Sir Chris Hoy: Make sure you all buy into the same goal

For this special edition of My Business Leader Secret, we are visiting the village of Knutsford, near Chester, to meet an Olympic champion at his local bike shop.

Sir Chris Hoy is one of the UK’s most successful Olympians, winning six gold medals in cycling. But off the track, he's also been involved in businesses. He will soon be re-launching Hoy Bikes, the range for children he founded in 2012 with Evans Cycles after his triumph at the London Olympics.

He’s also a backer and advisor in Skarper, a device that can turn a normal bike into an e-bike by fitting a removable, battery-powered attachment. It was invented by Alastair Darwood, an NHS doctor and avid cyclist, in 2020, who partnered with the engineers at Red Bull Advanced Technologies to develop the idea.

Hoy’s local bike shop Bikes N Gear is one of the retailers that is stocking Skarper, with staff trained to fit the device.

So, what skills and insights has Sir Chris taken from the world of professional sport to business?

"If I've learned any lessons from cycling and sport that I've applied to the world of business, it's that you all have to buy into the same goal,” says Hoy. “The team that you're working with have to all believe in the same vision. And if everybody focuses on their role and their remit and does it to the best of their ability, then you come together and you can create great things."

Sport has also taught Sir Chris that you need grit and determination to succeed. “You know, sport isn't easy, it doesn’t just happen,” says Hoy. “The gold medals don't just appear out of nowhere.

“There are times when you doubt it, that you doubt yourself. There are days when it doesn't seem like it's going to work out. And it's the same in business.”

In 2024, Sir Chris revealed he had been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer. To raise awareness of the disease, he is also throwing his energies into a new event, the Tour de 4, to be held in September.

It offers a series of four bike rides that all start at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow. Anyone who is affected by cancer, either directly or indirectly, can take part in the rides and, of course, e-bikes are allowed too. The event will raise money for cancer charities, while also aiming to challenge perceptions of what people living with stage four cancer can achieve.

"I was diagnosed almost two years ago," says Sir Chris, "and I'm lucky that I'm still physically able, I'm still riding my bike, and so I want to show that's possible - and there's lot of people like me in the UK in a similar situation."

Watch the rest of the My Business Leader Secret series.