What Mirabai’s Story Asks of Business Leaders: Who Are You Preparing Next?

By Anees K. M. · 16 October 2026

“How long will Mirabai Chanu alone keep winning medals for us?”

— Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, at the review of India’s Asian Games performance on 15 October

Speaking after India finished fourth at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, he told National Sports Federations that India needs ten more champions like her and must build a steady pipeline of top-level athletes, according to The Indian Express report, updated 16 October 2026.

A champion can carry a nation’s medal hopes. In a business, one person may be carrying much of the operation. In both settings, the leadership question is who else is being trained and given the opportunity to take responsibility.

In business, we often do the opposite. When someone is good, we keep giving them more.

The person everyone turns to

Purchasing? He knows the suppliers.
Salary processing? He handles it.
A question nobody can answer? Ask him.

I saw this pattern in a business I advised. One trusted employee handled purchasing, salary processing and a stream of business queries. The owner depended on him, but the responsibilities had never been properly distributed.

The workload became overwhelming, and he left. The owner was then struggling with responsibilities that had seemed well taken care of.

The employee needed support well before the business needed his replacement.

When does the next person learn?

The plan I proposed for the business was to spread responsibilities, establish backups and rotate selected tasks. Each person would know their own area well and understand enough of the work around it to provide cover.

That takes time. Someone experienced has to explain, let another person practise, and accept that they may initially work more slowly.

It is tempting to leave the task with the person who will finish it fastest. But if we keep doing that, when does the next person learn?

Shared knowledge also needs sensible boundaries. A backup should know the process and have the access appropriate to their role; purchasing, payment approval and salary processing still need clear authority and checks.

Preparing people before you need them

The practical starting point is to identify work that only one person can currently do. Name a backup, document the essential steps, and let that person practise under supervision. Check whether they can actually handle the work rather than assuming a handover document is enough.

AI can help organise approved process notes into checklists and training questions. The people doing the work must check them, and confidential payroll or supplier information belongs only in appropriately controlled systems. A generated checklist is useful only when someone else can use it successfully.

Mirabai’s achievements deserve recognition. Developing more champions requires sustained work around her. The business parallel is our responsibility to equip more people to carry the work, while supporting those already carrying it.

Who in your team cannot take a proper holiday because too much depends on them?

The business example is anonymised. The opening workplace questions illustrate a pattern; they are not verbatim client dialogue. The approach described was planned, and no implementation outcomes are claimed. The leadership interpretation is my own; no endorsement by Mirabai Chanu or the minister is implied.

Related: You built the business. Does every decision still need you?

Get in touch to discuss responsibilities, backups and leadership development in your business.