Finally...common ground for the Olympics

The build up to the Sochi Olympics has been a roller coaster ride. Last week, world leaders were still condemning Russia’s anti-gay laws that seem made to be broken. With the Sochi games approaching the final stretch, I have again been asked to provide advice to the local organizers, as I have for the Beijing, Vancouver and London Games among others.  The conference calls I have been on since last summer have had a very strong ideological bent. The anti-gay issue has been vilified universally by most of the free world and the preparations for demonstrations, boycotts and law enforcement responses have been the focus.

These games have President Putin’s name stamped all over them and it’s easy to see how his ego is speeding down the slopes.  He wants to make Sochi a welcoming city for travelers, easily reached from Turkey across the Black Sea.  It’s a picturesque town like many of the Winter Olympic venues have been. The skiing and snowboarding events will take place on a mountain that is about 50 miles from the city and a high-speed train track is being built at a speed that would make the transcontinental race across our country over a century ago feel like a tortoise derby. Mr. Putin wants to be the winner here. In Beijing, it was the country that had something to prove. Here it’s the leader’s show.

But over the weekend the effort has taken an important turn. At the cost of at least 30 deaths and countless others injured, two suicide bombers have narrowed the focus dramatically 400 miles from Sochi in the city formerly known as Stalingrad.  No group has stepped up to take responsibility.  There is no obvious reason that these two incidents have anything to do with Sochi. But there is definitely common ground between the western world and Russia when it comes to fighting Islamic terrorists. It’s going to be hard now to be welcoming to the world but, like London, law enforcement will be the key to the effort. It already requires a special pass to even enter the city and the venues are being tightly restricted at every level.

Mr. Putin has already spent a reported $48 billion on these games and, now, money will be no object to make every aspect of this event safe and sound.  Unless the objections come from outside agitators, I doubt the issue of sexual preference will be a stumbling block to make these games successful. As I have in past situations, I will counsel swift and thorough efforts to deal with problems. And just as importantly, transparency of all actions taken is essential to gain the confidence and respect of all those watching.

Each time these world games are held, my heart is with the athletes.  If only they could compete without the stress of politics, corporate maneuvering and the threat of terrorism.  These are games not wars. Here’s a wish for a safe, exciting and rewarding competition between the world’s best athletes.  They deserve it.

A true friend of man

South Africa has made an indelible impression on my life over the past 25 years.  I've written about it several times in this blog and given my reaction to the ground-breaking World Cup event that was held there in 2010.  Several times, Jane and I have been able to "live" there for extended periods of time since 1990. And I was working there when Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994.

South Africans seem to view life from a high plateau.  They have a different set of values than most of us and their world revolves on a slightly slower axis.  Nelson Mandela was South African through and through.

I was fortunate to encounter the great man on a number of occasions. The first time is as clear to me today as when it happened.  In the movie “Invictus”, Matt Damon’s character is summoned to the Capital in Pretoria to meet the new president.  He pulls up in a dated automobile and enters through a grand set of doors.  When I was producing and promoting a solo yacht race around the world, we were the first international event to come to South Africa after Mandela’s election. Through our major sponsor, I received a similar invitation to come to the Capital and we drove in a slightly more upscale car to the very spot where Matt arrived in the movie.

The Jacaranda that Pretoria is known for were in full bloom.  The air was sweet with their aroma. When we entered the building, there was a definitive lack of hustle and bustle. We walked down a long hallway to the office of the minister of sport and talked for a while about the impact and global attention that our event would bring to Cape Town and the country. Midway in our meeting, the door opened and, without ceremony, Nelson Mandela entered the room.  He was dressed casually, wearing loafer-style shoes that looked like slippers.  We were introduced and he was told why we were there.

When I had the opportunity, I told him I was from Seattle and that I was president of the board of the Seattle Central Community College Foundation, because I knew he was acquainted with my good friend Charles Mitchell.  He said had been there to see Charles, who was president of the college at that time.

Our yacht race was a bit controversial down there because of the elitist reputation of big events like the America’s Cup.  I spent some time explaining  that our race was a “Corinthian” endeavor which anyone with the right skills could enter.  Some of our entrants sold their houses and cars to become a part of it and others saved their money for years just to compete.  He smiled and said “That is good.”

His presence was powerful and calming.  He spoke quietly and succinctly. When it was clear he was leaving, I realized that without my camera, I had no way of commemorating this extraordinary connection.  The entire meeting was very unceremonious.  But I couldn't resist so I opened my reporter’s notebook that I used to chronicle the meeting and asked him if he would autograph one of the pages for me.  His face lit up with that familiar big grin and he said, “You don’t want my signature.  I’m not special.  Ask the next person you see on the street to sign. It is those people who are important to this country.”  Wow! What else can I say.

