Over the past few weeks, the London Olympics have showcased the individual and team achievements of the greatest athletes in the world. And in that time, there has been a plethora of articles written on the lessons business owners can take from these world-class athletes. One such article was posted today on Entrepreneur.com by Nadia Goodman, who suggested entrepreneurs could learn a few lessons from one of the greatest Olympic teams the United States ever assembled—the 1996 U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team.
In the article—“How to Create Your Own Dream Team in Business”—Goodman relays the experience of Dominique Moceanu, one of the “Magnificent Seven” from that 1996 team, to provide tips on reaching your full potential and creating a winning team for your startup. Those tips include:
1. Rally your team around a shared vision.
2. Lead employees to strive for personal bests.
3. Value the individual strengths of each employee.
4. Encourage camaraderie.
5. Promote a supportive culture.
We thought it interesting that those tips could be pulled directly from the pages of direct selling handbooks. It has often been said that direct selling is a lot like sports: while there is individual achievement, success could not happen without the support from all areas of the company.
Direct sellers do rally around a shared vision—a product or service that has the ability to change someone’s life—and they understand that there is strength, and success, in numbers. Direct selling companies have cultures that lift up and encourage, challenging new business owners to reach their potential and supporting their personal and professional goals.
In the business world, direct selling companies get the gold medal for recognizing that success takes more than exceptional talent. It takes a total team effort.
To read Goodman’s full article, click here.
