Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building and golajieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
Speaker 1: fella Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to this seven minute leadership podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six twenty three. The Winter Olympics are almost
Speaker 2: over and the world was gripped to their televisions and
Speaker 2: social media for the past two weeks. But did you
Speaker 2: ever wonder what the leadership lessons are behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: The twenty twenty six Winter Olympics in Milano, Cortina look
Speaker 2: effortless on television, perfect venues, flawless ceremonies, athletes arriving on
Speaker 2: que transportation working, security invisible, and weather managed as best
Speaker 2: as humans can manage. What you do not see is
Speaker 2: the leadership machine underneath all of it. Hosting in Olympic
Speaker 2: Games is one of the largest leadership stress tests on
Speaker 2: the planet. This is not a project, This is not
Speaker 2: an event. This is a multi year leadership endurance race
Speaker 2: where failure has a global audience and it starts at
Speaker 2: the very top. Years before the first athlete arrives. Senior
Speaker 2: leaders are making red key leadership decisions without applause, site selection,
Speaker 2: infrastructure investment, political negotiations, international coordination, labor agreements, environmental impact,
Speaker 2: security planning. These decisions are made long before anyone is watching,
Speaker 2: and once they're made, there is no rewind button. One
Speaker 2: of the first leadership lessons is this big moments are
Speaker 2: one or lost years in advance. If you wait until
Speaker 2: the spotlight is on you to get serious, you are
Speaker 2: already behind. So now zoom out for a minute. The
Speaker 2: Olympics are not run by one leader. They are run
Speaker 2: by layers of leadership, international committees, national governing bodies, local
Speaker 2: organizing committees, city leaders, transportation authorities, security agencies, medical teams,
Speaker 2: venue managers, and volunteers. This is where many organizations fall apart,
Speaker 2: too many layers, too many opinions, and too much noise.
Speaker 2: The Olympics survive because of one thing, absolute clarity of mission.
Speaker 2: Every single person involved knows the goal, safe games, fair competition,
Speaker 2: on time execution, no surprises. That clarity allows leaders at
Speaker 2: every level to make decisions without waighing for permission. When
Speaker 2: a snowstorm hits a mountain venue, when a bus route fails,
Speaker 2: when an athlete village issue pops up at two in
Speaker 2: the morning people act. They do not ask who is
Speaker 2: in charge, they already know leadership lesson number two. If
Speaker 2: your people freeze when you're not in the room, you
Speaker 2: do not have a leadership structure. You have a dependency problem.
Speaker 2: Now let's talk about the middle. Mid level leaders during
Speaker 2: the Olympics are under relentless pressure. They are translating strategy
Speaker 2: into action. Every single day. Schedules change, weather changes, security
Speaker 2: conditions change, athlete needs change, media demands change. These leaders
Speaker 2: are not making speeches. They are solving problems quietly and repeatedly.
Speaker 2: This is where real leadership lives, in the margins, in
Speaker 2: the handoffs, in the detail that no one tweets about.
Speaker 2: A venue manager who re routes foot traffic to avoid
Speaker 2: a bottleneck, a transportation supervisor who adjusts timing to keep
Speaker 2: athletes calm and focused. A logistics lead who notices a
Speaker 2: supply issue before it becomes a headline leadership Lesson number three.
Speaker 2: Great leaders obsess over friction points, not optics. Now go
Speaker 2: all the way down to the front line. Volunteers checking credentials,
Speaker 2: drivers moving teams at four in the morning, technicians maintaining
Speaker 2: ice conditions, medical staff standing by for the worst day
Speaker 2: they hope never comes. Most of these people will never
Speaker 2: meet the top leaders, yet their behavior determines whether the
Speaker 2: games succeed or fail. And this is where culture shows up.
Speaker 2: If the culture says speed matters more than safety, shortcuts appear.
Speaker 2: If the culture says accountability is optional, small mistakes multiply.
Speaker 2: If the culture says speak up early, problems shrink instead
Speaker 2: of explode. Leadership lesson number four. Culture is not what
Speaker 2: you say in a press conference. Culture is how the
Speaker 2: lowest level employee acts when no one important is watching.
Speaker 2: And here's another overlooked lesson. The Olympics are built on rehearsals.
Speaker 2: Opening ceremonies are practiced again and again. Security drills are
Speaker 2: run until they're boring. Emergency responses are simulated repeatedly. Technology
Speaker 2: systems are stress tested until they break, then rebuilt. Stronger
Speaker 2: leaders who skip rehearsal pay for it in public leadership
Speaker 2: lesson number five. Practice is not a sign of weakness.
Speaker 2: It is a signal of respect for the mission. There's
Speaker 2: also a powerful humility lesson here. No leader hosting the
Speaker 2: Olympics believes they can control everything. Whether cannot be controlled,
Speaker 2: Human behavior cannot be controlled. Global politics cannot be controlled.
Speaker 2: So leaders plan for adaption, backup venues, redundant systems, contingency teams,
Speaker 2: decision authority pushed downwards so action can happen fast. Leadership
Speaker 2: lesson number six, Control is an illusion, Preparedness is not
Speaker 2: and finally, the most important lesson. When the torch is
Speaker 2: lit in the camera's role, the leaders disappear, the athletes shine,
Speaker 2: the host city shines, the moment belongs to the world.
Speaker 2: Great leaders know when to step forward and when to
Speaker 2: step back. They do not chase credit, They protect outcomes.
Speaker 2: If your leadership only works when your name is attached
Speaker 2: to it, it will not scale. The Olympics scale because
Speaker 2: leadership is distributed, disciplined, and aligned. So as you watch
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty six Winter Olympics come to an end,
Speaker 2: remember this you were not just watching a sporting event.
Speaker 2: You were watching one of the most complex leadership systems
Speaker 2: ever built, operating in real time under global pressure, with
Speaker 2: zero tolerance for failure. And the same principles apply to
Speaker 2: your organization, your team, and your role. Clear mission, trusted people,
Speaker 2: rehearsed responses, quiet competence, and accountability at every level. So
Speaker 2: leadership is not the metal. So ceremony. Leadership is everything
Speaker 2: that made the ceremony possible. If you want to lead
Speaker 2: at a higher level, stop chasing the spotlight and start
Speaker 2: building this system behind it. And if you want more
Speaker 2: free leadership resources, head over to paulfoloalito dot com click
Speaker 2: on free Stuff. I have over twenty five free leadership
Speaker 2: documents you can download today. This has been the seven
Speaker 2: minute leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com