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4 Leadership Lessons From The Olympics

This article is more than 10 years old.

Another four years has passed, and a bunch of athletically gifted people running, jumping, biking, twisting, swimming, etc., are going to dominate your 52” plasma for the next two weeks. So what’s the big deal? For the casual observer, The Olympic games represent little more than a fresh source of entertainment and a chance to demonstrate a bit of national pride, but for the astute CEO, there is no better case study in how to pull off the seemingly impossible, while delivering the ultimate consumer experience with elegance.

The Olympics are far from perfect, but other than the Church, they are arguably the oldest surviving organization. They have accomplished the one thing many have failed to do – they have endured. While there are dozens of things chief executives can learn from The Olympics, the following 4 lessons will strengthen your organization, and you as a leader:

1. Branding:

As the closing ceremonies come to an end for one Olympics, the branding campaign for the next kicks off. The Olympics are in a perpetual state of go to market. Their history and version cycle may give them some breathing space, but they have a deadline that cannot slip – they must deliver the product, and the experience.

The Olympics is not only a brand unto itself, they are brand makers. New celebrities are discovered and old heroes fade off into the sunset, fortunes are won and lost, and brands enhance their value or fall into decline. What athlete doesn’t want to participate in The Olympics, and what corporation doesn’t want to capitalize on the latest brand icon? The Olympics have created a brand that crosses generations, geographies, and socioeconomic demographics – can you say the same?

2. Execution & Grace Under Pressure:

It’s one thing to talk about execution, but it’s quite another to deliver it. Every four years, The Olympics provide us with a live master class in innovation, human aspiration and achievement, leadership, sustainability, talent management, crisis management, branding, marketing, logistics, security, politics, event planning, IT, and fiscal governance (just to name a few). Whether dealing with boycotts, terror threats, or geo-political unrest, The Olympics promise a spectacle and they deliver on their promise. Does your organization medal in execution, or are you consistently missing the podium?

3. Organization Matters:

Let’s face it, few things offer the global scale and appeal of The Olympic games. Most CEOs can only dream of having the international footprint, brand cache, and customer loyalty generated by The Olympics. Logistics were enough of an issue at the first Olympics when the participants were comprised of just the city-states of Ancient Greece.  Contrast this with today’s Olympic games, which encompass tens of thousands of participants from virtually every nation on the planet.

While The Olympics are far from a perfect body, they have an organizational structure that works. From the International Olympic Committee to the individual National Olympic Committees they understand their roles, duties, and responsibilities. While differing philosophies, ideologies, economic interests, and political agendas exist, a global structure is nonetheless present to support the vision and delivery of the product.

4. Sustainability:

How long has your brand been around? The Olympics have spanned the test of time and offer a blueprint for building a sustainable organization. They have a mission and vision, they have leadership in place to deliver on the vision, and they have succession in place to ensure the future. The Olympics have innovated, engineered and re-engineered, survived world wars, economic hardships, and terror attacks. They have developed into a mature organization that will continue to thrive going forward. Can you say the same for your company?

Thoughts?

Follow me on Twitter @MikeMyatt