Do Everything For A Reason.

In 2010, Team Sky set the goal to “create the first British winner of the Tour de France within five years”. This July, they’ll be aiming to make it three winners within their five-year target.

At the center of this unprecedented success is the unique philosophy and uncompromising approach of Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford. Not only has he changed professional cycling forever, he has provided a blueprint for success that could live far beyond the sport of cycling.

Image via WikiCommons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license.

Brailsford’s philosophy is based on marginal gains theory, which, put simply, is the idea that if you break down everything you can think of that goes into making an athlete better, and then improve each by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together. By applying this thinking to intelligent data collection and the latest technology, Team Sky has found the right equipment, right processes and even the right pillows to project them to glory.

Much has already been made of how marginal gains can be applied in a range of different contexts: from education to business. However, for me, the greatest inspiration is the context in which Brailsford applied his theories.

Cycling is a sport full of tradition and un-written rules. Much to do with in-race etiquette, but also to do with training and preparation. Many of the processes in place before Team Sky were simply followed because “that’s the way things have always been done”. Brailsford had the nerve to break tradition, and stick to his guns against a tide of ridicule until the results came through.

Data and technology are changing far more than just cycling, following processes simply because they’ve worked in the past is a sure fire way to get left behind.

Matt Saunders
Strategist UK
@mattjksaunders