Leadership: What John Furlong has to say

He asks the question, “How good are you prepared to be? If people want to be you, would you behave the same way that you do?”

As CEO of VANOC, the organizing committee for Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, John Furlong would, among many things, do two key things as a leader: have a vision and stay believing in that vision.

In his story, Patriot Hearts: Inside the Olympics that Changed a Country, Furlong makes his leadership apparent in his belief that the Olympics in Vancouver could not be about “constructing venues and providing jobs and sparking tourism, but about doing something profoundly human for our country and showing the world what could be achieved when the people of a nation come together to do a great thing.”

When the bid to host was won, and he was hired to be CEO, John Furlong began directing his team by first defining the core values by which they would live for the next eight years. Whenever they lost grip on the vision, they returned to their values to ensure they stayed on course and found the answers they needed to continue forward. The values that would lead John and his team to success were: 

Teamwork. No one individual should overpower the vision at any time. Every member of the team must keep their word on what they promised to deliver. John visited construction sights on an ongoing basis to thank employees personally for being part of the team; one minister handed out Olympic jackets to show appreciation for their hard work.

Trust. Create a culture where every job in the organization is important. Trusting that others will do a great job and perform when they are called upon is important to ongoing morale. Delegating jobs to capable people, without vested interest, was key to the success of VANOC.

Excellence. Achieving excellence in Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics meant that the Games would touch everyone. VANOC achieved this by organizing the cross-country carrying of the Olympic torch.

Creativity. The ability to solve your own problems and overcome road blocks in any project requires creativity. The promise to unite the country by bringing the flame to some of Canada’s remotest places posed a challenge. An Olympic torch cannot be burning in more than one place at one time, however, the Olympic committee got creative to be able to be within one hour drive of 95% of Canada’s population. A lantern lit by the Olympic flame was taken to more remote communities while the torch continued on its major cities route.

Sustainability. One of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic board members, **name**, defined “sustainable” as “doing the right thing every time.” One example of this was during construction on the downhill runs at Whistler. Staff had to remove dozens of frogs and tadpoles by hand and relocate them 40 meters upstream before they could continue construction.

Among many characteristics, John Furlong believes a good leader needs to embrace the following to have success: 

1. Have a vision for your life. Wake up every day and go to work excited.
2. When you enter a time of darkness, no one knows you are there. Be courageous and choose to come out of it. Risk looking silly, risk humility.
3. Be the person you would want to be if others wanted to be you.

Furlong’s vision of hosting the Olympics also incorporated giving Canada’s athletes high performance funding. The Own the Podium program did not only help athletes excel without having to worry about monetary boundaries and connecting with world class coaches and sports practitioners, but it sent an important message to all Canadians: you are worth it. Vancouver would turn out to be the most successful Winter Games yet for the Canadian Olympic Team, finishing with 26 medals, and setting a record of most gold medals ever won by one nation at the Winter Olympics.

Before it started, John voiced that Vancouver 2010 would be a success if the Olympic spirit could touch every Canadian family and child. And it did; launched by a cross-country Olympic torch relay, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics would be the biggest event ever to be organized in Canada.

If you treated your business like a winning nation, would you still have the same business vision as you do today? If you “owned your podium” and were dedicated to your team, as John Furlong was to VANOC and the Canadian Olympic Team, what would your business look like?