Stefanie Teichmann | From Setbacks to Strength in Business Leadership

Introducing Oakley Meta Vanguard, the new performance AI glasses designed for athletes with an action ready ultra wide camera, powerful open ear speakers and built in Meta AI that syncs with your garment devices for real time insights while you train. Take your performance to the next level with Oakley Meta Vanguard. Athletic Intelligence is here. Learn more. On meta.com. Thursday Night Football is on and it's only on Prime Video. That's going to be on this week. The Minnesota Vikings head W to face the Los Angeles Chargers.

They will take that all day. Coverage begins at 7:00 PM. Eastern with football's best party, TNF Tonight presented by Verizon. Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. It's the Vikings and the Chargers Thursday at 7:00 PM Eastern, only on Prime Video, restricted to the ply. See Amazon.com slash Amazon Prime for teachers. This episode is brought to you by State Farm listening to this podcast. Smart move being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move, having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling.

Just another way to save with a personal price plan like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility be very by state. You've got to stop being selfish because you have something inside you can really help this company or help this situation. And if you don't give it, you're being very, very selfish. And when you present it, don't say, hey, I got the answer.

It's just some simple words like have you considered this, whatever it is, or I would just be interested if we tried this. Well, welcome back, Stephanie. It was a fantastic chat we had last week. And yeah, I'm looking forward to being in the hot seat now and you asking me some questions so far away. The stage is all yours. Brilliant. I love this. I love this about this podcast that you know, we get to turntables. So my first question. So obviously you've worked with amazing top athletes and also with like senior business leaders, and there's always the question of comparison, right?

So when when you think about top athletes, they have this ability to lose a very important match and a couple of days later they show up and they are like full on and it's like they are set back from two days before, never happened. So I wonder how you help them. What is your advice how to bounce back from setbacks, where maybe business leaders could, you know, learn from top athletes and how they do that? Yeah, that's. A That's a very good question. And the first thing I'm going to say is that the very best in the world, that is probably what separates them from everybody else, that incredible ability to to bounce back.

But I think part of it is, is acceptance. And that's actually accepting the sport.

So they know that at at high levels, everybody's good, everybody's pushing, everybody wants it. You know, you know, everybody's doing their best to to get a result. And you know, it's a law of averages. You're not going to win everything. You know, over time you might, but you know, in one year or whatever, you're not going to win everything. And so when, when they lose an important match or an important tournament or, you know, a huge game, the great ones just know that that's part of the journey.

And, and they very quickly want to learn from it because they know the margins are so small. So it's going to be subtle differences or a, a mental error that they made in, in, in, in a, in a key moment that if they can really identify, they can be better prepared for the next time, a key moment that comes up like that. And so they'll, they never forget that the basic job is just to get better. So the way that they show that they care about what they're doing is actually to show up the next day immediately trying to get better again, because a lot of a lot of people like to show how much they care and how disappointed they are, which is proof of how much they care.

You know, look, I'm more devastated than anybody else because it means more to me. Well, the reality is the the very best, it means so much to them that they're going to get up the next day and make sure they're not going to waste time being disappointed, waste time being devastated, waste time trying to prove to the world how badly it hurt them and get on with the job of getting better so that the next time they're in that situation, they have a better chance of, of pulling it off and winning. So that I'd say is, is, is a key thing.

They accept the sport, they accept it. And I think it's no different in business. You have to accept the fact that you're not going to come through every time. You're not going to win every time, but you, what you want to do is get so good that the law of averages sits on your side. In other words, you're going to win more than you lose. You know, you, you and that, and that is very, very important to you know, when, when you. And that's that's why so many people chase the shiny objects because they have a myth in the back of their head that somehow they can prevent losing.

Somehow you can find the things that prevent you from ever losing. And that's a myth that's never got it doesn't exist. They haven't accepted what business is, they haven't expected, you know, accepted what sport is. And once you, you get over that and say, you know what, my job is to just keep getting better and making sure that I can win more often than I lose. And of course, the great careers, they, they win a lot, but they still always lose, you know, I mean, people, you know, tend to forget that on the greatest year, say for, for tennis players, they'll play maybe 18 to 20 tournaments a year.

