Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Culture, Finance, Michael Jordan, Nike, Sport
A few weeks ago, I saw this on Linkedin.
Given NIKE paid MJ US$250+ million last year for the sale of his shoes – despite [properly] retiring in 2003 – it’s fair to say:
1. He got NIKE to pay.
2. Nike know how to monetise athletes.
3. Jordan is a true cultural icon of sport.
What do I mean by cultural icon?
To be honest, I’m not sure.
It’s more than just about success … because there’s plenty of athletes who have achieved that. It’s more than their continued standing … because there’s athletes who have achieved that as well. And it’s more than simply being popular with people who are not interested in their particular sport … because there’s examples of that too.
OK, so it could be those rare athletes who could feature in all 3 of those filters … but even then I don’t know if it’s that.
If I really think about it, it’s probably about how they changed the game.
Not just in terms of what they won, but how they won.
Where their style of play becomes the benchmark all others are judged by.
Their ruthless competitiveness.
Their commitment and drive.
The level of attention opposing teams give them.
The excitement they ignite when they are in the game.
The athletes and/or teams who you never write off … the ones who can change outcomes, defy records and evolve the game.
There’s not many of those.
At least not in terms of being able to do it over a long period of time.
But MJ is one.
And he’s still doing it even when he’s stopped playing competitive sport.
Which is why MJ’s greatest talent may not be playing basketball, but knowing his worth.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Colenso, Culture, Dad, Daddyhood, Emotion, Empathy, England, Family, Friendship, Happiness, Home, Jill, London, Loyalty, Mum, Mum & Dad, New Zealand, Nottingham, Nottingham Forest, Otis, Parents
I was born in 1970 in Nottingham.
For 25 years, I lived there, worked there, socialised there.
Sure, I also worked in London … but I always came home to NG2.
Every. Bloody. Night.
But in 1995, I left.
I went to Australia and started an adventure all over the place. And while I back to the UK after 24 years – I never went back to living in Nottingham.
And yet, despite having now spent more time away from Nottingham than living in it, it’s still what I regard as ‘home’.
Sure it’s where my formative years were spent.
Sure it’s where my parents ashes have been spread.
Sure it’s where my beloved Paul still lives.
Sure it’s where my football team resides.
Sure it’s where I spent the longest period of my life in.
But still …
What is also interesting is that when I go back, while I feel a sense of familiarity, I also feel disconnected. Of course, that’s to be expected when you’ve been away for so long … but it means when I think – or am in – Nottingham, I feel displaced and comforted at the same time.
It’s a weird feeling, caught between 2 emotional poles …
A stranger in where you believe you come from.
Of course, I go through similar feelings when I visit previous places I once lived – especially Shanghai, which is the place I probably felt the most connected to – but Nottingham is where I have roots [or where I used to have them] and so while I am far away, I am increasingly surrounding myself with stuff that reminds me of the place.
But I don’t want to go back.
It is my past rather than my future.
And that’s where it all gets complicated because I want Otis to have a place where he can build roots like I did with Nottingham, but I don’t know if that’s possible or where that is.
He’s 8 and lived in 4 countries already.
More than that, at some point we’ll be leaving here.
Don’t get me wrong, we love NZ.
We adore our home.
But we feel our life still has other places to go.
It won’t happen in the short term …
We are happy here, Otis absolutely adores it, we want him to be in a place longer than the 2 year periods he’s experienced so far in his life and I haven’t yet repaid the generosity the country has shown us … but it will eventually happen and so I wonder what Otis will regard as his ‘identity’.
If you ask him now, he’ll say, “China”.
I love that, but it’s also more because of where he was born rather than where he was raised.
So we shall see.
Of course we could just stay here and remove the issue … and while there’s a big part of us that would like to do that, we also would like to be closer to the people who matter most to us.
At some point.
This may all sound like a reason to never move country and if that’s how it comes across then that would be wrong.
It’s dead easy to think about what you will miss by moving away but you need to think about what you will gain. And in my case, apart from Paul and Shelly in Nottingham … every single thing in my life is because I took that leap.
Everything.
My wife.
My son.
My cat.
My home.
My career.
My life.
So while identity is increasingly important to me, I’m not going to devalue the utter privilege of the adventure we’ve had – and will hopefully keep having. Especially given nationalism is increasingly acting as a barrier towards the understanding and acceptance of others… rather than a way for people to identify, share and grow.
A few weeks ago, we joined Costco.
Frankly I did it more out of curiosity than any desire to shop, but one Saturday morning we all popped off to check it out.
Now I don’t know what hell is like, but I imagine it’s its similar to what I encountered and experienced.
To be fair the staff were fantastic, helpful … kind … full of personality … but the customers!!!
Actually calling them customers is wrong.
Angry animals would be a much better description.
Sharp elbows … sharp tongues and endless dickhead moves and behaviours.
It was like a cross between a rugby match against sworn enemies and the opening of the January sales.
Utter mayhem.
And while I get the attraction for big families or small businesses … for everyone else it’s kind-of like gluttony disguised as ‘value’.
