Hello November!

October has blown by along with Hurricane Sandy – I wish everyone affected by the storm a quick and safe recovery.

Here are some of the haps I'm looking forward to in November!

The First Free Give-Away Goes Down on my Blog!
If you like business, if you like success, if you like big personalities, if you like making a difference…stay tuned for my giveaway (follow me on Twitter @wandarful10 to hear more). More to come after November 1st!

No Shave November aka Movember
The time of year when my husband and thousands of other men craft their facial hair to their own delight, all the while helping the battle against one of the most serious health issues affecting men. I don't think he's landed yet on exactly what look he's going for, but he has lots to choose from. I'm going to be joining my Mo Bros this year as a Mo Sista!

(Almost) All Sports are in Season
November is like a an infinite recursion of sports events. It's as if the sports god blessed us with so much sport to help deal with the cloudy dark days of fall here in the Pacific NW. The NBA is officially underway. Hopefully the new look Lakers with Canadian hero Steve Nash will bounce back from a dreary preseason. Perhaps they've adopted Obama's debate strategy, come out weak and bounce back strong. And the MLS playoffs kick off. In the absence of my hometown Portland Timbers, I'm most excited to follow the Whitecaps in their play-off run. The Caps are the first Canadian team to ever play in the MLS post-season. Then there's the Champions League, NFL progresses into the second half of its season and conference leaders emerge (and I win my pool…maybe!), college sports is in full tilt and the NCAA national soccer tournament begins (Go Pilots), FIS World Cup kicks off (will Lindsey Vonn ski with the men?)… NOVEMBER. YOU. ARE. JUST. AWESOME.

Hot Yoga + Hot Eats
The fall time is prime time to duck into a warm room to sweat and eat, although preferably not at the same time. Portland has an endless list of great food spots and was featured in the GQ magazine this month "the food world's new promised land", so I've added the supposedly de-lish Woodsman Tavern, Le Pigeon and Beast to the list. Meanwhile, with the changing weather, I'm looking forward to taking some of my outdoor workouts to the yoga studio. I love the challenge yoga poses (no pun intended) to push your body both mentally and physically, forcing you completely to focus on the present!

American Thanksgiving
Family, food, and football - yes please. The bad vegetarian that I am, Thanksgiving is one of those times I embrace the meat eating ritual … and wash it down with lots of wine and pumpkin pie. I've started to think about my list of gratitude for this last year and feel pretty blessed that I don't have to dig too deep - it's been a year to remember.

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks! 

The Top 5 of the Week

Here's a roundup of this week's top 5 badass moves (aka moves towards Beautiful Rebellions) taken from the sport news of the week.

#5. FIFA has begun to release the list of candidates for its annual Ballon d'Or awards. Canadian soccer phenom Christine Sinclair is up for Player of the Year while Canadian National Team coach, John Herdman, is up for Coach of the Year. Sinclair was the top-scorer at the Olympics this summer and led her team with a hat trick in one of the best soccer games the world has seen, a 3-4 semifinal battle with the USA. Herdman inherited a squad shortly after they placed dead last in the Women's World Cup in 2011 and transformed them in under just one year to earn a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics. No Canadian has ever won a Ballon d'Or ... winners will be announced at the gala event in January. (Spotted on FIFA.com where you can see list of all candidates. Male candidates will be released 29 October.)

#4. This man has run 300 Marathons in 100 Countries, and an average of one marathon a month for 30 years, absolutely wild! It's no wonder he's nicknamed "Maddogg". (Spotted on Healthynomnics)

#3. No Shave November (aka Movember) is just around the corner - the one month of the year when rocking facial hair could be considered a sport. My husband has a beard, so what can I say, I love beards. If any one knows how to buck convention it's hip-hop and the online mag Highsnobiety has profiled how they've taken that attitude to their facial hair, Icecube included. (Click here for a beard-travaganza that includes Mutton Chops, French Fork and the Fu Manchu).