And it's very rare for them to win 10, you know, and, and generally the number one in the world wins, you know, you know, 6 or 7 tournaments, sometimes only 5. So they're losing more than they're than they're winning in terms of tournaments. Obviously they're winning more matches. But you know, there's some, you know, very, very wealthy athletes who you know, and you know, in, in, you know, premiership football or whatever, they only one team's going to win the premiership. You know, there's nineteen others that aren't, you know.

So it's accepting the reality of what you're in that is that is actually very powerful. And the fact that, you know, bouncing back shouldn't almost be something very much to think about. It's just what you do because how else are you going to get better? And that's not saying that, you know, 8020 rule. I mean, there's 20% of time where something hits you really hard and it might take you a little bit longer to recover. But in general, you know, I mean, they always look to the next the next goal as well.

So I remember, you know, Federer lost a terrible final against Nadal in in in Paris. I mean, I think it's like 616261. I mean, he wasn't in it. I mean, he just got destroyed and that's on a Sunday and he went to the the dinner on the Sunday night and then he flew by private plane and the next morning at 11, he was hitting in Heller because hey, this is grass. Yeah, grass is my better surface. I got to make sure I'm ready to win Wimbledon. And you know, as devastating as the last the day before was, he's already getting ready for for winning Wimbledon.

So I think that's that's also what business leaders need to understand is that when an opportunity is lost, you get up the next day and look for the next opportunity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, no, I love that. So what I'm hearing is, as you say, accepting the sport. So it's the law of averages. Nobody can win all the time. But it's also about the mindset of wanting to get better, and seeing the next game is an opportunity to do exactly that. And what I'm hearing is also this. There is no real bouncing back required because losing is not a defining moment, it's just part of the game.

You just need to make sure that you are continuously getting better, so over time the law of averages will be on your side. Yes. And and don't waste time feeling sorry for yourself, waste time, you know, not doing things the right way, because also that's how you lose confidence. You know, if, if you've played a really, you know, great game, but you hit come up short and end up losing and by the narrowest of margins, you know, OK, the next day. If you practice badly, well, then you're practicing sloppy habits and, and, and you know, might take two or three days before you get back on it properly.

And you've lost a lot of momentum. And you also lost the fact that, you know, when, when you practice poorly, you're not playing well, you're not doing things well, it's going to affect your confidence. So, you know, a lot of athletes that are less mature, they're like this after losses and they they do have to try and bounce back, but they they waste so much time in in trying to do that and don't understand that the mentality you, you shouldn't have to see it like, like I said, as bouncing back.

Your job is to get up every day and get better and and that's it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So getting up and getting better brings me to my next question. You know, we we always see when people perform like on stage, right, Like either they're like on center chord or they are like, you know, giving the latest presentation to in the town hall and that's what we see and that's when they're like on field, right. So in your experience, how important is the off field environment, like when they are not on stage, when they're not on court, when they are not like in their office for someone's performance?

Yeah, this is another differentiator because there, there are a lot of, you know, people who do very, very well but think that it's all about the performance and what happens in their life will not affect the performance. I'm so professional that I can go out there and be as good as I need to be no matter what's happening in my life. And that's not true. You know, it's definitely not true. So what I like to do, especially with teams is speak to the individuals and then again anonymously, you know, discuss some of the problems that they have, you know, out of work that's effect that potentially can affect them or they know is affecting them.

And you get this whole feeling around all of the people in the team where they kind of at. Now, these are problems that arise over and over again for different people. So you can then start to address these problems, not personally, but say, look, these are things that happen and here are some tools to deal with this. When that happens to you, you know, I don't know, divorce or, you know, you know, failing an exam or whatever it is, falling out with a colleague, these are all things that affect performance.

And when a team starts to realize that, hey, hold on, this is pretty normal. Yeah. I think immediately then there's a little bit more empathy for each other because they in this room, OK, the problems that I've highlighted are in this room and you don't know who who it lives with, but they're in this room. And therefore remember that when you're dealing with your colleagues and understanding that gives an empathy that can often give the group way more strength because like, you know, it's strange in in accepting and understanding that people all have problems is actually gives a lot of strength.

So then it's like, OK, we're all going to try and manage these problems in a better way. And that's going to help us as a team perform better. And, you know, it might be 1 or 2%, but the fact that they have that empathy for each other and they know that everybody's actually doing their best to manage the problems that they have. Because that's all you can do is manage problems. You can't just disappear them. You know, over time, they may, you know, resolve themselves and, and disappear, but there's not all problems that you can just go, OK, do this and it's done.

