Watching the Olympics these past several days has me thinking a lot about the parallels between an elite athlete and a highly effective CEO. Both are at the top of their game, both have given (at least a portion) of their lives to achieving the seemingly unachievable, both have an uncanny taste for competiveness and neither can truly succeed without setting, and achieving, both long and short term goals.

It is this last parallel that is perhaps, the most potent of parallels. Success in both business and sport is dependent on the CEOs/athlete’s ability to set the bar, and meet or exceed it, time after time after time. Each year, the performance bar gets higher—what earned an athlete a gold medal at one Olympic showing, may not even earn them a spot on the podium four years later. In business, the CEO is revered one moment for catapulting his organization to the next level of sales and revenue and ostracized the very next for failing to set, communicate and model a cohesive vision for his/her workforce. For CEOs, we’ve heard “what got you here, won’t get you there” and a “CEO is only as good as his last great decision.” One thing is for certain, success is a moving target and if a CEO isn’t flexible, resilient and responsive enough, their rise to the top, and proverbial spot on the podium, will be short lived.

Given all these demands, what is a CEO, the business world’s answer to elite athleticism, to do? First and possibly foremost, he/she needs to remember that elite CEOs are made, not born. And just as the best athletes in the world wouldn’t dream of “going it alone,” and instead insist on being pushed by the best of the best in trainers and coaches; CEOs who truly seek greatness, partner with an experienced and trusted advisor that can guide them through the unknown and uncomfortable, advise them in making key decisions and tough calls and push them to their finest possible performance and potential.

At The Bailey Group, we may not have much experience (okay ANY) training elite athletes, but we do have over 25 years’ experience advising, coaching and partnering with CEOs to achieve gold-medal performance, leadership and results within their respective organizations. Dig into our website a little more, scan our blog archives and read up on our team of advisors and what we have to offer in business and leadership expertise. When you’re ready to make the call, we’re ready to take it.