#2. The Indiana Fever were crowned WNBA Champions for the first time in franchise history. Next season the Fever will be partnering with Finish Line, as the team's jersey sponsor. Jersey sponsor? Yep, taking a cue from international sports, where jersey sponsors are standard, the WNBA are an inspiring example of how organizations can innovate their way into financial viability. Jersey sponsorships are rare in North American sports but the league realizes that the additional real estate the jersey provides for logo placement can bring great value. No doubt the players don't mind being moving billboards if it means they have a league to play in. (Spotted on Twitter @ClareZovko) Also this week in basketball, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced his retirement in 2014 - he will be 72 years old. His progressive leadership has impacted the league in countless ways over his 30 year tenure, that saw massive changes in globalization, media and technology. My personal off-court favourite is how he has promoted the league's charitable efforts with NBA Cares and Basketball Without Borders. (From NBA.com)

#1. Sprinters Lolo Jones and Tianna Madison are diversifying their sporting resumes by being named to the US Bobsled Team this week, just two months after they competed at the Summer Olympics. They will transition their athleticism, speed and competitiveness to the ice while gunning for the Winter Olympics. If successful in landing a trip to Sochi 2014, they will join rare air - only a handful of athletes have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Just five athletes ever have captured a medal at both Games, most recently Canadian Clara Hughes in road cycling and speed skating. (Spotted in the HuffPost)

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks!

Journey

Came across a great quote today that struck me as epitomizing the journeys of Beautiful Rebellions I've featured here, and felt like sharing it with you:

"Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you."
[David McCullough, Jr]

It's a great reminder, isn't it? To appreciate the journey over the end result, and to keep our intentions authentic.

Also, a fellow Portlander the famous Chris Guillebeau, author of the $100 Startup and captain of creating the future, is searching for stories about people who have achieved or are chasing great quests (it might be you! or it might be someone you know or admire), what I like to call Beautiful Rebellions. If you have ideas, help him out and submit them here.

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks! 

3 Simple Acts Towards Beautiful Rebellion this Fall

Growing up in the magical Rockies gave me an appreciation for the four seasons and the rain and rainbows in life that we feel. So much unravels in phases ... the four quarters of a football game ... the four phases in design thinking ... the four stages in product life cycle. Each phase represents something different - the fall used to be my favourite time of year, it was time to suit up for soccer season! Now retired from playing and living in the Pacific Northwest, the fall time with its cloudy wetness (and no snowflakes in sight) is when I need to work hardest at keeping my fire stoked. It's the time of year where I most risk hitting the pause button on my ambitions and fun-factor. So over brunch with some friends, we schemed up a hit list of three things to help keep our Beautiful Rebellion mojo going this fall.

1. Instagram your way to a Beautiful Rebellion. Words are often inadequate to explain what stokes your fire. Instagram is a fun way to visualize something and the act of snapping photos brings focus to the present. Pick a theme that you want to focus more of your time and mind space on (my current obsession is capturing moments of beautiful rebellions, YAH!) then capture a photo a day and post it on Instagram. If you haven't already joined Instagram, do it now, it's free and you won't regret it. Tag your Instagram photos with the hashtag #BeautifulRebellion and I'll feature some favourites on one of my next blog posts.

2. Heroes! Find or re-discover heroes that inspire you to want to live life full-tilt. One of my brunch buddies couldn't name one single hero she had (I volunteered to be her hero but don't think I made the cut). For as long as I can remember I've had heroes and they've helped me stay my course, widen my dreams, anchor my values and inspire me to create the future. Mia Hamm opened up a sense of possibility to my ambitions in sport, my parents are daily living examples reminding me to live life fearlessly (serious beauties those two are), the two Richards - Richard Branson and Richard Way - show me the audacity and perseverance you need to succeed in business, and I have a stable of other heroes that continue to challenge me, inspire me to bring pause to review my fundamentals and keep charging forward.

We took this to a whole new dimension of silliness by playing "My Fantasy Brunch Crew", a spin on an Alexandra Franzen trick I'd read about recently. Think up 10 of your greatest heroes that you'd invite to an imaginary brunch and write down why you'd invite them and what that means about you. Pretty fun exercise to do on your own and a ridiculously comic thing to hash out with good friends. Try it, like Instagram, you won't regret it.

