EP03 | Leadership & Motivation

Leadership sounds good on paper. It gets a lot more real when decisions need to be made under pressure.

In this episode of People & Peloton, Dorien Leyers speaks with Danny Stam, Team Director at Team SD Worx-Protime, and Gille Sebrechts, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President at SD Worx, about what leadership looks like when there is no time to overthink and people are looking to you for direction.

With Lotte Kopecky’s 2025 season as the starting point, this conversation dives into responsibility, motivation, team mentality and the difference between having authority and earning trust. From sport to business, one thing becomes clear: leadership is not about status. It is about behaviour, judgement and knowing when to put the team first.

People & Peloton

What can business learn from the peloton, and what can elite sport learn from the workplace?  In People & Peloton, we bring those two worlds together.

Hosted by Dorien Leyers, this SD Worx podcast pairs conversations from the boardroom with insights from the road. In each episode, leaders from SD Worx and Team SD Worx-Protime explore a topic that shapes performance today, from teamwork and resilience to leadership, growth, wellbeing and culture.  

Expect practical ideas, honest reflections and stories from high-pressure environments where decisions matter, trust matters, and people make the difference. Because whether you lead a company or ride in a team, success rarely comes down to talent alone. 

It comes down to how you work together when it counts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome to People and Peloton, the SD Works podcast where cycling and business come together. In every episode, we put two conversations next to each other, one from the boardroom and one from the Peloton. And together we'll discover their similarities and what both can learn from each other. Today we'll unpack what leadership really is when there's no time to overthink. How you keep people motivated when the plan keeps changing, and what leaders do that actually makes teams better in sport and in business. My name is Doreen Leyers, and joining me today are Danny Stamm, Team Director at Team SD Works Pro Time, and Gilles Sebrechts, Chief Digital Officer and Executive VP at SD Works.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

As one of the leaders of the team, it's very important to keep the whole team motivated. Communicate well, talk about my own feelings on the bike. Also sometimes when it doesn't go that well, I mean talk to them that also we sometimes do not feel super good on a bike and that we're also just humans. To give everything for us to be in the best possible position or the best possible moment. To be a leader in a pro cycling team, um yeah, it's for me always a little bit strange to say um like leader, because yeah, okay, on the bike I am uh maybe physically a little bit better than they are, but off the bike, uh yeah, we're just the same, and in my opinion, we all deserve the same respect, and that's also how I want to be treated. I want to be treated exactly the same as them, and I think they also really appreciate that uh we don't get too privileged compared to them. Um, for me, that is super important as a leader to yeah, give them the respect that they deserve, and uh yeah, I uh I hope they know that and they uh yeah, they value that as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Gentlemen, in cycling, leadership happens in seconds. What does leadership on the road actually look like, Danny?

SPEAKER_03 2:48

How does leadership look like? Uh I think we need people on the bike what make decisions, what uh make decisions for the group for the for the for the team, and yeah, also off the bike. I think it's it's important that uh that they show that they know what they're doing and where they're ready for.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Is there communication during in in a in a chaotic moment finale who actually leads? Is it the sports director because of the previous scenarios that you talked about? Is it the road captain, or or is it that strongest rider that makes that instant decision?

SPEAKER_03 3:27

I think decisions always be made by instinct, definitely in the Peloton. But we we speak a lot of uh situations what can happen in the race or during the race, and then we have a road captain what makes the decisions uh during the race, but not in the deep final. Because in the deep final, it's mostly the the leaders would still be there, like uh Lotto Kopecchi, Lorena Vibes. They are the the leaders what must finish the race, so they make the final call, and actually from the car, yeah, we try to manage that so good as possible, and when there are doubts, we get questions with the with the race radios.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

I like very much the word that you used. You said instinct. It's an instant instinct that you have. Gille, I think that's very comparable to what you sometimes need in business life.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Yeah, I think Danny summarized it well. There's a lot of uh similarities between business and cycling. You think about a strategy up front, but then yeah, plans are out of the window the moment you finish them, and then you need people on the floor close to the action that make split second decisions and that's also there to make that decision, to Danny's point. Sometimes you just need one person to step up and to lead, and that doesn't need to be the most senior person. That's the instinct of that person at that time that makes the difference.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Are you someone who follows their instinct, their gut feeling?

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Yeah, I think I try to balance uh the rationale with the instinct, and I think that's what leadership is all about to do both. You need to think and you need to feel, and you in the moment you need to trust your gut feeling.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

What does effective leadership um what what defines effective leadership today, according to you, especially in times of uncertainty, where uncertainty is becoming the new normal?

