A leadership TED Talk from Olympian Ruben Gonzalez

It "only"; took me 3 Olympics for meto learn this lesson that helped meperform better at 55 than I ever didbefore. A simple leadership lesson anyonecan use to achieve their goals faster. FollowTheLeaderTEDTalk.com

One day in February of 1972, I turned on the TV and saw something that changed my life: the Sapporo Winter Olympics. After watching the pageantry of the Opening Ceremonies and the thrilling competitions, I turned to my younger brother Marcelo and said, "I'm going to be in the Olympics!"; It takes two types of courage to realize your goals and...

I started luging in 1984. For 24 years I didn't like the sport of luge. I forced myself to slide because the luge was my ticket to the Olympics. The Olympic dream kept me going. And the dream was always in focus. Whenever I was up at the start tower preparing to slide, my heart hammered in my chest, my mouth dried out and my hands were be cov...

Most people go through life making decisions based on just a fraction of their available options. They hold themselves back because they allow circumstances or other people's opinions limit their perceived choices. By the way, I was born in Argentina. Since this is Hispanic Heritage Month, I looked up Hispanic and Latino because I wasn't sure...

Whether I'm speaking for 25 people in a boardroom or 10,000 people in an arena, I finish my speeches by saying, "What are the chances that someonelike me was going to make it to the Olympics?I wasn't a great athlete, I didn't get started untilI was 21 years old, and to top it off I live in hot andhumid Houston and I chose to compete in the lugef...

Whether your dream is to lose weight, or to buy your dream home, or to double your income, or to learn the ins and outs of soccer so you cancoach your daughter's soccer team, you willfind that there are things that hold you back. Ninety five percent of people, look at theirobstacles and all they see is a reason whythey can't make their dream a ...

Here is a simple thing you can start doing right now to help you improve your relationships, your results at work, the quality of your products, and anything else in your life. Something that doesn't take much time, but saves you huge amounts of time. That something is asking for feedback from qualified people. At the end of each luge run, ...

We live in times of constant and rapid change. Because of this, one of the most important qualities you can develop to succeed in the 21st century is the quality of flexibility. Flexibility means approaching life's circumstances with an open mind ever ready to make course changes. The opposite of flexibility is rigidity andhard-headedness. Th...

All great leaders have two main qualities: gutsand vision. Today we'll focus on vision. You become what you think about all the time.Leaders think about the future most of the time.They think about where they are going and aboutwhat they can do to get there. Non-leaders focus on the present, on the past,and on their obstacles. When you start ...

Leadership, whether in a family, in a little league team, or in an organization, requires the same factors. First of all, you have to have the mindset that you want to help people reach their full potential. The leader constantly teaches the people in his team how they can become more successful by contributing to the team's common goals. T...