Another non-traditional business article, by Selena Roberts of Sports Illustrated who covers the many ways that American athletes had to be entrepreneurial to support their training leading up to the games.
In a bad economy, many relied on their own resourcefulness when their endorsement deals dried up, USOC budgets tightened and Home Depot ended its Olympic jobs program for athletes. It was coupon-clipping time. Curlers rented rocks from Canada to save money; freestyle skier Shannon Bahrke launched a coffee bean company with $1 of every bag to be reinvested in her Olympic training; Noelle Pikus Pace started a winter hat-making business to pay for sleds when speaking engagements ended. "We're down to rice cakes," Pace joked.
In an article that is parts funny, sad and infuriating, Roberts relates how the U.S. central organizing body wasted resources, lost sponsorships and generally left our athletes in the lurch - and how the athletes just went on with their business, solved problems on their own and are now leading the field in medals at the games.
You read a lot about the decline of American education and how an economy and social structure increasingly dominated by rules and regulations is turning us passive. I've noticed in my 20 years in public relations that the kids coming into internship programs seem to keep getting smarter, more prepared and harder-working. And those are just the ones in agency public relations - I can't imagine what the kids with MBAs working for big bucks are like.
Stories like this reinforce my perception that perhaps we look at the negative a bit too often.
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