MIKE SINYARD ON SHAKE THE COSMOS
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How can cycling make a difference in your life? What has changes have we seen in companies since Covid started? How can curiosity open paths for you? This week Mike joins me to discuss innovation at specialized bikes and the role determination plays in our lives.
Mike Sinyard, CEO, and Founder, Specialized Bicycle Components
A pioneer in the sport of cycling and an international industry leader, Mike Sinyard founded―and still leads―Specialized Bicycle Components. In 1981, he launched the Specialized Stumpjumper, the first mass-produced mountain bike which delivered an affordably-priced product. He is widely credited with making mountain biking available to the masses and ushering in a new era in cycling. In 1994, The Specialized Stumpjumper became part of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History collection.
Mike is a founding member of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) and the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). He is also a consistent advocate for causes supporting the growth of the sport of cycling, healthier lifestyles, sustainable transportation, and youth programs.
Find out more at https://outridebike.org/
Also, did you know that you can get yourself a copy of the Shake The Cosmos Journal as part of the personal development course? Check it out here.
ePISODE TRANSCRIPT
ABHISHEK: Hi, everyone. This is Abhishek from shakethecosmos.com. My guest today is Mike Sinyard, CEO of Specialized Bikes, and I couldn’t be more excited to talk with Mike today, and we’re gonna talk about his personal life and get to know him a little bit, the innovation that happens at Specialized Bikes, and some of the giving back stuff that he’s involved in, as well.
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Thank you so much, Mike, I really appreciate you being on the Shake the Cosmos show.
MIKE: Thank you. It’s great to be here, thank you.
ABHISHEK: Awesome. Well, I like to just dive right in. I’m gonna start with, just to get to know you a little bit.
I think I can judge a lot from the morning routine of people. So what is your morning routine like, Mike?
MIKE: Well, this morning, for example, I woke up very early. I got up at like 5:00, or 4:30, had my squeezed juice with lemon. I like how it feels in the body. And this morning I did about an hour of kettlebells before I got started. And then, like most of the world, on the Zoom calls, talking with people in different parts of the world.
ABHISHEK: Wow. Some hydration, some exercise, and getting to the good stuff right away. Love it.
MIKE: Yes.
ABHISHEK: Has it changed over time? Like, the juice stuff? Was that in the beginning, or have you modified, played around with this morning routine?
MIKE: I played around with my morning routine. I always learn a lot from other people. But I’ve been going with the squeezed lemons, it’s really quite powerful.
ABHISHEK: Do you add salt? Is it just lemon…?
MIKE: I do sometimes, a little sea salt in there. Nothing better than that, yeah, with the lemon and the salt.
ABHISHEK: Awesome. I think this afternoon I’ll have to go to the grocery store and find some lemons. Awesome.
Well, as Jack mentioned, you know I do some self development stuff and I was reading a little bit more about Specialized, and I saw some of the advice that you give to your kids. You said, “Hey, if you do what you love to do, and you do it in the best way, then you’ll be fine.” I also saw things like, in 1974, “A dream, a vision, a great excuse to not get a real job.”
MIKE: (laughing) Yes.
ABHISHEK: What was your dream? And what is the dream now? I would love to dig into that a little bit.
MIKE: Sure. Well I do tell my kids that, and I’ve also told them that your life is not for rent. It doesn’t mean for periods. Of course you have to work and do things that you’re not the most passionate about, but you should keep that in mind. And I would say the dream and the vision… Well personally, I really love bicycles. I really love what bicycles do for you mentally and physically, but I’d say mostly mentally. It’s a way to relax, it’s kind of a meditation and therapy, riding on the bike, especially in the mountains on a mountain bike.
I would say the vision is, first of all, we like pedaling the planet right behind me. We know that bicycles change lives, and I think at this time in the world people need that even more than ever, and especially youth. They need a way to connect, and to be out there, and to be active. So I would say for Specialized is to make the world a better place through cycling.
I have a foundation that’s called Outride. I started Outride because I have ADHD, and I read an article in Harvard Medical once. This kid was saying, “Riding is my Ritalin.” And I read it, and I go, “Oh, my God! That’s me! There’s got to be millions of people!” And I call the doctor and I go, “How come there isn’t more information on this?”