He said he hoped to see me again and that someday we might meet in Seattle. We did have that meeting years later at Seattle Central Community College on a very heartwarming occasion that was all about children and education...two of his and my favorite subjects. And he convincingly said he remembered me.

Cape Town is such a beautiful and magical city. After the meeting, he cleared the way to make our event there successful, thanks primarily to the wonderful group of South Africans who made up our local committee.  They are great friends to this day and have taught me so much about their country that it feels like home.

Nelson Mandela is gone now.  We have lost a great leader.  I have lost a hero who gave me a new vision of what our world could be. His aura has influenced my approach to the problems faced by our society on so many occasions.  We have all changed a great deal since he was released from prison.  We’ll never be the same.  I just hope we can be better.  He wanted that desperately. I am so fortunate to have met him along the way.  I will never forget "Madiba".

Just what do you mean by that?

Misleading, misconstrued, untruthful. No matter what you call it, it wasn’t right. Former University of Washington head football coach Steve Sarkisian said, in his attempt to apologize for misleading comments about being interviewed for the head coaching position at USC, “Hindsight’s 20-20. I probably should have said it was an interview. Semantics are semantics. If I could do it all over again, I probably would have just said exactly what the conversation was that Pat (USC Athletic Director Hadon) and I had.”

First of all, if we’re being picky…and he was…it’s not “Semantics are semantics”. It’s “Semantics is semantics”. Semantics is about the meaning of words and, frankly it’s a dangerous business.  Ask Bill Clinton, OJ Simpson’s lawyer, Lance Armstrong, Britney Spears, Seattle's last mayor and any of a myriad other high profile individuals who have tried to worm their way out of misstatements or what some of us call lies.

I’ve spent my professional life in a world overrun with semantics. Saying what you mean seems sometimes to be very difficult for people. I tell my students that their communications should be simple, truthful, matter-of-fact and direct.  Daily communications are not creative exercises.  You want other people to understand very clearly what you’re saying. If you have to ask what someone means then they’re not telling you the whole story.

Sarkisian had an interview and told his players and others that he didn’t.  That’s not semantics.  It’s a lie. And “white” so he wouldn’t upset people or not, his hindsight was indeed 20-20.  He should have said that it was an interview for a new job. I think most adults could deal with that.

Many people have been credited with saying “The truth is overrated.” However, I believe it’s much easier to keep track of the truth than it is to remember what you said instead. I guess that’s enough of this short rant. Now I’ll go back to trying to say what my client doesn’t want to say without saying it.  My head hurts.

The Doodler

President Kennedy was a prolific doodler. His secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, kept many of his doodles on notepads, letters and other documents when they ended up on her desk. A few of them were selectively copied, printed in very limited quantities and used as “Thank You” gifts for staff. During my tenure as a White House intern, I was given these two framed doodles at different times when we had completed special projects. I saw the president many times and spoke to him on rare occasions. He liked the sailboat doodle and said that he seemed to make that mark when he wished he was on the ocean and away from all the drama of his work.

I treasure these doodles. I can get lost in them, as I know he did. On this anniversary of his untimely death, it would be good if we boomers, who were in school when he died, could move on. But I can’t and neither can most of my peers. Our world is so different now. When I snapped the polaroid photo of his grave not long after the funeral, I was still sorting out my thoughts. I continued to go back to that site as it changed. I don’t now return to DC without going to the grave. It’s not about what might have been. It’s about what he made us feel we could be.  There’s a standard that was set back then that we’re still working toward. I hope we can achieve it…for him and for us. RIP, JFK.

Do you want to know a secret?

The hardest part of getting a top secret clearance from the government is when you don’t know they’re investigating and they’re talking to all your high school and college friends about what you drank and smoked and joined.  When I started getting calls from people I hadn’t heard from for years, it was a little disconcerting.

Soon, I found out it was about all my first assignment in the army.  I was going to be working on a top secret project called Potlid, that would lead me deep into Agent Orange in the course of my service. It took me to all kinds of strange places in Central America and Southeast Asia.  I was on a team that included at least two operatives for the CIA. One of them went out one day for a ride in the jungle and never came back. If that doesn’t creep you out, I don’t know what does.

What I do know is th
at serving my country was never a question in my mind. We dealt with wind changes that blew nerve gas in the wrong direction, political changes that placed us in the wrong place at a bad time and social changes that affected our views of the mission we were presented with. Being a soldier is not an easy job. And the difference between the jungles of Vietnam and deserts of the Middle East are much more than topographical.

