Though we have rung down the curtain on the 2026 Winter Olympiad, the thrill of the games still resounds. While the Insight editorial team may be finished parsing the strategic intricacies of curling or the drama of overtime hockey, Kellogg faculty are looking to sports for leadership lessons.

This week, Kellogg’s Harry Kraemer writes about the connection between values-based leadership and the performances of the U.S. athletes on snow and ice.

Plus, we take a look at why leaders need to engage with influencer marketing.

Win or lose

Part of the allure of the Olympic games is the fact that athletes train and prepare for years, sacrificing and dedicating themselves to excellence for a single shot at the podium. But whether athletes win a medal or finish below expectations, they still have a lot to teach us about leadership, according to Kraemer, a clinical professor of management and organizations, in Forbes.

Kraemer viewed athletes’ performances—including their post-event interviews—through four lenses: self-reflection, perspective-taking, self-confidence, and humility.

Describing figure skater Ilia Malinin’s reaction to a disappointing long program, which dropped the skater from first to eighth in the final standings, Kraemer writes, “With more time to self-reflect after the Games, he will have the opportunity to master his emotions and come back even stronger. It’s the same for all of us. None of us performs our best every day or in every arena. Only in self-reflection can we ask ourselves, ‘Knowing what I did today, how will I behave tomorrow?’”

Keeping a balanced perspective when emotions are running high is also a key to successful leadership. Kraemer lauds the decision by ice-dancing silver medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates and their governing body, U.S. Figure Skating, not to appeal the results of their contentious final round.

“With grace under pressure, Chock and Bates gave a gold-medal performance in fostering a balanced perspective that elevates them as values-based leaders in the sporting world.”

Win or lose, the common thread among these Olympians is staying focused on performance to set themselves up for success, even if it isn’t guaranteed, Kraemer says.

“No matter what challenges we face, all we can expect from ourselves is to do the right thing and do the best we can in the time we have.”

Read more in Forbes.

Influencer marketing is here to stay

The rise of social media has changed the landscape for business leaders on many levels. One of the biggest related developments is the prominence of influencer culture—and how it can be harnessed for brand marketing.

“TikTok changed everything,” according to Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Kellogg. “We’ve lost trust in a lot of the traditional institutions, the traditional media outlets. And when that platform opened up back in 2018, that was the start.”

But it goes beyond TikTok. Calkins points to the segment’s growth—and its ability to more-closely track even niche trends—as reasons leaders should not discount the value of influencer marketing as a tool for developing trust and connection with customers. And since social-media influencers are often drivers of the online conversation, it makes sense for brands to actively engage with them.

“If you don’t, what happens is people are going to talk about your product and your service, but you will not be part of that discussion,” Calkins says. “And when it becomes time to make choices, people are going to be influenced by a world that you’re not in.”

The nimble, inexpensive, casual nature of influencer marketing—since you don’t need an agency or a complicated creative brief to get started—can help build trust and responsiveness for a brand’s offerings. The goal is to build content quickly and see what connects with audiences.

“Brands can then watch what’s happening with these different pieces of creative,” Calkins says. “They can see which ones are engaging, which ones have the right message, which ones are communicating the right way. Then brands can put money against and boost the most powerful of these creative ideas.”

Listen to The Insightful Leader podcast from Kellogg Insight.

See you next week,

Fred Schmalz, Business and Art Editor
Kellogg Insight