Guido Eickelbeck is a man that successful managers trust - at least when it comes to road cycling. The former professional cyclist from Germany offers international business leaders on Mallorca exactly what they are looking for on a racing bike: challenging routes, detailed training plans and exclusive experiences. "The clientele I work with don't want to ride with the masses," says Eickelbeck. He enthuses about the growing business with board members and companies from the finance and insurance sector, the luxury industry and trading companies. They all ride road bikes, and not just any old way: "Most of them are ambitious, push themselves and fight."
Road cycling is a trend for more and more powerful and influential people in politics and business. Decision-maker media such as the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider have thematised the phenomenon. The sport is particularly popular with internet-driven movers and shakers, as PayPal co-founder Max Levchin told Business Insider: people are fast travellers, combine fitness with measurability and like to invest in technology.
MINISTERS CHATTING ABOUT CYCLING
Politicians such as US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn also share the hobby and chat about it on the sidelines of summit meetings. If you look around the boards of directors and management teams, you'll find people everywhere who enjoy fitness sports on wheels. For this story, we spoke to four very prominent cyclists - and many more people who have influential positions and strong professional networks.
But why on earth do movers and shakers squeeze long training sessions into their 10 to 16-hour days? Why do they pack their racing bike in the boot of their company car and take every opportunity to train for another hour and a half instead of sitting in the hotel bar? Most people say: to recover, to catch their breath. When Guido Eickelbeck cycles through the pine forests of Mallorca with his clients, he can observe exactly that: "You can see how people switch off." This even applies to Federal Minister of Justice Heiko Maas, who says: "Sport helps me to clear my head and stay fit for my job."
Another thesis: on the road bike, especially on very demanding tours, ambitious individuals can prove themselves personally and achieve success without complex organisational structures or dependencies. Added to this is the goal-orientation, the disciplined work towards results that are sometimes a long way off. "What fascinates me about cycling is that you always keep moving and can't just think about the next mountain - you have to keep your eyes on the goal," says SPD leader Maas. A quality that managers and ministers need.
On the other hand, the experiences on the bike also teach humility for everyday life: Jean Asselborn says that he learnt a healthy approach to optimism while cycling and experienced how much teamwork shapes overall success. Georges Kern from luxury watch manufacturer IWC has also experienced how teamwork was the only thing that saved him on extremely difficult routes.
But many believe that sport also has a positive effect on a career. Cycling is often referred to as "the new golf". Benno Vegers, for example, runs the Luxembourg insurance broker Gatsby & White. Once a year, he invites business partners from banks and law firms to a cycling event in Mallorca. Unlike golf, cycling offers stronger social aspects, says Vegers. In the saddle, he can "ride together with everyone and chat. That wouldn't work in golf." Above all, those who go on frequent rides in a group learn to show more consideration for others and to focus on common goals.
ENDURANCE IN SPORT - AND AT WORK
On the other hand, for those who go out on their own, sport offers the opportunity to exercise control and - independent of a complex hierarchy as in professional life - to turn their strengths into successes. Those who can ride long distances and master challenging profiles often hope to benefit from this in their professional life as well. This applies to the mental aspects of success as well as the physical ones. Meinhard Forkert, for example, feels the bonus of training time and time again. Forkert runs a law firm in Koblenz that specialises in construction law. He says that he also feels his 5,000 kilometres a year in appointments. "I have no problem negotiating in court for five hours without a break - most colleagues don't last that long."
For the past four years, Forkert has also been Chairman of the Tête de la Course club, an association for managers who pursue their hobby of cycling together. The network with the ambitious slogan "Leadership in Management and Sport" has established itself nationwide. TOUR already reported on the club eight years ago. What started out as a loose initiative with around 75 members has now grown into a nationwide organisation with a good 160 members.
