Small Business Today Magazine OCT 2014 THE EFFORT COMPANIES | Page 24

EDITORIALFEATURE

How to Build Your

Own Dream Team
by Three-time Olympian Ruben Gonzalez

W

hen I decided to take up the luge
and train for the Olympics I was
21 years old. Back then I thought
I could make it to the Olympics
all by myself. I still had a lot of growing up
to do...
In “Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People,” Steven Covey talks about three
stages people go through - dependence,
independence, and interdependence. At
21, I was still in the independent stage and
needed to move on to becoming interdependent.
Along the way I realized that I needed some help. In order to accomplish
great things I was going to have to develop some leadership and people skills to
build a team. Then I would have to work
through the team to make my Olympic
dream come true. I was going to have to
turn singles luge into a team sport.
It’s no different in any big project or endeavor. Lone Rangers never accomplish as
much as people who work through teams.
I like to keep things simple. I believe it
takes only two things to be a good leader.
It takes passion and integrity.
If you are passionate about your mission,
you will attract the people who are like
minded; people who would like to be a
part of your mission. I was passionate. I
told everyone I talked to about my Olympic dream. Everyone! And I was excited
about it. I was not wishy-washy. Other
people had no doubt that I believed in and
was committed to the dream.
By doing that, whenever I talked to someone who was interested in the Olympics, I

In “Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People,”
Steven Covey talks about
three stages people
go through dependence, independence, and
interdependence.
became their link to the Olympic Games.
And many times they were willing to help
me out. Believe me; I needed a lot of help.
I needed financial help. It’s very expensive to be flying all over the world to train
and compete. You’re also out of work for
months at a time. Everyone thinks I have
corporate sponsors. People ask me, “Ruben, who are your sponsors? Coke? Pepsi?
Nike?” My sponsors were Visa and MasterCard baby! I put it all on the card. And after
maxing out my credit cards, my family lent
me tens of thousands of dollars. It’s part of
the price you pay to succeed.
I needed medical help. Doctors, Chiropractors, and massage therapists that kept
me healthy and patched me up after bad
crashes.
Finally, I needed spiritual help. I needed
people who would keep my spirits up
when I