A Final Leadership Lesson from the Tour de France

If you follow sports at all or even just glance at the news you probably know that the Tour de France is overwith as of yesterday July 25th. You may have picked up that Alberto Contador won his third Tour. In the news this race was as much about Lance Armstrong's FAILURE TO REPEAT as it was about Contador's win (battling Andy Schleck). Much was made of Armstrong's crashes and flats and his "old" legs. He only finished 23rd, out of 170 riders, thus "failing" at his comeback and a ride to glory.

Armstrong had plenty of personal reasons to withdraw early from the race. It was obvious from the end of week one that he was not going to win. He could have avoided the "embarassment" of not winning. He could have avoided all the press questions about being "old." He could have avoided the physical pain of riding long days with scrapes, bumps and bruises. He could have avoided having to hand over his leadership position to someone else. He could have avoided having to support a teammate who was a "lesser" rider.

But he didn't! He rode everyday. He pushed when he was needed and he supported as needed. He did improve his personal standing but MORE IMPORTANTLY he stayed in a leadership position to allow his TEAM to compete for the championship. And compete they did. The Radioshack team, managed by Johann Bruneel and lead by Lance Armstrong finished as the number one team in the Tour de France.

As a leader Armstrong set aside his personal travails and made sure the team prospered. He set an example that the younger riders learned from and provided an example to all of us of leadership. As a result his team prospered, his team was rewarded (reputation-wise and financially) and he ended his last Tour de France in a manner befitting a champion.

Lesson learned: Leadership is not about personal glory, it is about the success of those you lead.

Photo credit: borrowed from Versus.com without permission but asking for foregivenss

Tour de France's Lessons on Teams: More for HR and Management

As the Tour de France riders slug their way through the Alps in France more lessons for Human Resource and Management become apparent. These include:

• Anyone on the team can assume a leadership role on a temporary basis as needed by the circumstances. You have to have team your members trained to lead when their strengths are most needed. And the overall leader needs to direct when the member needs to step up.
• Sometimes the "big picture" changes and you have to be adaptive. Having flexibility built into your plan and your team members will allow you to weather the difficulties.
• Team members cannot quit just because they are no longer the "star." Ego has to be supplanted with loyalty to the team and the goal. Even though his chances of winning are gone Lance Armstrong rides on to support the team.
• There is an old saying and t-shirt slogan that says "Age and treachery overcomes youth and strength." Knowing how to play the game, knowing the shortcuts will often get you there first. But not always. Sometimes you have to have the strength and stamina to pump your legs to get up the hill. So make sure you team has "young legs" to instill the energy needed.
• Remember, often what you are trying to achieve is not a one-day race. It is often an extreme event like the Tour de France and you cannot lose sight of your strategy and plan. It just has to adapt.

So there you have it. Lessons from Stage 9 of the Tour de France.

Tour de France's Lessons for Human Resources and Management

I am a big fan of the Tour de France. My wife and I had the good fortune to be in France for Lance Armstrong's historic sixth win. Watching it on TV is not the same, you just don't get an appreciation for how big of an event it really is. But what you do get to see on TV is the back stories which gives you a much differenct appreciation for how well organized and how efficient the teams conduct their business. As I watched one broadcast I thought "there are some lessons here that management would do well to pay attention to." Here are some of my thoughts:

• TALENT matters. Riders are carefully recruited for the value they bring to the team.
• EVERYONE matters. Everyone plays a role in the success of the team. You start losing members you run the risk of failure.
• You can handle some loss of talent because of cross training. But too much and you are done.
• There can only be a small number of "stars." In fact on a cycling team there really can only be one and the rest of the team is there to make them successful.
• The team is made up of a variety of talents and skills. You need climbers, you need sprinters.
• Management team is important. They provide direction, pay attention to strategy and make sure the details are taken care of.
• Planning is critical. Every detail of the course is paid attention to. They talk about the day at the beginning and they talk about it at the end of the day.
• Flexibility is critical. You cannot control everyone around you. Someone else crashes you need to be ready. Tire goes flat you need to get it fixed right away. So planning for what may go wrong is important. (Is anyone from BP reading this?)
• Resources are important. The riders drink 21 bottles of water per race day and eat 400 calories per hour. They have to do that on the bike and someone has to have all that prepared and they have to get it to them at the proper time. You cannot do good work without resources.
• Rewards are fairly distributed. Money is earned by various successes, typically by the star. But they are evenly distributed because the star would not have gotten there without the team.

These are the lessons I take away from the Tour de France. If you watch what else would you suggest?

Sometimes You Lead from the Back: Lessons from the Tour de France

I am a big fan of cycling, the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong. I have had the opportunity to see one race in person (2004 when Armstrong won his record breaking 6th TdF). So I definitely watched with interest as he made a comeback this year in a bid to win an eighth title. There were all kinds of questions about Armstrong, his team and his bid. They had the strongest team, that was a given, but there was potential conflict amongst the team members. There were three potential leaders, Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador. Armstrong and Contador were previous winners and the third (Levi) had finished 3rd in 2007. Experience was in Armstrong's favor, but he had been absent from cycling for over 3 years, he was recovering from a broken collar bone and of course he was approaching the "old" age of 38 years. He had more to lose than he did to win.

From the start there was dissension in the leadership. Who was going to be the leader? Johann Bruyneel, the coach and director of the team, stated that "leadership" of the team was going to be sorted out on the road. The best rider was going to be supported by the others. Early on Contador tried to establish himself in that position. He violated the team plan and make a breakaway in one of the early mountain stages. He showed that he was very good in the mountains and established himself as the team "leader." Or more correctly the "rider to support for win." In my opinion he did not establish himself as a leader. Contador made it apparent from the beginning he was there for himself by both his statements and his actions.

Despite the fact that only one person rides a bicycle in this sport it is very much a team sport. No one rider can make it without the support of the team. And this is where Armstrong showed his leadership. Rather than making a big show and trying to be competitive with Contador he put aside his personal ambitions and supported his team and his team "leader." He conducted the race from the peloton (see here for the Wikipedia explanation) and made sure Contador stayed in position to win the race. He was careful in the interviews not to make an issue of the tension on the team or the fact that Contador did not follow the rules. And Armstrong was interviewed alot. He realized that it was best for the team. And this was very tough for the VERY competitive Texan. But his maturity and leadership paid off. Contador was the champion, the team was the best team and, by the way, Lance was able to still make the podium in 3rd place. Not bad for a personal comeback and very lucrative for the team. Contador's win, Lance's 3rd place and the team's placement garnered over $900,000 in prize money alone.

The lessons on leadership for us in this sporting example are:

1. Leader's have to realize the race is not about them.


2. Support is necessary at all times, even if there is some dissension.


3. You don't air your differences in public.


4. You keep focused on the goal.


5. You deal with issues after the goal is achieved.

Lance Armstrong's comeback showed that you can lead from the back.

Photo Credit: This is my photo taken in Paris in July of 2004 on the Rue de Rivoli.