The commitment and mindset of Olympians from across the globe can teach us essential lessons for how we, as social impact professionals, must approach our work every day. As we all tune in to the Olympics in Paris, here are four lessons learned from Olympic athletes that inspire me, and, hopefully, will empower you:
1) Persevere: It is crucial to stay the course and be resilient as we face adversity and challenges in driving our change agendas. I get it, it’s not always easy to build social impact into your corporate and brand strategy, get the funding you desire, or have your partnerships deliver exactly the way you like. Olympians would say press on, get up if you fall, engage the right teammates, and find your moxie to relentlessly pursue your goals.
2) Commit to Training: Our work isn’t easy, and the learning curve can be steep. As social impact leaders, we must commit to ongoing training to be our best. We have to practice being better listeners, students, and risk-takers. This commitment to focused, intentional learning is imperative as our work and the societal issues we address continue to become more complicated.
3) Create Unity: Let’s celebrate athletes from more than 200 countries walking together during the opening ceremony, sharing an Olympic Village, and competing while many face conflict, war, and hate in their homelands. We must work harder to find common ground for how we can put differences aside and tackle critical social issues together; working even more collaboratively with our partners and investing in ideas that unite and mobilize employees and consumers across the globe. It’s also essential for us to invite unexpected players to join us on our journeys.
4) Embrace Great Coaches: Not one Olympian arrived at the Games without the help of great coaches. We all need people to support us, help us troubleshoot, listen to us vent, and push us to persevere, train, and create unity. Social impact work is intense, exciting, and hard; it is not possible to go it alone.
These athlete-inspired insights keep my energy high and my mind laser-focused as I coach and partner with social impact leaders. Let’s each wake up with the same Olympian mindset and drive as we seek to improve lives around the world.
In the spirit of Cause Consulting’s 20th anniversary theme, let’s be courageous together!