As always, the winter Olympics left me in awe of the athletes and the stories of achievement. Although all sports can provide inspiration for our lives and businesses, the Olympics seem to do so at an elevated level. It might be that many of the featured sports only get attention once every four years—so without the high salaries and constant media hype there is still some purity to the competition.

There appeared to be extra focus on one of the more esoteric sports—curling, which has neither the element of grace nor rough-and-tumble contact.

While curling may have received more attention because the U.S. team performed at a higher level than in previous years, I was struck by something else entirely: Curling may be the friendliest sport in the world.

Because there is no third-party authority monitoring the competition, curling is rooted in good sportsmanship. A good portion of the curling learning-phase is focused on positive ways to interact with opposing teams. Cheering for opponents’ good results is ingrained in the game. In effect, the game itself is more important than the individual playing it. The teams work out any discrepancies that may occur.

The same should hold true for the travel industry. I have always believed that no matter which ‘team’ agents play for, if I can help them play better, we all benefit. Of course, my focus will always be on improving the abilities of my teammates, but instead of trash-talking competitors, I’m able to respect—and even celebrate—their success.

Over the years I’ve stepped in to play the referee between agents and suppliers when a collaborative spirit would have solved the problem. If you handle each situation with good sportsmanship then it will benefit you and the entire industry.

We have all heard horror stories of how a travel advisor treated a reservations agent or acted unprofessionally on a fam trip—and we all know that no matter what ‘team’ that agent played for, we all suffer the consequences.

Imagine if we congratulated our competitors’ successes instead of complained about them. We would change our attitudes and learn more from them so we can compete better the next time.

In curling, the emphasis is on the current play. Players can’t change what happened before and they can’t worry about what will happen in the future. They simply focus on doing the best they can at that moment.

A respect for your competitors, a focus on what you can control and an overarching belief that good sportsmanship is paramount are exemplary traits of curlers that we would all be wise to cultivate.