I’m a big fan of the tour. I really enjoyed watching all of the stages over the last 3 weeks. I don’t know how I did it before we got our Digital Video Recorder. If it weren’t for that fancy little device, that came free with my satellite service, I wouldn’t have been able to watch it. Thanks to the miracles of technology I could watch a 4 hour stage in about an hour.

 

The most obvious lessons are those that Floyd Landis taught us about never giving up on yourself. Even if you have one bad day and you think there’s no way you’re going to be able to pull yourself out of the hole the race isn’t over yet. It definitely was an inspiring thing to watch.

 

The more subtle lesson that I watched play out throughout the entire tour was that of focus. Lance Armstrong’s former team Discovery (formerly US Postal), had a pretty miserable showing in this year’s tour after having won it for the last 7 years. I believe the root of their breakdown was lack of focus. They didn’t decide who their leader was going to be. Their philosophy going in was that whoever emerged as the leader would then be supported by the rest of the team. Obviously that didn’t work.

 

Discovery and US Postal had so much success the 7 previous years because they had absolute focus. Their only job was to make sure Lance was wearing Yellow in Paris. It was simple and powerful and worked every time! Of course it didn’t hurt that they had Lance as their leader, but they depended on each other. Without his team Lance couldn’t have one.

 

What are you focusing on? Are you spread too thin to be effective, or are you focused on what’s going to make you successful?

 

Happy networking!

 

Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com