He goes, “There’s no drug company to support it, to finance it.”
I said, “What would it take to do?”
So that’s how we started seven years ago, with Harvard Medical, and now with Stanford, doing this research. It’s showing that cycling makes a difference for kids, for older kids, for old people. We have a helmet with sensors on there and we also have about 35,000 kids that went through the program this year at schools. So we have testimonials and medical research.
ABHISHEK: Wow. Tell me a little bit more about your own personal journey there, the dynamics, logistics, of how the biking and mental health get connected. I’m just imagining, you’re on a bike, you’re on a mountain.
What does that feel like that you feel there is a mental health relationship for you?
MIKE: Yeah. I would say when you’re out riding the bike and, a lot like meditation, everything is in the breath, in life. Everything in the mind, everything in the breath. When you think about riding, it’s the ultimate of that, almost like holotropic breathwork. So it gets you to a really great state.
I always feel like, after riding the bike, you’re really optimistic. And when there’s problems, every problem then becomes an opportunity, instead of an obstacle.
ABHISHEK: I love that. It’s almost like the bike becomes a tool to meditate, and to just go through problems. For example, I journal every morning, and sometimes I’ll say in the journal, “I am freaking awesome.” And then a voice inside of me will say, “Are you sure?” Then I write that, too. But that becomes my own little way of fighting my own naysayers. I like that, that biking is also like that.
MIKE: Completely. Yeah, completely charges you up and gives you energy. I’ve seen that so much with young kids, it just powers them up all of a sudden. It’s something you can do on your own and you don’t have to compete with anybody else.
ABHISHEK: Speaking of that, making a shift, how do you deal with naysayers? I was talking about this inner critic, or sometimes people have an idea and someone else is like, “You can’t do it.”
For example, I do standup comedy. Well, I used to. And I took my neighbor one time, and he was like, “No, man. You can’t do standup comedy.” And I was like, “Well, I guess you can’t do standup comedy.”
But I wonder, in the innovation world, or just in your personal life, how do you deal with naysayers?
MIKE: That’s a good question. A lot of times when you have an idea, and you think about it, and then you see other parallels in the world, or even in nature, you go, “Well, it’s obvious. It’s so obvious.” So that’s what propels me to do it, or the need.
I love that Chinese symbol for “crisis”. You know that symbol?
ABHISHEK: I don’t.
MIKE: Well, I’ve got it right here. I have a thing, I could pull it over if you want me to hold it out. But one symbol is “danger,” and the other one is “opportunity”. So every time in life of a crisis, there’s a danger but then there’s also an opportunity to turn it into a great thing. I’ve always believed that.
ABHISHEK: I love that, I love that. It turns the situation around, there is a danger that exists there. What would be your suggestion to someone that has a side hustle, maybe they want to make it their real hustle, they’re getting past that stage?
MIKE: I think that if you have something that you believe in, to just keep experimenting, to keep trying different things, and talking to different people, and trying things. Sometimes they say in business there’s economies of scale. I love economies of tiny. Just doing things in a very small way and seeing how it works.
A mentor of mine said, “Sometimes having will is more important than skill. Because if you have the will, you’ll find the people with the skill.”
ABHISHEK: Wow. I think I should just hit pause on this podcast, digest this for a little while.
MIKE: It’s really true.
ABHISHEK: Yeah. What’s an example of something, like economies of tiny, that you might have done that comes to mind, that’s not huge or maybe not as visible? Maybe an example that people can think about?
MIKE: I think even starting the foundation of Outride, it was like, “Hm. Okay.” So I read about that and I was working with some young kids that had an opiate addiction, and I said, “Well, you know what? I’ll tell you what, I’ll pay you full-time, but you have to ride your bike 80 miles a day.”
They go, “80 miles?! That’ll take all day!”
And I go, “That’s the point.” (laughing) “You’ll be so exhausted you can’t do anything else.”
But I would say, just trying things. Just trying things. It’s like you, with the standup comedy, where you just did it. And you don’t get discouraged when other people say no.
You read the book Outliers, and people that have done really well with things, whether it’s Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, they have been doing that for a long time. And they were obsessed. And they never gave up. I would say that’s the main thing, is the determination.