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yeah, it's leadership there. I think is someone who wants to, as the word said, lead through that uh through that change and that transition. No one exactly knows where we're going. It's a scary world, the world is changing politically, uh business-wise, and then you need people that say, Look, I know we don't know where we go exactly, but with what I know today, I would do A, B, or C and then have the confidence to lead the people and to motivate everyone to go there. That's true leadership, I think.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

What is it to you, Danny? True leadership?

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Yeah, I think true leadership is also uh trust that you uh you give your your workers the trust that we know that we are in the in the good direction and that you can count on your leader that that they will finish uh the direction where you went in. And I think, yeah, in in our business that's one of the biggest uh biggest points what we need: trust and respect, and and that is uh yeah, what what always comes back in what kind of race it is, or also I think in uh in the business part.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Do you think leadership, Shille, is also about priorities and defining what they are?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Yeah, I think a leader helps the team to say this is now important and this is not. There's every day there are so many things that we need to decide and need to do, but only one can be the top priority. And the best leaders know that and they step up in the moment to say this is what we're gonna focus on.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Absolutely. Is there maybe an as day works moment where leadership was really tested, perhaps during those transformation moments, as you said?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Yeah, I think we experience it nowadays on a daily basis or a weekly basis. Um, there's a lot of change. We've transformed the company over the last five years uh heavily from eight countries to 27. We more than doubled it. That's exciting, but it's also scary for people. So there are uh moments where, for example, lately we launched a lot of AI solutions. That's again very exciting for us as management, but for our teams, it's also scary because it completely changes the way we work. Um, that's I think where you see the true leaders step in on all levels. People that say, okay, I will embrace this technology and I will make sure that we use it to the best way or in the best way for the business, and I take my colleagues along. I think that last one, it's also what Danny referred to. It's not about individuals, it's also leading the others and taking the others in the in the right direction.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

But you're giving a good example because AI is something that even leaders today are also quite afraid of sometimes. Is it about hiding your own fear and and sometimes even faking the confidence you have because you want your teams to be confident in it? Faking is a strong word.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

No, but it's a good question. Um, I was at a conference this week, and there they said the best AI leaders acknowledge they don't know what's going on. So we don't, and uh, even the top top leaders in the world don't know exactly. So for me, it's all about being authentic and being real. So I would never fake it. I would rather tell my team, look, I also don't know, but again, the best next step I think is to do this. And if you are real about that and you lead with them with confidence in in that moment, I think people feel it and they follow you. If you fake it, don't believe in fake it till you make it because you will you will not make it.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

You will it is a cliche that is said many times. Danny, did you sometimes experience fear that you had to hide for your team because you wanted them to have the confidence?

SPEAKER_03 9:07

I think I think it's a little bit what Giles says. Uh it's it's a it's a natural thing what you need to have in in the leadership. And uh if you want to be a leader what isn't a leader, then you will fail automatically. And I think you win the trust also already with decisions what you made before. You don't come in a position uh where you are when you're not a leader. That that's starts uh where it starts, I think. And yeah, we have also examples like uh with Lorena Viebers, then yeah, one moment she says, yeah, the the breakaway is five minutes or seven minutes, it's time we start to write. Yeah, and then the rest of the team put themselves on the front of the Peloton and starts riding. And then if she finishes and we catch them just on two kilometers before the finish line, yeah, then they know okay, we can trust on on this feeling. And yeah, what I said, I think that is an isn't uh yeah, coming back to an instinct or or a feeling, yeah. What what you have together.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Danny, what can you share with us about how to build team mentality that holds under pressure and not when things are going well but mostly when when they're not? How can you prepare for that?

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Well, the difficult part is I I think you cannot prepare for it. Because you you just need to be flexible with uh if you have a disappointing, that you yeah, realize that you work hard for it and also accept one moment when it's not working how you want it. And uh just stay believe in your own strategy and say this is the way we went, and we are 100% sure that it comes out if we keep believing in it. It's going to be more difficult if you need to do that for seven months and it's not working at all. But normally after one or two months, yeah, the result will be there, and it's always nicer when it uh works directly. Yeah, you have directly uh your your your victories or your your wins.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Are you saying trust the process?

