What's your passion?

This weekend I felt very privileged to attend The Goodwood Revival meeting in West Sussex.  A veritable hotbed of exquisite historic cars, aeroplanes, fashion, music and memorabilia of a bygone era, not the mention the superb motor racing for which the event has an unrivalled reputation. 

I believe it was Fangio, the Argentinean Formula One racing driver of formidable achievement who said, “You need great passion, because everything you do with great pleasure, you do well”.

From a spotless original 1965 Ford Transit, The Shelby Cup, a tribute to Dan Gurney to a grid value of c £300,000,000 worth of historic race Ferrari’s  - the magic and sparkle one could almost hold.   Now for those of you who are not particularly interested in things ‘petrol-head’, this is not the purpose of the post.

It was the passion and unbridled enjoyment that was palpable. Not only for the cars, the planes, the history, the racing, the clothes (that’s another post entirely) the atmosphere at this event was inspiring and extremely pleasurable. I met people from all walks of life, had conversations with more strangers in a day than I’ve done for ages and met one or two celebrities to boot. The passion of individuals for their cars, racing, the era, the clothes or just to enjoy a day at Goodwood House, was incredible.

I don’t think there was one vehicle, plane or person there that wasn’t immaculately turned out, well maybe one or two, but you get my point.

It may be the legacy of the success of the Olympics, the sheer passion and attention to detail for this event by Lord March and his team, or the sunny day that made the difference.  However, living in challenging times, with volatile markets and economies, if finding our passion for what we care about makes such a big difference; to us, our friends and families, our companies, motor-racing events, then surely that’s the way to go. 

As Disraeli said “ Man (or woman) is only truly great when he acts from his passions”.

What’s yours?

Are you living or working to Gold Standards?

What a phenomenal achievement; 65 Team GB Olympic medalists, an uplifting and inspiring fortnight and a certain ‘joie de vivre’ around the capital city.  What a lot to celebrate!

Andrew Hunt, CEO of the British Olympic Association has been talking widely about the magic that the immense collaboration and support of our amazing sports men and women has enabled in terms of success and medals.  Yes, they are incredible athletes in their own right however as so many have attested and in some instances in a very moving way, it was also about the team around them.

Be it in sports or in business, it is very well documented that teamwork, collaboration and cohesiveness really does pay dividends and that feeling of being part of a community or something bigger than oneself is part of being human.

Last week I had a meeting in Westminster followed by one near Green Park in London and I decided to walk, as it was a nice day.  Now, this was right in the middle of the Olympic fortnight and my route took me past Buckingham Palace – it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea and might make me late.  It didn’t. It was also a most palpable and memorable experience, there were hoards and hoards of people (they were changing the guard too) but the atmosphere was electric.  There was an immense feeling of camaraderie, support, happiness perhaps and just an enjoyment of being part of something very big and very special.

I met one of the Games Makers (the volunteers who gave up their time to work at the Olympics for free) yesterday and he very humbly said, it was one of the most amazing experiences of his life.  He has traveled the world and sat on the boards of some of the world’s most illustrious companies, so he’s had some experience in his life.

The focus and dedication of the sportsmen and women is just extraordinary, and as many of them have said ‘ if you really want something’ you can. The Team GB women’s hockey players who won bronze medals have talked widely about their pact and commitment to each other some years ago in 2009 to train and live their lives at gold standards.  That’s just what they did and made some monumental sacrifices along the way. They defined their goals, refined along the way and now have the medals to prove it. If that’s not inspiring, I don’t know what is.

Great success and achievement comes from hard work, focus, teamwork, tracking progress and celebrating the small stuff and the big stuff along the way. 

So, if gold is what you’re seeking in any area of your life  - are you living or working to gold standards?

Or perhaps we could all take a leaf out of Eric Idle’s book (Olympic closing ceremony) and ‘always look on the bright side of life, de doo, de doo, de doo de doo.’ Not a bad place to start.