An Olympic Question

I just watched Michael Phelps win his eighth Olympic Gold Medal. But he didn’t do it by himself and couldn’t have. Several of his events were relays—without the support and performance of his other Olympians he would have won a chest full of medals but not eight.

I watched him prepare with his teammates before each event. They huddled, they wrapped their arms around one another, they gathered – I'm imagining to talk about their collective goals. And they celebrated together after victory. Had they not all been bound together by a collective goal they would not won as a team and Michael Phelps would not have set his personal record which resulted from team performance. And I only saw part of the team – the trainers, family members, managers, massage therapists and others, all of whom helped contribute to Phelps’ success were mostly absent (except for his justly proud and adoring mother).

We lionize our great athletes – Dara Torres, Michael Phelps, Serena and Venus Williams – our current Olympic victors. But whether they are in individual or team events the story we give too little attention to is the team around them. The easiest part of analyzing any great athlete’s excellence is to look at their personal commitment, their training regimens, their strong wills and physical gifts; but that doesn’t explain ultimately why they or any individual achieves an astonishing athletic result. The same is true with business performers. Maybe we should spend more time studying how Team Phelps (and Torres and Williams) was selected, organized, and motivated to get a better understanding of athletic success.

We use sports analogies in business and the stars become heroes and motivational speakers. Perhaps we need to hear more from those who assembled the “teams” and contributed to their success to understand the secrets of athletic and workplace excellence.