By: Mo’Herschel Harrison
It’s been quite a year for us at TrojanOne in regards to Movember.
This past June, we had Mr. Movember – Adam Garone – bring down the house with his closing keynote at the Canadian Sponsorship Forum. If you didn’t see it, check out this link.
With all due respect to Derek Jeter, I think Adam truly deserves to be called Mr. November… Or maybe Mr. Movember.
This fall, I was asked to join the Movember Toronto Committee, aptly run by sharpshooters Jordan Vader of MLSE and Casey Rovinelli from the NHLPA. One of the initiatives we have created is a Movember Agency Challenge. For all of you in the sector who want to get involved with your own team of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, check it out and get your team signed up. Andrew Gayle (Andrew.Gayle@mosaic.com) of Mosaic, Nick Karantjas (nkarantjas@boommarketing.ca) of BOOM! Marketing, and TrojanOne’s own Michelle Conte (michelle.conte@trojanone.com) have been doing all the heavy lifting on this one. Contact any one of them for mo’ information. Continue reading “One Mo’ Time!”→
Being funny isn’t easy. In fact, trying to be funny can often backfire. Witness my opening at this year’s Canadian Sponsorship Forum?
When I promised some insights on how to rev up your ROI, and my opening slide was entitled “Kick the Bucket” featuring a picture of Michael Jackson, the cricket choir wasn’t what I expected. Or hoped for. Yes, it’s true, MJ is worth more dead than alive. That’s the same for many a celebrity. But I was trying to make a joke.
That’s one advantage comedians have over the rest of us. When you go to a festival, or a show, or an improv night, ostensibly you come in a frame of mind to laugh. If you didn’t, well then you have issues this blog can’t solve.
The dates reveal that a young man has died. Even without knowing how he died, you sense the tragedy in the situation. Even without knowing the young man, you understand the grief that has struck his family. Even without reading the obituary, you can feel the sorrow amongst his friends.
The 2011 Canadian Sponsorship Forum has officially begun! Justin Orfus kicked off the opening ceremonies with an introduction of five of the TrojanOne team members, and then encouraged the audience to introduce themselves to those around them. Next, Mark Harrison of TrojanOne took to the stage to introduce the weekend and give an overview of how to rev up your ROI. Mark covered many of the topics that other speakers will delve into over the weekend, including social media and word of mouth, the power of turning participants into promoters, and how to get more by giving more. He discussed going beyond sponsorship to make genuine connections. His presentation included a lot of examples, from Hellmann’s to Coca-Cola, from Kraft’s involvement with Hockeyville to the Purolator Tackle Hunger program. He spoke about the lessons we can all learn from Richard Branson expanding, Oprah quitting, and even Michael Jackson dying.
A clip from Charlie Sheen wrapped up the opening keynote before delegates moved out into nearby rooms for the breakout presentation. Stay tuned for more from the Canadian Sponsorship Forum!
Keep up to date with Mark Harrison on Twitter – @MarkHarrison3.
Spotlights making his large shadow larger, “Lombardi” emerged from the darkness, slowly striding to centre stage.
My ticket told me that I was sitting in The Circle in the Square Theatre. The calendar told me it was December 29, 2010. My body told me I was 45 years old.
But as I saw the “Lombardi” character emerge onstage to open the play bearing his name, I was emotionally transported.
Not just back to a time when Vince Lombardi patrolled the sidelines in Green Bay. But to a time when I was forming my passion for the greatest sport in the world. Lombardi was dead at this point, but I worshiped what he had done. Even though my favourite NFL team was (and is) the Steelers; even though my favourite player was (and still is) Gale Sayers – I loved what Lombardi stood for and what he achieved.
Paul Brown went to 10 straight championship games (four in the old AAFC and six in the NFL), coaching the team he owned and christened. He did it with innovation and tactics. Chuck Knoll has won more Super Bowls than any other coach. He did it by massaging fragile psyches, balancing egos and embracing odd personalities. In different generations, George Halas and Don Shula are the only coaches to notch 300 victories.
But only Lombardi has won five NFL championships (I think, correct me if I am wrong) and he did it in just nine seasons with the Packers. He did it by taking the worst team in football in 1959 and, with the same core players, had them in the finals in two seasons and atop the podium in three. For me, it has always been about how he did it as much as what he did. There is a reason the Super Bowl trophy my Steelers are going to win (yet again) this year is named after him.
Lombardi understood people more than any coach who ever coached the game. He motivated them by making the “relentless pursuit of perfection” their goal. He fortified them by having them train harder than any pro coach would ever suggest. He convinced them by developing a single, powerful identity clothed in one offensive play – the PACKER SWEEP – that nobody could stop.
These three principles: never-ending pursuit of a goal, outworking others and creating overwhelming confidence – can work in any walk of life. Relationships. Friendships. Sports. Business.
For that, we owe Lombardi.
But as a youngster reading about Lombardi, I am doubtful (and hopeful) my reflections weren’t that deep. But, in some ways, they were. When I read Run to Daylight, I came to the realization that if I wanted something, all I had to do was work for it. I was incredibly insecure as a kid. This book gave me hope. It actually made me feel that it wasn’t about what you were born with. As an adult, I read When Pride Still Mattered by Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss. This isn’t a football book. It’s a book about what drives greatness in a reader.
If you want to understand yourself better, if you want to understand how to overcome your own demons… read it. If you want to understand why every family in the world is a mess… read it.
