Lessons from Lance

Since 1999, the yellow jersey in the Tour de France has been synonymous with just one man – Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong - the number 1 ranked cyclist in the world in 1996, and youngest ever World Road Race Champion in 1993 at the age of 21. Yet he had never made an impression on the Tour de France. In 1996, he was the overwhelming favourite to win the Tour, but abandoned in the first week when he started to cough up blood. Two months later, at the Atlanta Olympics he didn't do much better, finishing a disappointing 13 th in the Olympic Road Race.

The reason for his poor performance and inability to recover between races became evident on the 2 nd of October that year when he was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer.

Today we know that Lance was given less than a 20% chance to survive the cancer that had spread beyond his testicles into his lungs and onto his brain. Lance's ideas were somewhat different though and he survived the cancer before again lining up at the start of the 1999 Tour de France. Against all odds he won the 1999 Tour de France in the fastest average speed ever . Now, six years later, he has never ridden the final stage into Paris without wearing yellow. No other cyclist in history has won more Tours de France!

Lance emphasises that:

“Pain is Temporary, Quitting Lasts Forever”

Because this is what he learnt during three painful cycle of chemotherapy. This is also what he learnt when trying to win a Tour de France. And this is what he remembers when training on the Tour course in the early spring when the mountain passes are still snowed under – literally. This is what we remind ourselves of everyday while we are building our company's.

Six years of agony, ecstasy, pain and elation form the basis of this 60-90 minute presentation. We explore the attributes of success that took the youngest ever World Road Race Champion through a desperate fight with Testicular Cancer to 6 consecutive victories in the Tour de France. Lance Armstrong has had to employ strategies in Leadership, Teamwork, Communication, Problem-solving, Marketing, Dealing with Disasters, Planning, Training, Discipline and Success. We look carefully at how Lance has successfully dealt with these challenges – the same ones we face in our own busy corporate existence. Parallels are then drawn to our own “ Tours ”.