Champion cyclist
Kristen Faulkner won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics thanks to adding Stoicism to her racing routine, clearing her mind, and ensuring her body is as prepared as possible. Before each race, she verbalizes what she can and what she cannot control and proceeds accordingly. She knows how important it is to face her fears and do her best to mitigate them.
In a recent interview, Faulkner ticked off some of the risks she faced before she got on her bike to race. “There’s a financial risk,” Faulkner, who has worked in venture capital, said. “There’s a risk that I’m not good enough. There’s the risk that I’m going to be homesick. There’s the risk of not having any friends over there. There was the risk that I would crash, so I had to work on my bike handling skills to make sure I was safer. I had to try to make friends before I moved to Europe so that I could have somebody there that I knew. I had to speak with coaches and other riders to learn about the lifestyle.”
Before racing in the Olympics, Faulkner went through and made a list of things she could not control, like the weather, the months of preparation, how her teammates would perform, the competition, and other factors. She also made a list of everything she could control, including how she reacted to being in the global spotlight.
“The crowds and the Olympics are a very stimulating environment,” she said. “I’m very much of an introvert, and so I get very overstimulated very easily.” While she carved out alone time so she could calm down, she also made time for her family and loved ones. She also controlled what she ate, her sleep schedule, and even her mindset.
“I can control that I’m only going to think about positive thoughts,” she said in the interview. “I’m going to make sure that I listen to music ahead of time that pumps me up and relaxes me. I’m going to make sure that I don’t look at the crowds right before I get on the starting line because that’s going to make me nervous. So instead, I’m going to make sure that I take a brief look at the crowds to take it all in. After that, I focus on my bike and me, and not on the crowds. In every situation I’m in, I do a deep assessment of what can I control, what can’t I control?”
In the interview, Faulkner also shared other lessons she learned that apply equally to the workplace and the racecourse, including
·How to make your entire team feel appreciated. While cycling is often considered an individual sport, as Faulkner stressed, it’s actually a group competition, and each member of her team plays a vital role in winning the race. “When people feel discouraged or burned out, it’s usually because they feel like they’re putting in so much work and no one’s acknowledging it or recognizing it.”
·The importance of planning for challenges. Faulkner said businesses and athletes need to plan ahead for when things don’t go their way. “It’s important to take a really long-term approach,” she said. “The biggest thing is to expect the setbacks.”
·Make sure your team has the glue to hold everything together. One of the ways can go the distance, Faulkner said, is through shared passions. “You have to feel a sense of camaraderie and shared values with your teammates, shared interests, shared values,” she said. “The first thing is figuring out areas where you really connect with them. Do you have shared interests? Do you have shared values?” At the start of the year, Faulkner and her team write down their values to make sure they are all on the same page.
Faulkner is not the only prominent business leader to take biking seriously. In fact, Hailey Middlebrook penned an article for Bicycling and found many CEOs are cyclists. They say taking part in cycling makes them better leaders. Middlebrook’s article and a 2018 study from the Harvard Business Review showcased CA Technologies CEO Mike Gregorie’s passion for cycling. On his team, Gregorie’s role was to help better cyclists succeed, even if he never led the races himself. Other prominent business leaders, including longtime PNC CEO Bill Demchak and former Marriot CEO Arne Sorenson, also took cycling very seriously. These business leaders would agree with Faulkner’s insistence that cycling is a team sport.
“You have one person on the podium, but, for every single race, the team director picks a team leader,” Faulkner said. How that team leader directs their colleagues is crucial to success. “Everyone gets different opportunities throughout the year, and it’s all about selecting a team leader. Everyone has a role to play in the race.”