5 LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM RUNNING FOR TEAM AUSTRALIA

Contributed by Kay Bretz, AURA Member

5 Leadership Lessons from Running for Team Australia
Reflections on the 6hr IAU Global Solidarity Run

On March 22, I had the honour of representing Team Australia in the 2021 IAU Global Solidarity Run. As one out of eight runners across Australia, I could run wherever I wanted, as long as it was for six hours continuously. I deliberately picked Albert Park lake in Melbourne for its convenient location and luckily was gifted the probably last beautiful day of summer.

I love ultrarunning because it offers so many lessons beyond the sport. Therefore, instead of a traditional race report, I would like to reflect on what this experience has taught me for work and life in general. These are my 5 leadership lessons from the weekend:

LESSON #1: BE AGILE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

I had a well-considered plan for 2020, selecting the few races I wanted to participate in. Not racing too often helps me prevent injuries and keeps me mentally fresh. COVID had other plans for all of us and my plans all fell through. I no longer take anything for granted and am grateful for events going ahead. I hope the Irrational S.O.U.T.H. 200-miler goes ahead in June but who knows what will happen by then? Applying for Team Australia in the 6-hour format was a welcome opportunity which popped up, leaving me more than 11 weeks before my intended A-race. From a leadership perspective, all we can do is be clear about our priorities and acknowledge that nothing is certain. The more uncertainty we face, the more we have to be agile.

LESSON #2: DROP THE EGO WHEN IT GETS IN THE WAY

In my application for this event, I declared that my intention was to run 75-80 kilometres. I hoped to run a new PB and demonstrate the fitness I was in for a 100-kilometre race last year cancelled by COVID. Yet the first reality check in training put a spanner in the works. My body was rebelling against what my mind was hoping for. Only three weeks before the event, my glutes and lower back muscles prevented me from running fast or longer than 90 minutes. The leadership lesson was to drop the ego when it gets into the way. We will excel in whatever we are doing when we start acknowledging things as they are. It was not a matter of playing small or giving up; I had to surrender to the circumstances as they were.

LESSON #3: DON’T FIND EXCUSES TO DELAY LIVING YOUR PURPOSE

Chasing a big total would probably have ended in a death march well before the 6-hour mark. What I was asked to do was let go of the distance goal my ego had in mind and embrace the gift of being forced to slow down. It was a great reminder how often performance aspirations get in the way of pursuing our purpose. I want to inspire the magic (see my newly published book ‘Turning Right’ for more) and, together with my partner Rebecca, came up with the idea of making it an inclusive run for whoever wanted to participate, joining me to celebrate ‘global solidarity’. Regardless of the circumstances, there is always an opportunity to live our purpose.

LESSON #4: CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR EVERYBODY TO THRIVE

I had about a dozen runners joining me and was in good company once my body started complaining about the effort it was in for. Whether they ran a few hundred metres or more than a marathon distance with me, what counted was sharing the experience. Several runners celebrated their longest run in years, others incorporated the run into their training program, while all of us enjoyed catching up with familiar and new faces. The leadership lesson I see is how important it is to look beyond our own needs and create meaningful experiences for everybody involved.

LESSON #5: FOCUS TO GET THE JOB DONE

It gets tough in major challenges and we come to the crossroad where we have to choose how we continue. We can try to avoid failure and somehow survive or we find a new way to thrive. With 90 minutes of running left, the sun was burning down on us and I felt the urge to slow down. Two strategies kept me focussed and got me through to the end: one was setting a distance goal requiring me to keep up the momentum, the other was to ‘hop onto the train’ and tuck in behind my amazing fellow runners. Passing the arbitrary goal of 73 kilometres was less about performance and much more a mechanism to maintain focus. The important lesson is to find something worth focussing on when times get tough.

We cannot avoid tough times; whether in running, work or life. But let’s be honest, that’s why we choose some of our challenges in the first place and, as a result, learn something new about ourselves. It’s these challenges which then prepare for the ones we’ve never asked for – the ones life throws at us unexpectedly.

Pictured: Kay Bretz with his support and pace crew for the Solidarity Run. Photograph – Rebecca Toomey.