Four-time Olympic Medalist Angela Ruggiero Says The Cure For Fear Is Preparation

In this edition of our Corporate Competitor Podcast, Sports Innovation Lab CEO Angela Ruggiero says winning is a game of inches and insights, and she has four Olympic medals to prove it.

“The best athletes in the world are the ones who are reinventing their swing or reevaluating their diet or leveraging technology to unlock their bodies’ potential and understand what they’re capable of doing,” said Angela Ruggiero in this episode of Corporate Competitor Podcast. “And I would say the same thing is true of business leaders. We’re all terrified at one point or another, but I have found the best way to manage your fear is in preparation. When you don’t take shortcuts in preparation… when you don’t cheat yourself or your team, you feel you’re going through life doing the best you can, so even if you don’t succeed here or there, it’s actually a pretty good feeling.”

Ruggiero has had more than her share of life success. At Harvard, she won the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is the Heisman trophy of hockey, and went on to enjoy four trips to the Olympic medal stand before hanging up her skates to serve on the International Olympic Committee Executive Board, and co-found the Sports Innovation Lab, a data-driven market research firm.

Her business acumen is so thorough that she’s been appointed the Chief Strategy Officer for the Los Angeles 2028 Candidature Committee, which is vying to host the 2028 Olympics.

In this podcast, Ruggiero contends that successful athletes and business leaders, alike, are constantly pitting their courage against their fear, and she offers several experience-tested ways for “controlling the controllables” to ensure you and your team never leave the “field of play” without having given 100 percent.

Have a listen!

YOU WILL LEARN:

5:00   How to treat your business like an athlete treats their body.

13:00  How to turn discomfort into growth.

22:00  Angela’s leadership ingredients.

24:00  How to be vulnerable in a corporate environment.

30:00  The key to confidence in the workplace.

Check out the full Corporate Competitor Podcast interview archive and subscribe to new episodes.


MORE LIKE THIS

  • Get the CEO Briefing

    Sign up today to get weekly access to the latest issues affecting CEOs in every industry
  • upcoming events

    Roundtable

    Strategic Planning Workshop

    1:00 - 5:00 pm

    We are in a period of rapid change. Customer needs, technologies, competitors and internal capabilities require companies to review and update their strategies for the new realities. In this workshop, strategy experts Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison will show you a systematic approach to strategic planning to help you refine or redefine your business strategy and approach including:

    • Learn what you need to know to develop an effective strategic plan. Put the right players on the strategic planning team.
    • Develop strategies that leverage your company’s unique position in the marketplace. Lift your management team beyond “business as usual” thought processes and activities.
    • Translate your strategies into action. Achieve your vision for success and generate superior financial results.
    • Identify exactly what you need to do now to position your company for future success.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    New York, NY: ​​​Chief Executive's Corporate Citizenship Awards 2017

    Women in Leadership Seminar and Peer Discussion

    2:00 - 5:00 pm

    Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations. 

    Limited space available.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $495 will be added to your total.

    Golf Outing

    10:30 - 5:00 pm
    General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
    Sponsored by UBS

    General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.

    The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $295 will be added to your total.