We’ve been at war over there now for more than 10 years. Since the US went to war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, about 2.5 million members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and related Reserve and National Guard units have been deployed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, according to Department of Defense data. Of those, more than a third were deployed more than once. In fact, as of last year nearly 37,000 Americans had been deployed more than five times, among them 10,000 members of guard and Reserve units. Records also show that 400,000 service members have done three or more deployments.

We have never fought a war like this in the history of our country. It’s about ideology and diplomacy doesn’t seem to get us closer to resolution. There is no doubt, however, that those who are serving now are holding our country’s flag high in a world that is increasingly looking at us with a jaundiced eye.  I feel a small sigh of relief each time a unit returns. We can agree that we want our troops to come home but the reality is we’re in a place where getting out of this conflict is a very difficult prospect.  And who knows if anyone can “win”?

It was a long time before my father, the career Army officer, and I sat down to talk about my service. As a World War II vet, his allegiance was unquestioned and clearly accepted.  When he finally told me not long before he passed away that he was proud of the fact that I had chosen to serve in such a difficult time, it was a moment that I can carry in my heart forever.

Somehow, it’s even tougher now, though. My respect for today’s troops is unparalleled. I want them back. I want a world full of peace.  I want to break down the barriers between our ideologies. More understanding.  More compassion. None of this can happen too soon.  And the secret is finding the answer to this situation. I’m proud to be a veteran. Every one of us who has served has helped to make our world a better place.  Celebrate a veteran on Veteran’s Day. He or she deserves it.

Do you still think I'm pretty?

To borrow a line from a recent Windows ad attacking the iPad, I would have to say “yes”. The iPad and other Apple products continue to have the edge. Mostly, the reason I’m saying this is that I’ve just spent three weeks in “Computer Hell” because the new Microsoft Office 365 completely crashed my machine.

Most of us are fond of saying that our smartphones are our lives. Well, I can tell you that without my iPhone, I would literally have been unable to do business on daily basis (meetings excepted).  I opened up my computer one morning and got a window that said “Outlook cannot open.” That led me to a series of windows ending with “You have a corrupt file. Click here to try to repair the file.” Some three hours later, the message was “The broken file could not be found.” And I had to start the process all over again.

Finally, I called Microsoft.  Ruchir was a nice guy and even lived in Redmond. He

took over my computer remotely and gave me a bunch of instructions, which I did. Of course, I had the back-ups...two external hard drives for my music and photos, as well the prescribed system called Genie Timeline which just happened to be set up incorrectly and did me virtually no good. Every time I had to do a check, it took hours and since I had places to go and people to see, when I returned, Ruchir was gone for the day. He’d left me a message that he would return the next day in the afternoon.

After four days of this, we were no farther along. He had loaded a new version of Office 365 which by then was working but it had none of my basic information.  No emails. All my contacts were gone…over 2000 of them. My calendar was blank going forward and back. The “Drafts” folder was empty where I keep all the writing I do for my clients until I make a final edit.  There were 97 drafts before the crash and then none.

Believe me when I say that my iPhone has never been so tenderly cared for.  It was receiving emails and had my calendar and contacts. It was my lifeline and, boy, were my thumbs tired.

Then Ruchir decided that the problem might be Windows and so he suggested that I load a new version of Windows onto my computer.  Fine, I said, whatever it takes.  Well, it took 5 days, including the weekend, for me to receive new discs in the mail and then I had to get back on his schedule to load it and test it on my machine.

When that was done, I crossed my fingers and held my breath. He set all the right codes and prompts and pressed enter.  Nothing happened. He was afraid to try to open the folder containing all my information with the corrupted files.  So, he said that I had a version of Outlook that was working and I would just have to start over and rebuild everything I’d lost.

I felt like Dr. Frankenstein having to build a body out of used parts.  Where would I ever  find all that information? I started to fill in the blanks on the calendar and to pull the necessary names and addresses off my phone…but 2000-plus, give me a break.

This was my problem and I tried to solve it. I had one last chance . Since my days at DDB Worldwide, I’ve been a friend of our former head of IT, who now works for the University of Washington.  I decided to tell him my sad tale, for sympathy, if nothing else.

All I can say is that this guy is a Geek God. First of all, he found a program that would transfer my contacts and calendar from my iPhone to my computer. It cost $50 bucks but the deed was done in 15 minutes. After a couple of very short sessions, he said he had another program that might be the answer to the problem.  He took the folder with all my info and the corrupt files, cleaned it up and handed it right back to me. In a matter of hours, he cleared up all the difficulties that I spent weeks on, even with all that Microsoft advice and those programs. Big thanks, Mark.

