From “Attacking Viking” to MBA Classroom, this is the story of 29-year-old Olympic medal-winning alpine skier and current IMD student, Fabian Wilkens Solheim.
In today’s episode, John and Konsti speak with Fabian about his former skiing career, what life lessons he learned from sport, how he turned setbacks into his “love the process” philosophy, and how he’s discovering new things about himself and others through the MBA journey.
Key takeaways and highlights from the show:
Process Over Outcomes: Three years in his late teens when former peers overtook him taught Fabian to shift from a “results-obsession” to “process joy” - falling in love with the journey, the teamwork and the time in the gym, not just the medals.
Deep Work: One-minute race heats in professional skiing taught Fabian how to enter and exit “performance bubbles”. He then applied that unbreakable focus to multi-hour group assignments. As Cal Newport says in Deep Work, sustained concentration is today’s career “superpower.”
Team First: While individual achievements are great, you can go even further when you build team culture, share learning, and hold each other accountable.
Fail Fast, Learn Faster: The MBA is the perfect place to experiment with different leadership styles. It’s a safe space where feedback accelerates personal and professional growth.
Self-Awareness Can Be A Superpower: Being able to spot your blind spots, e.g. getting tunnel vision and focusing too much on results, can help you course-correct before you derail the team.
Enjoy the show!
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