As the curtain has closed on the Paris Summer Olympics 2024, most people have been reminiscing about the great history, pageantry, incredible sportsmanship & inspiring moments of the greatest sporting event on earth. From the very beginning of this storied competition, the spectators have regarded Olympians as superhuman athletes, representatives of the heroes of Greek mythology.

Olympians have always demonstrated their incredible drive to push the limitations of the human body further. They have achieved the impossible repeatedly, breaking their predecessors’ records. Their goal of becoming the best in the world will be relatable to anyone in a competitive field like business or politics.

Consequently, business leaders should watch Olympians closely to understand & adopt their strategies, tactics, methodology or mindset for reaching the pinnacle of success. All successful athletes can teach business leaders a thing or two, but here are 5 broad insights from the recent Olympics, especially for executives:

Managing energy: Energy is an athlete’s currency for success. Without consistently high energy levels, they can never possibly hope to compete with the best athletes on the global stage. For athletes, maintaining energy means eating the right foods, exercising regularly, keeping a positive attitude & taking adequate time for recovery.

On the other hand, business leaders should focus primarily on maintaining mental energy. As making tough & mentally taxing decisions is a part of their jobs, business leaders may suffer from high levels of stress & anxiety, which can further hinder their productive capacity.

Consequently, taking therapy or meditating can ease these problems & enable business leaders to maintain high levels of mental energy. They should also take plenty of breaks to recover & refuel their mental & physical capabilities.

Becoming resilient: One will experience failure no matter what one does. This is especially true for athletes. Most professional athletes can never attain the success they desire. But those who can climb to the top are the ones who are more resilient than others.

On the other hand, the matrices of failure can be blurry when it comes to business. Companies can determine their goals and define their “success” or “failure.” Nevertheless, business executives also have to endure their fair share of failure. However, many can never learn and recover from their failures, resulting in just one defeat and ending their careers.

Take the example of Simone Biles, an American gymnast. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she withdrew from many events to prioritise her mental peace and health. Many would see this as a colossal failure, but Biles took this in stride.

Returning to the recent Olympics, Biles won 3 Gold and 1 Silver medal, making her the most decorated gymnast in history. Such stories of resilience should inspire business leaders to develop more resilience.

Embracing the unconventional: Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec went viral during the Olympics for rejecting all his competitors’ modern, high-tech gear. Despite being equipped with just ordinary earplugs and glasses, Dikec secured a podium finish in his event.

Dikec is not alone in this regard. Many other Olympic athletes have been the subjects of admiration and ridicule for their unconventional techniques or mannerisms. But we always have to understand that, no matter how weird, athletes develop such habits and techniques for a reason.

This is also true in the business world. Even though people have to conform to some basic rules of the corporate world, many still maintain their weird, quirky or unconventional methods & practices. These unique traits may put off some employers.

However, an intelligent business leader should have the mindset to at least understand the reasoning behind people’s unconventional methods. At the end of the day, he can decide for himself if those methods are useful or not. But he should be willing to give everyone, even the quirky ones, a chance.

Monitoring performance: All high-performance athletes have a very tight feedback loop. They hire coaches and support staff to monitor their performances, analyse the results, and recognise faults in their methods and practices. This constant feedback loop is the biggest factor behind all successful athletes.

A system of monitoring performance is also necessary for business leaders. If they cannot recognise their own faults & shortcomings, then there is no hope for constant growth.

Ensuring teamwork: All athletes, whether in a team sport or an individual one, need an army of support staff behind the scenes to function properly. Maintaining a coordinated and highly motivated team is the key to ensuring their success. They also prioritise hiring the best possible candidates.

Similarly, business leaders should prioritise the recruitment and motivating factors of their employees. Retaining the best possible employees for long periods of time should also be prioritised to increase a company’s consistency and stability.

In a competitive landscape where small margins often define the difference between winning and losing, these insights from Olympians can offer fresh perspectives and practical strategies for those in the corporate world. As we look to the future, the commitment to continuous improvement, both on and off the field, will be essential for those aiming to reach the pinnacle of their industries. After all, the pursuit of excellence, whether in sports or business, is a marathon, not a sprint.

Author: Readus Salehen Jawad