There was one thing missing that, even with the fixes, I seem to have lost forever.  You can make groups out of your contacts in Outlook and one of those groups has your name in it.  It’s the group that I send this blog directly to because the members have indicated some interest in what I have to say in these missives.  My groups are gone.  They don’t transfer to the iPhone. So I have rebuilt this important one from scratch. There’s a chance I may hear from some folks that I’ve inadvertently left off but, for sure, if you were not on the list before and are surprised that you’re on there now, the “delete” key can fix that problem in an instant.

Apple’s hard goods are still pretty to me.  I hope you never have to go through what I just did with Windows.  The only other time I’ve experienced a letdown like this was when I walked in one day to see the deadly “Blue Screen” that comes after your hard drive has crashed. But, in case you do face this difficulty, take my advice and go to your Geek God first. We have certainly become dependent on this means of communication and I’m very happy to be back in business.  I’ll talk to you again soon.

Don't make that right hand turn...

Winning an Emmy Award is very special as accolades go. For American television, it’s the Oscar. I have been fortunate to be on the first team for 10 documentary programs that received Emmy consideration and actually won several times.Our friends seem to enjoy it as much as we do.

Producer/Director Laszlo Pal has been my muse in most of these ventures.  We have spent countless hours ruminating over pictures, voices and music, trying to tell the story in just the right way.  When we do it right, we make people laugh and we make them cry. (Jane is Laszlo’s ultimate test for tears and for embarrassment…a bare bum or an f-bomb will set her off in an instant.) Making people understand what happened in a particular situation and why is truly an art.  I’ve learned from the best.

Last weekend’s Emmy Awards show brought back memories of the year that Laszlo and I decided we would actually attend the ceremony in LA. One of our solo sailing stories was nominated. We were in the “Network Specials” category, along with a couple of other documentaries and the likes of the New Year’s Rose Parade and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day celebration. Could we win? Hell, we were nominated!  Let’s go.

We got to LALA in time to have a little Hollywood fun, getting our palms read on Venice Beach (nothing but good news there) and having a real Jewish deli experience at Nate and Al’s. To my back at the booth was John Lithgow, who was presenting and not nominated for anything.  He overheard us talking about our project and as he left, he stopped to say he’d use whatever influence he had to see that we would win. (That’s called “Hollywood BS” in  most circles, but it felt good at the time.)

After some primping, we tuxed up and headed for the gala.  The budget got stretched a bit to make the trip so I made sure we had an economy car for all the freeway back and forth.  A Ford Fiesta seemed a lot cooler on the autobahn in Germany but it fit the bill for getting us around. As we approached the entrance, we easily slid into the line of towne cars and limos heading toward the entrance.

It’s here that I have to confess, out of an otherwise spectacular weekend, I made a big mistake. I saw the Red Carpet coming but somewhere in the back of my mind I thought, “We can walk down the carpet later, just not after this huge land yacht in front of us empties its passengers and Joan Rivers is faced with the Fiesta.” So I made the abrupt right hand turn into “Self-Parking”.

 

The sound that came out of the mouths of Jane and my cohorts was similar to that of the crowd in Mudville when Mighty Casey struck out.  “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” Clearly, the Red Carpet was more important than the red car we were in. Now my only hope to save the evening was to win the Emmy.

Drinks around the pool and Hollywood chitchat ensued. Finally, we moved inside to our table.  Oprah was on one side of us. The Macy’s gang and Ellen flanked us at the other two adjacent tables.  There was no pressure.  We were there and deservedly so, win or lose.  They flashed the category and then the nominees on the big screen. It was Leeza Gibbons who read our name and we were awestruck. We’d won and even Oprah congratulated us. Laszlo and I high-fived all the way to the photo session.

Several more stops were made that evening and each time we placed the Emmy in the middle of the table, the drinks were free. As we drove out of the parking lot, I had a small moment of redemption when I shook the Emmy in the attendant’s face and he waved us on through with no charge. We even got free hot dogs at Pink’s.

Say what you will about awards and their true value, it still feels great to win. We celebrated on the beach near the Santa Monica Pier the next day with Class A seats for the latest Cirque du Soleil show in the Big Yellow and Blue tent. What a time.  I highly recommend it for a good solid rush. But remember one thing…just don’t make that right hand turn.

