London takes the Gold

It hardly seems like 4 years since Beijing but it has been and now the London Olympics are officially history.  Beijing was all about the government. The Chinese wanted to mark their place in the world and let everyone know that they were now a major player…and they did that. London, however, had a completely different purpose and they more than lived up to the promise.

 I remember hearing the woman who was then in charge of the London bid saying that they were not trying to compete with Beijing’s breadth, scope and budget. “We have allocated only so much money to this effort and we’re going to use it wisely,” she told the media at the Beijing after party. A lot has changed in the world since 2008 and, although the London budget had to be enlarged a bit, the Brits made an amazing impact  for significantly less than was spent in Beijing.

If Beijing was about the government, London was about the people and what fantastic people they are. From the welcome greeters to the stadium volunteers, the shopkeepers, restaurateurs to the organizers, they had the right attitude and a clear vision of their objective…make every visitor and athlete safe and happy.

The British media says that there were one million out-of-towners in London every day during the Olympics. And estimates were that 200,000 people entered the Olympic Park on a daily basis. I can assure you that the Stratford City tube stop was like opening a flood gate shortly after 7am each day when the doors opened and the waves of visitors came on to the grounds. They even had their own official "starter".

My close English friend told me after the Queen’s Jubilee celebration that “We Brits certainly know how to put on a spectacular event.” Indeed they do and the Olympics was their finest hour in many years. I’ll get into my conversations with the organizers beforehand in another blog but I can assuredly say they were prepared for almost anything and met every challenge that came along.  My daily "Trouble" conference call was primarily a breeze. It was very impressive work both at the Olympic Park and in the city.

The athletes were the stars, as they should be, and they were heralded at every opportunity.  We saw them in restaurants, on the street, in the tube and at the theatre, as well as, watching other competitors with awe. I heard one swimmer say that seeing the athletes in basketball and beach volleyball was an inspiration to her during her own competition.

Much has been said about London’s Mayor Boris Johnson.  Or should I say the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London, which is the official title.  He was just re-elected for a second term in May and these Olympics are going to carry him far.  Until I got to London, I thought I might find some similarities between Johnson and Seattle’s slightly off-beat Mayor Mike McGinn.  No such luck.  Mayor Johnson makes McGinn look like a pre-schooler…you should see London’s bike lanes and you can rent a bike from a rack on the street by leaving your credit card.  Whether he’s stuck on zipline cracking jokes with the constituents below or putting on his boogie shoes for the Spice Girls at the Closing Ceremony, Mayor Johnson is every man’s and woman’s mayor.  One British newsman said he looks like he needs a haircut. But the newsman’s partner quickly added, “That IS his haircut.”

Gosh, I’m just getting warmed up and I haven’t even said anything negative about London.  There really isn’t much bad to say…except for the weather.  It sucks as badly as Seattle this summer.  Oh sure, a few glorious days but still lots of cool temperatures and rainstorms throughout the Olympics.  There, see, it’s not perfect.

Seriously, I can unequivocally say that I have never been to a big city, large scale public event where I was more pleased by the experience than the  London Olympics. Tomorrow, I want to talk about the volunteers and the operations of the event…a model for advance planning.

Back into my jet-lagged state for now…

Working for the Olympics

Working for the Olympics makes for some special memories. I have spent much of my career working for large scale, public extravaganzas…The Indianapolis 500, the Winter Olympics, the America’s Cup, the Summer Olympics, the World Cup of Soccer (Football), to name a few. I’m doing now what I do for most of my clients and that is using my experience and expertise to help make decisions that will improve, enhance or revitalize the tenor of the event.

Today, this kind of work is done in many ways.  It’s meetings.  It’s emails.  It’s social media.  It’s keeping your finger on the pulse.  It’s talking to people who are part of the experience and some who aren’t or don’t want to be. Being a trusted advisor and strategist is mostly paying attention and making decisions and judgments as quickly as possible.

I say all this because working for the Olympics is not the same as “going to the Olympics”.  It’s not as much as about what’s happening on the field, as it is about what’s going on in the locker room before the match or what happened the night before in town.  I’ll get to see some competition (the live stream is always there now). As usual, we’ll show up at NBC’s Today Show set, unfortunately without my friend Ann Curry. But mostly I’ll be talking with various groups about what’s going on and why certain things are happening or not and what can we do to make the experience a better one.

Before the Games are over in London, I’ll give you my take on what London really thinks of hosting this monumental sports competition.  I’ll also share my feelings about the athletes from around the world who have devoted their lives to getting here.  The difficulties in putting on an event of this size are worthy of comment, as well.  And, finally, what is the global impact of the Olympics in today’s over-communicated society? It will only be my opinion, but that’s all I have.

Jane and I are going to get to see some close friends who live there and, who knows, there may be a Guinness or two in my future.  For sure, it’s an experience to be relished and remembered…after all, the Queen has already jumped out of a helicopter, whatever will be next?