I gotta tell you about a new book I just read, The Dynamic Path (Rodale Books) by Yahoo! Finance columnist and business consultant James Citrin. In it Citrin zeroes in on one of the most basic, yet ignored, questions that every ambitious and hard-working executive and athlete must answer: “What’s next?” That is, what comes after you reach your goal, the pinnacle of your sport or business, and you realize that you’ve still got half your life to figure out, or, in the case of a successful athlete, most of your life to figure out?

What Citrin discovered through years of interviews with hundreds of world leaders, champion athletes (full disclosure: He spoke to me about Lance), and Fortune 500 CEO’s is that true greatness in life, business, or even family, doesn’t follow a linear path. For the millions of us who were told “Set a goal and then methodically work toward it” (i.e., follow a linear trajectory), this is earth-shaking news. That’s not to say all us should chuck our goals in the trash, but as Citrin points out, we must ceaselessly learn and adapt to the changes—and opportunities—that come our way as we climb the corporate or athletic ladder.

The title of the book, The Dynamic Path, says it all. “Dynamic” means ever-changing, and Citrin does an excellent job showing us people who exemplify the idea of living a dynamic life such as Colin Powell, Billie Jean King, Bono, and, okay, my favorite example, Lance Armstrong.

Citrin breaks down the career trajectory of these successful people into three distinct phases:

Stage 1—The Champion. This is where the athlete or businessperson sets their sights on the goal: an Olympic gold medal or CEO, and sets out on a step-by-step system of personal growth and experience that allows them to reach the top. Most athletes, even pro athletes who are already World Champions, fall under this category.

Stage 2—The Great Leader. As the athlete or aspiring CEO starts to move up the ladder, they start to lead, but it’s only after they’ve gotten to the top can they step up to becoming a Great Leader. This is a person who never stops learning and growing and stays in tune with possibilities outside of his or her core skills. Most importantly, this person strives to lay the groundwork for everyone around them to succeed. And as a result of forming this cohesive and effective team, they’re able to blow the doors off everyone’s expectation of what’s possible.

For most athletes and CEO’s this is the most critical period in their lives. As Citrin explains, this is when the Champion has to learn how to let go of the focus on him or herself and take responsibility for others. Many top athletes can’t do it, and neither can many business people who’ve left an irreparable trail of ill will on their single-minded rise to the corner office and use of the corporate jet.

Stage 3—The Legacy. When a person begins this phase, they’re not interested in personal glory—building a successful team or company isn’t enough. What they want is to achieve enduring results. They want, in effect, to change the world. And what I found truly interesting was that the most successful people in this realm are those who figured out what they wanted to achieve as they were building themselves up into Champions in Stage 1.

Citrin points to my friend Lance as a perfect example of what the Legacy phase is all about. Remember, Lance was a World Champion and Tour de France stage winner before he had cancer. For 99% of the professional bike racers out there, that’s a career. But it took surviving cancer for him to zero in on his Legacy as a cancer survivor who was going do everything in his power to rid the world of the disease. With that as his goal, not necessarily winning seven straight Tour de France titles, he became a Great Leader who assembled the best team in the world to help him accomplish something that’d never been done before. With that fame and notoriety (over 80 million LIVESTRONG bracelets later), he’s spending the rest of his life focused on eradicating cancer.

Citrin lays out a long list of others who’ve done the same such as Billie Jean King, who’s recognized more for her contribution to women’s rights in sports than the 20 Wimbledon titles she amassed, and Bono, the global rock star whose name is now synonymous with ending AIDS in Africa.

After finishing the book, it got me thinking about the dynamic path of my life: professional cyclist, cycling coach, and now CEO of Carmichael Training Systems. Every step now makes perfect sense as each block of my career has been helping me toward my Legacy goal which is to help everyone live a healthier, more active, and engaged life.