I flew to Paris while Parisians were fleeing the city in a mass exodus. Between terrorist threats, the dissolution of the Assembly, the Seine’s water quality and global politics, it did not feel like a great start for a celebration of peace, friendship, respect, and excellence.
Yet, Paris 2024 managed to turn grumpiness into inspiration. Here are some thoughts and questions that I’ll take from the Olympics back to the office.
And if you read till the end, I’ll tell you about saving a weasel with ‘terrorist’ ambitions.
Lesson 1 from the Olympics: Togetherness is magical
The Olympic Games have dozens of sporting competitions taking place every day. Yet, it is first and foremost the biggest shared experience in the world. More than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries in 32 sports participated.
They slept on similar cardboard beds at the Olympic Village and tried the same chocolate muffins. Visitors from around the world took the same metros and shared the same uncomfortable seats in stadiums.
Billions of people watched the same opening ceremony, feeling alternately wowed and amused, and cheered together for the same games.
This collective experience simply made us feel good. It was a boost of oxytocin and dopamine. It made people nicer on the streets of Paris. It reminded us of all the best of humanity, of what we can do when we are united.
The question to reflect on back in the office is: How can we embrace the Olympic spirit in our company culture?
Lesson 3 from the Olympics: Showing up matters
France lost both basketball finals – in the men’s and women’s categories – against Team USA. Yet the feeling was not one of failure because of how epic the battle was. Everyone showed up. And showing up matters even when it’s not a final, and even when you’re doing it for others rather than for yourself.
With the randomness of draws in ticket sales, we ended up watching a women’s volleyball game: Japan versus Kenya. Both teams were playing their last game in the Olympics and were already eliminated. There were no stakes for them in this game.
Yet this game was brilliant; they gave it their all. Japan took the lead, Kenya fought to come back, they aced, they passed, they spiked, they blocked, and they sacrificed themselves. They cried at the end when Japan won. The audience was there throughout. We cheered, sang, clapped. Everybody cared about this moment: about showing up and doing right by each other, about being true to the aspiration of excellence. This made the moment meaningful to all involved.
The question to reflect on back in the office is: How can we consistently show up for each other with grit and perseverance?
Lesson 3 from the Olympics: Winning while respecting competitors
There were some exceptional performances in Paris. Arshad Nadeem winning the first-ever individual Olympics gold medal for Pakistan in the javelin throw. Djokovic crowning his career and collapsing in tears after winning his first Olympic title. Leon Marchand bringing France to a standstill every time he swam and winning four gold medals. Simone Biles taking gymnastics by storm and unlocking her seventh medal at the Olympics.
All of this was inspiring. Yet, a moment that stayed with us was when Biles and Jordan Chiles, who were both on the podium in the Olympic women’s gymnastics floor exercise, bowed to the Brazilian gold medalist Rebeca Andrade. Like many athletes at the Olympics, Andrade came from a poor background – with seven siblings and a single mother who used to clean houses to pay for her daughter’s gymnastics lessons. That moment was a true lesson in respect and sportsmanship.
The question to reflect on back in the office is: How can we be more sportsmanlike in our industry?
Maybe, reflecting on all these amazing stories, what inspires me the most is how these athletes are always pushing themselves.
It’s not enough to have won once to be on top of your game. They are constantly reinventing themselves and reinventing how the game is played. They are not satisfied with the status quo. And that’s a great mindset to come back with in September.
And now for the weasel story
The apartment that we were staying at was just across from the Bois de Vincennes, which is Paris’ largest public park. One night, my husband came back home, telling me that he and a friend saved a weasel. The animal seemed dazed and was in the middle of the road. So, they stopped traffic and allowed the poor creature to make its way back to safety.
The next day, we read the headline: “Mystery solved: it was a weasel that severed the fibre optics cables of the Vincennes Fan Zone”.
By Jennifer Fischer, Chief Innovation & Growth Officer, Publicis Groupe