3. Envision your ideal 12 hours. The scenario where you've got your stoke on and you're being totally spectacular in the way only you can be spectacular. This is idealistic bigger thinking - it's clarification visualization. Imagine it, write it down or Instagram photos that remind you of it (especially if you have a short memory like me), then spend the rest of the fall season getting after it, letting yourself have it, enjoy it, even if it's just one part of your ideal day, step by step make it your reality. Do it for your work life or your play life, or both. Check out this video and let the fearless Danielle Laporte guide you through it.

What are you doing this fall to stay amped on life, your work and play? I'd love to hear about it.

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks! 

Beautiful Rebellion: Johann Olav Koss

Rebellion is the act of resisting convention. A Beautiful Rebellion is resisting convention to provoke a movement to capture our collective capacity to empower.

Give a child a ball, and it changes everything. Sport and play have the power to improve the lives of children in disadvantaged areas of the world, creating a more healthy and safe world. This is what Johann Olav Koss believes in and what the global organization he founded, Right To Play, has believed in since it was formed over a decade ago. Only in our globalized world of today could a passion for a sport where you race on ice have an impact on children in refugee camps in Africa. How? Koss took his love of speed skating to the top of the Olympic podium, four times. Then, that same passion fuelled him to become one of the greatest ambassadors of sport the world has ever seen. As an aspiring Olympian in his early twenties, Koss took a fateful trip to Eritrea, Africa. Thousands of miles away from his home in Norway, Koss experienced the poverty of a war-torn famine-striken nation. And then he witnessed the transformation of a group of boys when one of them removed his shirt, turned the long sleeves into knots to create a soccer ball allowing them to play, laugh, and find temporary relief from their squalor. There he found new perspective, his reality changed from one of a laser-sharp focus on his sport ambitions to a world where he felt compelled to contribute to something greater than oneself. It was a realization that sport and his role as an athlete could have a much greater impact than he had ever imagined up to that point. He retired soon after, in his prime at 25 years of age and coming off a successful 1994 Olympics, to follow his calling. Koss is driven by a simple desire: to give people hope. This is an extremely powerful thing in the landscape he plays, sometimes so bleak that it's overwhelming for most of us to even know where to begin to help. There are over 42 million refugees worldwide - that's more than the entire population of California - that have become displaced as a result of natural disasters, political unrest and wars. In developing countries many people earn less than a dollar a day, have no access to primary education and maternal and child mortality rates are still high. Koss' contribution to transforming lives has been both tactical and strategic. He's set up his organization RTP to deliver sport programs in more than 20 countries and close to 835,000 children weekly. More than just parachuting in soccer balls, the programs build local capacity and coach-leadership. Meanwhile, he's advancing global policy for the integration of sport and play into national and international development priorities. RTP programming has been recognized as best practices and tools to help reach the Millennium Development Goals. Koss' brilliance also lies in his vision to apply the theories of sports marketing to the field of sport-for-development. RTP uses the special power of Olympic and professional athletes (like Chelsea F.C., Allyson Felix and Clara Hughes) as a way to build awareness and raise funds for RTP programs. Koss' accomplishments as an athlete have been surpassed by the impact he's made as a social entrepreneur and founder of Right To Play. By 2012, he has a goal of reaching one million children on a weekly basis.

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks!

Beautiful Rebellion: Simon Ibell

Rebellion is the act of resisting convention. A Beautiful Rebellion is resisting convention to provoke a movement to capture our collective capacity to empower.