You know, some things take time to work out, but I find that when people get their, their outside life in a good place, that's definitely when they perform best. There's there's no question about that. But the second step is if they can manage that stuff way better, they also perform better. Does that answer your question? And I, and I also love the the way you talk about empathy. It's, it's, it's like the iceberg model, right? You can only see what's above the waterline, right? But we all have so much stuff going on below the waterline and everybody does and and just, you know, not forgetting that you.

Know at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, you know, we're messy and life is messy. Yeah. You, you can't get away from that, you know, But you can still have a damn good time in the mess. Yeah. And that must never be. If you've gotten that, that must never be forgotten. It's not meant to be. Hell, it's meant to be fun. Yeah. And not all of it's going to be fun. There's the grind and everything like that. But overall, in what you're trying to achieve as a team, as an individual should by and large be fun.

And yes, I'll take care of the grind. Yes, tough things happen, yes, it's a little bit messy. But when I do get out on the stage, I know I've got the support of my teammates. I know that that we've got a chance of performing well. And of course, you know, the fans, the audience don't know once people are out there how much mess they've had to deal with behind, then they are there to perform. And if, if overall in that mess, they've they've still had a, a pretty good time and they, they trust their teammates and they trust that everybody's going to do the best for them.

That frees them up to to perform better, whether it's sport, presentation, whatever it is. Yeah. So, yeah, we all have messes. Life is messy. And it doesn't mean that it can't be fun, you know? And it's, it's more fun when we have like a team behind us, when we're part of a team that actually understands that, you know, for themselves and for each other. Yeah, Yes. And that then allows us to be on point when we are on stage, you know, and. More authentic because you're not. You're not pretending that there's nothing wrong with your life, you know, and, and, and your teammates know that wow, you're doing an unbelievable job given what you have to deal with, you know, and, and you know, and then so you, you, you know, you get support that way as well as like, wow, you know, the it's not easy to do when you're having to deal with whatever it is.

So, yeah, I think and I think at some point I do know this with sports teams that have been very successful like an almost dynasties that they are family. They they operate like a family and therefore they've got everybody's got each other's back. That doesn't mean like family. They don't have some big, big fallouts and arguments and everything like, but when push comes to shove they are family and I think. I think business would be exactly the same if they can look at it and say, look, in a good family you have healthy discussion.

In a good family you have healthy disagreements. But in a good family, you're always there for each other. And I think when you get that kind of trust, there is incredible power because that that gets rid of the shitty agendas, you know, and, and, and when, when, when you got when you got teams where there are different agendas under the under underneath it all doomed for failure. It's never going to be great. You know, the thing about huge companies is all that agenda and all all the mess and crap that happens underneath doesn't seem to be affecting things that much because, you know, there's still large revenue, there's still good things up.

You know, there's still good results happening. But if they could get that family stuff right, then what would be possible? Now that's a different, different level, but because it's OK, you know, and it's, and it takes, it takes time and bravery to tackle that, to become a family because you're going to have the difficult conversations and not just once, you know, it's a, it takes a huge energy, but boy is it worth it because once you get that right, you know, it's a, it's a lot, lot easier. Absolutely.

And I've seen it happen and it's, it's, it's, it's amazing. It's so much fun to work in that. Oh, no, absolutely. And but it builds that, you know, it's like, even if the family is slightly dysfunctional, it's still family and you still trust each other, right. You know, And do you accept the imperfections? Yeah, No, absolutely. I have two more questions for you. You know, the first one would be around younger talent. You know, we talked about, you know, top athletes, we talked about senior business leaders, but you also, you know, you work with younger talent as well.

And you've helped so many, even kids like get on, get get on their path. When when you think about, you know, whether it's in sports or in business, like people are more like early in their career or like early mid management. What in your eyes distinguishes the the ones that will plateau and will get to here but not really make it much higher from the ones that are always going to be further up the ladder and just are just shooting stars? Bravery is 1, definitely. You can't get confidence without being brave.

So with people with huge potential, one of the things that that I hear over and over again is they'll, for instance, sit in a meeting and have something good to say. But then they started thinking, Oh yeah, but you know, what if I'm wrong, you know, what if they don't like it, you know, am I going to look stupid? You know, is what I'm going to say just obvious And, and every, you know, everybody's going to look at me like you're an idiot. So they start getting this whole game in their head. Is that, and then they don't say anything.

