With four running, three jump, and three throw events, the decathlon takes athletes with a wide range of skills on top of stamina and flexibility so that it’s no wonder it’s considered the supreme sports discipline. The same goes for executive work: leadership is the ultimate management skill because ever more complex challenges in the business environment. Managers need a comprehensive set of hard-, soft- and meta-skills, in order to fulfill their increasingly demanding tasks and achieve leadership success.

Leadership Success: Are Leaders the Decathletes of Modern Management?

On the occasion of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Barbara Stöttinger, Dean of the WU Executive Academy, examined the similarities between the skills of decathletes and the demands placed on modern managers. She identified 8 key factors that managers need in order to ensure leadership success in the future:

1. Speed
2. Coordination
3. Endurance
4. Preparation
5. Target Setting
6. Focus
7. Explosivity
8. Perfect Timing

The Running Events: Leadership Success through Speed, Coordination and Endurance

1. Effective Decision-Making with Speed

Discipline: 100-Meter Dash

To be the first to cross the finishing line, a runner must deliver in several spheres. A quick response following the starting signal and a powerful start from the starting block to gain speed quickly. Strong and coordinated strides while maintaining the right posture, as well as consistency of speed until after the finishing line and not an inch before that.

Leadership Learning: Business leaders regularly encounter situations that require them to give it their all for a short period of time. When a crisis suddenly emerges, for instance, they must swiftly react to unexpected happenings and take effective measures right away. To this end, also the team needs to be motivated to go all in until the emergency is resolved and even grow beyond themselves in this process. At the same time, "leadership success" means thinking clearly under pressure, remaining calm and radiating confidence in order to be able to hold out together until the finishing line.

2. Mastering Challenges with Coordination

Discipline: 110-Meter Hurdles

The qualities needed in the 100-meter dash are also essential in this competition. For the hurdles, however, a quick pace must additionally be paired with agility and foresight to take the hurdles in an efficient manner.

Leadership Learning: In projects, managers often encounter a version of this situation. Despite meticulous planning, troubles and unforeseen events keep popping up and must be handled quickly to not fall behind the schedule. In their response, the key to leadership success is to not only be flexible to adapt to the new situation and anticipate future obstacles. Managers must also be able to swiftly get back on their feet following a setback and not losing focus so that the team remains capable of acting. In doing so, they must always be able to manage different tasks and priorities at the same time.

3. Achieving Successful Projects with Perseverance

Discipline: 400-Meter and 1500-Meter Dashes

As opposed to the two running events already mentioned, the 400-meter and 1500-meter dashes especially require stamina, a skillful use of energy resources, and rhythm. Runners need to pace their speed across the entire distance to be quick enough in all phases of the race while maintaining enough energy for the final sprint.

Leadership Learning: Everyday management with all its projects is like an endurance run. Let's take a product development process as an example. Such a project requires an intensive phase in the beginning to lay out visions, goals, and requirements. The team must then pick up the pace to reach the first milestones. Following the development of prototypes and extensive testing, the team can move on to the product launch and scaling. A manager must keep the team motivated and focused by communicating regularly, appreciating good work, and offering support in difficult phases. At the same time, they must foster resilience and flexibility in the team so that challenges don’t trip the team up and the development cycle can be concluded without delay. And finally, it takes some extra motivation before the finish to successfully prepare and implement the market launch. As you can see: Leadership success is all about perseverance!

The Jumping Events: Leadership Success through Preparation, Risk Assessment and Target Setting

4. Moving Forward with a Balance of Preparation and Courage

Discipline: Long Jump

Athletes will manage the most flawless, i.e. longest, jump if two conditions have been met. First, preparation was adequate, Minutely placed strides (stride length, rhythm, dynamic and energetic execution) in the run up are important to time the take-off perfectly. And second, they are not afraid to take a risk. A winner is the one who is willing to go close to the limit (in this case: the foul line) without crossing it.

Leadership Learning:When managing a team, preparation is everything. Because in more cases than not, the right “strides” in the run up make or break the result. Be it a project, a re-orientation of the team, broaching a new market – solid preparation will make success much more likely. At the same time, “nothing ventured, nothing gained” also applies to doing business. Our current fast-paced and volatile times make courage an important quality for managers. Leadership success in this context refers to the ability to assess risks and try out new things. It involves making smart decisions that move the company forward without unnecessarily jeopardizing it.

