-John Furlong, CEO Vancouver Olympic Winter Games

In honor of the one year anniversary of our amazing Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, BC a good time to reflect on all that our athletes and nation accomplished over 17 historic days in February. If you were able to catch the two hour Olympic Anniversary special on CTV tonight, you know what I mean. It brought back great memories of being in Whistler village and enjoying our countries moment in the sun…and some would say coming out party, or as Lloyd Robertson would say the “Grand cresendo of national togetherness.” Something that sums it up nicely from an outsiders perspective is a closing article last year and thank you note from Brian Williams (the other Brian Williams) from NBC Nightly news.

See below.

Happy one year anniversary Canada from our unbelievable 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/02/26/4372324-leaving-behind-a-thank-you-note

Leaving behind a thank-you note
Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor, NBC

After tonight’s broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we’re going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials — for companies like Tim Hortons — which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games — you’ve made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn’t hear one car horn in 15 days — which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States…when you know we’re listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

I was speaking with a friend this week and they send me a link to the YouTube clip below. Our conversation started around financial growth and change, movement in markets, demographics etc. However, everyone in any country has certainly been having these conversations whether they make a nickel an hour or much more.

The premise of the clip is human progress in the last 200 years, moving from the early 1800′s through the industrial revolution, the great depression, two world wars, including breakout of new countries and the demise of others. It’s a few minute video to watch, and ANYONE will get value from it, it’s actually very fascinating.

The feeling it left me with was one of long term hope and prosperity for the future. Not that I don’t currently have that. I am sure you like me, everyone once in awhile looks forward and back in time, charting the years they been on this planet…the growth and progress made and how we are going to leave our thumbprint on this planet.

Enjoy.

Zappos knows how to kick it.
The quirky retailer has a reputation for flat-out fun. But when it cut 8% of its staff, Zappos became a model of how to nurture employees in good times and bad.

Shoe-in: Zappos, debuting on our list at No. 23, hunts for employees who are a little weird.
Thinking out of the box: CEO Hsieh learned how a culture could be toxic at his first startup. ‘By the time it grew to 100 people, I dreaded going to the office,’ he said.

NEW YORK (Fortune) — Five things you can learn from the obsessively Twittering chief executive of Zappos: 1. No matter the season, eggnog never works as an acceptable substitute for gravy when nuking mashed potatoes. He’s tried. 2. Everything you need to know about business can be gleaned from playing pohttp://money.cnn.com/2009/01/15/news/companies/Zappos_best_companies_obrien.fortune/index.htmker – act strong when weak and know when to bluff. 3. Despite the crippling economic downturn, sales jumped almost 20% in 2008, passing the $1 billion mark two years ahead of schedule. 4. Pajama party at the boss’s house! 5. The time has come for him to lay off 124 of his friends.

Welcome to Zappos, the Las Vegas-based e-commerce site with 1,500 perpetually chipper employees who have a thing for parades and a CEO intent on broadcasting all aspects of life, business, and philosophy in 140 characters or less.

The company’s debut at No. 23 makes it the highest-ranking newcomer…

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/15/news/companies/Zappos_best_companies_obrien.fortune/index.htm

I have had old clothes in the closet for years, I like to think I may wear them again….even after I have looked at them several times and thought, nah, I will go with the new stuff. A cluttered house/condo is a cluttered life. Especially in bigger cities we have a lack of space, and any inch we can gain back clears more space for fresh ideas. I was able to clear three huge garbage bags of clothes out and my surroundings already feel lighter, a weight off my back, creating new space for new things to come my way. As much as it pained me, I even threw out a couple new things I have never worn and gave away my favorite Helly Hansen fleece (that is 8 years old). Of course, its easier to do when I figured out I had some brand new stuff that could replace it from my Kilimanjaro trip.

Additionally, I had a good suggestion from a friend when evaluating whether to remove an item from the closet. He asked himself if he had worn this item in the last 6 months and pictured himself walking in Yorkville thinking if he would wear this item there…or it could be Yale Town, Jasper Ave, 17th Ave, St. Laurent or Madison Avenue. Luckily for me, our board invited Planet-aid Canada to put a bin behind our building, so it was literally steps away. But there are Goodwill, salvation army’s near by and other organizations that will come and pick clothes up. Lastly, I know there are organizations in most cities that are taking older business wear for those in tough times that need to dress professionally for interviews. Indeed a good cause. Its a win-win, helping put clothes on the backs of others, while taking the weight of those items off yours.

As most of you would have scene from last Thursdays post, the 3 minute YouTube clip gave an overview of the climb and the charitable portion. What it did not cover, that many saw at the party on Friday, was comments of lessons I learned while I was there. (Side note, I hope to be posting the entire documentary on YouTube very soon.) One that I want to focus on is taking stock of your current situation. Many of us walk through life, attempting to keep up with the Joneses focusing on happenings in the past or wants and needs for the future, and being present is often a challenge. I think it’s important to think about the future, to fire the creative passion on things you want to accomplish and goals to strive for, and it’s important to chunk those goals out in small parts that can be focused on in the present. Additionally, it’s important to take gratitude on a regular basis for the great things in your life. It’s fairly easy to do. A great way to start is to make a list of 10 things that you are grateful for in your life, or as some other wise people say, what are the ten magic moments in your life.

