Dan Madden has ridden the Bike-a-thon for a quarter century, heading a team for most of this decade. Mad Dan's Pedalers attained Bronze fundraising status in their debut year and have consistently landed in the Top 20 Fundraising Teams. I asked him recently to describe his finely honed leadership style.
"I yell at them," he replied. "I annoy them."
One rider noted that this is vintage Dan. "He's more a doer than a talker. He works hard at it, he totally believes in what he's doing. It rubs off on everyone around him."
"OK," Dan confessed. I don't just yell. But I challenge them, put a bug in their ear. I try to get them to spread the word and recruit other riders.
"Sometimes I'll make a bet with [a team member]. I'll bet five bucks that I can raise more money than they can by X date."
Leveraging riders' individual competitive spirit is a time-honored method, one that Dan shares with other successful captains. What's your best tactic? Send it to philadelphia.bike@cancer.org and we'll add it to the Tip File!
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