Going for Gold: What Top Innovators and Olympic Athletes Have in Common

What an amazing spectacle! The Paris Olympics showcased the world’s finest athletes, from Simone Biles to Katie Ledeky to Léon Marchand to Noah Lyles, each of whom reached the pinnacle of their sport through a combination of commitment, skill, and strategy. As I watched the events unfold, it became clearer and clearer that the traits driving these athletes to win gold medals across a wide variety of sports are strikingly similar to those required of successful innovators who champion bold new ideas. Six commonalities stood out as difference makers.

Determination: Mental Toughness and Resilience

Just as Olympic medalists push through injuries, setbacks, and years of grueling training, successful innovators exhibit an unwavering determination to bring their ideas to life. The journey of innovation is often fraught with challenges, including skepticism, resource constraints, and initial failures. Innovators, like athletes, must possess the resilience to keep going, learning from setbacks and persisting until they achieve their goals. This determination is what separates those who merely have ideas from those who bring them to fruition.

Technical Mastery and Skill: Precision in Execution

Olympians are known for their technical mastery in their sport, whether it is executing a perfect dive or landing a dismount at the end of a flawless routine. They spend countless hours honing their mental and physical abilities, pushing their bodies to peak performance. In the world of innovation, this translates to the ability to execute the process from ideation to implementation with speed and efficiency. Successful innovators are not just dreamers; they are doers who possess the technical know-how to re-risk and refine their product or service ideas with value creation tools like CO-STAR.

Strategic Preparation: Planning for Success

Behind every Olympic medal is a carefully crafted strategy that takes into account the athlete’s strengths, weaknesses, and the competition. Similarly, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs approach their work with a strategic mindset. They develop comprehensive plans that consider market needs, customer pain points, competitive landscape, and potential obstacles. In today’s dynamic modern economy, this equates to a well-thought-out strategy that weaves together a valuable problem to solve, a technology that enables a solution, and a business model that generates significant financial returns.

Support Systems: Building a Strong Team

Olympic athletes rely on a network of coaches, trainers, and family members to support their journey. Innovators also require strong support systems to succeed. This includes mentors who provide guidance, teams who help execute the vision, and sponsors who offer resources and connections. Successful innovators know they cannot do it alone; they build and leverage a support network to help them complete the hard work of creating something that has never existed before. A collaborative approach is often the difference between an idea that fizzles out and one that transforms an industry.

Adaptability and Continuous Improvement: Evolving with the Times

Olympic champions must be adaptable, able to adjust their strategies and techniques based on new information, conditions, and competitors. Innovators must also be adaptable, continually evolving their ideas based on feedback, market changes, and technological advancements. Innovation is rarely a straight path; it involves constant iteration and improvement in order to create value. Idea champions who are willing to leverage customer discovery tools like those at Innovation Within to make evidence-based decision to pause, pivot or persevere are the ones who ultimately bring something truly impactful to the market.

Passion and Love for the Game: The Driving Force

A deep passion for their sport drives Olympic athletes to train relentlessly and compete at the highest level. In the world of innovation, passion is equally crucial. It is the desire to solve a problem, create something new, or make a difference that fuels the long hours and helps innovators respond adeptly when faced with distractions or competing priorities. This clarity of purpose and underlying passion not only sustains innovators through tough times and extensive experimentation, but also inspires others to join them in their mission.

Closing Ceremonies

The qualities that define Olympic champions—determination, skill, strategy, support, adaptability, and passion—are equally essential for accomplished innovators. By adopting these traits, not only can innovators unleash their creativity and bring bigger and better ideas to life, but also produce significant positive impacts for the careers, their organizations, and possibly the world. Just as Olympic athletes train for years to compete at the highest level, innovators must invest in their development.  To discover your current capabilities take a free innovation fitness survey to uncover your innovation profile. Whether on the track or in you organization, the gold medal mindset and mastery of the skills is what separates the best from the rest.

If you would like assistance transforming your team or innovation program into an Olympic caliber performer through strategy consulting or CO-STAR training, don’t hesitate to contact me at Gyorffy@LBGinnovate.com.