Take some time in the next couple days and write them down. I know you can recount them in your head, but the power of putting them on paper is like nothing else. Of course, you will have that list to refer to when times are stressful or you just need a little boost of energy. When you’re done with that list, I would encourage you as part of a daily ritual to ask yourself in the morning what you are grateful for today. I know it sounds a little woo woo (thanks for the term Adam) but it always seems to put a smile on my face (and others who do it) in the morning. Sometimes for me, its great friends, great family, an inspirational moment from the previous week, the ability to keep coming up with creative posts or from last week to celebrate my birthday/documentary screening with great friends. In that moment I was present, really taking in the joy of what I had accomplished with my trip to Africa, being surrounded by friends, sharing a great adventure for me. I actually said to myself in that moment, wow this is special.

I know everyone else would be curious to hear one of your magic moments in life. For many of you it may be the birth of a newborn, an exciting trip, a simple pleasure in life, a great ski run, or an island breeze on vacation.

First thing that comes to your mind, put in the comment box or reply to me…..What is one of your magic moments in life?

At this year’s awards, through narration by Morgan freeman, a special video by Barack Obama and live presentation by the Tennis Williams Sisters, Nelson Mandela was awarded the Arthur Ash Award for courage. It was accepted by his son and daughter.

It told the story of how Nelson Mandela brought his country together in the violent times of Apartheid and specifically how he focused on unifying blacks and whites together through sport, in this case the 1995 Rugby world cup. He skillfully brought the world cup to South Africa in that year and in the run up asked his fellow black followers to support the hated white National Rugby Team (Spring Bok) as they vied for a world title, while using the Spring Bok as a catalyst to unite a nation.

“So, barely a month after he had taken office, he invited François Pienaar, the Springbok captain, for tea at his office in Pretoria. He wooed him instantly (“I felt like a wide-eyed kid listening to an old man telling stories,” Pienaar told me) and, without the big blond son of apartheid quite knowing it yet, recruited him to the new South Africa cause.
Mandela’s challenges did not only lie on the white side of the apartheid fence. He had to do some tough political persuasion among his own black supporters too.

But Mandela set himself the mission of converting black South Africans to the perplexing notion that “the Boks belonged to all of us now”, as he put it to me.”

To read the rest of this great story click below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3634426/How-Nelson-Mandela-won-the-rugby-World-Cup.html

Happy Friday.

Colin

Watching a loved one or a peer traverse a path littered with stumbling blocks can be immensely painful. We instinctively want to guide them toward a safer track and share with them the wisdom we have acquired through experience. Yet all human beings have the right to carve their own paths without being unduly influenced by outside interference. To deny them that right is to deny them enlightenment, as true insight cannot be conveyed in lectures. Rather, each individual must earn independence and illumination by making decisions and reflecting upon the consequences of each choice. In allowing others to walk their paths freely, you honor their right to express their humanity in whatever way they see fit. Though you may not agree with or identify with their choices, understand that each person must learn in their own way and at their own pace.

The events and circumstances that shape our lives are unique because each of us is unique. What touches one person deeply may do nothing more than irritate or confound another. Therefore, each of us is drawn to different paths—the paths that will have the most profound effects on our personal evolution. If you feel compelled to intervene when watching another human being make their way slowly and painfully down a difficult path, try to empathize with their need to grow autonomous and make their own way in the world. Should this person ask for your aid, give it freely. You can even tell them about your path or offer advice in a conscious loving way. Otherwise, give them the space they need to make their own mistakes, to enjoy the fruits of their labors, to revel in their triumphs, and to discover their own truths.

The temptation to direct the paths of others is a creature of many origins. Overactive egos can convince us that ours is the one true path or awaken a craving for control within us. But each person is entitled to seek out their path leading from the darkness into the light. When we celebrate those paths and encourage the people navigating them, we not only enjoy the privilege of watching others grow—we also reinforce our dedication to diversity, independence, and individuality.

Before the financial slide last year, many emerging economies were talking about reducing reliance and “decoupling” from the U.S. economy. The crisis changed all that. However, BRIC large populations with growing educated middle classes are poised to take less of a sting than the U.S and other economies. When recovery comes round, look for them to grow heavily. In fact, predictions are that China’s economy will outgrow the US in 20 years time. The end of an era, the fall of the Roman Empire, maybe, maybe not.

The U.S. still has many strong points: strong universities, millions of hard working and ambitious immigrants, a risk taking mentality to break through barriers. Unfortunately, the U.S. will have to start living within its means, trimming the fat, to stay competitive. Like any company built on solid fundamentals in this day and age, it must do more with less (maybe way less), retool and grow through innovation.

To keep the new U.S. trend of frugality from damaging the global economy, other powers are going to have to stand up.
Japan and Europe are in much tougher predicaments with a slower growing and aging population, so it will be left to BRIC to come to the forefront and induce recovery.

What is good for the global economy, is good for the U.S long term. It just may not be the tallest kid in the class at conclusion.