What makes up an Olympic athlete?
Traveling the country can be an eye-opening experience, especially when you seek to gain valuable knowledge as a leader. For me, I enjoy new perspectives and experiences that allow me to grow my mind. Last week, I had the unique pleasure to travel to Denver, CO with fellow professional speaker, Don Yaeger, and 17 bright individuals to take a tour of the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I observed many things, but in this weeks #CJJblog I wanted to share with you seven leadership lessons I learned while touring this magnificent facility. Enjoy.
- Attention to detail. Leaders must pay attention to detail and the U.S. Olympic Training Facility was no different. Specific machines, rehab treadmills, special rooms, everything was engineered to perfection. You must do the same as a leader.
- Olympic athlete demand. Being this level of athlete is extraordinarily demanding. After meeting with a few and learning about their average low salary, I also learned about their tremendous sacrifices as well. What do you sacrifice for your dreams?
- Build trust. This takes time, but you have to build trust with everyone around you. Do what you say and say what you do.
- The best failure to focus on as a leader is your own. This is oftentimes the best way to improve your skills as well as chronicle your experiences to your team.
- Set each accomplishment, no matter how great, as your new standard. Raise your goals and continuously get better. How do you challenge yourself as a leader?
- Establish unified direction. Your team must all be on the same page with what you are seeking to achieve. If one person is off, it could affect the direction of the whole team. How do you unify your team?
- Slim margin for error. As we all know, success in sports can come down to milliseconds. This slim margin for error is everywhere in the Olympic community. You must stay focused on being efficient and strive for perfection. How do you separate yourself?
Did You Know? Coach Jim Johnson had the pleasure of listening to 2018 PyeongChang Olympian, Nate Weber, speak about leadership and following your dreams.
Life Tip #3: Develop a leadership philosophy – Everything I touch turns to gold
Deckard & Company