Could most CEOs step in to coach an Olympic hockey team? Well, probably not. But the overlap between elite coaching and effective executive leadership may be greater than you would expect.

As National Hockey League (NHL) coaches and players prepare for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy, while still navigating regular-season games, corporate leaders across industries face a similar balancing act. They’re managing day-to-day operations while preparing for rare-but-critical moments: C-suite hires, mergers, private equity acquisitions, or economic headwinds.

Challenges like these can make or break companies – so how can leaders prepare for them? Here are three leadership lessons executives can learn from the NHL’s Olympic preparations.

Lesson #1: Success depends on communication, trust, and ownership.

In the NHL, Canadian and U.S. players work together and play together on the same teams. But in the Olympics, their NHL team affiliation disappears – it’s all about their country of origin. For coaches, this could create conflict: the U.S. national coach, Mike Sullivan, is also the head coach for the New York Rangers franchise, and Canada’s national coach, Jon Cooper, heads up the Tampa Bay Lightning. So even though Sullivan’s and Cooper’s NHL teams compete against many of the national players they’ll be coaching, those coaches need access to “competitor” players in order to get ready for the Olympic games. When Olympic play begins, NHL rivals must share the ice and perform as a team.

That requires clear, effective communication, mutual trust, and well-defined roles. It also requires clear boundaries: While Cooper might call and speak to J.T. Miller or Vincent Trocheck from Sullivan’s Rangers squad about Olympic business, he’s not overstepping his role as Canada’s coach or undermining Sullivan’s leadership of his team.

The same is true in corporate settings: When a company faces a unique leadership challenge, it’s more important than ever to set clear boundaries and create open channels of communication: Who are the decision makers for each stage of a project or hiring process? What information gets shared, with whom, and by whom? What role does each member of a hiring team serve? When leaders address these issues directly, teams in different business silos can successfully achieve their individual needs while advancing the organization as a whole. Just as important, employees are better positioned to contribute and grow.

Lesson #2: Rare events require extra levels of preparation and structure.

It’s been 12 years since active NHL players last competed in the Olympics – which means that for most of the players on national squads this year, this is their first Olympic experience and the first time balancing international competition with a full NHL season. Their coaches, at both the NHL and Olympic levels, know how important it is to prepare them for those pressures in the lead-up to the Olympics while keeping them grounded in the day-to-day needs of their NHL teams.

For corporate leaders, high-stress situations like C-level hires or acquisitions create similar levels of split attention and uncertainty. It’s important to give employees structure and support they can rely on as they navigate their day-to-day expectations, while clearly defining best practices for whatever unusual situation the company finds itself in. Determine what matters most for the team, set clear expectations, and build processes and practices that will help your teams accomplish their goals in a way that minimizes stress of the unknown.

Lesson #3: Focus has never been more important.

Coaches like Cooper and Sullivan, along with all the NHL players chosen for their national teams, have been walking a tightrope for the past few months: in the middle of a competitive NHL season, they’re also expected to think about and prepare for an entirely separate competition with an entirely separate team. If they put too much focus on the Olympics, they’ll struggle to win regular-season games and let their teams and fans down. But if they ignore the Olympics altogether in favor of focusing on their immediate demands, they risk disappointing their national teams on an international stage.

While there’s no way to avoid some split attention in complicated situations, corporate leaders can help their teams succeed in the day-to-day operations and higher-level demands by staying organized and focused on what matters. Create clear phases and timelines: When do the higher-level demands need the most attention? In the lead-up to those crucial times when you know your attention will be elsewhere, schedule additional focused time on day-to-day operations, putting plans in place and delegating key tasks so that your teams are set up for success with minimal input from you at that time. Look ahead, be realistic about what will require your focus at a particular time, and create plans in advance to support your teams at every stage. Even when your attention must be split, the quality of your work doesn’t have to be.

The most important takeaway from these leadership lessons is this: Successful outcomes don’t happen by accident. They are a result of focused, intentional preparation, communication, and trust – on the ice, in the boardroom, and everywhere in between!