Gian Gilli – From Good to Best
Gian Gilli grew up in the mountainous Upper Engadine Valley in south-eastern Switzerland. When not at school, he spent most of his boyhood and adolescence outdoors – tending to cattle on the alp, enjoying his passion for skiing, undertaking mountain tours and hunting game with his father.
This proximity to an often harsh natural environment greatly influenced his values and ideals. Core values such as perseverance, honesty, respect, humility, courage and endurance remain the cornerstones of his pronounced self-motivation and enthusiasm for high performance and achievement. He came into contact with the topics of leadership and responsibility at an early age, when he spent an entire summer taking care of and “leading” cattle and sheep, a task that can be far from simple.
In his many management and leadership roles – as physical education and sports instructor, manager of the Swiss national team, project manager of two world championships in alpine skiing and ice hockey, chef de mission of the Swiss Olympic team and chief executive of canton Graubünden’s bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics – Gian Gilli has gained a great deal of experience in the fields of high-performance development and the management of high-performance individuals. His activities have always focused strongly on the three pillars of motivation/commitment – developing performance – delivering performance, a concept based on the internal “me initiative” and associated responsibility, which is supported by the external “you initiative” (team, employer, family).
Being good is a starting point – but in order to excel, the best performance is always required. In the field of high performance activities, “best” is always the goal. There are innumerable demands on us to excel in our daily and working lives. The declared aim of “From Good to Best” is to prepare people for exceptional demands in a way that allows them to embrace the pressure without losing their enthusiasm for life or harming themselves.
High performance is only possible when emotions are permitted and allowed to be expressed on the way to the goal. Good leaders master the art of leading via emotions and possess considerable social skills and empathy: because people feel before they think.