I'm a firm believer in looking outside the talent acquisition universe to see what lessons we can learn from other disciplines and areas. Elite sport is always an interesting parallel as selecting and developing talent is a critical aspect of building a winning team.

My guest this week is Mehdi Kordi, the coach of the Dutch national track cycling team. The team have had a massive amount of success in recent years, including winning three golds, a silver and a bronze at the last Olympics, despite having considerably fewer resources and less funding than some of their competitors. It was fantastic to hear first-hand from Mehdi how they have achieved this, and there are some very valuable lessons here from TA leaders everywhere.

In the interview, we discuss:

What makes a good coach

Managing riders, employees and partners

Getting the best out of people

How do you spot talent?

The importance of resilience

The mental versus the physical

The role of technology

Running a world-class team with limited resources.

Collaboration and partnerships

Using culture to drive performance

Clarity and transparency

What does the future look like for track cycling?


Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.