The past two weeks have been captured by the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. I have made sure to watch coverage when I could and check on the outcomes of events throughout each day. My family has watched the Olympics as far back as I can remember. As I had a family of my own, I made sure the kids were glued to watching both the winter and summer games.
There are so many reasons why I enjoy taking in the competition. I try to take in the lesser-known events too because I just love seeing people doing their best as they strive to reach the medal stand. It takes a bit more effort to do that, but it keeps me grounded. It’s easy to get a bit cynical by the coverage from the States because our lens is so focused on gold medals only and we tend to feature our athletes.
The best feature of the Olympics in my opinion is that it’s an example of how the world can come together for a common cause. Yes, the goal for each athlete is to win, but the reality is that only three individuals/teams in each event actually attain the podium. That leaves several hundred folks who have trained for years, if not a lifetime, to get a chance just to compete at the highest level of their chosen sport.
It’s reassuring to see that the Olympics came through this year and that they’ve weathered challenge after challenge throughout the decades in order to occur. It’s a great example of resilience in the midst of countless efforts to bring them down. Whether it has been controversy, doping, political upheaval, or questionable judging, camaraderie and sportsmanship prevail.
I wish that humanity as a whole, and especially my peers in HR, would realize that we ARE a global community that will exist and pull through the more we come together for a purpose and cause far more than only responding to a crisis. It seems that we are surrounded by dissension, hatred and constant negativity. These factors consume every channel of communication and we get swallowed by it too easily (and unfortunately willingly at times).
What would our daily lives look like if we embraced each other globally? If we took the same approach as Olympians who have the discipline, desire and focus to perform at our highest levels all of the time? What if we understood that even though we are diverse in our backgrounds and our perspectives that those differences would allow us to consider things from all angles instead of from a narrow set of biases?
We keep seeking perfection in ourselves and others instead of understanding that at our best we’re still flawed . . . if we stand alone. The more we come together the gaps one person has will be filled by someone else who has that gap as a strength. It’s time we stop tearing each other down thinking that in some way it will end up building others up.
We all belong together as HR professionals and as humans. Together we can compete and move forward. When we fail each other, and we will, we can pull each other up to get back to the race together. I’m looking forward to connecting more and doing what I can to pull together fellow Olympians to make a team that will do what it can to improve relationships, workplaces and the cultures of organizations worldwide. I hope you’ll join in as well !!
