Olympian champions sport and business ethics

Keystone

Olympic champion swimmer John Naber believes Swiss values of modesty and fair play are worth more than an all-out desire to win at all costs.

The United States four-time Olympics champion, who is now a motivational speaker, told swissinfo that ethics and character-building should play a bigger role in both sport and business.

Naber was a keynote speaker at the tenth Swiss Economic Forum in Thun in May.

swissinfo: Are there many correlations between sport and business?

John Naber: They are both very goal oriented, competitive and numbers driven. The difference in business is that you are responsible for other people’s behaviour. In swimming I just had to worry about myself.

I believe that if you don’t make it personal, you can make it successful. You don’t have to hate your competitors, but if you just compete on the basis of product and performance then the results will come your way.

swissinfo: What does it take to be a champion in sport or business?

J.N.: There is a difference between wanting to win and being willing to pay the price to make it there. Many people want to be the best, but some of them don’t believe it’s possible and others believe it’s possible but don’t want to pay the price.

swissinfo: The Swiss are more modest than Americans. Is this a hurdle to success?

J.N.: I agree with the Swiss way of doing things – let the performance speak for itself. Some people encourage athletes to beat their chests because that gets them more sponsorship, but I am beginning to feel that many Americans don’t like that.

swissinfo: Do you despair at the high numbers of drug cheats in sport?

J.N.: There are people who would rather have the gold medal than earn the gold medal. That’s a significant difference. If having it matters more than earning it, then you could resort to cheating.

I don’t despair, but I am a little disappointed with the behaviour of some individuals. We are encouraging the wrong thing by awarding someone a shoe deal just because they win. There ought to be some character elements as well.

The Olympic ideal remains strong even if its practice may have weaknesses now and then. But you should not abandon the ideal because not everybody lives up to it any more than you should abandon the speed limit if one person drives too fast.

swissinfo: Should the Olympics be held in China?

J.N.: I am not in favour of a boycott. I don’t have to agree with the country’s politics to agree that we should go and make friends with their athletes, perform well and maybe open up some eyes as to how the rest of the world thinks and behaves.

swissinfo, Matthew Allen in Thun

John Naber

John Naber was born in 1956 in Illinois, the United States.

He won four swimming gold medals, setting a world record each time, and a silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

He set six world records during his swimming career, earning the 1977 James E Sullivan Award as best amateur athlete in the US.

Naber is now a sport broadcaster, motivational speaker and the author of several books.

Swiss Economic Forum

The tenth edition of the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF), the annual meeting of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), took place in Thun, canton Bern in May.

The SEF was conceived by Stefan Linder and Peter Stähli over spaghetti in 1998 as a forum to promote new SMEs and innovation. The following year the first SEF, running under the theme of communication, attracted 460 business people.

This year’s forum has swollen to 1,200 attendees – oversubscribed by 600 – and is entitled: Peak Performance.

This year’s keynote speakers include Russian billionaire businessman Viktor Vekselberg, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Novartis chairman and chief executive Daniel Vasella.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are companies that employ up to 250 people.
They account for 99.7% of the 307,000 companies in the Swiss private sector and provide jobs for 66.8% of the workforce.