Of course the Olympics won't solve the economic crisis. What they can do, if anyone takes notice, is demonstrate what's involved in success as a contrast to the political backbiting, whining excuses and tolerance, in fact, encouragement of incompetence and the loser mentality that's at the heart of our economic decline.
Permit me a sidestep; I read an article at the weekend in the paper here in NL saying that there are lots of large companies in Europe annoucing mass redundancies while their overpaid, overrated management state 'difficult economic conditions' as a cause and of course award themselves huge bonusses and salaries. But a few companies, notably ASML and BMW are investing heavily and reaping success in new markets (BMW are soon to open a new factory in NL to produce more mini's). So it isn't the economy that's screwing up businesses; it's badly run businesses and weak people who blame circumstance instead of changing it that are screwing up the economy.
Now here's my point. No athlete gets to compete in the Olympics, never mind win a medal, by whingeing and whining and blaming the world for every little problem he or she faces, as is the habit of so many modern managers and politicians (and arguably some people on the dole). They get there by working their arses off, following training regimes that don't just hurt; they make you physically sick. They put years of their lives into trying to achieve something, knowing that some tiny misfortune might knock them off course; then, when that happens, they get up and do it all over again while trying to learn the lessons from what went wrong. I know this because I've tried and failed to reach the top in sport. The real physical and emotional pain that goes into trying to achieve something in a sport is beyond the imagination of some weedy, useless fat managerman who can't sell enough goods and blames 'the economy', which is the very economy that's dependent on what he and others actually do. Contrast those useless managermen with sportspeople who have to accept defeat and say 'I screwed up on the day'. And contrast those managers and 'leaders' with team captains who fire up their team mates for one big final effort to either win gloriously or go out all guns blazing.
I hope that what the Olympics does is demonstrate to people what's really involved in success, and show everyone what real leadership is about. If a few people, especially young people, pick up on that then it will have worked.
Rant over.
Permit me a sidestep; I read an article at the weekend in the paper here in NL saying that there are lots of large companies in Europe annoucing mass redundancies while their overpaid, overrated management state 'difficult economic conditions' as a cause and of course award themselves huge bonusses and salaries. But a few companies, notably ASML and BMW are investing heavily and reaping success in new markets (BMW are soon to open a new factory in NL to produce more mini's). So it isn't the economy that's screwing up businesses; it's badly run businesses and weak people who blame circumstance instead of changing it that are screwing up the economy.
Now here's my point. No athlete gets to compete in the Olympics, never mind win a medal, by whingeing and whining and blaming the world for every little problem he or she faces, as is the habit of so many modern managers and politicians (and arguably some people on the dole). They get there by working their arses off, following training regimes that don't just hurt; they make you physically sick. They put years of their lives into trying to achieve something, knowing that some tiny misfortune might knock them off course; then, when that happens, they get up and do it all over again while trying to learn the lessons from what went wrong. I know this because I've tried and failed to reach the top in sport. The real physical and emotional pain that goes into trying to achieve something in a sport is beyond the imagination of some weedy, useless fat managerman who can't sell enough goods and blames 'the economy', which is the very economy that's dependent on what he and others actually do. Contrast those useless managermen with sportspeople who have to accept defeat and say 'I screwed up on the day'. And contrast those managers and 'leaders' with team captains who fire up their team mates for one big final effort to either win gloriously or go out all guns blazing.
I hope that what the Olympics does is demonstrate to people what's really involved in success, and show everyone what real leadership is about. If a few people, especially young people, pick up on that then it will have worked.
Rant over.
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