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Yeah. Yeah. I think if you have uh companies where we're working for, like ST works or uh ProTime, our team, yeah, we have a process where we want to go. And if you if you don't believe our process, yeah, then you never come to win. Yeah, absolutely also there to lose.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Absolutely. Now, is there one sentence, Danny? Something that you often say when when the team is about to crack, when it's about to go down, something that that you're maybe known for, that is your true motivational sentence.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

No, it's it's not I mean we never have a real speech that we say, okay, this is the way that we need to do it. You know, we always race for the win, and uh we always say okay, if if we don't dare to lose, we never will win. And I think that's also a very important uh step in in the sport. If you are afraid to lose, then you yeah, never you're never going to make the next steps. And yeah, luckily we going pretty well for the last years.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Sheila, is there one behavior that instantly raises leadership quality in a team?

SPEAKER_02 12:31

If you have to say something, I think authenticity. Being uh it's as Danny said, it's you are a leader and then you behave like a leader, and the best leaders, people trust, and we talked a lot about word already today. And when do people trust you when you're real and when you're not faking it? So remaining authentic, I think is the most important thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

And what is one behavior that instantly destroys leadership and trust in leadership?

SPEAKER_02 13:00

It's the opposite, right? If you don't walk the talk, then uh you lose confidence and trust of the team immediately. And everyone makes mistakes. It's uh same as what Danny said, there to lose, but that's what I also say at work. It's it's failing is not a problem or making mistakes, but then not learning from it and not moving forward, that is the real problem, um, or hiding it. That's uh then you lose all credibility.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Does that resonate with you, Danny? That authenticity is one of the most important qualities of a leader.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

Yeah, and I also believe uh don't be afraid to annoy that when you make a mistake. You know, if if you make a mistake And to admit it, yeah, to admit and say, okay, this maybe we could do it different and and be open in that and and take them with you how to do different. And I think that that yeah, in in this period helps a lot.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Is it hard to balance suggestions of your team with your own gut feeling and saying, I've got this, trust me.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

It's uh yes, now saying no would not uh would be too easy. I think it's you you need to balance being confident and this is the way forward, but still remaining very open to have at SD works, we always call it a growth mindset. Try to go forward, try to learn from others. It's again referring to what Danny just said. Uh the mistake is not the problem, it's you need to learn from it. So you need to remain open, but if you're always just listening, you're also not leading. So it's it's it's having that balance.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Yeah, and on the end, you do it together. That that's a little bit where you aim for as a leader.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

That's exactly my last question. Uh Danny, for both of you, but first for you. Maybe one moment in cycling where a team really shifted from me to we, where it all blurs and it's just us against the world. You have an example for us?

SPEAKER_03 15:02

Well, it's always, I mean, uh you always see the winner, you know. The winner takes actually everything, but we forget the the real uh helpers, like uh what riding on the front of the hill the whole day and and closing the caps, and yeah, the if the the rider wins the race, yeah, she's the hero. But without the helpers, we cannot yeah, we can never win. So yeah, that that are for me is a wee example. You know, if if we don't start with uh with with the six girls what want to win that race together, we don't win it. And that's also if if we yeah, if if the riders think okay, maybe I can also win it, or maybe I can win it, and the plan is not really uh structured to one person, or or yeah, then then you have one big mess.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

That's true. Gilles, maybe same question, but in the business world, let's say.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Yeah, uh a business example. We uh a year and a half ago signed our biggest deal ever, which was very nice. And to Danny's point, uh the winner were were the sales at that moment because they sold the deal and everyone was very happy, but then we had to do it. Uh, with a team of more than a hundred people, we worked on that, and actually, the the real we moment was when it was going wrong. When I received a phone call, we need to be ready in three months, and this is not going where it should go. That's where we put 10-15 people in a room and we said, Come up with all your ideas and let's do this. And I think in moments of crisis, you really feel then the it's not about that one sales anymore because that one sales was at the table, also helping in the delivery and turning it around. So that's that's it was a team effort, a real team effort.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Yeah, I think as a leader, it's very important that you also um give that credit to the whole team that you give them a clear message. I I know that this is also thanks to you.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Yeah, I think I think it's even more important to to let give the yeah, the the the confidence also to the workers uh in in that part, and not only the winners, because the winners, yeah, they get credits enough, but normally you forget the the the salespeople, you for you forget and they do the job, and but without them you cannot do it.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Gentlemen, let's find out how the story ends.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

For me, the team helped a lot to develop into this role. Um as leaders, sometimes it is not easy to cope with the pressure, but yeah, we are such a strong team, and we have actually every race more riders who can actually win it. And for me, that sometimes helps a lot because we start the race, my legs don't feel super good, but yeah, immediately I start to think like, okay, it doesn't need to be bad because there are three others who can win, and for me that relieves the pressure so much that I don't worry about it, and I know that after maybe a few climbs my legs get better and better, and when we are there in the final, on the moment that it matters, then yeah, the legs are there again, and I can just play for the win again.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Danny, how do Lotus' decisions and actions reflect leadership here?

