Catalyst Strategic Consultants

World Cup has come and gone and with it the largest television audience in history. The tournament of 36 finalist nations doesn’t remark extensively on the qualifying which can give even lowly soccer nations like Canada a chance.
Even our name for the sport – soccer – signifies our distance from the globe on this score. “Football” here is taken.
Global enthusiasm for futbol is deep. It is universally played – even here – where more kids are part of the junior version than hockey.

But we are not so clued into what sophistication of play constitutes. Watching the games with Dennis [our son in law from Holland] we got a view under the hood. “Watch here, 9 men in front of the ball!” during the final. No wonder offence by the Argentines was largely missing in action. There’s much more to know from nations who spend their sporting lives as fascinated by these inner workings as we do with our football.

Here’s a huge reminder that people solve problems otherwise elsewhere than we do here. The tendency still is to look for the North American answer but there are many more clever and original solutions in the balance of the world. Despite the tendency to a homogenized world – more’s the pity! – folks on the other side are still coming up with ingenious ways of tackling the same issues we encounter and developing entirely fresh ways of dealing with them.
Recently Elaine came through Schipol airport in Amsterdam and came back raving about the handling of passengers there. Apparently they have dealt with the most annoying aspect of the new reality of air travel – the security line – in a novel way. In Denver a couple of weeks ago, the line Sunday morning stretched, after snaking through the vast open hall below the tented roof, out into the adjoining baggage area. At Schipol, you go to the gate and the necessaries are done in close proximity to your departure point. Yes, it’s decentralized. More efficient? Yes. More costly? Maybe. But different – and addressing an issue that frustrates travellers to the max.

I’ve recently become affiliated with Gazelles – which is a CONSCIOUS world wide organization. That means they have made great efforts to un-Americanize their methodology. The founder, Verne Harnish, lives in Barcelona. They have set a goal of 50% of revenues from outside North America. They celebrate European management thinking like “Hidden Champions”. The materials are deliberately made context friendly.
Who knows, maybe some of their findings will rub off on you?

I am now a Gazelles coach, one of 140 worldwide who lead client companies who want to accelerate their growth pace. Just being there for the day will expose you [and your team – even better] to a ton of value. Gazelles new version 2.0 Rockefeller Habits Framework workshop happens September 18, Canada Olympic Park. I will present along with 4 other seasoned coaches. Want to come? Here is the event description and ticket source: http://fourdecisionsworkshop.eventbrite.ca

Sincerely,
Doug Bouey
Catalyst Strategic Consultants Ltd.