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British cycling’s rise to global dominance under Dave Brailsford shows how tiny improvements – marginal gains – can add up, a lesson that can also guide everyday choices to fight climate change.
The conversion of the British Olympic cycling team from irrelevant to the number one team on the planet was masterminded by Dave Brailsford.
At London 2012, they won gold in seven of the ten track events. He then took this success into professional cycling.
His Team Sky – rebranded as INEOS in 2019 – won seven editions of the Tour de France in eight years.
What was at the centre of this success? His theory of marginal gains. If you improve 1% in everything you do, all the improvements compound and performance accelerates.
Nothing was left to chance. Different massage gels were tested on randomly assigned groups of athletes to find out which one aided recovery the most. The team also took their own pillows to every hotel on the tour to ensure the riders maximised their sleep.
In later years, the approach fell a little out of favour.
Some felt the desire to extract every 1% from the anti-doping rules, through excessive use of 'banned substances' under Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs), tarnished the team’s 'whiter-than-white' persona.
Others felt that rules banning bikini waxes, intended to reduce the likelihood of saddle sores, were too intrusive.
I started thinking about marginal gains when talking to my guests on this week's episode of Office Hours. I was looking to answer the question: What are the best choices we can make to help mitigate the effect of climate change?
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Every day we hand money over to businesses for their goods and services, often with no idea of the cost to the environment.
But through the recording I began to realise I was probably asking the wrong question. I was searching for a silver bullet. I shouldn’t have been looking for the best purchasing choice, but for all the purchasing choices that can make a difference.
To have an impact, we need to look at all our choices. Marginal gains can make a difference.
If 7 billion people on the planet all reduce their carbon footprint by 1% – then another, then another – it will really start to add up.
Improvements don’t have to be big if we all embrace them. If we all know which is better for the environment – glass bottles, plastic bottles, or cans – we can collectively make a difference.
My purchasing habits have changed after learning a lot from the guests on this week’s show, and I am sure yours will too.
And don’t worry – Office Hours looks to answer everyday questions about life and work in Luxembourg by talking to business owners, employees, entrepreneurs and experts. Personal grooming is off-limits.
Listen to the episode below:
