The 2026 Winter Olympics provide a fitting moment to reflect on what enterprise risk leaders can learn from the world’s best athletes. I recently read two fascinating thought pieces by McKinsey that highlighted leadership principles from their work with and interviews of elite athletes.  These two McKinsey pieces[1] — an interview with Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee on leadership and resilience, and an article comparing CEOs to elite athletes — offer insights that I think are relevant for chief risk officers (CROs) and other executives who help organizations navigate today’s risk complexities and opportunities.

In a business landscape defined by volatility, emerging risks, competing perspectives, and rapid change, ERM leaders must guide organizations much like high‑performance athletes do: with discipline, clarity, adaptability, and conviction. What follows is a synthesis of some key principles from the McKinsey articles, reframed for those charged with helping organizations anticipate and manage risks.

1. Persistence During Pushback: Turning Long‑Term Vision Into Daily Practices

Brownlee emphasizes that success happens “over many years”, fueled by persistence in the face of doubt and resistance.  For CROs, this mirrors the challenge of building an organization’s enterprise-wide risk process and risk mindset. Risk leaders routinely encounter skepticism — whether from executives with differing priorities, business units resistant to transparency, or teams overwhelmed by short‑term pressures. Like elite athletes, CROs must keep the long view in focus even when near‑term support is uneven.

CROs need similar “barrier‑removal thinking” to embed risk governance habits.  Staying on top of business developments inside the organization, preparing for meetings with executives by reviewing what their objectives and incentives are, scheduling meetings around leaders’ busy seasons, learning about executives’ business roles, and anticipating what concerns they might have can help lower some of the barriers that may be present.

2. Organize Time Strategically: Managing Energy for Critical Risk Moments

McKinsey highlights that elite athletes — and today’s CEOs — structure their time with precision, balancing focus and recovery by building in disciplined recovery practices — rest, nutrition, mental health, and pacing. They prioritize key tasks for times when they are at their best from a productivity and focus perspective. Risk leaders similarly face pivotal moments: board sessions, crisis reviews, major risk workshops.  That kind of activity can create similar strain: crisis fatigue, continuous monitoring, and the emotional load of pushing uncomfortable truths.  Risk leaders also need recovery time, too.  Blocking calendars to allow for some reading and thinking about emerging risks can help risk leaders retool and refocus.  Managing calendars to create that thinking time is just as important as cramming in one more risk interview.

3. Focus on the Big Risks: Prioritize Those That Can Move the Needle

Brownlee warns against “looking under every pebble” while missing the big rocks that drive the most impact. For CROs, this is a powerful reminder: not all risks matter equally.  This is where integrating risk management with strategy helps.  Linking identified risks to what drives performance and stakeholder value will keep everyone’s focus on the “big risks” that strategically matter.

This is where dashboards with key risk indicators may help keep an eye on what’s trending upwards for more immediate attention.  McKinsey’s analysis of Formula 1 data systems inside a car shows how elite athletes benefit from real‑time sensors and constant analytics feedback.  For ERM professionals, this parallels the increasingly data‑driven landscape of risk management. ERM leaders are looking for ways to leverage technologies that will help expand the organization’s risk sensing through external data, scenario analytics, machine learning, and sentiment analysis.  This is where emerging AI technologies may be a great tool to support a generally “lean” ERM function.

4. Incremental Innovation: Aim High but Don’t Overshoot

Brownlee highlights the value of constant iteration — improving “a few minutes here or a bit faster there” — while warning against overdoing it and causing breakdown. Risk leaders face the same tension. Too little change leads to blind spots; too much complexity creates fatigue.  Taking time after a risk interview or workshop to pinpoint what worked well, what didn’t and making notes for next time can provide simple steps to making the ERM process better without overcomplicating matters. Just as athletes seek the optimum load, ERM leaders must balance “ideal ERM” with “practical, value-adding ERM.”

5. Maintain Adaptability and Grit Under Pressure

Many athletes have to push through difficult times and challenging critiques as they balance their physical and mental capabilities.  McKinsey emphasizes resilience, adaptability, and emotional steadiness as hallmarks of elite performance for both athletes and top executives.  CROs must show similar traits during crises and disagreements among executives.  The best risk leaders — like Olympians — respond to adversity by growing stronger.  They seek to do their best, learn from defeats, and get up to compete once again.

Pulling it All Together

For CROs and risk leaders, these lessons affirm that guiding organizations through uncertainty and risk is not merely a technical exercise — it’s a leadership challenge that mirrors elite sports. 

As the 2026 Winter Olympics unfold, these stories of elite performance offer powerful encouragement to ERM leaders: the same principles that drive athletic greatness can elevate how we anticipate and manage risk in a complex world.

Key Takeaways for Risk Executives:

• Stay committed to the long game, reinforcing that effective risk management pays off cumulatively rather than through one-off interventions.
• Expect pushback when elevating emerging risks (AI ethics, geopolitical shocks, supply chain fragility) and respond with calm, evidence‑based conviction.
• Stay steady when faced with conflicting views on risk.
• Build support networks, much like athletes rely on coaches and specialists, to reinforce risk insights across the organization.
• Simplify the process of contributing to risk assessments — use pre‑read templates, easy digital tools, and structured facilitation to lower friction.
• Make it easy to surface weak signals, by creating always‑open channels for emerging‑risk reporting.
• Prioritize the strategic, enterprise‑shaping risks, not every incremental operational issue.
• Expect volatility, and prepare mentally for sudden shifts.
• Demonstrate humility, willingness to adjust course, and commitment to learning.

[1] (a) “In the Long Run:  What Leaders Can Learn from an Olympic Gold Medalist”, McKinsey, July 2024; (b) “The CEO as Elite Athlete: What Business Leaders Can Learn from Modern Sports,” McKinsey & Company, January 2025.

Original Article Sources:

“In the long run: What leaders can learn from an Olympic Gold Medalist“, McKinsey & Company, Phillip Hillenbrand, July 10, 2024.

“The CEO as elite athlete: What business leaders can learn from modern sports“, McKinsey & Company, Bob Sternfels and Daniel Pacthod, January 2025.