And the ones who have more confidence to say, you know, and, and can sit there and go, actually, I'm just going to say this and, you know, hopefully it turns out OK. But I think they they get feedback and they learn that way, but also they get noticed. The other thing is it's how you present it. So I will say to these young talents and say, look, you've got to stop being selfish

because you have something inside you that can really help this company or help this situation. And if you don't give it, you're being very, very selfish.

And when you present it, don't say, hey, I got the answer. It's just some simple words like have you considered this, whatever it is, or I would just be interested if we tried this, what do you think would happen? So now you're not just saying I've got the answer, but you say I've potentially got a solution here. Do you want to hear it? You can even ask that. Do you want to hear it? You know, And that way, if it's a dumb idea, you'll get shot down pretty fast. Say, well, the reason we don't do this is this, this and that.

Ah, OK. But now you know that you've got it in here. It's like, oh, OK, that, you know, I need, I need better solutions than that. But I think the biggest thing is to find ways to give them confidence to say their piece. And if they're athletes, they've got a talent and they need to go out there rather than being afraid of losing is to go out there and say, you know what? I don't want to deprive the world of my talent. I want to show the world what I've got. And yeah, it's not the finished article yet, but you know what?

I'm going to keep working, get better every day until people realize that I am very good and then I do start to get some wins. But in in in corporate, it's very easy to get stifled and play safe. You, you have to be brave and you've got to and and and and that's not and again, you said something. Pick your battles as well. Don't dive in and try to go at everything, because then you just almost become known as the out of the troublemaker or, or, or, or the person who you know, thinks they know best is, you know, really wait for those moments where in here gut instinct, you've, you know, you've got something that, that they probably haven't thought of.

And you've got to throw that diamond on the on, on the table and say, Hey, what about this? And, and, and slowly but surely you'll own your own space better and better. Because that's the other thing is, is so many young, you know, execs think that the C-Suite or whatever are these masterful, amazing people who know so much more than them. And they've got, they've got so many answers and they, they're, they're just, you know, unbelievable. And the reality is, no, a lot of the time they happen to be very good at certain things and actually very bad at other things.

And, you know, if you can fill some holes for them, they're going to be grateful if they're good leaders, if they're good leaders. But if you're working for a company that do not reward in any way your contributions, you have to get out because if the culture is very poor and, and, and it's suppressing, it's unlikely it's going to well, it won't change if the unless the leadership changes. So you know, and, and I'd say to, to young people, don't stay in a, a company that, you know, is clearly suppressive and, and not interested in, in, in, in finding the stars.

But on the other side, when I work with C-Suite execs, I'll tell go find your stars. Go find your stars. They're out there and you know, try to encourage, especially the the shy ones. What do you think? Try to draw them out because there could be an unbelievable diamond out there that if you give them that chance, wow, don't miss that talent just because you can't be bothered to find out what they're about. And look, you have enough experience to know when you're speaking to somebody, whether because I'll come alive, you know, they might be very shy and everything like that.

You hit on a topic and say, what do you think about it? And suddenly they'll be like, well, but, and boom, and you go, ah, now there's some real, real something. And this, this is a strange thing. And I've seen it over and over again with what I sometimes thought is like immature, you know, great athletes and they can be very immature. But there's a switch that happens. And on game day before the game, just when, when they get ready suddenly and it's all in the eyes, you suddenly see like an amazing intelligence and, and, and maturity and, and, and it's like it's unbelievable.

And with, with young stars, when they started talk, you suddenly see in the eyes that real intelligence that, that, that spark that says, oh, there's something here. And then you got to nurture it, you know, because they have to be nurtured because if they're not being coached, they'll hideaway because they might not have the confidence. And so if you're a young gun, try and be brave and increase your confidence. If you're a leader trying nurture people and bring that confidence out and see what they've got and look, you know, there are plenty of one have it, but you'll spot that very quick.

Don't you know, don't waste your time and energy on on on those that don't have it. Brilliant. And lastly, I wanted to ask you something that I'm really, really curious about. You know, you've had this super amazing career in sports. You've, you know yourself, you've coached top athletes in various sports. You know, you could have easily stayed in that lane and continue a very successful career. Instead, you decided a few years ago to expand your, you know, your portfolio more or less, and to also work in the world of business.

And there's absolutely no question about what you bring to the business world. What I'm interested in is what does the business world bring to you? Like, what is it that you take away from working in business that you feel you wouldn't have if you hadn't made that step? Different fascinating problems.