Feelings 9/11

This morning was actually not much different than any other workday lately. Up early and off to the health club. When I arrived someone had turned on MSNBC and they were re-running the entire minute-by-minute coverage of September 11, 2001. Smoke was billowing from the World Trade Center tower after the first plane had struck. I had to sit down to watch. We were so innocent then. I couldn't believe how cautious the television reporters were being before making any statement about the incident. They were very hesitant to even call it a terrorist attack.

Later, an Army officer ran by a TV crew saying that a bomb had exploded on the heliport at the Pentagon. As we now know, only too well, it was the crash of another commercial airliner into the building exactly where Jane’s father’s Civil Defense office had been years before. Mobile phones were antiques. Social media didn't exist and there were no photos from iPads, cell phones or digital cameras to post on Pinterest.  There wasn't even a Pinterest, 12 years ago.

On September 11, 2001, Jane and I were in Sun Valley, Idaho. Just getting up for another beautiful day of hiking, fly-fishing and eating delicious fresh trout and lamb shanks.  However,the day turned very dark as the tragedy unfolded. I was glued to a phone and an ancient laptop following every new twist from the FBI and PD regarding my client the Space Needle as a possible target. It was exhausting. I go to the mountains for solace and that day I needed the mountains more than ever.  When Jane and I finally tore ourselves away from the phones and computers and television, we took a hike to get away. It had a different meaning that day and probably will forever more.

I try constantly to compare 9/11 to December 7, 1941. Ultimately, I feel like our parents were confronted with a problem they could actually solve. A war they could win. We’re not in that position and the entire world is wearing a mask that we can’t really see behind (take Syria and Russia, please). We truly have met the enemy and the enemy is us. Our world has not much more than a forced smile on its face today. Hope is our only ally.

A week after the 9/11 attacks, I wrote the words that follow.  There were no blogs then or twitter posts. I've always kept a journal and this was an entry that I sent to my close friends via email and hard copy. I found it buried in something called a pst.file that my friend Mark Clarke told me was the only way to really preserve this kind of document in those days. My thoughts are pretty much the same now but I know for certain that I am a very different person. Love those close to you, with all your heart. We’re in this together.

Dan Mc

Feelings

September 18, 2001

It's been a week since we experienced the horror of war closer to home than any of us could ever imagine within the borders of America.  Remember those emotions...disbelief, shock, fear, sorrow, anger and exhaustion. Just about in that order.  Hold those feelings of the past week close inside you because the world as we have known it in this country will never be the same again.

I was raised in a military family.  My father, a career Army officer, had two wars to fight first-hand--real wars with an evil enemy that we could see.  Then came my war.  It has taken us 25 years to even call Vietnam a war but it too was fought on foreign soil against an ideological enemy that was only sometimes hard to identify.  Then for the next generation came the Gulf War...quick, political and technical.  I still remember seeing the video from missiles that went right down smokestacks on factories before our eyes.

All these wars were fought by armies, in other countries.  Never were we concerned that they would come here to fight us.  Even the tragedy of Pearl Harbor pales in the face of this atrocity. There were no armies.   There were no rules…only innocent people who got up in the morning on September 11 and went to work in the normal way. One journalist suggested that this attack could even have been so sinister as to use the media coverage to have maximum terrorizing effect...use the first plane to get out the camera crews and then bring in the next one for us all to watch in horror on live television as it crashed into the second tower...if that is true, what could be more diabolical.

Last Tuesday frightened me.  And my father, the soldier, the D-Day survivor, always told me that if you weren't frightened by the enemy then you could never defeat them.  I will never forget that feeling.  But already the emotions are subsiding.  It's just been a week and now the jokes are starting to circulate.  We're already putting the incident in the back of our minds and getting back to work.

The problem is no longer in another country.  The face of the enemy is no longer clear.  In the world today, we are paying the ultimate price of having a free and open society.  I want things to be the way they were and I'm sure you do as well.  But even if we do find the perpetrators of this heinous act and punish them, there will be more to come.

My catharsis is almost over and I'm sending this because, in this business, it is very hard to draw the line between work and life.  All of you are part of my life that I care about.  Not many of us in this young business environment have had to fight a war. So for the sake of family and friends, we cannot afford to suppress the emotions of last week.  As our government searches for a way to bring peace back in our lives, we must not take anything for granted.  We must be careful.  My sincere hope is that we never experience the emotions and the horror of war from last week again, but the most important thing is that we don't forget them.  Our lives will never be the same but our hearts and minds are still rooted in the strong beliefs of personal freedom.  We will triumph over evil, no matter how long it takes.

