Sports-stars-turned-businessmen Mark Foster and Jim Rees on leadership

Page 1 of 2

(/)
Home (/)

Insight (/Insight)

Sports-stars-turned-businessmen Mark Foster and Jim Rees on leadership

Sports-stars-turned-businessmen Mark Foster and Jim Rees

on leadership
Rhian Morgan
Mon Sep 05, 2016 12:03 PM

Two leading sportsmen have started

their own leadership consultancy.
Olympian Mark Foster, and
endurance cyclist Jim Rees, have
united their considerable forces to
form The Long and the Short of It.
Rhian Morgan talks to them about
achieving goals, working with Cancer
Research - and the Olympic flirtation
that hit the headlines
The Rio Olympics impressed and inspired
everyone with its athletes' winning mentality.
And although five-times Olympic swimmer
Mark Foster made headlines for his flirty
commentary with Rebecca Adlington, he
would rather you take notice of him as a
businessman.
For along with four-time Race Across America cyclist Jim Rees, they have created a cutting-edge new company called The
Long & the Short of It (http://www.thelongandtheshortofit.biz/). Their athletic disciplines are at opposite ends of the
spectrum - Mark is the sprint swimmer, Jim is the ultra-endurance athlete - yet both men know what it takes to succeed.
Between them they have 60 years of experience in competition, dedication and achieving their goals.
The Long & The Short of It is a new company that will provide market-leading executive coaching, motivational speaking, and
leadership alignment. Their unique selling point is their successful sports career. So how does that translate into business?
"Emotional intelligence, authenticity, and emotional resilience is something we both believe are strengths of ours, being able
to support leaders to find their true north, and to ensure they are inspirational and engaging while performing under pressure,"
comments Mark.
"As athletes, we have learnt a lot about planning, strategy, commitment and developing the right mindset for success to
compete at the highest levels, so it seems natural for us to share this with others."
They will create a series of dynamic stand-alone motivational talks, regular workshops and leadership programmes focusing
on attitude, behaviours, and habits to succeed.
"Mark and I have been saying for a number of years that we should do something together, so it became inevitable for us to
formulate The Long & the Short of It, a company embracing our polar opposites of experience (sprint and endurance) and our
emotional discipline for competition to help corporations, executive teams and motivated individuals achieve goals and high
performance targets in the business world," says Jim.

Different lives, same goals

And while Jim describes his life and career as very different to Mark's, they felt that their business outlook is very similar.
"Mark and I have been mates for 10 years and we met when I was speaking at a conference. We got on immediately and I
helped Mark with his speeches when he first started out speaking at conferences. We both have a very similar sense of fun
and our mindsets are almost identical in how we approach life.
"Even though we come from very different disciplines of sport, planning, goal setting, emotional resilience, strategic thinking
all played a part in our careers and we see these as transferable into business."
And Jim, in particular, is used to juggling commitments as a busy parent: "I am a normal guy with an extremely strong mindset
and managed to achieve my sporting goals while being a parent of six kids and running my own business. My greatest
achievement was to compete as a solo cyclist in three consecutive Race Across America races, going quicker each time."
Yet it is Mark and Jims expertise and emotional discipline for competition that will provide the critical competitive difference
for companies. So I ask them about their business ethos.
Jim explains: "We are very clear about what we can and cant do, so were not attempting to be everything for everyone, we
work with top teams to help them tap into more of their potential. We are authorised partners of the 5 Behaviours of a
Cohesive Team and work with teams to build a solid foundation of vulnerability-based trust, which is critical for highperforming teams. In essence, we are experts in Emotional Intelligence.
As Mark is the sprinter, Jim, is the endurance athlete. How does that translate into your new business? For instance, is Mark
the ideas man and Jim the man who builds on this?
"We are both fairly similar," says Mark. "We do have associates that are also world class in their fields of expertise. When a
company requires systems thinking, for example, we bring that person into a project. Jim is qualified in emotional intelligence
and works with individuals and teams whereas I have been more focused on the motivational speaking aspect."

As simple as ABC

https://www.i-l-m.com/Insight/Edge/2016/September/Good-sports-run-new-leadershi...

11/10/2016

Sports-stars-turned-businessmen Mark Foster and Jim Rees on leadership

Page 2 of 2

Both men talk a lot about having the right mindset. So do they use any particular approach to their leadership? "We have our
own framework for every project we work on which is the ABC of Success:- A= Awareness (of the fingerprint that leaders are
leaving with every interaction) , B= Beliefs (challenging the current beliefs of the individuals and teams), C= Commitment
(ensuring there is a robust roadmap in place and stepping stones as to how to get there).
"At an individual level we also partner with JCA global, who are leaders in the emotional intelligence (EI) field. We used their
EI model for Executive Coaching, and their online tools which we believe are best in class."
And one client who certainly thinks so is Cancer Research. Jim and Mark are working with Su Crighton, Director of
Technology and Change at the charity, to improve "good team development and insight, which is helping us to become much
stronger teams with clearer purpose".
Mark adds: "Building and broadening the trust within their team has led to greater communication and cuts out any
interferences in their daily interactions. They now have a very clear purpose and a roadmap that will lead them to having their
best year yet. The ABC of Success has been used and each team member has had 1:1 sessions along with five days of
offsite sessions with the team. This project is still ongoing, with noticeable change taking place."

Olympic success
And returning to Team GB's success in the Olympics, Mark singled out Adam Peatys gold medal-winning performance,
"because of the way he destroyed everybody. Ive not seen anyone destroy a world record like that in British sport." But what
about that flirtation? What did Mark think of the media hysteria? "We were there to cover swimming at the Olympic Games,
and our sexual chemistry was being talked about more than what was going on in the water. I thought: 'Hang on, there is a lot
of stuff going on in the water, stop focusing on something that isnt.' Becky and I have been good friends for 10 years. It was
hilarious and alarming." Maybe certain sectors of the media have a lot to learn and Mark and Jim are the business leaders
to do it.

Tips for leaders

Mark and Jim have given us a few tips for other leaders:
"Know your blindspots. Leaders are readers, so become interested in what makes you and others tick. Keep a journal ( use
the Win, Learn, Change model on a daily basis) (another model!). And, surprisingly for a sprint swimmer, Mark states that you
slow down the pace. "Corporate life is running so fast on the treadmill that it has become tricky to find time to think and really
connect at a deeper level."
He also advises leaders to be more self-aware: "What fingerprint are you currently leaving in every interaction youre having
with others?"
If you would like to learn more, listen to Mark Foster (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eight-steps-to-world-classperformance-with-olympian-mark-foster-tickets-27429570584?aff=eivtefrnd) and Jim Rees
(https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/building-a-high-performing-team-with-ultra-cyclist-jim-rees-tickets-27429767172?
aff=eivtefrnd) sharing their expertise in our free webinars at https://www.i-l-m.com/Member-zone/Member-webinars
(https://www.i-l-m.com/Member-zone/Member-webinars)
Eight Steps to World Class Performance with Mark Foster
(https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8471922186475083777) is on September 14, while Building Corporate
Teams with Jim Rees (https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6863990884370507010) is on September 15, at 1pm.

Comments

Share on

Add a comment

https://www.i-l-m.com/Insight/Edge/2016/September/Good-sports-run-new-leadershi...

11/10/2016