𝗖𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 – 𝗪𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮!

I was fortunate to experience elite-level football, which teaches you much about yourself, teamwork, and leadership. The constant pressure cooker of the media, the fans, and the very public assessment every few days is unique and, once retired, can’t be replicated.

There are plentiful transferrable lessons for business, but can a successful businessperson be immersed, at least partly, in the psyche of professional sports?

Many years ago, I did a charity bike ride for breast cancer with four other ex-professional footballers, along with nine others from different walks of life. Wembley to La Manga in Spain, nearly 100 miles daily for 14 consecutive days. One particular rider, a very successful businessman, did get to experience something that he would never forget.

It was the most challenging day, and we had to get up and go over the Pyrenees. Constant switchbacks going upwards splintered the group as we all just tried to pedal at our own ‘survival’ speed. After many hours, the riders arrived at the summit at different intervals; we started to cheer the next rider home.

We had all arrived except for one. Looking back down the mountain, we couldn’t see him anywhere. As a group, we decided to walk down the mountain, find him, and cheer him on to the finish. After walking quite a way down, we spotted him, shin and knee bleeding, grinding his way towards us at a snail’s pace and wanting to give up. If he had gone any slower, he would have come to a complete stop and toppled over.

For the next 20 minutes, the 13 finished riders cajoled and encouraged our beleaguered businessman up the mountain. We looked like a bunch of hyenas around this poor dead-tired cyclist.

However, he was one of us, and there was no way we could not all get up that mountain. He found energy he didn’t know he had and reached the summit, tired but deliriously delighted, with us wildly celebrating his achievement.

At that moment, he understood—he was part of a team, it was our Team, and we were stronger together.

#Teamwork #DreamTeam #Motivation #Leadership