Innovative Concepts

Impressive or Inspirational

So the once mighty Lance Armstrong has been officially stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the UCI and pro cycling is trying to expunge his presence all together.  It is a noble idea that we can pull a single thread out of a tapestry and leave whole cloth.  As sports fans we are visionaries who dream of the best, forgetting how human nature leads to an imperfect product.  Our ability to untangle Lance’s narrative from those in the cycling community is far more complicated than a decree by a governing body.  We have learned and will continue to feed on the sorted details of fifteen years of doping in the pro peloton.  The impact of the scandal is now expanding into other endurance sports with biathletes and multi-sport competitors implicated.  Corporations are quick to pull the trap door and dump their icons when the return of investment can not no longer meet expectations.  Have we regressed to the preschool playground where one student is suddenly labeled as “it” and everyone scatters for the safety of higher ground and distance, leaving one individual who does not belong to the very group that had just embraced them seconds ago?

Can we really remaster a decade of memories and experiences?  Will ESPN edit hours of footage to accurately reflect the updated podium results for the Tour de France?  Is the French Tourism Board willing to refund the money spent by American descending every July on their backroads and city boulevards to cheer the French national pastime?  Can Trek bikes claim that its status as a market leader was accomplished through innovative design and a grassroots growth all of its own accord?  Will the Lance Armstrong Fitness Center on the Nike campus be rebranded as the domain of another endurance athlete with Armstrong’s global recognition?  Can we airbrush reality?

Simon Sinek points out that we can be impressed when somebody does something for themselves but we can be inspired when they do something for others.  Perhaps that is the tension point that does not make it easy to toss Lance into the the pile of “cheaters” that has grown rapidly over the years.  He clearly was impressive.  YouTube clips reveal super-natural performance on a bike.  The highlight reel of eye-witnessed reports will not be erased from time.  The reality is that Lance also inspired.  He did something bigger than himself for others.  He gave cancer a worldwide platform to gather more resources and attention.  He provided hope and created a tribe of survivors.  A generation suddenly thought cycling was cool.  Communities invested in bike friendly infrastructure.  He used his impressiveness to leverage inspiration.

Are we better off because Lance Armstrong’s impressiveness resulted in inspiration?  Is my memory of riding into the French Alps and witnessed the power and speed with which Lance and the elite cyclists pedaled tirelessly past day-after-day now a nightmare?  Was waking-up at 6 AM to see a poor quality live-stream of the Tour a misguided use of time?  Do the people I connected with because we shared a passion for cycling and the easiest conversation starter was to ask, “did you see Lance today,” somehow evaporate because our connection was built on a fraud?  

What to do next?  I am not going to stop riding my bike because it provides meaning to my life. Riding is inspiring.  I will venture onto routes and climbs that are meaningful because of those who went before.  I cannot pull a single thread out of my life’s narrative as if it was a bandaid.  It will remain in place, discolored, frayed, and torn.  But the tapestry of my life is inspired by the many stories that run through it, not just the idolization of any one.  Focus on the inspiration and remember that being impressive is a temporary state of being.

Elections

Elections encourage us to select a candidate who best represents our belief.  Since the American system was conceived as a two-party system, we align ourselves with the individual who represents as many of our core values as possible while recognizing they may opposes some beliefs about which we feel strongly.  This either/or dichotomy reaches a tipping point on social media, where family, friends, and virtual acquaintances rally around their candidate of choice, often by attacking the opposing candidate   Relationships are tested in this electoral version of the ‘parting of the ways.’  In most communities we demonstrate far more flexibility and tolerance for a friend who is a fan of an opposing sports team than we allow the same acquaintance who advocates for an opposing candidate for office.  Those nearest the megaphone often find their online virtual advocacy postings hidden or muted until the election season has come to its conclusion.

The summation, our beliefs are like a magnetic pole and when an outside force tries to manipulate our internal compass we become disoriented and uncoupled from our bearings.  It is human nature to surround ourselves with those who believe what we believe.  We do it all the time and throughout history.  Elections represents a cyclical visit to the belief armory where we renforce ourselves with our coat-of-arms and prepare to advance that which we believe.

What is Sacred?

What rules need to be broken in your enterprise?  Are all of them enforceable?  What if we consider fewer rules and more guiding principles?  If promoting respect is a value, it should be evident in everything from communication to how we dress.  But if we rely on rules for compliance then we must write standards for each possible application of respect.  Set the expectation and create a tribe that shares the guiding principles, the rules will be few are far between. 

What Could You Ask?

The quality of a leader cannot be judged by the answers they give, but by the questions they ask.   ~Simon Sinek                                      

If you listen to NPR’s Car Talk, you have encounter Click and Clack, the Tappet Brother’s (Tom and Ray) ability to offer credible and/or humorous advice on a variety of possible vehicle ailments.  One of their super powers (beside working for one-hour a week) is effectively diagnosing automotive problems.  Their sleuthing typically involves a series of pointed questions followed by some random pondering noises before offering an “ah ha.”  They engage callers in a back-and-forth line of inquiry before delivering their diagnosis, then offer empathy and suggestions to fix the predicament.

Informed questions built a tribe of 3.3 million listeners for a show designed to address automotive issues (image making that original pitch to NPR).  The power of great questions can empower a community.