Man In Motion

John Hansen was a budding athlete in five different sports with dreams of being an Olympian when, tragically, he suffered a spinal cord injury at the age of 15, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Rather than suffer through the injury as most people would do, Hansen turned the tragedy into a new avenue to master. He worked through rehabilitation, graduated high school, and became the first person to graduate with a physical education degree from the University of British Columbia. He helped his teams win national championships in wheelchair volleyball and basketball, and competed for Canada in both the 1980 and 1984 Paralympics, bringing home a record six medals in racing.

In 1985, having already mastered the world of Paralympics, Hansen embarked on his most audacious journey yet, mastery of the entire world…literally! With fellow British Columbian Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope as his inspiration, Hansen started his Man in Motion World Tour, a 26-month, 40,000 km journey through 34 countries to raise money for spinal cord research. Despite little media attention when he began, Hansen arrived in Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium on May 22, 1987 to cheering crowds, and with almost $26 million for research and quality of life initiatives raised.

Autonomy or Automaton?

It wasn’t too long ago that the only way for someone to find autonomy in the workplace was to either move way up the corporate food chain, or start their own business. Most people’s lives were dominated by the 9-5, 5 day-a-week work schedule of the typical corporate job. They were automatons, chained to their desks or their phones. But the internet and Global marketplace have changed all that. Now that so many important company processes are online, and so many clients are scattered all around the world, just about anyone can work from anywhere and anytime they want.

Jeff Gunther, and his software company Meddius, provide a perfect example of autonomy at work. All employees are empowered to work whenever and wherever they want. As long as they get their work done, Gunther doesn’t care whether they show up in the office or complete their project at 3 in the morning. Everything goes. This allows him to focus on what he believes in the key function of management: “Creating conditions for people to do their best work.”

Look For The Helpers

After the type of week we experienced last week, it would be easy to feel depressed about the direction humanity is headed. With man-made bombs intentionally going off in Boston, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and an unintentional bomb exploding in West, Texas all this violence and hate is enough to give you the sense that things are going very wrong. But, as is usually the case in life, focusing on these scenes of destruction really doesn’t give us the full picture. Even during all the turmoil there were people doing good things, helping total strangers, proving just how great people can be when they are motivated by a sense of purpose. As I watched the news coverage for the Boston Marathon bombing, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a famous quote by Mr. Rogers: