If you emailed me last week, you know from my out-of-office auto-reply that I just returned from the Olympics in Paris. It was an unforgettable week, and, while I’m always weary of another parallel from sports to leadership, I almost couldn’t help drawing them.

For context, when we (my sister, my brother-in-law, my wife, and I) signed up for the lottery for Olympic tickets over a year ago, we chose dates and sports but didn’t know which countries or athletes we’d see.

As luck would have it, we kicked off our week cheering on the American women’s beach volleyball pair, Kloth and Nuss, as they beat Canada—under the Eiffel Tower at sunset, no less. We wore red, white, and blue, and cheering for the Americans felt easy—we were in the in-crowd.

Getting on Different Bandwagons

Over the week, I surprised myself with how much I loved becoming a fan of athletes from other countries, even if just for the day. We jumped on whatever bandwagon felt right at the moment.

We rooted for the Qatar men’s beach volleyball team because a young kid sitting behind us was going wild for them. We joined the Brazilian soccer fans in supporting their squad and its mononymous captain Marta in one of her last international appearances.

We chose a different boat to root for in each rowing race, siding with the crew we assumed was the biggest underdog. For an afternoon, we became rabid fans of German table tennis players because my wife speaks enough German to yell in support.

Cheering for Zheng of China

Our final day in Paris brought an unexpected highlight. We ventured to the famed clay courts of Roland Garros where we saw Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Qinwen Zheng of China win their quarterfinals. At just 21 and in her first Olympics, I was struck by Zheng’s fitness, poise, and determination even as the crowd favored her German opponent. I found myself surprised to be rooting for her.

I went to the Olympics in Beijing in 2008. I hadn't thought much about Chinese athletes in the interim. Between doping suspicions and reports of grueling training sessions, what I did hear wasn’t always rosy. Candidly, I wouldn’t have suspected that my new favorite athlete would be a Chinese tennis player.

And yet, in the days since I’ve been back, I’ve found myself yelling encouraging words at my TV as Zheng beat world #1 Iga Swiatek in the semis and Donna Vekic for the gold medal. Her post-game interview about her pride in gaining a gold medal for China almost moved me to tears. I love that I’m on the Zheng bandwagon at the dawn of what will surely be an illustrious career.

A Lesson from the Olympics

One lesson, then, is about the power of rooting for someone you might not normally, someone who isn’t so obviously in your in-crowd. With the exception of maybe the German table tennis players, none of the athletes heard us cheering for them. Zheng certainly didn’t hear me at Roland Garros or through the TV. But as leaders, your cheering for others matters. Your support can, at the very least, raise morale and, for some, change the trajectory of their career.

Outside of sports, don’t cheer for someone just because the guy next to you is. Think hard about who you are cheering for and why. Ask yourself: Does this person reflect my values and my organization’s? Or, if there were 10 clones of this one person in your organization (or your life), would you be better off? If the answer is yes, do what you can to root them on.

Get clear about the forces that shape who's even on your radar to support. Whether you're looking at a résumé or staring across the political aisle, it’s no secret that we have biases towards the people who share our identities, affinities, and experiences.

It’s why cheering for the Americans was so easy. To oversimplify, we want to cheer for people we like and we like people like us. If we’re cheering solely for people like us, we’re missing out on superstars we could be cheering for, perhaps those who could most benefit from the support of a leader like you.

Auditing Your In-Crowd

To check in with yourself on this, you might start with a quick audit of who your in-crowd is at work (and outside). How much time do you spend with those who share your gender? What about your race? Age group? Political affiliation? My answer is, “a lot,” and that’s limiting.

I know that it can sometimes be challenging and complicated to identify with, let alone cheer for, those who have different experiences and views. We might feel that more and more as we get closer to the election here in the United States. At a time when it can feel like so many of us are on opposing sides, it’s even more important to be intentional about who we're supporting.

As a leader, how might you discover someone new to cheer for? Can you cheer for someone unexpected, someone different than you, today? Who knows, you might just become a superfan.