Yes, the prices are cheaper than in the everyday supermarket, but is anyone ever going to consume a 9-litre bottle of vinegar?
Of course, once you’re there, there’s no way out …
Before you know it, you’re trapped in a world of superlative sizes.
Purchasing massive packets of Reece’s Pieces and Coffee Mate … an orgy of excess that reveals human evolution is based more on environment than time.
Occasionally you read a story that just blows you away.
It may be about human endeavor … or suffering … or achievement … but you’re deeply affected by it.
Maybe it’s because you can’t imagine how you would cope in the same situation or that you can never even imagine the situation … but it changes something in you.
I’ve recently read 2 stories that have had this affect on me.
They’re both very different … one is about finding themselves, the other survival … and yet there are commonalities as well.
Blind belief.
Dumb luck.
A desire to see things through.
Acceptance of who they are or the situation they’re in.
An ability to only deal with issues when they become issues.
One is the story of Tom Turcich, who at age 17, spent the next 7 years of his life walking around the World.
The reasons behind it are both deeply personal and emotional … but the story he then takes us on is truly inspirational.
I don’t mean that in a ‘Hollywood’ type of way, but in its everyday humbleness and normality.
And it’s exactly because of that, that he explains things that have a lot of insight and learning.
One thing that really struck me was at the end, when he was asked if his journey had made him more confident in himself.
“That’s a difficult question to answer” … he says.
“It’s a kind of Dunning-Kruger. You know, the psychological study where the dumbest person in the room is the most confident? The more you know, the less confident you are. I think I was pretty confident at the beginning, but I was an idiot. Once you know you don’t know everything, you lose some of the confidence and become less sure about things.”
I love this. Love it.
It’s so true … though, judging by the bravado of so many of our political leaders – not to mention people like Andrew Tate and his blinkered followers – it seems not everyone understands that.
Well, I say that, but I feel they make it a deliberate choice.
It’s as if they realise being open to information and experiences would undermine their whole viewpoint on life … and as their entire value is based on their own delusional confidence, they’d rather choose to remain blinkered than to evolve.
The other story is about Annette Herfkens – the only survivor in a plane crash.
Her story, like Tom, is incredible and yet she also expresses it without drama or superlatives.
Again, it’s not a conscious attempt to play down her story to appear more enlightened to those who follow her … it’s a reflection of who she is and how she overcame the most tragic and challenging of circumstances.
And like Tom, what she learned from her experience has many implications on how we could all benefit in how to live our lives.
I don’t mean that in terms of ‘valuing what you have’ [though that wouldn’t be bad] … but more in terms of being quick to accept situations, however bad.
That may sound counter-intuitive – and it certainly is different to many of the ‘projection’ ideals spouted in countless self-help books – but based on how it liberated Tom and Annette from the harshest of situations, it certainly has merit.
They’re relatively long … but they’re worth it.
From a personal point of view, they’re two of the most powerful things I’ve read.
Have a good weekend.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Craft, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity
One of my pet hates is when people think the best way to brief creativity is to say what they want to see, not the problem they need to be solved.
Whether it was where I worked … or who I worked with … I didn’t encounter this much at the beginning of my career. But as marketing lost its clout – and so standards increasingly fell – I’ve seen it happen a hell of a lot more.
I wish I could say I deal with this sort of situation well, but let’s say there is ‘room for improvement’.
Oh I can hear Andy as I type this.
“If they don’t know how to do their job, you can do your job anyway you choose” … but fights don’t solve anything other than a temporary moment of relief.
I know … you’re wondering who am I?
Don’t worry, I did say I have room for improvement because frankly, I still suck at dealing with this sort of thing, even if I’m way better than I used to be.
One of the worst situations I ever encountered was in Malaysia when a client complained about the way an actors hand looked in a print ad.
I should point out the ad wasn’t about hands, didn’t focus on hands and the hand in question was perfectly normal … but for some insane reason, he wanted it reshot – at our cost – suggesting it would ruin everything.
I genuinely thought they were joking when they first said it, so laughed.
And then he looked at me like I’d just smashed his mother in the face and asked ‘what the hell was I laughing at?’
I’d love to say I responded in a calm, professional manner … however, well, you can guess.
That said, I also put a proposition to him that said if there was commentary about the hand when the campaign launched, we would not only pay for a re-shoot, but we would refund 25% of our costs to him. However if nothing was said, then he had to pay us an additional 50% of our costs.
He lost interest in his argument after that and – surprise surprise – there was absolutely no commentary about the freak hand that wasn’t freaky whatsoever.
I say this because I recently read about the 1994 movie, Street Fighter, featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme and errrrrm, Kylie Minogue.
The film was rubbish [though it’s now seen as a camp classic, like the Queen soundtracked ‘Flash Gordon’ that preceded it] and the making of it was a rollercoaster but writer/director Steven de Souza makes a comment that is not just insightful, but highlights how creativity not only solves problem … but can do it in the most bombastic or gentle of ways.
It’s a lesson we could all do with remembering.
Especially those who dictate what outcomes, not identify their problems.
