Business Lessons Learned From 25 Years of Racing Motorcycles
4 . Look Way Ahead of Where You Are When racing , it ’ s important to not live in the moment . If you do , you will crash . In desert racing , especially , the terrain is constantly in a state of change . Look beyond what is immediately in front of you . Businesses , now more than ever , are faced with a landscape that is quickly evolving . Be ready for what you will soon encounter .
5 . You Need a Great Team I ’ ve never won a race by myself . I always surrounded myself with a diverse group of people that had four key attributes : excellent skills , unwavering ambition , uncompromising integrity and a perfect cultural fit . In business , you can fix everything with money , except one thing : the people . To win in business , you must surround yourself with a great team .
6 . Have Honest Self-Awareness When I was racing motorcycles , I knew what my strengths and weaknesses were . Because of honest self-awareness , I knew what situations would be difficult for me and what part of the track I could make up ground . When you have honest self-awareness , you know what you need to spend more time on improving and where you should be applying your strengths .
7 . Know When to Charge Ahead and When to Take It Slow When I raced Enduros , I learned that , unlike desert races ( a go-as-fast-as-you-can race ), Enduros required me to not only know when to roll on the throttle , but also when to slow down for the technical parts of the course . In business , we ’ re faced with the same situations . It ’ s important to know when it makes sense to take a moment and slow down the tempo for situations that require more finesse . This ties in with being omni-aware .
8 . Have People That Support You In 1983 , I crashed hard . I broke my right femur in five places , broke off the femoral neck on my left hip and broke my left collar bone . Had it not been for my closest friends and family supporting me while on the mend , I don ’ t know that I would ’ ve ever climbed back on another motorcycle . I did , eventually , with excitement . In business , failure is always a possibility , but it ’ s never fatal if you have a great support team to help you get going again .
9 . Commitment is Essential Desert racing is a tough , long , exhausting marathon . The races can be anywhere from a short , 100-mile race to the intimidating Baja 1000 . To be successful and finish – finishing the Baja 1000 is considered a victory in itself – the race , you and everyone on your team must be committed to the entire process .
10 . Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable I didn ’ t choose desert racing because I thought it would be easy . In fact , it was quite the contrary . I wanted the challenge . Business is wrought with days of despair and agony . Business owners learn to get used to being uncomfortable and know that , in the long run , it ’ s worth it . I have a saying above my desk that reads : “ Comfort is the enemy of progress .” Every difficult day that I have , I read it and it gives me a bit of solace so that I can muster up the willpower to press on .
11 . Celebrate the Small Things I won a very small amount of the races that I entered . Two of my proudest moments came from races that I barely finished . It was those races that inspired me to keep racing more . In business , as in life , it ’ s all an infinite game of averages . If you have more good days than bad , you ’ re winning . Make sure to keep things in perspective and always celebrate the small things . It ’ s those celebrations that keep everyone in the game .
12 . Be Prepared “ Success is when preparation meets opportunity .” Entering the race gave me “ opportunity ” to win . Being prepared improved my odds considerably . In business , we must always review our processes , systems and people to improve the likelihood of having more winning days than losing . Always think , if someone wanted to put me out of business , what would they have to do to be successful ? Ask your people what you , as a team , need to be better prepared and improve your odds of winning .
13 . Know What Plateau You Want to Compete On In racing , there are three classes ; there ’ s beginner , novice and expert . When deciding to enter a race , it ’ s the rider ’ s job to assess their skills and risk-tolerance to know in which level to compete . A beginner should compete against other beginners to build confidence and learn what skills are needed to move up the ranks . Running a business is no different . All businesses find themselves plateauing at some point . It is very important to decide whether to stay at the current plateau or move on to the next advanced class . Business leaders know that to move up and compete with the big dogs , it ’ ll involve additional resources . The leader must summon the moxie to get way outside of their comfort zone , because that ’ s how the big dogs play . continued on page 56
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