For your consideration,

Dan Mc

Credit where credit is due

50 years ago, identical twin brothers came to a crossroads in their lives.  Both were invited on an American expedition to Mt. Everest.  The tallest mountain on earth had been climbed 10 years earlier by New Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary but an American had not yet summited. Lou and Jim Whittaker had distinguished themselves as young men by guiding on Mt. Rainier and throughout the mountains of the Pacific Northwest at a time when a mere handful of outdoors people were leading the uninitiated in the white wilderness of the US. They both were strong climbers and were up to the challenge of Everest.

Then two weeks before the expedition was scheduled to depart, Lou had an epiphany. Both of the brothers being gone to the Himalayas would put much of their lives here in jeopardy.  Many people had already been lost on the high mountains, leaving families and livelihoods behind. With a business in the beginning stages and new families to support, Lou made the difficult decision to stay behind to take care of things.  He told Jim that if anything happened to him on the mountain, his family would always be cared for.  It was a hard but very compassionate and thoughtful thing to do. But that’s Lou Whittaker.

Jim went on to become the first American to climb Mt. Everest and to turn his celebrity into a career focused on business. Lou has spent his entire life in the mountains of the world and has established himself as the dean of climbing in America and as a true leader in mountaineering circles around the globe.

It was in a large conference room at the then-new corporate headquarters for Cummins Engine Company that I first met Lou Whittaker, when we were both much younger. He had a great handshake (my grandfather’s first measure of a man) and we were instantly kindred spirits.  I was part of the acquisition team that first bought the K2 Ski Company on Vashon Island and, in order to balance off the seasonality of the ski business, we then purchased JanSport Backpacks. Lou had just signed on as JanSport’s company spokesperson and chief product consultant. This was the first of many forays into the commercial world for Lou and he is now credited with a long list of outdoor products, like soft hiking or trekking shoes with strong soles that we all now wear.  Wherever he saw the need and he would find a company to help him make it a reality.

Few climbers have found a way to succeed or certainly even make a living in pursuit of their passion for the mountains.  Lou Whittaker has been a leader in both the sport and the industry of climbing.  From his earliest days, caution and safety have been at the top of Lou’s list of tenants as he has lived his life on the edge.  The guide service he built has as its first priority to bring everyone down safely from the mountains.  Lou has been a part of hundreds of rescues in mountain ranges around the world that have saved the lives of so many who have gotten themselves in trouble. No one has more respect for nature and the mountains than Lou. It’s the safety of those around him that always comes first.  That’s a lesson for many people yet to learn.

On my first adventure up Mount Rainier, Lou pointed to the ridge across from us and said, “Do you see that guy coming down?  He walks with sort of a stutter step. That’s Willi Unsoeld.” Willi lost his toes on Mt. Everest doing one of mountaineering history’s most legendary climbs with his partner Tom Hornbein (on the left in this picture with Lou and K2 veteran Jim Wickwire). They completed the first ascent of the Mountain’s West Ridge and the first traverse of a major Himalayan peak. It was the highlight of the 1963 American Everest Expedition.

When Lou introduced me to Willi as a former football player from back east, Willi said, “Well these mountains will make a flat-lander like you a little more humble. Don’t take anything for granted. This will be the hardest thing you’ve had to do, I guarantee it. Good luck and have fun.” Thanks to Lou, it was one of those special encounters with people who are bigger than life…and Willi was right…it was very hard.

On a later adventure, I first met Reinhold Messner with Lou in a slightly different way.  Reinhold is somewhat of a mountain god having been first to climb all the world’s tallest peaks without supplemental oxygen and having completed several of those climbs solo when it was said to be impossible.  I invited Reinhold to one of our Mountain Summit events and he accepted. We were at Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah and I’ve always said I should have saved the voicemail that Reinhold left at my Seattle office.  “I am Reinhold Messner.  I have been waiting at the Salt Lake City airport for two hours. If no one is coming to get me, I am returning to my home.” The words don’t do the inflection or the Germanic accent justice. Reinhold was a day early on the schedule he gave us.

When he got to Snowbird, he and I had a toe-to-toe encounter that was pretty high pitched. Just short of the first fist flying, Lou stepped in between us. He’s bigger than we are and he had a smile on his face when he said, “Now let’s calm down, boys. We’re here to have fun.” That’s another great talent of Lou’s.  He knows how to read and handle people in almost any situation. Once our blood pressure reached the normal range, Reinhold and I became friends and we’ve had many great experiences together over the years. And he did finally admit he had gotten his dates wrong.

