The Inspiration Behind Success: Usain Bolt and Leadership

In August 2009, the World Athletics Championships were taking place in Berlin.

On the sixteenth day of that month, a 23-year-old Jamaican stopped the clock in the premier event of athletics, the 100-meter sprint, at 9 seconds and 58 milliseconds, setting a new world record.

We all know who we're talking about: Usain Bolt, who won eight gold medals in the Olympic Games throughout his career, with his 100-meter record is still standing almost 17 years after he achieved it.

Running that distance in such a short time is impressive. If we think about it, our stride sometimes doesn't even reach a meter in length. To cover 100 meters in less than 10 seconds, we would have to take at least 10 steps per second. How is that achievable?

The answer, from an objective view, supposes an excellent technique, a lot of concentration, physical care, and training. But all of this involves a great personal sacrifice that not everyone is willing to make. This is where the "million-dollar question" arises:

What motivates us to do it? What allows us to have the right attitude to reach our maximum potential and consequently, success?

Motivation is the internal force that determines whether a person initiates, continues, or stops a behavior in order to achieve a goal.

We mistakenly think that we can motivate others; however, motivation is something personal. We only really self-motivate. But there are situations or experiences that lead us to this state.

For example, we observe someone achieving professional success, and that inspires us to follow in their footsteps; we watch an emotional movie where the main character achieves their goals, and we are inspired; or we visualize ourselves in a desired situation, and that inspires us to achieve it.

It seems very logical, but we often forget that success is the result of our attitude, and this, in turn, stems from self-motivation, which arises from a series of internal or external elements that inspire us.

Although Usain Bolt crossed the finish line alone on August 16th, behind him was an entire team that supported him and allowed him to achieve the unattainable, a team led by his coach, Glen Mills, a leader who not only managed all the technical and operational aspects but, perhaps  more importantly, found ways to continually inspire Bolt to transcend in the history of athletics.

Just like Glen Mills, for all leaders, the main function is to develop the maximum potential of the people they work with, leading them to achieve success and further on leaving a legacy by developing new leaders. To achieve this, the most powerful tool they possess is inspiration, which triggers the cascade of self-motivation, attitude, maximum potential, and success. The big question is how we achieve that inspiration, a question that we will not elaborate on here, but which can is the outcome of our leadership behaviors, behaviors we included in the E.L.I.A.S. model that are the basis of the work we do at UNLOCK ENGINE.

Almost twenty years ago, I met Jesús "Chucho" Ramírez, former coach of the Mexican under-17 national soccer team. I had the privilege of listening to a conference by him just a few months after he achieved being the first Mexican world soccer champion, defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final which took place in Lima on October 2nd. Mexico is the third country with the most titles in this category after Brazil and Nigeria, something that began with that World Cup.

In that talk, there were two things that stood out to me:

The first had to do with the technical aspect. "Chucho" explained that the boys were trained so that they would not be at a disadvantage against other teams in terms controllable variables, that is, in endurance, strength, speed, etc.

The second was that the boys were shown an inspiring movie before each game, "Rocky"-style movies that lifted their spirits and their self-motivation so that they would go out onto the field with the right attitude for victory.

Claiming that success is only the result of our attitude can be questionable. Someone would say that if you don't have the preparation, you are not successful, and that is completely valid.

Then several questions arise: What led us to prepare? What led us to sacrifice ourselves to get ahead? So that leads us to the thought process of: What came first? Attitude or preparation?

I am convinced that in the corporate world, management is different from leadership. Management refers to a series of technical skills and how we deploy them. There, preparation and knowledge play a very important role.

Leadership is related to our ability to develop people, and it is our behaviors that really impact them, those that are often called soft skills.

You can be a very good manager and a terrible leader, or vice versa. In both cases, results may be achieved, however often not sustainable over time and clearly below what would be achieved if you manage and lead well.

There are many ways to manage or administer, and each person has a different style. I do not intend to discuss whether or not there are leadership styles. What I want to emphasize is that the main function of the leader will always be to help the people they lead reach their best version and highest potential. That to me is the paved road to success, and to achieve it, the leader must use their most powerful tool, inspiration.

Sometimes it is said that leaders must be able to influence others. I respect that idea even though I do not fully agree. There are times when you must influence, but I firmly believe that Usain Bolt was inspired to be a legend, he was not influenced to be one.

Like any discipline in life, becoming an inspiring leader involves knowing and understanding the correct behaviors, practicing them permanently until achieving unconscious competence, and most importantly, having the true commitment to apply them day by day, because surely we will fail along the way, and it will always to use your  power to give orders rather than to inspire people to reach their maximum potential.

"You only fail when you stop trying."

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