Imagine being born with a disease so rare only 30 people in Canada are going through the same thing you are. Now imagine that it's a progressively debilitating condition that stops you from playing everything you've ever loved as a child, like basketball and rugby. Your internal organs become bloated and your joints rigid so you have trouble walking and breathing. Then doctors predict you to live a much shorter life than the average person. How do you react? If you're Simon Ibell, you tell your disease (MPS II) to go to hell and dedicate your adult life (because you've already surpassed that life expectancy you were labelled with) to finding a cure so others affected by MPS can have more hope. You create the Ibellieve Foundation and become a crusader not just for MPS but for all rare disease communities. You nurture a network of friends (including high school buddy Steve Nash, NBA MVP and musician Justin Hines) and public figures to support your simple yet impactful slogan "Be Fair to Rare". Despite your physical limitations, you launch your crusade by biking 500 km (grueling and exhausting for any healthy person) as a way to gain awareness. You announce a bold goal to raise enough money - $30 million by 2018 - to find a cure and build a dedicated research facility. You choose to approach life with a child-like optimism, infectious enthusiasm, and an unending belief in yourself and others to overcome any challenge. 

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks!

Beautiful Rebellion: Donna de Varona

Rebellion is the act of resisting convention. A Beautiful Rebellion is resisting convention to provoke a movement to capture our collective capacity to empower.

Donna de Varona's timing as an Olympian of the 1960's combined with her unrivalled passion for sport development, landed her at ground zero of some of the biggest milestones in women's sports history. She was a key activist for the Title IX program and helped establish the Women's Sports Foundation becoming the first ever president in 1976. The epitome of a pioneer, she was the first female TV sportscaster signing with ABC in 1965 as an 18-year-old fresh off her second Olympics as a gold medalist swimmer. As if that's not enough for one lifetime, the list goes on for where this trailblazer has facilitated change ... she chaired the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup hosted in the USA, and she continues to affect the postitive progression of sports through her role on the IOC's Women in Sports Commission. De Varona is one person who's historic resonance will be a positive influence well beyond her lifetime. 

Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks! 

Beautiful Rebellion: João Havelange

Rebellion is the act of resisting convention. A Beautiful Rebellion is resisting convention to provoke a movement to capture our collective capacity to empower. 

João Havelange, then FIFA President, launched the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991 in China, which the USA won after beating Norway thanks to a game-winning end of regulation time goal from Michelle Akers. Havelange's initiative came over 60 years after the first men's World Cup in 1930 and sparked the future of international stars like Mia Hamm, Akers, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain and April Heinrichs (USA), Sun Wen (China), Hege Riise and Bente Nordby (Norway) and Pia Sundhage (Sweden).

Twenty years after that first WWC, the 2011 tournament in Germany showcased how much the women's game has progressed with increased parity between nations and new threats emerging in the semi-finals (notably Japan, France and Sweden). Havelange's vision was catalytic to growing the game by providing a global platform to showcase the talent and athletic expression of female footballers.

Not afraid to bring new thinking to table, he was the first non-European to hold the FIFA Presidency. In his home country of Brazil, a stadium is named in his honour - watch for it in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

8 Things to Consider when Selecting a Sport Management Program

You've decided to ramp up your game and pursue a sports management degree - how do you decide on a program? It's a question I get asked often, as an alum of a sports management program. With over 400 sport management programs world wide (listed here) it's important you target those that are best suited to give you the education you are looking for. I recently spent time speaking with sport business managers who had completed sport management degrees in the USA, Canada and Europe. They brought their perspectives to the discussion about things to consider when choosing what program to go after. There were lots of considerations that came to the table but there were a few filters that came up more frequently than others: 

1. PURPOSE

It’s important to understand why you want to work in sports, and it needs to be more than your passion for sport, you need to find clarity on your passion for the business and industry. What do you hope to gain from your education? This will inform your decision more than anything. 

2. FOCUS 

Find out in what department the program is housed within the university. This will be a good indicator of how the degree is tailored to fit certain career paths within sports. For example, sport management programs are typically housed in business schools or kinesiology departments. The academic track influences what the program is designed to do and the education it gives you. It’s important to bring solid business fundamentals to the table to make an impact in the business of sport.

3. LOCATION

The school’s location can give you a great advantage. Choose a place in a location that is embedded in the type of sports industry you are most interested to have a career in. It will open up access to opportunities and can impact your career trajectory in a big way. A few examples: 

Monday Night Football: For Foreigners Like Me (and You?)

