Racing to the Top? Try the Triathlon
It never hurts to be interested in whatever your boss is interested in. Up-and-comers have always worked on their golf game or trained for a 5K run, if that's what their chief executive did. But what if your CEO's idea of fun is swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and then running a full marathon--the feats in an Ironman triathlon?
Start training.
It's possible that your CEO or some other high-level executive either runs triathlons or is about to discover them--and soon after, he'll want everyone at the company to discover them, too. As with so many other corporate behaviors, where the CEO goes, employees are finding it may pay off to follow.
Since the triathlon became an Olympic sport in 2000, it has seen explosive growth. USA Triathlon, the sport's governing body in this country, sanctioned 1,820 races last year, up from an estimated 400 in 1999, according to Tim Yount, vice president of marketing.
Type A corporate overachievers seem to have a particular affinity for the ordeal, which does come in shorter versions than the Ironman. Of the 1,744 people who participated in last year's Ironman World Championship race in Kona, Hawaii, there were 78 business owners (equal to the number of professional athletes), 49 executives, and 83 managers, among other professionals.
Ironman has added a CEO Challenge component to its race series; executives compete in designated events to qualify for 15 to 20 spots set aside for them at Kona. Last year 45 people vied for these CEO Challenges.
"All the qualities that go into a triathlon--preparing and competing, having discipline, and interest in mastering proper technique--all translate to business,"says Jamie Maguire, the CEO of Philadelphia Insurance Companies in Bala-Cynwyd, Pa.
Maguire, 45, finished an Ironman race in Florida last November in nine hours and 54 minutes, earning him a spot at Kona in 2006. He plans to do three Ironman races and four half-Ironmans this year. "We have 15 to 20 people who do triathlons; it's fun for the management team," says Maguire, whose idea of lunch is a workout with a handful of triathlete employees.
Head to head. Yount estimates that some 35 shorter-distance triathlons (say a half-mile swim, 18-mile bike, and 5-mile run) now have a "corporate challenge"component that pits companies against one another. One third of the 2,800 participants in the Nautica Malibu triathlon, in California, are on corporate teams.
Walt Disney, Nestle, Kaiser Permanente, Toyota, and DreamWorks all sent teams to the Malibu race last year. Nutrition supplement maker Herbalife has sent large triathlon teams to Malibu, London, Brazil, and Thailand. ESPN enters a team in the New York City Triathlon, while Philadelphia Insurance sends a large "team Philly" to its local sprint triathlons.
It should not come as much surprise that the men and women who manage to land a CEO or top executive post tend to be highly competitive, self-motivated, and goal oriented. The sport tends to sweep through companies where the CEO looks for such personality traits in his hires and where the company culture is aggressive and high energy. "The CEOs who do this are people who have never failed at anything," says Ted Kennedy, who founded and runs CEO Challenges, a Colorado company that runs the CEO Challenge part of the Ironman.
Back in 2001, BD's Mongolian Barbecue cofounder Matthew Kirby, 48, who was both older and fitter than anyone else at the Ferndale, Mich., restaurant chain's headquarters, registered his business partner Billy Downs, 40, and two senior-level managers for a short-distance triathlon. "None of us were in good shape," remembers David Plancon, 36, director of purchasing. "He was egging us on, and I think he thought we'd back out." No one wanted to be the one who did, of course. "We each found a way to get through it," Plancon says. "And as soon as I finished, I immediately began thinking about how I could do it better.'"
Plancon and Downs started training together, with Downs competing in his first Ironman in 2005 and now gunning for Kona. But Downs is clearly irked by the fact that after five years, Kirby still clocks better times than he does. "He's a past marathoner and a strong swimmer, but I can beat him on the bike," Downs notes. "And I'm the only one who's done an Ironman." Not for long, perhaps. Plancon is training to do one.
This potent mix of camaraderie and competition is a reflection of BD's company culture. "We're an aggressive young company," says Plancon. "If you tell me I can't produce a certain result, somehow I'll find a way to do it. I'm goal oriented, and I like to hire people who are motivated and goal oriented, too."
Once the CEO does a triathlon, his subordinates can expect to hear all about the best training regimens and diets and the latest equipment. Downs encourages his managers to set audacious "Ironman" goals for themselves. Dave Moore, 53, CEO of 24/7 Real Media, an online advertising company, sees the challenge of completing a triathlon as analogous to the travails he suffered during the dot-com meltdown. "We were bleeding money, and every day was a bad day," he explains. "The triathlon training was an outlet for my stress. Your first triathlon feels like an insurmountable obstacle, and in business I was facing things that seemed equally insurmountable."
Succeeding at the triathlon gave him hope he could get through the downturn. He began using the analogy in pep talks to his staff. "It resonated," says Ali Mirian, 34, a product manager at 24/7--and in more ways than one.
The company gradually turned itself around, and employees began asking Moore for advice on how to train for a race. Mirian and Moore have run the New York Triathlon together every year since 2003. Sherri Valenti, 38, vice president of marketing, ran her first triathlon in 2004 and might soon join Moore and Mirian in New York. "It does become an inner circle that people want to be a part of," Mirian says.
Pressure cooker. Luis Valdes, executive consultant at Corporate Psychology Resources in Atlanta, has studied the common link between top athletes and executives. "If it's an overt part of the culture and done well, it can be motivating and create cohesion and camaraderie," he says. "But if there's a lot of implied pressure to show that you can hang with the rest of the crowd, then you get people competing who don't want to, and it can actually disrupt performance. Most of the time it isn't done well."
But some CEOs see the training as more than just another version of the corporate buddy flick. Maguire and Downs had each sacrificed physical fitness to their careers. Twenty years ago, Maguire tried to run a half-marathon with friends and was the only one who couldn't finish. It was a wake-up call that stuck. For his part, Downs has dropped 40 pounds since he began racing, and he says that despite training up to 22 hours a week, "I get more done in a day now than I ever did when all I did was work."Michael Johnson, 51, the CEO of Herbalife, observes that "everyone knows at least one of the skills in this. So it's more inclusive" than running or biking alone might be. Some companies sign up for short-distance races, fielding three-person relay teams, with each person doing one leg.
Proponents say the sport balances team spirit and individual ability. "Jamie did our last Ironman in nine hours; I did it in 14; someone else did it in 15. But throughout the day you pass each other and can encourage each other," says Deborah Sutton, 39, senior vice president of operations at Philadelphia Insurance. You can be part of something "while working at your own level," she says.
The CEOs are aware that there will always be people who join in the training runs and rides with an eye toward shaping up their career. "If you're out biking, it's time with the boss," says Downs. They say they do try to send the message that a person doesn't need to do triathlons to succeed at their company, but opting out of the triathlon culture completely might not be that easy.
"I wanted to create a company culture that's fun and inclusive and encourages camaraderie and fitness," says Maguire. "But if someone is bright and has the right personality and will add value, and isn't athletically inclined, we'll hire them." He pauses, then adds: "They can hold my bike while I transition."
This story appears in the February 27, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.