Adopting an Olympian Mindset Can Supercharge Your Innovation
Rooting for our Canadian athletes in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has brought new energy and excitement. It has brought us together, creating vitality, unity, and patriotism.
While watching Olympians compete, it’s hard to believe a person can run, swim, or cycle that fast. However, if you have ever competed in any sport, you know that those 60-second races, 40-minute basketball games, and record-breaking weight lifts represent countless hours, weeks, months, and years of dedicated training, discipline, and sacrifice to achieve the medal.
The same is true for growth-stage companies launching new, innovative products. As consumers, we see flashy news headlines and digital ads promoting a product. For innovators, those marketing initiatives come after months or years of long days, failures, overcoming roadblocks, and forgoing an easier path to bring their innovative ideas to market.
So, if you are an innovator working hard to market your product or service, let’s look at how adopting Olympian characteristics can propel innovation and success forward.
3 Olympian Characteristics that Apply to Innovation
Strong Work Ethic
Hard work pays off. Plain and simple. Substitute an athlete’s grueling training sessions and strict diets for late-night brainstorming sessions, endless research and prototypes, and many “back to the drawing board” moments, and the journey to success is mirrored by an innovator’s experience.
Whether the hours are being put in a gym, office, or lab, it takes unwavering dedication and an ability to roll up one’s sleeves to achieve progress. To achieve truly impactful results, learning to maximize your productivity is crucial. This approach will enable you to harness your efforts effectively instead of spreading yourself too thin without making tangible progress.
Perseverance
Do you think an Olympic Gymnast has never fallen off a balance beam or fumbled a vault landing? Behind those perfectly executed routines are many falls, frustrations, and injuries despite many hours of training and practice.
The only way an athlete can compete at the highest level of sport is to have perseverance because failures and mistakes will happen no matter how fiercely they chase success.
For innovators, ideas are not developed into a market-ready product in the first, second, or third round of development. Technology can be uncooperative, market research may suggest pivoting in another direction, and customers may want a different solution. The key to success in innovation and business growth is to persevere through these struggles. You’ll often learn more from failure than success.
Coachability
Coachability may not be a characteristic that comes first to mind when comparing Olympians to innovators. In both scenarios, success will not happen if the person is unable to receive expert advice or constructive criticism.
Despite their unbelievable athletic ability and drive, Olympians keep improving their physical and mental performance by being receptive to personalized coaching that considers each athlete’s unique capabilities and drive.
As a growth-stage company, you must proactively seek and accept feedback and advice. It will help your product or service meet the needs of your target audience. You can receive coaching from potential customers, industry experts, market surveys, and business mentors whose professional experience and wisdom are invaluable to entrepreneurs.
Business Incubators Help Propel Innovation
As an innovator, you also possess Olympian potential. To bring those talents to light and grow them requires trusted, experienced mentorship from a business incubator. Being paired with the right mentor or coach keeps you moving in the right direction and helps close the gaps in your knowledge, skill, and experience.
Innovation Cluster Peterborough and the Kawarthas’ Regional Incubator, located 1.5 hours east of Toronto, supports hundreds of growth-stage companies to launch and commercialize their innovative products and grow their businesses. Learn how you can become a business Olympian by filling out an inquiry form today. We can help you on your innovation journey.