Will Dean of Tough Mudder: Strategy Is Sometimes What You Don't Do (Podcast) The founder of this fitness brand and obstacle course talks about how context changes for staff and leaders as a company grows.

By Linda Lacina

Tough Mudder

Listen to Ready For Anything podcast Episode 5, with Linda Lacina and Will Dean with the audio player below.

As the founder of Tough Mudder, Will Dean understands challenge. This obstacle course complete with freezing waters and electrical wires tests participants' stamina and courage. But he also understands teamwork, and how hard tasks are made easier when there's someone else to help carry a load.

In this podcast, Dean explains how the Tough Mudder challenge is designed to foster teams working together -- and how that tack spurs not just a sense of community but also growth for the company. He also explains how his leadership style has shifted to better serve his own team as his company expands, when he can't always just scan the room to check that his message has been understood. In this chat, he talks about how context changes as the business changes and how to evaluate opportunity as it grows.

Related: What Avon and Tough Mudder Can Teach You About the New Economy

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Linda Lacina

Entrepreneur Staff

Linda Lacina is the former managing editor at Entrepreneur.com. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Family Circle. Email her at llacina@entrepreneur.com. Follow her at @lindalacina on Twitter. 

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