ABHISHEK: I appreciate that. I was actually in French Polynesia recently and, speaking of determination, I swam with sharks. I used to be scared of them, and now I think of them as dogs of the ocean.
I appreciate the example.
Shifting to the innovation piece, and how that happens at Specialized, and setting the stage here first. What impact has Covid had on the business of bikes? Maybe you could speak specifically or industrially?
MIKE: I would say what’s so interesting about Covid, because it is pretty global, it’s had a pretty universal effect. In some ways it’s brought out the best in people, and the worst. And the best that I see, it has made people much more family-oriented, focused on health. The bicycle has become at the center of that culture. So that’s been really great. You see families out riding, you see people out riding. It has really accelerated our business.
ABHISHEK: That’s awesome. I remember when the whole lockdown stuff started, that was one of the first visible changes. In San Diego, I saw a lot of people walking, and on their bikes, and it’s like, wow!
MIKE: Yeah. You see that all over.
ABHISHEK: What’s the worst piece? You said there’s the best parts of it, and then it brings out the worst as well.
MIKE: (sighs) Well the worst, I think we all see it. We see it together. And I think the division, particularly in this country, is an issue. Sometimes even the bad thing, like all the racial issues, I think results in a good thing: Awareness and change.
But I think people acting irresponsible and refusing to wear a mask or something like that, it’s like, “Really?”
ABHISHEK: Yeah, I’m not sure when the whole thing became political from just wearing a mask type of thing. And I do recall finding a quote from you saying, “I truly believe that in moments of crisis we have the greatest opportunity to make the change.” What inspired that? What do you think is the change that happens during moments of crisis, that people can take advantage of?
MIKE: I think when there is a crisis, all of a sudden things become open. The people’s thinking becomes open, and you’re willing to do something different, and they can change behavior. And as a leader of a company, even a small company, it’s a way to re-look at everything you do, and reconsider. I would say that’s really powerful.
In the world, look at all the things that have happened with the energy on the bicycle, or the racial justice. We wouldn’t have gotten it without that crisis.
ABHISHEK: What’s something, as a company, you’re re-looking at, reconsidering, because of the changes that are happening now?
MIKE: Oh, boy. For sure, people working from home, working on Zoom. And you go, “Well you know what? We’re a pretty adaptive group, and we’re making it work.” In some ways it works better. But in other ways, of course, we miss very much the connection with people. But I think we’ve found a way to make it work. I think that’s really key.
Other things that we’ve found is how to get to the point quicker.
ABHISHEK: (laughs) You mean like when someone’s on a Zoom call and they’re just quiet, and you’re like, “Hey, let’s go. What is it?” Or things are happening quicker?
MIKE: Yeah, in a crisis you have to make decisions. You can’t ponder this thing, and things like that. So I’d say that’s been a lot of really good changes in that endeavor.
ABHISHEK: Totally. It’s interesting you mention that. Someone else, my friend William Gilchrist, who was on the podcast recently. His company delivers sales services to companies. He mentioned that companies are going away with the fluff that they wanted. Now it’s just like you’ve got to get to the decisions quicker.
MIKE: You do.
ABHISHEK: Yeah. How does that play a role… In reading about your product development, what point do you feel like the product is sticky? I feel, at least from what I’ve read, you’ve practiced some patience, during product launches, seeing when it’s sticky. And you could just tell me, “No, it’s some other way.” But that’s what I got a feel of. How do you feel like the product is sticky?
MIKE: When you say the product is sticky, you mean the energy with the product and the interest of it?
ABHISHEK: Yeah, the energy with the product. I think I remember reading about one of the bikes, and you let it simmer through in the market, and just this patience that’s required. I guess you didn’t give up.
MIKE: Right. I think that is the thing. Running a brand is a lot like being a parent, in that you really have to have the care, and the love, and determination to just stick with it. Because if you think, “What is a brand?” A brand just means trust.
ABHISHEK: Totally. A brand is trust. And it’s that passion, it sounds like, that drives that ability to stick through it.
MIKE: Yes.
ABHISHEK: Okay. You were talking about some of the team members and people, and I’ve heard you say it’s all about the people, as well, when it comes to the companies.
