What Family Business Advisors Can Learn from the Tour de France

Every July, millions of people watch the Tour de France believing they're witnessing an individual sport. They see one rider standing on the podium wearing the yellow jersey, another celebrating a dramatic stage victory, and the cameras naturally follow the stars.

But cyclists know a different story. No one wins the Tour de France alone.

As someone who spends many hours on a bike, often climbing up mountains in the process, and follows professional cycling closely, I've always admired what happens behind the scenes. The strongest rider rarely succeeds on strength alone. Every victory is built on the efforts of teammates who spend hours protecting, positioning, encouraging, and sometimes sacrificing their own ambitions so that one rider has the best possible chance to succeed. And the longer I've worked with business families, the more I've realised that exceptional family enterprise advisory teams operate in much the same way.

Choosing the Right Rider

Before a stage even begins, a cycling team knows who has the best chance of success. If the day finishes with a steep mountain climb, they'll rally around their strongest climber. If it's a flat stage likely to end in a sprint, the strategy changes entirely.

The team doesn't ask, “Who wants the spotlight today?” Instead, they ask, “Who's best suited for what's ahead?” That's exactly how effective advisory teams should think. Business families don't need every advisor trying to lead every conversation. They need the right expertise at the right moment.

Sometimes that means a governance specialist takes the lead. Other situations call for someone with deep experience in succession planning, family systems, financial structuring, or communication facilitation. Strong advisory teams aren't defined by who leads most often. They're defined by their willingness to let the most appropriate person lead when their expertise is needed. The family's success, not individual recognition, is the objective.

The Quiet Professionals Who Make Success Possible

One of my favourite roles in professional cycling is the domestique. Most spectators never notice them. They're rarely interviewed after a race and almost never stand on the podium. Yet many of the sport's most respected riders have spent their careers in this role.

A domestique fetches water, shields teammates from the wind, sets the pace, chases down breakaways, and stays beside the team leader when the race becomes difficult. Their job isn't to win. Their job is to make winning possible.

I've often thought that family enterprise advising has its own domestiques. For example, some advisors gather critical information before meetings. Others quietly notice tensions developing beneath the surface. Some coordinate conversations, provide specialised expertise, or support another advisor who's leading a particularly challenging discussion.

Their contributions aren't always the most visible. But they're often the reason the work succeeds. The best advisory teams recognise that supporting a colleague is never a lesser role. In fact, it's often one of the most valuable contributions a professional can make.

Leadership Changes with the Terrain

Professional cycling rewards specialisation. Some riders thrive in the mountains. Others excel in individual time trials. Sprinters may spend hours conserving energy before exploding into action during the final few hundred metres. Each rider contributes differently because each stage demands something different.

Family enterprises are no different. A family designing governance structures requires different expertise than a family preparing for generational transition. Strategic planning calls upon different strengths than facilitating emotionally charged conversations between siblings. Experienced advisory teams understand that leadership should shift as the terrain changes. There is wisdom and humility in recognising when another teammate is better equipped to take the front.

Riding Together

One of the most remarkable sights in cycling is the peloton. Dozens of riders travel at extraordinary speeds separated by only inches. They conserve energy by riding together, but doing so requires complete trust. One poorly timed movement can affect everyone.

Watching the peloton has always reminded me of collaborative advisory work. Families benefit most when advisors communicate openly, share information appropriately, respect one another's expertise, and present a coordinated approach. Clients shouldn't feel as though they're receiving competing advice from multiple professionals. They should experience one cohesive team working toward a shared purpose. That level of trust doesn't happen accidentally. It's built over time.

When the Plan Changes

Even the strongest riders have difficult days. A leader may struggle on a mountain climb, crash during a descent, or simply have an off day. When that happens, teammates don't criticise them or compete with them. They rally around them. They slow the pace, offer encouragement, shield them from the wind, and adjust the strategy to give their leader the best chance of recovering.

Advisory teams face their own unexpected climbs. Family dynamics evolve. Business conditions change. New information emerges. Conversations take unexpected turns. The strongest teams don't cling rigidly to the original plan. They adapt. They support one another. And they keep moving toward the outcome that matters most for the client family.

The Real Winners

When a rider wins a stage of the Tour de France, only one person stands on the top step of the podium. Yet everyone who understands cycling knows that victory belongs to far more than the rider wearing the jersey. It belongs to the teammates who spent the day riding into the wind. It belongs to the rider who sacrificed their own opportunity to chase down a breakaway. It belongs to the strategist who knew exactly when to attack. The celebration may belong to one rider. The accomplishment belongs to the entire team.

Family enterprise advising is remarkably similar. When a family successfully navigates succession, strengthens governance, or learns to have conversations they once believed were impossible, it can appear that one advisor made it happen. The reality is usually quite different. Behind those outcomes is often a team of professionals who trusted one another, shared their expertise generously, and were willing to step forward or step back, depending on what the family needed most.

That's one of the lessons I've taken from cycling. The strongest professionals aren't the ones who insist on leading every stage. They're the ones who know when to lead, when to support, and when another teammate is better positioned to take the front. Because in both cycling and family enterprise advising, individual excellence matters. But it's collective effort that wins the race.