Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
What Leaders Can Learn from Michael Phelps About Preparation August 2 2012
Most of the world knows by now that U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps broke the all-time record for most medals won by an Olympian in London this week. It’s a truly amazing achievement on Phelps’ part but, honestly, not one in which there are many legitimate leadership lessons. Seriously, how many of us have the gifts and abilities in our respective fields that Michael Phelps has in his? As the Brits might say, not bloody many.
That said, there is a very applicable lesson about preparation that leaders can learn from Phelps. If you’re a regular Olympics watcher, you probably remember that Phelps won one of his medals in Beijing in 2008 while swimming with his goggles full of water. He couldn’t see a thing and still won gold. After that race, Phelps said that while he had never competed before with water in his goggles, he had practiced that way. In an interview with NBC in London this week, Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, said he made sure his guy had the water in the goggles experience to be prepared for that scenario in Olympic competition.
When it happened in real time, Phelps’ preparation enabled him to stay calm and start counting his strokes. He knew how many strokes he needed to touch the wall and didn’t stop swimming full out until he did.
As I wrote last year in a post about how the Coast Guard prepares for emergencies, great leaders do what Bob Bowman did for Michael Phelps. They give their team members the experience or at least the opportunity to think through what they’re going to do if things don’t go perfectly.
Dwight Eisenhower said that, “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” The noted philosopher Mike Tyson echoed that idea when he said, “Everybody’s got a plan until they get hit.” In other words, you can plan the perfect attack, fight or race but stuff happens and it rarely goes the way you hope or think it will. As Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman proved in Beijing, the physical and mental preparation you do to get ready for what could happen can make all the difference.
What do you do to prepare yourself and your team for any eventuality?
I love the example that Phelps practiced with water in his goggles. Brilliant strategy because you just never know when you'll need that skill. Great post!
Great observations to see how everyday practices underpin extraordinary achievements. Thanks for this one while the moment is fresh!
This is a great post and example. Every year at my company — both at the corporate office and our properties around the world — we perform, as an organization, a SWOT analysis. Many organizations do something similar, what makes ours unique is that every employee in the company from the hourly front-line to the president, participates in the exercise. One of the most impactful elements is always the "T" in the exercise – the Threats. While most of us cannot predict the future nor prevent external threats from occurring, we can prepare for them by identifying potential 'worse-case scenarios."
What do we do if a competitor opens up right down the street? What do we do if we have another massive thunderstorm that leaves thousands without power for days? In Phelps' case, what do I do if my goggles fill up with water?
Obviously you cannot foresee a lot of these external threats. But identifying as many as possible allows you to prepare and plan for the worst.
I am trying to find a link to that interview where they talk about preparing with the stepped on goggles. I watched it on tv but can not find it online. Has anyone else been more succesful?
Just goes to prove that you need to train for every eventuality be prepared in life business or sport
'Well said! Mike Tyson's is one of my favorite quotes; yup, "everyone has a plan until you get hit." That's partly why scenario thinking / planning is still a critical element for crafting sound strategy. It also reinforces the importance of discipline, one of the "3C and 3D" leadership and organizational capacities in my book "Navigating Integrity." We're told that it takes at 10,000 repetitions to master something – and many of those should be when things don't go as planned.
I work in a nonprofit with only four people. With our highly organized planners who get upset when the plan changes, I've started saying the phrase, "We'll make a plan then get in the realities of the situation and then make a new plan." The fact that we understand and agree upfront that there will be elements we can't account for and will have to shift accordingly, seems to lessen some of the anxiety of the change.