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The will to win - Robbi's story

Robbi Grayson joined Strategies as president five months ago today. Robbi was aware of my passion for road biking and the annual fund-raising rides I like to challenge myself to do. Since I began riding in 2007, at the age of 57, I have personally raised a total of $15,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDFR) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I do the MS rides for my niece Carrie who has MS.

When I'm passionate about something I share it. I guess it would be more accurate to say I preach about those things I'm passionate about. I do that as a leader, writer, trainer and speaker. And I do this with biking. When you're passionate, you speak from the heart just as much as from the mind.

About the same time Robbi joined Strategies, I signed up for the MS Cape Cod Getaway ride - a 150-mile two-day ride from Boston to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. I did this ride in 2008 and 2009 and this time I decided to start Team Strategies. As I kept talking about the ride, Robbi started expressing interest in doing it with me. (That was my devious plan.) By late March, Robbi said, "I'm doing it - I'm signing up for the ride." The first problem was her bike. She had an old metal clunker with fat tires and cute basket on the back that she rode while living in the perfectly flat Florida Keys. New England isn't flat.

In April, Robbi got a shiny new white carbon fiber Specialized Ruby Comp. We began training. First fear: overcoming the fear of having her feet clipped onto the pedals. Second fear: letting go of the brakes on downhills. Third fear: riding over tall bridges. Two crashes later, complete with rainbow-colored bruises and scrapes. Robbi was "ready" for the June 25-26 ride. Robbi kept telling me she would finish the ride. I kept hoping she was right.

The start of the ride was at the U Mass Campus. And just minutes before all 2,200 riders were let loose, it started to rain. Robbi never rode in the rain on ultra-skinny tires. And just one mile into the ride, we saw flashing red lights ahead of us on a slippery metal-deck bridge. Half a dozen riders went down and one was being lifted into an ambulance as we walked our bikes over the bridge. Robbi was thinking, "There's 74 more miles of this?" Well, 74 miles later we arrived at the Mass Maritime Academy to the sound of "woo-hoos" and clanging bells. Robbi completed day one. The smile on her face was evidence of the pride she was feeling inside.

We left the next morning at 5:35 a.m. in a heavy mist to do Robbi's favorite thing; ride over the very tall and narrow Borne Bridge that crosses the Cape Cod Canal onto Cape Cod. The sun burned away the mist and we continued our trek toward the finish in Provincetown, hot showers and the best fried clams on the planet at the Lobster Pot. At this point, the pain and burning in our muscles didn't matter. After fighting off 150-miles of thoughts of "why am I doing this?" and, "I just want to stop," it was all about finishing. As we turned and entered the fenced in lane lined with cheering MS supporters, Robbi and I rode side by side across the finish line.

Robbi felt the glow of victory. She completed her first 150-mile ride. Her longest ride ever was the weekend before when we did a 52-mile training ride. Robbi is signed up for the MS Cape Cod Getaway 2012.

Here are some no-compromise thoughts regarding the will to win:

  • Passion rules: When you’re passionate about your work or working out, you inspire others around you. Without passion, work is work, and working out probably won’t last that long. Passion is contagious. Passion keeps you going. Passion keeps your team motivated. A leader without passion rarely gets to the next level. A passionate leader can take a team to extraordinary places.

  • Mentor, coach and support: Because I inspired Robbi to ride, I willingly took on the role as her mentor and coach. I did exactly the same when Robbi came on as president of Strategies. I rode all 150 miles with Robbi to support and encourage her to finish. I believe that riding together was factor in her finishing the ride. Leaders need to mentor, coach and support those they lead.

  • We all have it: The will to win resides in all of us. In fact, winning is a choice just as much as losing is a choice. And winning doesn’t always mean being first across the finish line. It simply means finishing what you start. Robbi and I were far from the first to cross the finish line. Yet, we both experienced a personal victory by simply finishing. Consider all those projects and tasks that never crossed the finish line. Where was your will to win? Imagine where you and your business would be today if all those tasks and projects were parked on the winning side of the finish line. Often times, connecting with your will to win means digging deep inside to that special place that keeps you pushing forward.


There were seven of us on Team Strategies. We raised $11,668.02. Team Strategies will ride the MS Cape Cod Getaway again next year on June 23-24, 2012. Our goal is to have 30+ riders and to raise $50,000. If you love to ride and want the experience of a lifetime - and do it all for a great cause - ride with us. Here's the link: http://bit.ly/TeamStrategies.

Happy Fourth of July.

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Neil Ducoff, Founder & CEO of Strategies and author of No-Compromise Leadership

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