There are almost as many stories about Lou Whittaker as he tells himself. When he enters a room, everyone’s attention is drawn to him. Two expeditions to Mt. Everest and one to the third highest mountain, Kanchenjunga, raised Lou’s profile around the world in the 80’s and 90’s. The films about Lou’s Everest expeditions won national Emmy Awards and received long television runs in a host of countries. Lou has made a difference in the sport of climbing. The access we have to the mountains. The National Parks management of the mountains. The style of guiding and the equipment we use have Lou’s fingerprints all over them.

Personally, I discovered the mountains through Lou Whittaker. We’ve been to Everest together. We’ve literally been around the world and, thanks primarily to Lou, I’ve come to know many of the legends from Hillary to Bonington to Miura. And Lou’s protégés are the current generation of climbing greats beginning with Ed Viesturs and Phil Ershler. I’m very fortunate to say that Lou also introduced me to one Hungarian…my close friend and colleague Laszlo Pal.

Laszlo is an award-winning producer/director. He is a teacher, a mentor and an icon in the documentary business. We joined together on Lou’s first Everest expedition and have been collaborating ever since. We have now produced 8 documentaries for television and, as a result, have walls and mantels full of awards and trophies, thanks mostly to Laszlo’s creativity and incredible skills as a filmmaker. I feel like a graduate of the Pal School of Film and together we make a pretty formidable team.

Over a year ago, at one of our regular Chinese lunches, we decided that our friend Lou deserved to take the spotlight for a while. In every sport, one name becomes synonymous with the challenge of the endeavor. In baseball, it’s Mickey Mantle. In basketball, Wilt Chamberlain and race car driving, Mario Andretti. A handful of experienced climbers around the world are leaders in the sport of climbing but, in America, no outdoorsman has played a more significant role than Lou Whittaker.

As a labor of love, we've produced a documentary called, “A Life in the Mountains…the Legacy of Lou Whittaker”. It’s our homage to Lou and the impact his career and his personality have had on the sport of climbing in the past half century. We’re headed toward a Seattle premier showing and then the film festival circuit with the program.  Later this week, I’ll announce more details.

Suffice it so say, Lou Whittaker deserves credit where credit is due.  He has quietly led a revolution in the climbing and guiding industry. He has grown one of the most highly regarded guide services in the world, which he is handing over to one of his sons. It’s truly ironic that a person who has dealt with life threatening situations for most of his career is a master storyteller and limerick-ophile…but that’s Lou Whittaker too. As a joke years ago, Lou had a t-shirt made to wear at public events that said “I’m not Jim” on the back. He’s safely put the shirt away for good.  He is not Jim.  Lou is every bit his own man and he commands the respect and adoration of the thousands who have climbed and trekked in the mountains with him as their guide and leader.  I am proud to call him my friend.  Lou, you’re the best.

Beat the Streets

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is a leadership organization that serves as the professional voice of law enforcement.  It is well respected around the world.  Last week, I led a half-day seminar on presentation skills and crisis communications for a splinter group of this organization at the request of Anna Laszlo, a leading national trainer and curriculum developer in the criminal justice field.  Anna and I became friends while exercising our penchant for musical theater on the board of Seattle’s 5^th Avenue Theatre. (It's amazing what you can learn about people's attitudes from West Side Story and A Chorus Line.)

My association with law enforcement began back before the turn when I helped create a national event called Beat the Streets to draw attention to the advent of bicycle patrols in our urban areas. Since Seattle was a pioneer in patrolling the streets on bicycles, what better place to hold the inaugural events than here. Police Departments from coast to coast participated and we got strong support from the equipment community, bicycles to helmets to bullet-proof sunglasses and more. Today there are bike cops in almost every community across the country. It was great to be there at the beginning and my relationship has continued,

The program we put together last week was a pilot for part of a week-long seminar on leadership development and interpersonal skills. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and knowledge of the group of 50 or so law enforcement leaders from across the US and Canada.  They were highly engaged in the process and obviously came to improve and hone their already considerable skills. Oh, and by the way, they were all women.

More than one of them came up to me during the half day I spent there to say, “Do you feel lucky…to be the only man here with all these women?” I was afraid to say anything but “Yes” and, seriously, I really did consider myself lucky.  They were a fantastic group.

I like to use television dramas to underscore important points when I’m instructing and my sessions here were no exception.  I have a particular affinity for the recent program called “West Wing”, which took place in the communications offices of the White House.  And even more appropriate was the fact that the chief communications officer in the series was a woman. Her handling of a crisis situation in the San Juan Islands was our focus.

Added to this session was a dose of the current series “Blue Bloods” starring Tom Selleck as the New York Police Commissioner.  Tom helped me effectively illustrate several points about presentation skills, although my wife Jane says he’s gained too much weight lately. (This is an observation that I refuse to comment on.)

