Beyond the Spotlight: A Lesson on Mindsets for Administrative Professionals from the Paris 2024 Olympics
The Paris 2024 Olympics are over, and as the Paris 2024 Paralympics get started, I have a lot of thoughts about various lessons learned through the competitions from Team USA. We watched the women’s rugby team’s hard work and perseverance on display, going from 6th place in Tokyo to a bronze medal in Paris, and how they hoped not for glory for themselves but to inspire the younger generation. We saw Sha’Carri Richardson’s beautiful redemption story, going from being removed from the Tokyo team due to a poor personal choice to winning both a gold and silver medal in Paris, even despite being locked out of the warm-up area due to an unannounced rule change. We saw the humility of the men’s swimming 4x100 mixed relay team as they took home the silver instead of the gold for the first time in Olympic history. We continue to see the tenacious spirit of justice coming from the USA Gymnastics leadership as they fight for a fair outcome for Jordan Chiles, whose routine was not properly scored and has resulted in her bronze medal being stripped from her through no fault of her own. But another story was clearly displayed but not spoken about, which reminded me of the spirit and mindset we must have as administrative professionals.
When you think about an administrative professional, what words come to mind? Words like dependable, adaptable, resourceful, or supportive? Maybe it is the words with more negative connotations, like “just an admin”, back office, or paper pusher. What if we internally embraced words that showcased not only our role, but the spirit we must have in it, such as encourager, influencer, and leader? How do we embody that spirit?
Administrative professionals are leaders in their own right. We have various areas of responsibility that naturally require us to take ownership while humbly leading others. This could be the Office Manager, who creates systems for booking conference rooms or ordering office supplies that work for their particular team dynamics. This could be the Administrative Assistant who consistently reminds the team to complete their expense reports on time. This could also be the Executive Assistant, who advises their executive on the impact of certain decisions on the team. No matter what, though, in the midst of the administrative professional taking responsibility for their own assignments, we have a special way of supporting and influencing the work of those around them in a way that gracefully leads others towards excellence. We have a unique opportunity to exemplify servant leadership in an impactful way in our organizations.
I was incredibly encouraged to see this type of servant leadership played out in front of our eyes during the 2024 Paris Olympics artistic gymnastics competition. The US women’s team tends to be more well-known, with household names such as Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee. However, the US men’s team made a name for themselves as they won the team bronze medal, their first medal since 2008, and later when Stephen Nedoroscik won the bronze medal on the pommel horse. One team member stood out to me because of his clear demonstration of servant leadership which was none other than the de facto team captain, Brody Malone.
Brody overcame a lot to even be at the Olympics this year. He lost his mother to cancer in 2012, then his stepmother to a brain aneurysm in 2019. He competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, debuting a new mount on the parallel bars that now officially bears his name in the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points. However, in March 2023, he injured his knee during a dismount, which resulted in 3 different surgeries, forcing him to miss both the 2023 US National Championships and the 2023 World Championships. But he worked hard through his recovery and eventually earned a spot on the 2024 Paris Olympic Team. As the only veteran Olympian on the team, the rest of the team looked to him as their de facto team captain.
How often are we, as administrative professionals, looked to as the experts, the dependable ones who help everyone, even as we are often figuring it out ourselves? Many of us can relate to Brody in this way. Just this last week, a colleague who has been with the company for 20+ years asked me to look at something on their Outlook calendar to see if I knew how to fix it. I’m still pretty new to the company and to Outlook, only four months in after spending eight years in Google Workspace, so my first thought was, “Oh no, I’m not going to know how to do this, and I’m going to let my colleague down.” But, if there is one thing I know about administrative professionals, it is that we are resourceful problem solvers. I pushed the negative thoughts away, put on my problem-solver hat, and we discovered the issue with her calendar after a few clicks together. I even taught her how to use the dropdown that marks events as busy, free, tentative, working elsewhere, and out of office! This was a good reminder for me that being new doesn’t mean you don’t have knowledge to share, just as longevity/experience doesn’t mean there isn’t something new for you to learn. We saw this happen with Brody Malone.
Brody’s first day of competition in Paris did not go according to plan. According to AP News: “Malone fell twice on high bar — where he was the 2022 world champion — and once on pommel horse. Throw in an ill-timed slip on floor exercise, and all the momentum and good vibes Malone had generated during his remarkable return vanished.”1 Because of these mistakes, Brody, the 2024 US Men’s National Champion and the only team member who had been to the Olympics before, did not qualify for any individual finals. He didn’t let that get the best of him, though. Brody apologized to his teammates and reminded them that they could treat the qualifiers like they would on the first day of the competition. Moving forward, the scores didn’t matter. He then took some time alone to get his head back in the game and to create the game plan that his team needed: Ignore the other teams, focus only on our team, and purposefully hit every skill. Between every apparatus, Brody would gather the team into a huddle, remind them of the game plan, and encourage them in how they all hit their skills, and then they would end with a “1 2 3 USA” before going to the next apparatus. Brody knew that he had the power to influence his team and himself to do their absolute best. Brody hit every one of his routines in the team finals and was the loudest person on the sidelines, cheering his team on as they hit their routines. In the end, the team walked away with the bronze medal, their first team medal since 2008!