When we hear Monday Night Football what jumps to mind for many of us soccer fans all over the world is the cheeky Gary Neville doing his bit calling the English Premiere League on Sky Sports. In Australia, Monday Night Football means a fixture of the National Rugby League delivered by two of Australia's greatest ever "footy" players Andrew Johns and Peter Sterling. Here in my adopted country of the USA it's all about the NFL … and over the last 18 hours or so, MNF has lit up riveting commentary since the "touchception" call by the (replacement) referees in the game–winning last play for the Seattle Seahawks victory over the Green Bay Packers.

It intrigued me how much real estate this (passionate) conversation is taking up online (including some f-bombs via Twitter from heated players after the game). Although not unfamiliar with the power of sport to bring people together (for good or for bad) it spurred me to take a look at the forces at play. Just a Canadian trying to make sense of things…

NFL as Sport Crack
There are an insanely large number of eyeballs watching MNF. It has become an iconic franchise of sport TV over its 40 years on air. In its history MNF has registered eight of the top 10 all-time biggest

Reinvention is a Beautiful Word

Today my friend Suzie told me her brother was quitting his job to pursue his dream to live abroad (Hawaii apparently counts for "abroad") and live a more unconventional life for awhile. He's preparing to rent out his home which he owns and giving his employer notice. I always get inspired when someone shakes things up, and takes the bold step (or more likely hundreds of little steps) to turn a dream into a reality. Hearing the story of Suzie's brother landing himself in a new surrounding fires me up, in an addictive kind of way. It's pretty powerful. On a personal level, I don't want to move to Hawaii but I have a desire to hear more about his plans and get a taste of that enthusiasm he is feeling with the anticipation, hopes and possibilities of his personal re-invention. I'm a big believer in constantly re-inventing ourselves, it's totally necessary for all aspects of life to avoid those momentum-killing plateaus. What's great about the move Suzie's brother is making is that his re-invention matches his goals – he wants to experience a new way of life and he's curious about meeting people, understanding different cultures and the challenge of making a living without the 9-5. The spark of his reinvention came from his purpose and passion. It inspired me to consider when and what my last personal reinvention was … and what I have planned for around the corner? More to come on that...

Meanwhile, in my work world of product and consumer and marketplace that I live in each day, it made me think about how a product has the ability to transfer that same feeling to someone. If a brand can surprise and delight a consumer and ignite feelings of passion and

Mourinho's Passion

One of my favourite moments of this year's Champions League race so far is coach Mourinho's sliding celebration after Ronaldo scored the game winner for Real Madrid versus Manchester City FC today. Passion. Check out the cellie here.

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart. [confucious]





Please share this post if you liked it, loved it, found it inspiring, or funny (that's unlikely, I'm not that funny) or your eyes were zapped open by amazement - thanks!

Celebrate Clive

Daily as I leave home every morning a colour photograph of a smiling soccer coach hugging a heavy trophy is there to encourage me as I approach the door. Scribbled on its border are his inspiring words, “Earn your right to play!”

           

This simple message is underlined by the fact that my soccer coach, Clive Charles, died six months after the photograph was taken and exactly nine years ago today. He was faithful to his ideals to the end, and his spiritual presence bids me to follow in his footsteps.

“Earn your right to play”? Clive’s motto referred in particular to the conditional right of each of the 20 women who were privileged to wear the purple and white jerseys, which proclaimed that they were jointly the University of Portland Pilots soccer team. Acclaimed as one of the best collegiate women's soccer teams in the USA, the team has included several Olympians (most recently London 2012 saw Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt win bronze medals with Canada and Megan Rapinoe a gold with the USA), and Clive an Olympic coach.

Clive made it clear to us that earning a right to play applied to more than just the soccer field. It embraces all facets of life equally. In soccer and in life, he expected a high standard of

Anatomy of a (Freakishly Awesome) Goal

Recently I was organizing some old boxes my parents returned to me that I had been storing in their garage and I came across a list of goals I had written for a 12th grade English class project. It was a reflection of my ideal vision of life at the time (and there were some freakishly awesome goals that my 17 year old self set!). As I took a brief mental note of those