Zcause Blog; Anthony Zolezzi.com

As forms of ‘football’ go, my bet is on the sustainability of soccer

July 26, 2010

OK, I have to admit it – my recent trip to South Africa, during which I experienced the World Cup phenomenon first-hand, has turned me into a soccer fan. In fact, even on a Continental flight today with Direct TV, guess what I watched? A soccer match, naturally.

Now even when my kids were playing it, I never really understood the game. That’s because I had grown up playing traditional “hands-on” American sports -- football, basketball and baseball. But soccer? No way. It was simply not part of our athletic agenda.

Today, however, as I reflect on my sustainability activism and more simplistic, local orientation, soccer -- a game whose principle elements are shoes and determination – is starting to look more and more like the sport of the future. Whereas players in the NFL must have over 100 pieces of equipment on them by the time they suit up for a game, the type of “football” we call soccer is dependent on little more than raw athleticism. Due to its relatively unencumbered nature, this now to me exciting pastime is one that I firmly believe represents the wave of the future in professional sports. Not only is soccer an intrinsic aspect of what makes the developing world different from the developed world, but it symbolizes how we are going to have to meet the challenges ahead of us by ‘lightening our load’.

It is therefore my prediction that The World Cup of Soccer (or “World Football”) will ultimately gain ascendancy over other athletic competitions because, apart from shoes, this sport will not depend on helmets with microphones, unusual brawn or other unnatural burdens, but simply the raw talent of the individual players. It reminds me, in fact, of the factory farm versus the family farm. In the end, things will have to be sustainable in order to survive – and that includes our forms of recreation.

Advocate for women entrepreneurs deserving of attention and appreciation

July 26, 2010

Before I quit talking about my trip to the Global Forum I attended in South Africa, I’d like to put in a good word for one incredible individual I met there Her name is Lucy Kanu, and she’s the executive director of Idea Builders www.ideabuilders.org, based in Lagos, Nigeria. and what she does is offer women in 42 commonwealths opportunities to become entrepreneurs. Please check out the web site and, if you’re so inclined, send Lucy a note congratulating her for all she does. (This makes me wonder whether, if we provided them with the technology, the women of Africa might not be the ones to lead the recycling revolution. It’s an idea I plan to give some thought to in the coming months.)

Easing the effects of ‘eco-depression’ with a ‘get-together therapy’ session

July 26, 2010

It’s finally capped--- thank God, the well is capped. Today I had breakfast in Laguna Beach with one of my friends and colleagues, Greg Horn, the best-selling author of Living Green, catching up on a thousand different topics (it times, we almost seemed to be speaking in tongues). But what I found especially interesting was that fact that, like me, he was also suffering from “eco-depression” over the spill. Greg swims every day in the ocean off South Florida, and the thought of not being able to because of the oil was one he found profoundly disturbing. I reflected how this spill impacted me in ways I couldn’t even express until today.

If nothing else, it was therapeutic to be able to connect with a like-minded friend who understands that sustainability is not optional, but absolutely necessary to the survival of any species, including man.

So now I am on my way to Knoxville and reflecting how the lesson this gusher represented can help us to bring about the sustainable future it’s essential that we achieve if the planet and its inhabitants are to survive -- but only if we translate what we’ve learned from this catastrophe into prompt and sweeping action.

Bill Clinton explains how the ‘home team advantage’
of others can also end up working to our advantage

July 1, 2010

In the course of my career I have had the good fortune to have met and been influenced by some very savvy as well as distinguished individuals - perhaps none more so than Bill Clinton. So I was particularly pleased this past week to again have had the opportunity to encounter the former president and get the benefit of some of his latest insights.. The occasion was the Fortunes Global Forum that I attended in Cape Town, South Africa, coinciding with the FIFA World Cup matches taking place there. Clinton just happened to be on hand to close the second day of the conference, along with news anchors Wolf Blitzer and Katy Couric. This was my third meeting with him, and in each of the two previous encounters he has given me inspiration and advice that I found quite useful in business. This time, I believe, was no exception.

During his appearance prior to our brief meeting, the former commander-in-chief was asked by Blitzer whether he thought our current war in Afghanistan was winnable and he responded yes - provided we make the Afghans “the home team.” In other words, U.S. forces cannot win as visitors to the country -- we have to make it the Afghans’ war, not ours. He touched on that same theme a bit later with an eloquent reply to a question on why the U.S. should host the next FIFA World Cup. Noting that we have the stadiums to accommodate the games, he pointed out that every team in the world would have its own “home team crowd” of fans here, as was evident in the celebration of Ghana’s win over the U.S. in the streets from Miami to Philadelphia. Here again, someone else’s “home team advantage” can end up working to ours as well, if we only let it.

In my brief meeting with him following his talk, I had the chance to tell him how useful I had found the advice I had received from him in our last meeting about making sure the recycling business not only makes environmental sense, but economic sense as well. (I can’t remember why I was pointing in the accompanying picture.) And now, once again, as I expand the scope of my endeavors to encompass recycling enterprises in the developing world, I will take his counsel to heart – by making sure that the local community feels like it is involved in a "home team" program and not one merely built by and for the "visitors."

In fact, I think there are many of us who well could benefit from Clinton’s sage advice by realizing that our objective isn’t always to be seen as a winner, but to succeed at what we’re trying to accomplish -- even if it means letting others occasionally take the credit.

And if that advice helps my endeavors to succeed, the credit, Mr. President, belongs to you.

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