However, Forkert says that the club does not want to grow per se, but rather attaches importance to the quality of the programme, which becomes difficult above a certain size. Today, the members meet in twelve regions, travel together and talk about both private and professional matters. "We have the opportunity to look beyond our own horizons by talking to each other and also make professional contacts," says Meinhard Forkert.
SPORT AS RECREATION - OR AS A STRESS FACTOR?
Andrea Jeschke has been a member of the TdC club since 2010. The mechanical engineer is an entrepreneur in the construction sector. When she travels to major construction sites, she always has her bike with her in the car. She covers 10,000 kilometres a year. Jeschke has tried out many different sports: Windsurfing, table tennis, running, handball, squash - "but nowhere is training as meticulous as in cycling," she says.
This statement is fitting for people who are professionally successful. Training according to a plan is very important to Jeschke herself. But she also says that recovery is the most important thing for her when cycling, and she can easily measure her level of stress when she observes how long it takes her to switch off on the bike. On the other hand, she also sees what could jeopardise recovery: "I do the sport in a goal-oriented way. Sometimes I have to be careful that it doesn't become an additional stress factor."
This is precisely the effect that Wiesbaden neurologist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Hamid Peseschkian warns against. "We live in a results-orientated age. Managers have often internalised this way of thinking. In our free time, it would certainly be healthy to focus less on the result and more on the experience or what we have in common with others."
Peseschkian is critical when you talk to him about the cult of competitive sport among managers. He doubts, for example, that many of them are actually concerned with health and recovery when they get on their bikes and train. "The dangerous thing is that people often no longer realise that they are putting themselves under pressure to perform." However, anyone who is focussed on training performance and then suddenly suffers a stroke of fate, goes through a separation or perhaps can no longer do sport due to an injury has a major problem, says Peseschkian: "Their self-esteem is severely threatened."
AWAY FROM THE FIXATION ON EXPERIENCE
Especially as sport - as we hear time and time again - can not only help you switch off, but also help you to forget. Quite a few amateur athletes try to escape their problems. Peseschkian also knows that among managers, sport can be used to push professional and private problems to one side - a risky strategy.
The psychotherapist advises all ambitious managers with a fitness sport hobby to escape the fixation on results. "Sometimes the journey should be the goal, the focus should be on being with others - that can promote balance." Peseschkian also recommends asking your partner, children or friends what they think of your lifestyle and sporting activities. But of course you first have to want to scrutinise yourself.
Sebastian Ackermann has done just that. The North Rhine-Westphalian triathlon champion from 1987 still looks like a model athlete and still cycles 6,000 kilometres a year - the racing bike is part of his life. Until not so long ago, he too was someone who was always looking for crazier challenges in sport. But he has changed his mind: he now focusses less on performance and almost always rides alone - without any social pressure. He also takes part in RTFs and other touring rides. "My whole life is measured," says Ackermann, "I don't need to have that in my free time."
Ackermann has a demanding job, is head of corporate communications at RWE Deutschland, is married and has a child. He still incorporates cycling into his leisure activities, but he does it in such a way that he has plenty of time for his family.
Anyone who introduces themselves to Ackermann today and identifies themselves as a cyclist has - in contrast to other cycling managers
Unlike other cycling managers, he doesn't necessarily play his cards very well. He takes a very close look at the motives, says Ackermann. "Some people block everything out when they're pedalling. I don't think much of that." He is convinced that the enjoyable hobby can also have a destructive effect: "Cycling harbours just as much of a risk of burnout as management."
HEIKO MAAS - Federal Minister of Justice
" My special passion "
The SPD politician is a triathlete and is considered the most sporty member of the Federal Cabinet. "Cycling is my particular passion." He doesn't have much time to train in his cabinet responsibilities. "But life without sport is not possible for me." Maas has been cycling for around ten years. He says he feels fitter and more balanced after long tours. Sometimes he takes part in competitions, such as last year's Challenge in Roth, a long-distance triathlon in which Maas competed with a charity relay team. "The climb up the Solarer Berg, through the crowds of spectators, was a dream come true. Even as an amateur cyclist, I was able to empathise a little with what it might feel like at the Tour de France." Maas is not only an athlete, but also a tinkerer - he builds his bikes entirely himself. "I really enjoy choosing frames and components." When it comes to the professional benefits of cycling, Maas believes: "A certain amount of perseverance certainly can't hurt in politics either. If you want to achieve a goal, you have to put in the effort." One such goal was his initiative for the anti-doping law, which he successfully pushed through.
