Watching the Olympics on TV this year brings back so much nostalgia for me. I can still feel the goose bumps from walking behind the flag of Denmark in the parade of athletes during the opening ceremony of the 1998 Olympics. And I still credit the Games for preparing me for leadership.
My Olympic journey began a decade before the 1998 Nagano Games where I represented Denmark in the Super G, Giant Slalom, and the Combined alpine skiing events. As a competitive skier, I experienced firsthand the razor-thin margins that separate victory from defeat. Data helped me understand, measure, and improve my efforts and compare myself to others.
Later, as I transitioned to an entrepreneurial career, I continued to crave data, and remain laser focused on accessing and leveraging massive amounts of data to draw interesting correlations, insights, and trends.
There are many synergies between my career in the Olympics and my leadership as a founder of a technology startup. The lessons I learned on the slopes have deeply influenced how I lead my team and build my business. Here are some key recommendations I have for future entrepreneurs, shaped by the Olympics.
Love the Journey
You will end up failing more than you win, so make sure you enjoy the process. If your only motivation is success, then you will end up miserable, even if you are successful. I learned this early on. When I was early in my racing career, I was fixated on climbing the rankings and desperately wanted to move from the second page to the first page of the result sheets—essentially becoming a top 15 racer.
When I finally reached that coveted spot, not only to be on the first page but to be on the podium, I had an epiphany. Going to bed the first night after a podium race, I felt no different. I was not any happier (it was right after the race of course) and I was just fixated on preparing for the race the following morning. I realized then that winning does not make you happy; the thought of winning and the fear of losing certainly can motivate you and make you work harder, but the real trick is to find joy in the journey. It’s about having goals and a purpose and being happy making and feeling proud for putting in the hard work consistently to live out that dream—win or lose.
The true motivator, I discovered, was the journey itself—with all its ups and downs.
Learn from failing
Failing, as counterintuitive as it may seem, became a crucial part of that journey. It sparked my curiosity. It fueled my desire to improve and innovate, and it kept the excitement of competition alive. This principle translates directly to the business world. As entrepreneurs, we often dangle the “big exit” as our ultimate goal. But if you’re not failing, you’re not pushing boundaries. Victories matter, but it’s the relentless pursuit of growth that truly ignites the soul of an organization. By embracing the journey over the destination, you forge a team that doesn’t just perform—it evolves, innovates, and thrives in the face of every challenge. This is the crucible where everyday excellence is born.
Compete Against Better Every Day
To the untrained eye, ski racing seems like a lone wolf’s game. But at the Olympic level, it’s a symphony of shared ambition. We didn’t just train; we forged a collective will, each day a relentless hunt for improvement both individually and collectively. When I share this reality of our Olympic preparation—the intense, daily competition among teammates—two questions invariably arise:
- Did this approach create conflict or disdain amongst teammates?
- And did coaches put slower racers against the fastest racers to help boost the confidence of the faster racers?
My answer to both questions cuts to the heart of high-performance culture: It’s absolutely critical that each member of the team shelves their ego for the collective good and commits to being “better each and every day”—even if that means outperforming yesterday’s version of yourself.
Lift up your team
The Olympics, like any business milestone, is just one peak in a vast mountain range of challenges. In the corporate world, I’ve never grasped the allure of being the smartest person in the room or surrounding yourself with yes-men. Such environments breed complacency, not excellence.
True success is shaped when team members push each other relentlessly. Practicing against inferior competition is a siren song, lulling you into a false sense of security. It’s a trap that can lead both entrepreneurs and athletes to take their foot off the gas. When you help your teammates get better, you help raise the bar among your peers and you get to enjoy a stronger team, which in turn helps you get better faster as you learn from them.
By consistently setting your sights on bigger and better competitors, you don’t just improve—you internalize the true value of discipline and humility. This relentless pursuit of “better” doesn’t just improve your skills; it transforms your entire approach, making excellence a habit rather than a goal.
The real gold
I’ll spare you the Google search: I didn’t bring home the gold from Nagano in 1998. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s more than okay. My experience at the Olympics helped shape my approach to business leadership and life in ways a medal never could. There’s an old adage (or dare I say, a cliché) that people should, “Begin with the end in mind.”
But here’s the truth: We need to stop fixating on beginnings and endings. Instead embrace the broader journey. If we wake up every day with a purpose—do our best and go to bed every night knowing we gave it our all—then the inevitable failures are less devastating and the successes become mere milestones along the way. For those with the true entrepreneurial spirit, there is no end—only constant evolution.
The real gold? It’s in the relentless pursuit of “better.” Every. Single. Day.