5. Reaching the Right Goal with Ambition and Realism

Disciplines: High Jump and Pole Vault

Preparation and courage are also essential for these disciplines. The added component here, however, is that you must know in advance how high you want to go and which bar you want to clear.

Leadership Learning: Managers will be well advised to set goals that are both ambitious and realistic. You won’t get far if all you ever reach for are the metaphorical low-hanging fruit. But you will also exhaust yourself if you habitually set overambitious goals in every project. This will only lead to frustration and resentment among staff and significantly decrease their productivity and work performance. The right framework conditions can allow for an outcome that by far surpasses the goal set. Identifying these framework conditions and making use of them ensures leadership success.

The Throwing Events: Leadership Success through Focus, Explosivity and Perfect Timing

6. Gaining Self-Confidence with a Clear Focus

Discipline: Javelin Throw

In addition to the very complex technique required for the javelin throw, it also takes concentration, focus, and confidence. A world-class javelin thrower is capable of mentally preparing for and concentrating on the throw in the most challenging of conditions. They also manage to zone in on the target and landing sector and release the javelin in just the right moment. To be able to do that, athletes must steadfastly trust their skills and be able to deliver when it’s their turn to throw the javelin.

Leadership Learning: Business executives need a treasure trove of expertise, experiences, a growth mindset, and various (meta-) skills to achieve leadership success. Without those, they will struggle to reach entrepreneurial but also personal and their team’s goals in today’s BANI world. Managers must clearly define their goals, ensure their team understands them, and consistently work to reach them while aligning all measures and activities. Also in this respect, the key to leadership success is trusting your own skills and decisions.

7. Delivering Top Performance in Critical Situations with Explosivity

Discipline: Shot Put

This is, in a quite literal sense, the heaviest discipline among the decathlon events. It consists of throwing a spherical metal ball (which weighs at least 4 kg for women and 7.26 kg for male athletes) as far as possible from inside a marked circle, the throwing circle (diameter of 2.135 meters), into a specific landing space, the so-called throwing sector (= a circular sector of the track and field stadium with an angle of slightly under 35°), without overstepping the throwing circle’s limits. In doing so, athletes must keep a cool head at all costs and summon all of their strength and determination when it’s their turn to throw the heavy ball as far as possible. It takes mental strength to prepare for this challenging throw as athletes need to summon their maximum strength in a matter of only a split second.

Leadership Learning: Managers can learn much from shot putters, particularly with regard to how to act in times of crises. Crises are also instances where they have to bundle their strength and make difficult decisions with serious consequences under a lot of pressure to overcome the challenges ahead. Leadership success is about not being afraid to tackle tasks (no matter how difficult), staying within a certain framework and showing perseverance when needed.

8. Making your Professional Life Take Off with Perfect Timing

Discipline: Discus Throw

Discus throwers are masters of preparation. They have a special knack for visualizing and memorizing the motion of the perfect throw in advance in order to execute the exact same move during the competition. In addition to mastery of the complex technique of a discus throw, also the timing of the turning movement and the delivery are key as the exact point in time when the disc is released and the throw angle considerable influence how far it will go.

Leadership Learning: For things to “take off” or “hit it big” also in a professional context, managers need the qualities and skills of discus throwers. As five-year plans no longer make sense in our contemporary business world where conditions change at a much more rapid pace, modern leaders also rely on a visualization technique: strategic foresight. It is about thinking through various scenarios of how things could develop to plan and prepare for the future in the most targeted way possible. Also in strategic foresight, practice makes perfect. It takes a lot of practice and continuous efforts to hone one’s skills to eventually be able to take good decisions at exactly the right point in time.

Leadership Success: Lessons from the Decathlon for Modern Leaders

The parallels between the disciplines of the decathlon and the challenges of leadership are clear: just like the decathlon, leadership requires a wide range of skills - from speed and coordination to endurance and risk assessment. Our takeaway? Setting clear goals and having confidence in your own abilities are critical to thriving in uncertain times. By integrating lessons from the world of sport into their daily practice, leaders can guide not only their teams but also themselves to success.

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