October 3, 2008
Imagine my surprise when after dialing a 978 xxx-xxxx to confirm where to send my check I got the skipper on the line all the way from Les Sables d'Olonne, France.
The cultural divide between the USA and Europe has always been deep, hasn’t it. If a French president had an affair with a young woman, he would have been laughed at by the press but not charged with an impeachable offense. Just look at our entertainment... we’re a country of winners and losers: American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Survivor. So of course the American press asks you, "Are you going to win?"
It’s a sloppy low denominator journalism question, unless it sets the stage for a reporter to ask you a deeper question like, "What drives you to do this when the odds are clearly not in your favor?"
The French/European press reporters, you say, get it. Unlike USA, bordered by two oceans and countries we don’t embrace heartily, their borders are contiguous, most can speak the languages of their neighbors, they were multi cultural before we invented the term. They know their history, their geography, and the power and draw of the seas and oceans that mark their perimeters.
They understand the gravity of the challenge, and instinctively wonder not so much about the result but the mindset of a man who would undertake it. Especially with an 8 year old boat managed by a grey haired adventurer who’s proven his mettle and resourcefulness on the high seas for over thirty years.
To the Europeans, you’ve won something important just by being able to put together a team, and qualify a boat and yourself for the most grueling sail race on the planet. Are you going to win? What a lame question. When you pass through the head of a needle and quality and pit yourself against 20 other entrants that are 40 % larger equipped and captains young enough to be your son, that’s the only question the American press can dream up? The Europeans look at you and think, bravo, you’ve won something already. They understand that the world is full of dreamers. They genuflect to a man who dreams then dares, then does.
Rich had childhood asthma and has been treating it for over fifty years. It didn’t stop him from running up and down the steep steps at Harvard Stadium about a millioin times to train to build endurance for previous races. Part of his spiel to school groups is his no nonsense approach to his lung condition. Know your body and take care of it.
A chronic condition doesn’t mean you can't do anything to realize big dreams. It means you have to work harder have more discipline and find the outer edges of your willpower and to find your limits. Being a businessman, Wilson uses his health deficit as a trump card, puts victimhood on its ear by using his asthma as an asset. He convinced Novartis, the multi national drug company, to sponsor him. When they invited pulmonary cardiologists from Europe to see proof of how a good drug can impact someone’s life, Wilson dusted off the French he learned in high school, and addressed them in their common language.
Does this not cement in your brain that the man is driven, hard wired to take what it takes to succeed? I could tell you stories of how he’s eased himself over the side of his boat to replaced a broken rudder in the middle of the rolling Atlantic, or hauled himself to the to top of a pitching mast to repair rigging.
With uncommon clarity, he sits down in his tiny nav station and emails a pithy Captain’s Log to school kids and supporters around the world. His electronic post cards are observant, philosophical, engaging. They resonate with fourth graders and adults whom he’s taking along for the ride.
When a press conference was held in Paris introducing the skippers date? 500-700 reporters from around the world showed up. When a world class fleet of sailed into Boston after the prestigious race, the only people at the docks were family, friends, and anyone who happened to be there by mistake. Never mind that the rigors of the race physical, mental, psychological strength these guys displayed by qualifying, let alone finishing the race, were Olympian. Being the guy he is, he shrugs it off. But it hurts, not ego hurt but value hurt.
There are lessons to be learned by men and women like Rich Wilson.
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