Hugh’s Blog

What can we learn from the Olympics?

This morning John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Olympics presented at the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers conference after I did and I was mesmerized. I have heard John present before about his tenure at the helm of what many are calling the most successful Olympics in history, but the ‘story after’ beats hands down the ‘story before’.

He talked about the extreme efforts his staff put into preparation, the last minute changes and responses. Specifically he shared his experience after watching one and one half meters of snow melt off Cypress Mountain in one night, the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili and the attack by the London media, just to name three events. And he talked about the small stuff.

From his vision for the Vancouver Olympic bid to his superb attention to details we heard how brought his human touch to the VANOC committee team and drew the best from them.

One great story is how John, recently after taking the helm of VANOC, took the original 50 team members, some four years prior to the event, to the Capital 6 theatre in Vancouver to watch ‘Miracle” the story of the 1980 USA men’s hockey team surprise win over Russia. The gripping against-all-odds team approach of the winning team became John’s image for how he wanted his team to perform.

Another time, when working with the torch relay team (planning an 106 day, across country marathon with 250 people, 110 vehicles and crazy logistics) John flew to Old Crow, Yukon (about as far north as you can go before your seeing polar bears). With a population of 300 people this was hardly a major site for Olympic PR moments, but John wanted to know how even the most remote locations were receiving the relay. That’s small stuff.

Congratulations John. You pulled off a miracle right here in B.C. And it really was all about the small stuff.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think…

Hugh D. Culver is a thought leader in personal performance at work. He has worked with over 450 organizations to inspire change, growth and success in the workplace. You can reach Hugh at hugh@HughCulver.com