Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall and Paralympic champion Hunter Woodhall kicked off our Recognize Summit with a conversation that was equal parts electric and practical. Yes, they’ve enjoyed gold-medal moments and viral clips, but the heart of their story is simple: joy fuels performance, recognition sustains it, and empathy from leaders turns good into great.

Below are the highlights, and the leadership lessons worth taking back to your team. To hear their full story, watch the recording here.

Joy is a performance tool, not a distraction

Tara’s pre-jump clap isn’t for show. It locks her rhythm, brings the crowd to attention, and focuses the field on an event that’s too often overlooked. Energy, intentionally created, becomes execution.

Takeaway: give people permission to bring positive energy to their work. Rituals that center attention and spark momentum can lift quality in the moments that matter.

“You don’t have to be perfect. You have to execute.”

That was Hunter’s coach in the call room before a championship 400m. Dropping the perfection myth freed him to do what he practices every day. He won gold.

Takeaway: set clear behaviors, not impossible ideals. Recognition tied to specific actions (“what you did well and why it worked”) reinforces repeatable excellence.

Failures are deposits. The payoff comes later.

Before Paris, both athletes collected more silvers and bronzes than wins on the biggest stages. They reframed losses as feedback and learned faster.

Takeaway: normalize learning cycles. Publicly celebrate progress, not just outcomes, so teams keep iterating through the dips.

Leadership with empathy changes the ceiling

After a tough 2021, both athletes found a coach who led with empathy. He asked how reps felt, highlighted what went right, and built trust. Three years later, both stood on top of the podium.

Takeaway: recognition is a leadership system. When managers notice, ask, and reinforce strengths, performance compounds.

Showing up beats perfect words

From long road trips in college to a post-race embrace seen around the world, their rule is constant: be there. Presence signals value in a way nothing else can.

Takeaway: train managers to “show up” in small, frequent ways—drop-ins, timely notes, quick shout-outs in standups—especially after hard days.

Elevate the overlooked

Field events and Paralympic stories don’t always get the spotlight. Tara helped bring a long-jump runway to Times Square through the new women’s league, Athlos. Visibility creates belief.

Takeaway: design recognition so every role can be seen. Rotate spotlights, tag recognitions to values, and make the “unsung” work visible on shared feeds and in team meetings.

Build community, not just followers

Their social presence began as an archive for family and friends. It became a platform to grow the sport, fund the dream, and show what partnership looks like under pressure.

Takeaway: invite employees to co-author the culture. Peer-to-peer recognition, team feeds, and value-tagged stories create belonging that outlasts any single award.

Why this matters for HR and leaders

Recognition with Awardco can help teams turn joy into output, feedback into momentum, and values into habits people actually feel. When employees are seen quickly and specifically, they execute with confidence. When leaders coach with empathy, teams stick around long enough to become elite together. Schedule a demo to learn more.

There’s more we didn’t cover here—the Paris backstory, the Times Square build, and how the post-gold whirlwind really felt. For the full conversation, watch the recording.