The current Lombardi play on Broadway is based on this book. My wife was generous enough to sit through it with me. For her, it was Broadway – great acting by the Marie Lombardi character… and, I suspect, perhaps a curiosity to understand me better.
For me, it was time travel. Seeing that play took me from my present day love of the game back to
the years when I would watch Condredge Holloway, Tommy Clements and later J.C. Watts guide my beloved (Ottawa) Rough Riders to Grey Cup titles and injustice (see offensive pass interference penalty on Tony Gabriel, circa 1981, I believe). It took me back to Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier. It took me back to Herschel (which is my nickname) Walker at Georgia and to the (almost) Toronto Northmen of the WFL. It took me to Johnnie Walton and the Boston Breakers of the USFL.
It took me back to being four-foot-nothing in grade nine. Struggling with being short. Struggling with not being a great football player, wrestler, or clarinet player. It took me back to wearing velour and living in the shadow of my dad – the hero teacher at my school – and older sister who I thought was perfect… as did the rest of my freaking hometown!
Football and my heroes like Lombardi let a little boy escape. It gave me confidence. It gave me pride.
That’s why I coach. Because of what the game can do to help little men become young men.
That’s why I melted when Dan Lauria as Lombardi strolled across the stage and the rest of the crowd applauded. My throat closed, my eyes followed. The tears came flowing out at an embarrassing pace. I wanted to go up onstage and hug him. This ghost. This myth. This guardian angle. This hero. My secret friend. My made-up pal.
Lombardi. He is football.
I have a poster that adorns my office wall with a portrait of Lombardi in his stoic pose. Half-smile, half-grimace on his face. Neat black suit, hands folded gently behind his back. The text of the poster is Lombardi’s famous speech – What It Takes to Be Number One. The poster stands next to my door and I am sure that many an intern has wondered what I am staring at. My eyes lost in Lombardi’s. My lips mouthing every word. My right hand clenched in the tense fist I make when I’m absorbed by something.
This speech is an invincible spirit raiser for any occasion. I have copied it here for you. Read it. Keep it. Read it again in a week. And the week after, and…
What It Takes to Be Number One
Vince Lombardi
Winning is not a sometimes thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that’s first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.
Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he’s got to play from the ground up – from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That’s O.K. you’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you’ve got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.
Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization – an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win – to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don’t think it is.
It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That’s why they are there – to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules – but to win.
And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.
I don’t say these things because I believe in the “brute” nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour – his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he’s exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.
Lucas Spata, just 35 years old, of the Vancouver Canucks marketing team is losing his three-year battle with micro cell cancer. He is presently in a hospice in Vancouver and soon he will leave behind a young widow and a three-year-old son.
His family faces an emotional battle and a financial one. But many people have stepped forward, including the Canucks organization, to help.
Lucas is a good friend of a good friend of mine, which is why I decided to help spread the appeal for more help. He is a valuable contributor to our industry. Most of you don’t know him. Personally, I’ve only met him once, but his story is a tragic reminder of how fortunate many of us are.
Take a moment to read his story and send some support. It doesn’t have to be money. While donations are needed, so is support, including just telling others and sharing his story.
Read on about Lucas — I’m sure you will touched by his unbelievable concern for others, despite knowing his own fate is sealed.
I’m a stickler for typos, so it took me a few minutes to realize that when one of my MojanOne “Movember” teammates sent me the one sentence email, “How is it Moing?” that they weren’t being sloppy! Or MOppy! They were having mo’ fun!
Sensing there was some MOmentum building in our office for this MOvember thing, I wanted to check out how the rest of our team was doing.
Our Calgary team, who are sporting the IDA moniker for Integrated Duster Activations, struck a pose on Day One that has them off and facing to some big fundraising goals. One of our interns has already raised two hundred and ten MOllars! Meow!
That would put her in second place the Toronto office, where one of our mo’s is already at $300 mones.
So, at the risk of being left behind in the must, I realized I had to seize the day and start MOwing some lawns. So here MOes.
Let’s start with the basics. We all know that 1 in 6 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes. Last year, one of those was my father.
Unlike his son, my dad isn’t keen on publicity. (Guess the rumours of my being adopted are true!). But I have to brag a little.
My dad is the greatest man on earth.
He taught high school for a hundred years in Orillia, and was the most popular teacher in school. His class was machine shop, but his lessons were about life. He took kids to our cottage, took them on canoe trips, and took them to personal heights they would never have reached without him. He loved his students like they were his children, and as an immature youth, I was actually jealous of that.
On a teacher’s salary, he was the richest man in town. He had a warmth that everyone felt and bought winter boots for kids who couldn’t afford them. He treated everyone like a king, especially the janitors because he knew a school couldn’t exist without them.
As a father, he taught me to rake every leaf on the lawn, clear every snowflake from the driveway, and capture every speck of dirt in the garage. At 45, I’m still enthusiastically trying to meet his standards. As a husband, he has made my mother’s life magical for 53 years and they will never be apart.
I’m dedicating my involvement in Movember to my dad. When we were kids, my friends called him “Sugar Ron” because he used to be a boxer. (Google Sugar Ray Leonard if you don’t get the point!). Well, he’s still a fighter! He’s knocking the crap out of PC!
Please join me in raising awareness about Prostate Cancer and support Movember. Join a team, donate to me or my team at movember.com/mospace/770320/, or support someone else’s team.
Do it for you dad, your granddad, your dad-in-law, future dads, and all the other dads that give us our Mojo!
