This week, I was fortunate to watch Oracle Team USA come
back from an insurmountable deficit to come back and win the 34th
Americas Cup race. It was a few things:
- Inspiring! With their backs to the wall, they came out and stood their ground. They worked together to defy the odds and showed that teamwork, making the needed changes and a positive attitudes can make a difference. Could your team come back from those odds with their backs in the corner?
- Amazing! Just think, ONE loss stood between them and the Cup leaving the states. They were getting beat and handily…and they didn’t give up.
- Concerning… People are coming out of the word work to call Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and financial backer for Oracle Team USA, every name in the book. Really?? So, he’s successful? So, he hates to lose? So, his boat and his crew are expensive? He has worked hard for everything and I am proud to work for someone who works hard and hates to lose because I do to!
- Heart warming! A young school boy was on the pier that day and when someone asked him why he wasn’t in school, he said, “My dad told me that I would never see anything like this ever again and so he told me I didn’t have to go to school today!” His dad was right, a win, a comeback win like that is hard to come by. Sometimes the best learning doesn’t happen in a classroom!
- Thought provoking. When Oracle Team USA decided to remove John Kostecki and replace him with Olympian Ben Ainsley as head tactician, it made people think! Was Kostecki the wrong man? NO! But did the change make a difference? YES! Kostecki is an amazing sailor, but Ainsley knew the bay better. How many times has a change in the team, changed the game?
I am a diehard Oracle Team USA fan and I am also a fan of
the underdog. I am proud to wear the gear
and proud to say that I personally know members of the team and their
families. They are an amazing group of
athletes and if I learned anything this last week, it was never say die!!