SPEAKER_03 18:25

I think Lottes' leadership that is uh yeah, really important into the team, not not only uh during the race, but also the behaviour of the bike. I think you you can really see that yeah, if you if Lotte goes left, then most uh of the riders think ah, should we go left or what should we do? So, yeah, I think we're leaders that uh yeah, and definitely young young people they look up to to their stars.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

She's an inspiration. Maybe that's an interesting angle as well, Gilles. Is that something you can translate to the business perspective if you have your people if you inspire your team?

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yeah, I think leadership is about motivating your team to go somewhere, and you can't be everywhere. So they also need to yeah, they need to make decisions themselves, but that also means that everyone is watching you the entire time. So, to Danny's point, if Lotta goes left, everyone goes left, and that is reflected on the bike, but equally off the bike. So I think that's also a big learning for leaders, and we talked about authenticity as well. Stay true to who you are because you can't fake it 24 hours a day. So do what you need to do to inspire the people to do the same or to do the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Lead by example?

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Lead by example. I think that cliche I do.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

It is a cliche, but it's a it's it's there for a reason, I think.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Yeah, indeed. And I think it's the right one. Lead by example and uh and make sure that people learn from it, that they are inspired and that they follow uh follow the same journey.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

And it's big and small behaviors, I think.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Uh yeah, indeed.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Both of them. Gentlemen, I have a rapid fire, so no essays as an answer, just a quick and snappy thing that comes to mind. Gilov, first one for you. One tool that you would steal from cycling into business when you think of leadership.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

I think the the race briefings. Very quick tactics, very clear accountabilities and roles.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Danny, same question. One thing that you would steal from business into cycling when it goes when we talk about leadership.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

I think uh the leaders want to win also, the winning spirit.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Okay. One red flag that tells you motivation is about to collapse. A red flag or maybe a sign.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

I think when you feel it the team starts to go in circles and they keep asking the same questions over and over again.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

That's when they lost track and motivation. Danny, when you talk about cycling, interesting question actually.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

If the team wants to have all the same goal, there's difficult in my in my group. If I have six riders but want to win a Tour of Flanders, my team collapsed.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

True. You have to convince one that he wants it or she wants it, better said, and the other ones that they don't want it. One habit that protects motivation under pressure.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

We know where we're working for, and we are uh we worked hard for it, so we know we can do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Okay. Something that you that becomes a habit. So same question, Gila. One thing, one habit that can protect motivation when it's under pressure.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Zooming out and seeing where we come from, what is going well, and focusing on that. So trust the process. Once again, yeah but people get so stuck on the details. So you

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Finally, one question every leader should ask themselves this week, or maybe on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Am I inspiring my people? Are am I walking the talk? And am I showing the right behavior? And am I leading by example? I think is a a question you should ask yourself at the end of every day. And it's okay also as a leader to sometimes have a bad day, right? Or to make a mistake. But then the next day is there to uh to do better.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Adapt and move on.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Danny.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Yeah, I think uh that's a good answer uh what you what you said. But I think also uh uh yeah in in our business be honest when uh when when you doubt, you know, because the uh you have one shot during a race and and one chance and that needs to be good. And I think uh a leader is uh need to be honest with his riders and with his helpers to say, hey listen, I do it this day, don't worry, but if I don't feel comfortable or confident in it, yeah, then I also dare to say, Yeah, okay, we take another flash for this time.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

So you're also not a fan of the cliche, fake it till you make it.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

No.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

I like that, gentlemen. Uh, very clear. Uh thank you very much for being here today.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

With pleasure. No worries.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

And a couple of things to take away from this: trust your gut in the moment. But remember that gut feeling only lands when you've built credibility through authenticity. Leadership starts with belief in your strategy and the courage to live it out and change it when you think you have to. The second you don't walk the talk, your team will smell it. And listening matters, but if you're only listening, you're not leading. And yes, lead by example is a cliche, but it works. Thank you so much for listening and watching. Discover the other people and Peloton episodes about cycling and business at sdworks.com or your favorite podcast platform, of course. Until next time. Bye bye.