By Steve Moran

The Olympics are over, but I am still obsessed with Lindsey Vonn’s story. She continued to pursue her passion of being the best downhill women’s skier in spite of criticism, in spite of injuries, in spite of her age.

What It Took

She accomplished what she did only by being obsessed with being the very best. She spent time in the gym, she spent time on practice race courses, she submitted herself to coaches and experts who both told her what she was doing wrong and helped her find better ways.

Mostly, she was never content with where she was. She never once gave up on the idea that she could be better than she was — even when she was the best in the world.

Setbacks

She had so many setbacks … (here are just a few of them):

  • 2007 — season-ending ACL sprain at the World Championships
  • 2009 — sliced open her right thumb on a broken champagne bottle while celebrating a win, cutting a tendon and requiring surgery
  • 2010 Olympics — came to Vancouver with a bruised shin so painful that putting on a ski boot was “excruciating”
  • 2011 — concussion in a training crash one week before the World Championships; competed anyway
  • 2018 — completely tore her LCL and suffered three tibial plateau fractures in her left leg in a training crash
  • 2024 — underwent a robot-assisted partial knee replacement, using it as a springboard to return to competition

Not a single one of them caused her to quit.

The Lindsey Vonn Standard for Senior Living Leadership

What would it look like if senior living leaders were single-minded about being the best leaders in the world? Not “the best that you can be” — that phrase sounds more like an excuse than a standard.

I’m talking about leaders who, no matter how good they are or how successful they are, constantly strive to be better. Leaders who value their critics more than their fans. Leaders who are always learning, always self-evaluating. Leaders who take risks — and go for it.

The Gate at the Top of the Mountain

Being a senior living leader is a lot like standing in the starting gate of a downhill race. There are three choices:

  1. Decide the risk is too great, walk away without competing, and find the easy way down the mountain — or ride the chairlift back down. It’s safe, but it has no value.
  2. Start the race, but play it safe. Don’t go too fast. Just get down the hill without taking too many risks. This will get you to the finish line, and you probably won’t fall — but it’s not impressive. No one remembers those who finish in last place.
  3. Go for it with everything you have. Understand there are risks. Over the course of your career, going for it will mean some falls and some injuries — but those falls and injuries become learning experiences. Lessons that make you better. Lessons that others will learn from too.

If senior living were full of Lindsey Vonn-style leaders, we would be transforming the world of aging. We would have people begging to work in senior living communities. We would have older adults scrambling for too few senior living units. We would have more brand-evangelist family members singing our praises than we can possibly imagine.

It’s up to you; you are at the gate every day. How are you going to run the course?