As administrative professionals, we are often expected to be perfect, but the reality is that we, like the rest of humanity, aren’t and can never be perfect. With the human touch that our profession needs comes also the human capacity to err. However, we must have the same spirit as Brody had. We must own our mistakes. We must learn from our mistakes. We must remind ourselves that everyone makes mistakes. But we must also be wise enough not to continue to make the same mistakes. We must create a game plan to ensure the mistakes don’t happen again. And we must follow through on that game plan, leading others by our example.
So now that Brody didn’t get into any of the event finals, we might think his story at the 2024 Paris Olympics was over. But alas, it was not. He embodied his de facto team captain role, supporting his teammates, Paul Juda and Fred Richard, as they competed in the all-around finals. Brody could have decided to be upset about not earning a spot, especially as the US all-around champion. Instead, he carried his teammates’ bags, encouraging and supporting them from the arena floor alongside their coach as they finished in 15th and 16th place. And then came the apparatus finals. Again, Brody could’ve decided that he was done, but he knew that he had one more responsibility ahead of him. Stephen Nedoroscik was the only US man on the team to make it to an individual event final. Affectionately referred to as The Specialist, Stephen has focused his training and competition on a single apparatus, the pommel horse, since high school, and he is considered the best in the country. During this competition, Brody’s servant leadership was on full display. When Stephen’s turn on the apparatus came, Brody was right there alongside Stephen and team coach Sam Mikulak, on his knees, examining the apparatus to ensure it was safe and ready for Stephen to use it. As Stephen performed his routine, Brody screamed encouragement from the sidelines. And when Stephen stuck the landing, Brody could be seen screaming and jumping down the sidelines, then being the first to pull Stephen into a hug. When Stephen won the bronze, you would’ve thought that Brody had, too, by how excited he was!
As administrative professionals, we generally aren’t the ones getting the attention or accolades. We are the ones supporting those who are in the spotlight, and that is where we must thrive. I will never forget a piece of advice a mentor gave me: “If you are a good Executive Assistant, people generally won’t know you are there because the focus is on your leader, but they will deeply feel it when you aren’t there.” Brody’s encouragement, coaching, and hands-on support didn’t earn him another medal, but it made a difference for Stephen. As he was preparing for his routine, Stephen didn’t have to think about getting under the apparatus and tightening the screws; Brody took that mental load on for him, freeing Stephen up to focus on what he needed to so he could bring home the medal. While Brody’s name will never appear on the record books for that medal, he knows that he participated in setting Stephen up for success. We must have the same mindset as administrative professionals. When our leaders present slide decks we created, sign their names of documents we drafted, or are recognized for projects we helped manage, we can take pride in the part we played in it and celebrate the successes with them.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that administrative professionals should never be recognized for their contributions. Au contraire, I believe that a good executive or manager will regularly let their administrative support know how their contributions are appreciated and find appropriate ways to recognize them privately and publicly. However, that desire for attention should not be what drives us; we must have a humble spirit that recognizes our behind-the-scenes role and finds meaning in it. When I worked at a non-profit, I was often asked if I liked my job since I “just handled paperwork” vs. those who were out meeting with donors and actively bringing in donations. I truly loved my job because I knew that my work had a snowball effect. A real-life example? I helped my executive by project managing a large donation ask, specifically running point and bringing it from ideation to completion during a week when she was out of town. Long story short, the donor graciously agreed to the donation, which, among other things, helped create a scholarship fund to give full-ride scholarships to students coming out of foster care. Later that year, the school welcomed three scholarship recipients who otherwise would not have been able to achieve a college education. My name will never be associated with that scholarship, but I can take pride in knowing my work behind the scenes made a difference in those students’ lives, and will continue to make a difference in more students’ lives for years to come.
Just as Brody Malone demonstrated servant leadership, resilience, and unwavering support for his teammates, we, too, can embody these qualities in our daily work. Let's challenge ourselves to embrace our roles not just as supporters, but as leaders and influencers who make a significant impact behind the scenes. I encourage you to take a moment to consider how you can apply these lessons in your professional life. How can you be a Brody Malone in your office, leading with humility, supporting your colleagues, and finding pride in the successes you help create? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below, and let's continue this conversation about our vital role in our organizations. Together, we can elevate the perception and impact of administrative professionals everywhere.
1) https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-gymnastics-brody-malone-98dc50d9d4d782b6cc8947d4e5b65fa5
