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Lessons From Phelps and Bolt

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Jason and I were talking about some of the running events in the Olympics as we walked in to the office together this morning.  After chatting about the marathon, he asked if I’d seen the Bolt 100 meter final.  I did – and it was an amazing performance – but I was perplexed why Bolt coasted the last 20 meters and "only" did 9.69 when he most likely could have broken 9.60.  Now – 9.69 is a world record, but 9.60 (or even the symbolic 9.59) would be mindblowing.

Jason suggested that it might be marketing.  Whoever is "advising" Bolt said "just win and break the world record by a little.  Then the endorsements will flow.  Then you can keep breaking the world record and steadily upping the stakes."  Cynical, but it rang true.

This just in – Bolt won the 200 meter and set a world record – 19.30.  This time he ran hard through the finish.

Now – I think both Bolt and Phelps are incredible athletes.  Amazing.  Mindblowing.  But I was really baffled to see Bolt pull up short.  It made no sense to me, especially when compared to the incredible effort by Phelps across all of his races. 

This made me think of sales people or teams that beat their number in a quarter and then bank something for the next quarter.  I’ve never ever liked this practice, especially in private companies.  I much prefer the Phelps approach – where you give it your all through the very end and bring in as much as you can, take a deep breath, and start all over again – than the Bolt approach (at least in the 100) of when you know you have it nailed, you coast to the finish.

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August 20th, 2008     Categories: Entrepreneurship    
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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bfeld bfeld

    The most effective approach I've seen is a combination of (a) having financial rewards associated with overperformance (e.g. "accelerators) and (b) having a clear track record of NOT incrementally increasing quota only in cases of overperformance. (b) is especially important per Josh's example above. If you have a rolling quota increase every year and/or every time you beat quota, you create a culture that encourages sandbagging and/or just making the number.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bfeld bfeld

    Oops. Sorry.

  • Brad Stewart

    When a sprinter slows down the first first thing they do is shut down the knee drive and start coasting. That is what he was doing and it just looks odd since everyone else does it after they cross the line while the camera angles are changing.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bfeld bfeld

    Maybe, but since this was the final AND he had a 24 hour warm down, I don't think this is what was going on.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/derek_scrug1878 derek_scrug1878

    I can't answer for Bolt, but if you watched the preliminary heats you saw he essentially did the same thing without the celebrating. With 30-40 m left he would look around, see that he had the lead, then take it easy the rest of the way. Maybe he's just so used to dominating the field from the start that he doesn't have to push to the end.

  • Chris

    For the record I'm not taking anything away from Phelps he is a phenomenal athlete; one of the greatest athletes of all time, but let's give the guy some credit, he is 21 and having the time of his life at the Olympics. If you can't have fun doing what you love; what's the point? This young man made the fastest men in the world look like they were standing still, i'll overlook a little chest tap. If you listened to him speak after the race he was very gracious and humble, not to mention he has the repsect of all of his peers.

    If I was the owner of the company and my sales guy gave me a performance of that magnitude i'd give the guy a raise not question his motives.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bfeld bfeld

    And now for some humor just to lighten things up a little.

    http://www.break.com/index/usain-bolt-slow-motion…

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bfeld bfeld

    via an email comment: "I won't gratuitously ascribe cynical motives to Bolt's "coasting" because I don't know him at all. However, your comments about sales people & teams ring too true (and there is no need to try to interpret motive: most sales people are more than happy to admit "prospect banking"). In many cases the root of the problem lies not with the individual but with the compensation and incentive plan. "Balls out" performance in Q1 may result in a great bonus for that quarter but put you at risk of missing quota and losing your job in Q2. Too many comp plans are based only on what gets shipped and do not take proper account of the real value of adding new prospects to the pipeline, the quality of the sale (i.e., what stays shipped and is not a next quarter return), and team and overall company performance. You guys have done an outstanding job on your term sheet series and I would love to see you tackle the sales and marketing process (particularly in light of your marketing sucks comments). What is working in different contexts to reward individuals and teams equitably. What systems are not creating perverse incentives? Are we now in a world where, as Al Reis says, advertising is in decline and PR is the new king? "

  • Chris

    I find it very interesting that so many people are giving this guy grief about the 100M. The guy has done something (winning the 100M and the 200M) that hasn't been done since 1984. Not only did he win, but he demolished two world records in the process under a tremendous amount of pressure. If you don't think that level of pressure is confining and overwhelming look at his countryman's (former world record holder) Usaffa Powell's performance in two Olympic games. Not to mention the talent pool in track and field is much greater (for socioeconomic reasons; e.g. pool time and travel is expensive) than in swimming.

  • Lee Drake

    I think you answered your own question really. Bolt knew he was going to need every bit of energy he had and "run hard" for the 200m later on. If he squandered all of his energy "blowing away" the world record in the 100, he might not have had enough left for the 200. He knew he had an energy budget for his entire Olympic effort and carefully managed it to allow him to win both races. Sounds smart to me.

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Brad Feld

Hi, I'm Brad Feld, a managing director at Foundry Group who lives in Boulder, Colorado. I invest in software and Internet companies around the US, run marathons and read a lot.

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