Recently, I was invited to a talk by a prestigious institution titled, ‘What Organizations Can Learn from an Olympic Athlete.’ Funny thing about Olympians—they’re rare, but business speeches by them sure aren’t. And it’s not just Olympians; conferences love a keynote from a soldier, survivalist, ultramarathoner, rock climber, or anyone else with an extreme story to tell.
I don’t mean to diminish anyone’s achievements or belittle their efforts, but what does crawling under barbed wire, taking a selfie atop Everest, or swimming faster than anyone else have to do with quarterly earnings or aligning peers on your leadership team?
These talks always start the same way: a dramatic story, a harrowing tale of danger or discipline. Maybe they were outnumbered in a firefight or training 12 hours a day to shave half a second off their time. The audience is riveted. “Wow,” you think, “If they can handle that, surely they have wisdom for my organization.”
Then comes the big reveal: the lesson. “Teamwork matters,” they say. Or, “Stay resilient under pressure.” Groundbreaking stuff, really. Because who knew that sticking together as a team was important? Or that perseverance was a virtue? Honestly, you could get the same insights from a fortune cookie.
Not every problem is a battle, and not every goal is a podium. The problem with these stories is that they come from extreme, narrowly focused worlds—military missions thrive on rigid hierarchy and clear foes, Olympic victories are about individual mastery and fixed rules, and survivalist feats are just that: surviving.
If we keep mistaking drama for depth, confidence for credibility, and performance for progress, we’re not leading. We’re just playing the part.
Real businesses, on the other hand, deal with messy, complex systems, competing priorities, shifting conditions, and the need for collaboration across diverse teams. Your retail staff isn’t going to respond to “mission command,” and your marketing team doesn’t need a pep talk about grit; they need clear strategies, aligned goals, and tools to execute. Heroic tales make for great theater, but they don’t solve OPEX issues or fix supply chains.
The fact that these talks are always a fixture of conferences and the speaker circuit says something about their audience–us as leaders. And it’s not pretty.
- As leaders, we crave inspiration—even if its superficial. These talks offer an emotional high—a shot of adrenaline in a grueling leadership role. But the appeal often outweighs the practical value, leaving leaders feeling motivated but unequipped for real-world challenges.
- We’re attracted to heroic leadership myths. Stories of lone heroes and triumph against the odds validate a romanticized view of leadership. But modern leadership isn’t about solo heroics; it’s about guiding teams through ambiguity, building trust, and fostering collaboration.
- We gravitate toward simple answers to complex problems. Lessons like “never give up” or “trust your team” offer comfort in their simplicity, even if they don’t apply to the messy, nuanced realities of running an organization.
- We mistake confidence for credibility. These speakers tell their stories with such conviction and charisma that leaders often assume their lessons apply everywhere. But much like big consulting firms, they bring bold claims and no firsthand experience relevant to the challenges at hand.
- We’re drawn to theater over substance. These talks are often more performance than education: dramatic stories, flashy visuals, and high-stakes narratives. Leaders, like anyone, enjoy a good story—but mistaking entertainment for actionable insight can be dangerous.
- We aspire to risk and extremes, even when it’s unrealistic. Leaders often see themselves as taking high-stakes gambles, so we’re naturally drawn to tales of survivalists or soldiers. But running a business isn’t about extremes—it’s about navigating shades of gray.
- We’re disconnected from everyday realities. By indulging in stories of war zones or Olympic glory, leaders risk alienating the employees slogging through deadlines, budgets, and workplace dynamics. These talks can inadvertently signal a disconnect from the grind most employees face.
If we’re honest with ourselves, the enduring popularity of these talks reveals an uncomfortable truth about leadership even in our modern times: we’re drawn to the easy, the entertaining, and the ego-stroking. We want to believe that leadership is about grand gestures and singular heroics, not the messy, unglamorous work of listening, aligning, and adapting. We chase inspiration like it’s a magic pill, avoiding the harder truth that true change requires deep reflection and sustained effort.
These talks let us feel bold and visionary for an hour without challenging us to confront our blind spots or step into the unflattering realities of leadership. But isn’t it time we expected more from ourselves—and from the spaces designed to make us better leaders? Because if we keep mistaking drama for depth, confidence for credibility, and performance for progress, we’re not leading. We’re just playing the part.
And if your argument in favor of these types of talks falls back on, “well, it’s just fun entertainment,” I’d remind you that speech is zero sum. For every Olympian on stage, someone else is left out of the spotlight. So let me close by offering some alternatives for any enlightened conference organizers out there. If you like them, please steal.
- Convene a panel of front-line workers (within a specific industry) who can relay their experience and customers’ needs, without layers of middle management muddle
- Interview community organizers who have had to do the hard work of bringing together constituencies with competing priorities in order to achieve a lasting change
- Invite an urban planner who can speak to designing within tangled, interconnected systems, diverse stakeholders, and bureaucratic processes
- Ask a seasoned executive coach or psychologist to address why leadership is so prone to loneliness and cognitive biases, and how to move forward with confidence and curiosity
- Challenge a group of futurists to debate and make public bets on the future of a given industry and how/when it will be disrupted
- Invite the operations staff of a local firehouse to share how they manage resources across both predictable and unpredictable work
- Quiz several fashion designers to how they stay curious and follow new trends while also still preserving an editorial point of view and discernment of what not to follow
