading by example? Are you refusing to give in when the going gets tough?

3.      Relish competitive advantage. All teams want to win, however working out where your team’s competitive advantage exists can be tough. The other Olympian present at the dinner shared a superb example of how leaders can use the theory of competitive advantage to come out on top. This Olympian knew the team they would be facing was, due to various cultural and training reasons, technically superior at the sport. So, rather than trying to compete by being technical stronger, she choose to compete by making sure her team was just physically fitter. They trained relentlessly and whilst they knew they would be weaker technically at certain set pieces in the match, they were determined to be fitter and stronger on the day and trained incredibly hard in the run up to the game. As a result, when it came to match day, they were victorious. All teams have different strengths and weaknesses – as a leader are you thinking about what areas your team should focus on order for them to win?

With such a group of high-achieving leaders in the room, I was also interested in what the group’s favourite books on leadership were so that I could share them - here’s what they read:

• ‘Leading’ by Sir Alex Ferguson – An inspiring read by the UK’s most successful ever football manager. Interestingly the book is also written with Sir Michael Moritz, the leading Venture Capitalist who has backed everyone from Google to Paypal, again showing the overlap between business and sport.
• ‘What Does it Sound Like When You Change Your Mind?’ by Seth Godin – a collection of the leading marketers best bits of writing.
• ‘Winning’ by Clive Woodward – a superb read on how Woodward led the English rugby team to win their first ever World Cup victory in 2003.
• ‘The Lone Wolf ‘ by Jodi Picoult – a fascinating read on the hierarchy of animal of relationships.
• ‘Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind’ by Yuval Noah Harari – an insightful account of human history. Harari puts forward the idea that humans came to dominate because we’re able to cooperate flexibly in large numbers.
• ‘Spartan Up’ by Joe De Sena – the founder of the Spartan Race franchise shares his life story and how taking on big challenges (such as when he completed a 350-mile winter adventure race) shows people possibilities  that they didn’t know existed.

Vince Lombardi, the legendary NFL player and coach said “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else; through hard work”.

So if you want to lead, never stop learning, never stop developing – it’s a hard road, but like anything worth doing in life, getting better at how you lead will be worth the effort.