My Year of Hopefulness - Row for Hope

At 25 years old, Paul Ridley is the youngest American to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone. It took him 88 days and he rowed almost 3,000 miles. Paul and his sister, Joy, started an organization called Row for Hope in 2001 in honor of their mother who passed away from cancer. Row for Hope is a fundraising organization for cancer research.

In the CNN article I read about the journey, the line that stood out for me was when Paul how he decided to put this effort together with his sister. "I was a rower at Colgate University. I love the sport. I'm not a scientist, but I can row," he said. Paul looked at what abilities he had, what contribution he wanted to make, and found a way to put the two together.

In addition to raising money for cancer research and awareness of the disease, Paul and Joy also want to encourage other athletes to take up efforts similar to Paul's Atlantic Ocean crossing. Even better news - he may just inspire all of us by showing that we can take what we love doing, no matter what it is, and use it improve the world around us in any way we can think of. A social enterprise mash-up in the making.

My Year of Hopefulness - Larry Fitzgerald

During the Superbowl, most fans are watching the game, shoveling own nachos, washing the nachos down with large quantities of beer, and keeping their eyes on that eye-shaped leather ball. I spent the entire Superbowl thinking about Larry Fitzgerald. 

Tiki Barber interviewed Larry Fitzgerald, the 25 year old wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals. The interview was first aired in the pre-Superbowl coverage, and then again this morning on the Today Show. In a very personal interview Fitzgerald talks about his mom's battle with breast cancer. He and his mother were fighting shortly before she passed away and he missed the opportunity to say good-bye to her. 

Despite the fact that Tiki Barber tried to turn around the mood of the conversation, Fitzgerald was steadfast in his belief that he would always regret his lack of forgiveness for his mom. He said that it hangs over him daily. He had a hard time imagining that his mom was looking down on him and feeling proud, even though his father, a sports writer, insists that he must get over the regret and think about all of the good times they had together as a family. 

The story is a tear-jerker. I had a hard time watching it and at the same time couldn't seem to tear myself away from it. I understand the feeling. I didn't say good-bye to my dad even though I knew he was passing away - I just couldn't bring myself to forgive in time to make that trek to the hospital. It took a long time to get through that -- and for many years it did seem that all of my accomplishments, big and small, didn't add up to much because I had done this horrible thing as a confused teenager. I refused to forgive in a timely fashion and then deeply regretted my actions for a very long time. So how on Earth can there be any hope in this?  

Forgiveness is a funny thing - you can't make yourself forgive and you can't make anyone else forgive you. Once you have it, really have it, it's yours for life (at least for the specific reason you wish to be forgiven). It's elusive - it doesn't come when called, it may take a few steps toward you as you stretch out your arms to reach for it, and then it can vanish into thin air. Though if you wait patiently and tend to the other parts of your life with care, concern, and gentleness, one day forgiveness shows up on your doorstep and invites itself inside, no questions asked. 

The hardest thing we do in life is ask someone to forgive us for something we've done wrong. It's a humbling experience, and I will admit that it's one thing I'm not very good at. Larry Fitzgerald's story gave me hope that for others out there like him, feuding with loved ones, that they will be inspired to take that difficult step toward asking for forgiveness and forgiving others. I am certain that Larry's mother is very proud of him and has completely forgiven him for their arguments before her passing. What Larry needs to do now is forgive himself -- and by sharing his story, I think forgiveness will find him.      

NBC's Olympics website

I've started to have discussions with some companies and non-profits about the possibility of integrating social media into their marketing plans. Originally when I considered this type of consulting work, I thought the issue would be content creation. What I'm finding is that it's about commitment and organization - the same two issues that companies struggle with in many aspects of their business. 

For the past week, I've been obsessed with watching the Olympics, and like so many people across the world, I am most keen on women's gymnastics and the U.S. men's swim team. I want to see Michael Phelps get his 8 gold medals in Beijing and I wanted to see Nastia Liukin win the all-around. Michael's got 7 and Nastia surprised everyone, including herself, with her win in the all-around. 

I was so excited to see that NBC had created so much incredible content and integrated so much functionality into their Olympics website. Sadly, the organization is so frustrating that after a few visits of endless clicking, I've all but given up on trying to figure out the televised schedule. And that's the trouble with an abundance of great content - all of a sudden the management and organization of it becomes just as critical as the information itself. 

I was surprised that NBC didn't think through the site design more thoroughly. NBC had so much time to plan out how they would cover these games that the expectations of fans skyrocketed, mine included. I wanted it to be a piece of cake to navigate the website and find exactly the content I was looking for with barely any effort on my part. If anything, I've had to spend much more time sorting through the site and rarely find what I am looking for. I guess the network doesn't hold simplicity in very high regard.

I take my hat off to the content creators of that Olympics website and to the many reporters who are contributing to the coverage; what the network really needed was a simplicity expert who actually understands how to use new media. With a once-in-a-lifetime event like these Beijing Games, it's a shame that the executives didn't see that for themselves.  It's not abut throwing as much information in there as possible - this isn't a flea market or a treasure hunt - and they certainly had enough money to do it right. Here's hoping that they'll learn from this error in time to make adjustments for their 2010 and 2012 coverage.         

10 little things

My friend, Julie, is in Tanzania for about 2 months. She's on assignment with the Peace Corp and has started a blog to track her experiences. http://turnyourhead.wordpress.com/

On one of her posts, she takes a cue from her blogging sister and lists 10 little known things about her that are interesting and unique. I love the idea so much that I'm stealing it. Thanks for the inspiration, Jules :)

1.) The first profession I ever had an interest in was paleontology because I loved dinosaurs.

2.) When I was little, I memorized every fact about Africa that I could get my hands on and my mother would patiently listen to me go on for hours - if only we had the internet then.

3.) I was a Girl Scout until I was 12.

4.) I learned how to swim when I was 30.

5.) This is the first year I have ever been registered with a political party. My mother gave me a voter registration form when I turned 18 and until this year have always been an Independent.

6.) There is a tractor crossing sign on the road I grew up on. 

7.) The two countries I must visit some time in my life are Rwanda, to see the mountain gorillas, and Cuba because of the movie For Love or Country.

8.) I hate talking on the phone - it's my least favorite form of communication

9.) My favorite charitable cause is environmental protection

10.) Mary Lou Retton was my childhood idol  

and a bonus fact:

11.) My sister and I have two common obsessions: The Gilmore Girls (my baby niece is named after Lorelei Gilmore!) and Dunkin' Donuts (which we affectionately refer to as "Dunks")

Ice climbing and starting a business

Bill Buxton wrote a great post this morning on Business Week's Innovation blog, http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/. In a conversation with his friend, Roger Martin from the Rotman School, the two friends discussed the parallels between starting a business and ice climbing. They compared the characteristic of people drawn to these two activities, specifically their appetite for risk.

The parallel drew out some interesting comparisons such as training, having the necessary tools and trusting in the process. I would also add that there is risk in everything - even in not doing something. We often consider the risk of starting a business, going ice climbing, etc. though we rarely mention the flip-side: how will our happiness, sense of satisfaction and accomplishment be affected long-term by deciding not do something that interests us?

Will we get to a point in our lives when these opportunities are no longer possible because of other choices we made, and then look back with some kind of regret and sadness that we didn't do something more bold that made us feel alive? While more difficult to conceptualize and put data behind, the point merits some consideration. In the long-run, I've found it's the chances we take, combined with the ones we let pass by, that make up a life.

See Buxton's full post at: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2008/id20080312_205292.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories