Ep 442: Lessons From Elite Cycling

I'm a firm believer in looking outside the talent acquisition universe to see what lessons we can learn from other disciplines and areas. Elite sport is always an interesting parallel as selecting and developing talent is a critical aspect of building a winning team.

My guest this week is Mehdi Kordi, the coach of the Dutch national track cycling team. The team have had a massive amount of success in recent years, including winning three golds, a silver and a bronze at the last Olympics, despite having considerably fewer resources and less funding than some of their competitors. It was fantastic to hear first-hand from Mehdi how they have achieved this, and there are some very valuable lessons here from TA leaders everywhere.

In the interview, we discuss:

• What makes a good coach

• Managing riders, employees and partners

• Getting the best out of people

• How do you spot talent?

• The importance of resilience

• The mental versus the physical

• The role of technology

• Running a world-class team with limited resources.

• Collaboration and partnerships

• Using culture to drive performance

• Clarity and transparency

• What does the future look like for track cycling?

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.