At the recent meeting of the CEO Institute, I had the absolute pleasure of watching Leisel Jones talk to the room about culture and leadership. An amazing young women, it was refreshing to hear from somebody who burst onto the swimming scene as a fifteen year old at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as she talked about the leadership and culture of the four Olympics, between 2000 and 2012, that she competed at.
Leisel boasts an impressive resume – 14 individual world records, 7 World Championship titles, 10 Commonwealth games medals, 23 National titles and 9 Olympic medals, a number which awards her, along with Ian Thorpe, the record for the most Olympic medals won by any Australian.
Her experiences under different coaches and Olympic team managers gave her a vast knowledge of how different leaders manage, or don’t manage, people well…
One of the main things she learned over her four Olympics was that teams need good leaders and those leaders need to provide excellent guidelines for the teams to follow in order to get the best from the team…
What do you think are the characteristics that a good leader needs in order to get the best from their team?