Tell me how you think about the DNA of the people, or the people that you want to bring along, as you’re scaling a company. I’m also thinking some entrepreneurs that might be watching this, and they’re trying to grow their company. Tell me a little bit more about how you think about that.
MIKE: Yeah, that’s the most important. When you’re in your activity, whatever business you’re doing, you can see the people that are really passionate. I always think that the people that do the best are people that are very curious. They’re very curious, and even though they’re really smart, they’re always learning, and they’re always open to new things.
So curiosity is a very big one, and I think people being humble. And the other one is the will. They sound pretty simple, but they’re very important. The will and determination, the curiosity.
ABHISHEK: Got it.
MIKE: Really, looking for those elements in people and seeing how they’re driven. And the other one is, how do people work with other people? Are they a big shot? There’s no room for big shots, no room for big egos in the company. If you have an ego about the good work, that’s one thing. But it can’t be about you.
ABHISHEK: Hm. I like that. I know we were talking a little bit about the foundation and the work you do with the youths, in the Outride. Tell us more about that. What kinds of opportunities for our listeners to get involved in, in Outride as well?
MIKE: I would say with Outride, primarily we’ve been going through the schools. Because we do the technical research at Stanford, and then we do the research with the schools, field research. And as I said, this last year we had 35,000 kids come through there.
So if you’re a parent, I know a lot of kids aren’t in school now, but to get that involvement, I think the parents should be involved with the kids to get the kids out riding, it’s really powerful. And to help with the school program. And I would say, as a parent, the most powerful thing you could do is just go ride with your kid. Riding bikes with my kids, I rode with them when they were little and I can still do that now. It’s a connection we have.
ABHISHEK: Yeah. I wonder what happens differently when riding solo, or if you’re riding in a group, as a family or friends? Do you feel a different type of connection with that?
MIKE: Yeah, you feel that shared experience of a connection, which is really powerful. It’s nice to see that. Over here, I can see a lot of the families out riding on the dirt trails and things like that, and the kids are just having a great time.
ABHISHEK: Yeah, I think riding together, I actually remember as a little kid one of my favorite activities is I would just ride solo around the house. I grew up in India, I would just ride solo, literally in circles, around the house. Looking back, I’m like, “What the heck was I doing?” But it was one of my favorite activities.
MIKE: (laughing) Yes.
ABHISHEK: Oh, man. I want to make sure there’s a link to Outride, and supporting that, in the podcast description as well. So how can people get to Outride and learn more about that?
MIKE: Yeah, yeah. I’ll send you the link, or you can just put it in there. It’s outride.org, and you can see the program, and see how effective it is.
One of my personal beliefs is that, in the United States in particular, we are overmedicating our kids. They don’t need to be medicated, they need to… Well, maybe some medication, but kids need to move. And movement on the bike is really good for the mental health of the kids. The most widely prescribed medicine in the United States is Ritalin, and it’s going all to the children.
ABHISHEK: Oh.
MIKE: So we’re gonna look back and we’re gonna think, “Hey, this is gonna make cigarettes look like it wasn’t that bad.”
ABHISHEK: (laughing) Maybe they should be putting the bad pictures that they put on, at least when I was traveling Europe, they had really crazy, ugly pictures on cigarette packages to discourage people from smoking cigarettes.
MIKE: Yeah. That’s a good point. The pharmaceutical, that’s a big one.
ABHISHEK: Well, as we’re wrapping up here, any other thoughts, or any other exciting things happening at Specialized that you want people to check out?
MIKE: Yeah, I would say ride a bike. Getting a bike is a great thing during this Covid. Since March, I’ve moved my car three times. (laughs) Sometimes you find you don’t really need to go places like you’d think you need to go.
But I think finding a way to get in a good mindset, cycling is kind of like a meditation in itself. People can be healthy, and particularly kids.
I would say for business, follow your passion. And if people say that it can’t be done, then that should make you even more excited. Just find ways to do it. One of the ways to find mentors, if there’s somebody in the field you are passionate about, just write them a letter. You never know how many times they would return your message. Then you could have somebody as a mentor. Having people you can learn from is really powerful.
ABHISHEK: Awesome. Thanks, Mike, for making the time to be on the podcast. Truly inspiring. Thank you.
MIKE: Thank you. Thank you very much.