I think I've been in sports so long and and I still love helping, you know, athletes solve problems and and mentally be better, but they typically seem to, you know, are the same problems that I've dealt with many times. Business brings me things that I often have to really reflect on and think, not sure about this, how to how do I go about this? What, what would be something that can really help in this? And it's and, and, and that's a challenge. So it's it's, it's really something that that I'm enjoying.

The other thing is, is mindset, which is I've been able to do, you know, really well with sport. I want to challenge myself to do really well in business. And and that is, is something that that also really grabs me. So, yeah, it's AI would say it's, it's just, it's a different side of life that I've not experienced in great depth like you have.

But I know I have stuff from the depth of experience on the other side that can help the side. And the more experience I have in that, the more depth I'm going to have on both sides of the on both sides of the fence. And, and yeah, doing different things in life is fun. And at the end of the day, I do want to have fun in, in what I'm doing, you know, and, and you know, there's, you know, we've talked about accepting, you know, the sport, accepting business. It's like accepting life. Life is going to throw you problems all the time, you know, But we love solving problems as human beings.

AI has come about and the Internet and all these things, everything. So you have dishwashers. All these things come because people have always been curious about solving problems. You know, I often think there's probably the laziest person. People on the planet are the best inventors because, you know, I don't want to wash dishes anymore. I'll invent a dishwasher. I don't want to. I don't want to ride a horse anymore. I want to get that farsa and rent a car. I mean, it's like, what? What takes people forward is the desire to solve problems.

Yeah. And it shows because why do people play sport? Why do they do puzzles? Sudoku, you know, computer games? All of these things are solving puzzles. And yet amazingly, when people start to get high up in, in business or sport, often there's a switch that goes to the mind that says, 0 actually, I don't want these problems. This is a little too difficult. I don't want these. No, you do want them. You've just forgotten that you want them. And if you remember that actually you do want problems, you need problems, humans need it.

Then you that again, can flip the mindset a little bit to OK, right. This is not as easy as I thought it was going to be, but that's, that's normal. That's right. It it, it shouldn't be easier. You know, I need to solve these problems and to understand you'll never solve all the problems because it's a machine that just keeps coming with more and more every day. The the, the end game is not to solve all your problems. The end game is to manage yourself in a way that you can deal with all the adversity that does come your way.

Yeah. Yeah, so, well, thank you for answering all these questions. You know, I think one of my takeaways here is, you know, why you work so well in both of these worlds is because in the end, behind it is a human. You know, it's the same human with the same needs and the same wants. And, you know, what you've shared with us applies the same way whether you're talking to an athlete or a business leader. It's about getting better every day. It's about accepting the messiness of life. It's about not forgetting to have fun.

And it's about, you know, being brave and confident enough to speak your truth and, and also coaching others and allowing others to do exactly that. And so. And I just want to interject that not to forget the child in us because it's never gone. You know, that's why, you know, celebrities want to go to Formula One races. They want to go to the football, they want to go to to the theater. They want, you know, they want to do all these things because the, the child in them wants to do it, you know, and, and, and you know, oh, you know, you put on a suit and pretend you're not the child, but the child is still in you.

Obviously it's much more sophisticated. But but in the end of the day, nobody wants to live. Well, maybe they are, but I don't think so. A life that is just purely serious all the time. You know you you can have fun doing serious things. Absolutely, Yeah. So, you know, I, I, I think we can't end it on a better note then don't forget the inner child in you. So, David, thank you very much again for your time. Thank you for some quick questions. On your podcast. Brilliant. And I do have a question.

You don't have to answer it now, you can e-mail me. But is there anyone that you think I should interview that you know? OK, I will give that a thought. I certainly have a few people that come to mind. Brilliant. I look forward to hearing from from you about that. Wonderful having you. Thank you so much. You've been great and I'm sure we'll speak again soon. Absolutely. Have a good one. Bye. Bye now. Thank you. Bye. Thanks for watching Locker Room Power with David Samuel. If you enjoyed the episode, hit subscribe and leave a comment on your favorite platform.

See you in the next one. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. And Doug? Here we have the. Limu Emu. In its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu is that guy with the binoculars. Watching us. Cut the camera they see. [email protected]. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Savings very unwritten by mutual insurance company affiliates.

Excludes Massachusetts.

The Story