Law enforcement is very exposed these days. If someone is in a position of leadership, it is likely that one way or another he or she will be on the firing line in front of the public and/or the media. Even internally, it’s important to present the right information in a transparent but studied way.

I gave the group a “jump ball” on the George Zimmerman case, which had just been decided by the jury. What would you say to the public if the six women had decided he was guilty. The group talked among themselves and interestingly they were universal in their response. Guilty or not, the verdict didn't matter.This was the result of due process, they said. It’s just the way it is.  Stay calm and don’t overreact.

That’s the kind of thoughtful action that is required today. Considering your audience and its temperament is a crucial factor.  We talked more about it and I could see these leaders spent a lot of time keeping their fingers on the pulse of their communities. It was very reassuring.

The few hours we spent together were fruitful.  Our discussions were helpful and they found some new and different considerations to take home with them.  Anna Laszlo’s skill as a trainer was very apparent and she made some suggested uses of the new tools I had equipped the group with to great advantage.  Not the least of which was video taping representatives of the groups we had broken into, using the presentations skills they had just learned to describe the value of the seminar. That is something that can definitely encourage other departments to participate in this kind of training.

Law Enforcement plays a very important role in our society today. Mental preparedness, sensitivity and compassion are perhaps needed even more that physical training in some ways.  The Women’s Leadership Institute of the International Association of Police Chiefs is focused on these subjects. It should make us all more confident about those who protect us here at home.  I valued my time with a few of the real professionals and hope I strengthened their skills in several ways..

Go Paul...Go Paul...

My mother was a “bobby soxer” growing up.  Go ahead, Google it.  It’s there. When she was in public school in the 1940’s, she saw Frank Sinatra perform and she screamed. She was a lifelong fan. For six decades, she connected with Frank’s music…even went to Las Vegas to hear him perform.  He sang well into his 80’s.  He was truly a star…but he didn’t write his own music.

Since the 60’s, I’ve seen Paul McCartney perform live in every decade. He’s going into number six right now and I love his music more than ever.  He’s played with a number of groups over the years starting with one before Wings, called the Beatles…and even a couple of lesser known ones before that.  He is a testament to loving what you do. In interview after interview, he says that he just has to make music.  It’s in his heart and soul.

Now "Sir Paul", he has written or co-written over 500 songs in his career.  Many of us know the words to a number of those songs and they have significant meaning to happenings in our lives.  What an impact this man and his music have made on three generations.

He performed last Friday in Seattle on his “Out There” tour and sold out more than 45,000 seats in Safeco Field. The critics were unanimous in their praise of the concert…over 40 songs and two encores with former members of Nirvana in 3 hours of musical heaven for the crowd. It was a herculean effort on Sir Paul’s part and left no one wanting…except to go home, pull the playlist and listen to it all again from your collection.

When Councilwoman Jean Godden was a newspaper columnist, she found me in line at the Tower Records on Mercer just before midnight waiting for the first Anthology recording to come out.  I have purchased every album of McCartney’s, whether Beatles, Wings or other, on the day it was released. She wrote a piece about my penchant for Beatles music and admitted that she had the “fever” too.

Jane and I went on one of our first dates to see the Beatles on their 60’s concert tour of the US. (Yes, we did dress differently for a concert in those days.) It was a true happening.  We saw the premieres of all the Beatles movies together and knew the words to all the songs before we went into the theater.

The ultimate for me was the McCartney and Wings concert at the Kingdome in 1990. I was promoting many events that were hosted by the Kingdome in those days and was very close to the entire staff. On the afternoon of the day before the concert, my good friend, Carol Keaton, who was the go-to person for media, called to ask me a favor. Would I be able to help her get Paul and Linda to the right places at the right times for the next day or so? WOULD I????!!!! It was a dream come true.

I could make a movie about my day with Paul and Linda. (Thank you, Carol.) Most importantly, let me say what a loving, courteous and caring couple they were. Never flustered. Never condescending. Always gracious. It’s not often that you meet the “real thing” in the music business but they were it.

 

Early on, I told Paul that I was a very biased fan of his and the Beatles music. And when I told him I had bought every album on release day, he looked at me with that quizzical-but-sly expression we’ve all seen before and said, “So you’re the one.”  We both laughed.

Sir Paul McCartney is going strong at 71.  He is musical phenom. There is not much music out there that I don’t like but I love McCartney’s music. It makes me smile and laugh and feel good. That’s what it’s all about.  Even Frank Sinatra did an album of Beatles music. Go Paul! Add another decade to the record.