JEAN ASSELBORN - Foreign Minister of Luxembourg
" The best thing against jet lag "
The top diplomat from the neighbouring country describes himself as a "diesel" on a racing bike - he is a long-distance cyclist who managed to cover 10,253 kilometres last year despite intensive travel and focuses on enjoyment. "I can't do much with racing bike ascetics," says Asselborn. He uses the sport to relax and likes to get on his bike for two to three hours after returning home from travelling abroad with a time difference. "Road cycling is the best way to combat jet lag," he says. He has been riding his road bike on holiday for more than two decades, covering long distances, such as last August when he completed his personal tour of France through the south of the country: 1,393 kilometres in a fortnight, including the ascent of Mont Ventoux. He considers the sport to be a character-builder, preventing complacency and overconfidence. "I learnt how to deal with optimism properly on the bike." Cycling teaches people toughness and stamina, and you learn to grit your teeth - important qualifications for high politics. However, Asselborn also considers the communal values of cycling to be important: he has learnt "solidarity in effort", the realisation that the stronger must not leave the weaker behind - something that he calls for in migration policy, for example. He also tries to inspire others to take up sport, for example giving German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier a second-hand Daccordi bike from his collection after he donated a kidney to his wife.
RUPERT STADLER - Chairman of the Board of Management at Audi
" Cycling promotes creativity "
The business economist has been a racing cyclist since his student days. However, as the head of a global company in the automotive industry, Stadler now only gets to cycle at weekends. "That only adds up to a few thousand kilometres a year." Stadler also rides a mountain bike. Success on the road bike is measurable for Stadler. "I feel successful when I achieve particularly good times on my personal routes in the Altmühltal." Stadler is certain that the sport is good for his physical health and promotes mental regeneration. "Cycling often gives me new ideas and inspiration for my work. I am convinced that road cycling, like any intense physical activity, also promotes creativity." Stadler believes that the key characteristics of good racing cyclists are also positive for management: Anyone who wants to achieve ambitious goals must have self-discipline and assertiveness, he says. "If you are racing in a team, then strategy and team tactics are also important. You also have to manage your strength well. These are certainly qualities that can also be put to good use in a business endurance race," argues the Audi boss, who, however, deliberately does not talk about business when driving in his free time.
GEORGES KERN - CEO of the International Watch Company (IWC)
" A very companionable sport "
Fitness is the reason why Georges Kern has been riding his racing bike for a decade - around 2,000 kilometres a year. But his demands are actually higher. "That's far too little, of course, but I don't have time for more due to my job-related travelling." At least Kern goes to training camps in Mallorca, where he covers 600 to 700 kilometres in a week. He celebrated a major sporting triumph in 2011 when he won the 1,000-kilometre Tortour race with a team of six, alongside RAAM winner Reto Schoch, triathlete Chris McCormack and other top athletes. Kern believes that the skills of self-discipline and agony in cycling are also in demand among top managers. "Carrying great responsibility for a company is, in a way, high-performance sport." There are no longer any managers today who sit at the table for a long time and then smoke a cigar. Rather, a round of racing cycling is the order of the day. Kern emphasises that cycling is a very companionable sport. "On the tours in the mountains, there were times when I wanted to stop - it was only thanks to the support of my mates that I got through at all." Kern doesn't see cycling as the "new golf" - but is delighted with its growing popularity. He cycles to avoid meeting golfers, he says jokingly. In fact, he emphasises how many likeable people he has met while cycling.
