I’m really looking forward to next week’s Entrepreneurship @ Cornell University! The energy building up to this is incredible as I’ve begun to interact with my fellow speakers and attendees.
Right now I’m thinking about my topics and the most important take home value I can deliver to the students, entrepreneurs and attendees.
Before I get to Ithaca, I’m attending the 72nd Annual Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) convention in Orlando, FL. Since I’m launching a new brand project, it will give me an opportunity to further discuss packaging, branding, sourcing and overall strategy with some of the brightest leaders in the industry. Last year at WSWA I kicked off the pre-launch of Sugar Skull Rum.
This is a cool brand that unfortunately got stopped in its tracks by certain partners before we could get beyond kickoff in a few markets. Time will tell where it ends up, but the early response was terrific! There are lessons in this one I will certainly share at Cornell.
Finally, although I rooted for Wisconsin at the Final NCAA game last week, I am looking forward to hearing Mike Krzyzewski- better known as “Coach K“- head of the legendary Duke University Blue Devils basketball squad, address our group on Monday morning. Not a Duke fan generally, but definitely hold Coach K in high regard and interested in his message on leadership and winning.
Here’s an outline of my upcoming Cornell visit:
Tuesday/Wednesday – participate in and speak at the Pillsbury Institute’s
Technology Entrepreneurship Roundtable, Chaired by: Mona Anita Olsen, Ph.D. Assistant Academic Director of The Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship, Visiting Assistant Professor of Management & Organizational Behavior, Cornell University
I’m looking forward to my session with Cornell classmate Joe Tagliente, President, Lenrock and a fellow YPO’r. Our panel is called “Brand Activation Through Social & Mobile Apps and Development of A Social Mobile Company” The full program is here.
It will be catching up with fraternity brother (Sigma Nu) Zach Shulman, who I found out after committing to my visit is Director of Entrepreneurship @Cornell! Very cool!
Thursday/Friday are jam packed with the Entrepreneurship @Cornell Celebration.
In this I’m joining more than 1,000 alumni, students, faculty, and staff for two days of on-campus events including:
Symposia on a wide range of topics including family business, social entrepreneurship, health administration and more!
eLab Demo Day
New Business & Emerging Technologies Showcase
BIG Idea Competition and Cornell Venture Challenge finals
Recognition of the Student Business of the Year
Networking opportunities …and more!
I have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Olsen’s class called:
The the rest of the day includes a keynote by Jay Walker (one of America’s best-known business inventors and entrepreneurs, has founded multiple successful startup companies that today serve more than 75 million customers in 15 different industries) and the banquet with special guest Svante Myrick ’09, Ithaca Mayor
On Friday I’m joining two other entrepreneurs in a celebration talk:
In between all this I’m visiting the Viticulture and Oenology department, with Prof. Gavin Sacks to learn about what Cornell is up to in the wine world and also to see what we can do to tie them into our 11th Annual Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS) in Napa in June.
Finally, I’m paying a visit to the Friedman Wrestling center and Coach Rob Koll, 4 X NCAA champion Kyle Dake and first time champion Gabe Dean… and later meeting up with my old wrestling coach and Athletic Director, Andy Noel... this will entail its own post after we meet up!
I look forward to writing about my experiences and all the interaction with new and old friends! Cheers!
Dear International Olympic Committee & Olympic Sponsors
cc: Friends of Wrestling,
Your decision today clearly upset a large number of Olympic fans around the world. Â While we who are not privy to all of the issues you must grapple with internally, cannot know exactly what led to your decision announced today to drop wrestling from the 2020 Olympic games, it is clear you have miscalculated on at least one front. Â To wit, wrestling is one of the toughest sports ever invented and anyone who has wrestled at any level or has been close to wrestling can tell you… wrestlers are a tenacious lot. Â In fact, we don’t give up. Â The level of protest you can expect from this community will surely come as a surprise to all of you.
There three main reasons why the Olympics will be diminished without wrestling:
1. Wrestling, a truly international sport, has been around since pre-historic times and was an important part of Greek culture when the Olympics got its start –
According to WIKIPEDIA:
In the Ancient Near East, forms of belt wrestling were popular from earliest times.  A carving on a stone slabe showing three pairs of wrestlers was dated to around 3000 BC… A portrayal of figures wrestling was found in the tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum in Saqqara dating to around 2400 BC.  Another early piece of evidence for wrestling in Egypt appeared circa 2300 BC, on the tomb of the Old Kingdom philosopher Ptahhotep…. Greek wrestling was a popular form of martial art in which points were awarded for touching a competitor’s back to the ground, forcing a competitor out of bounds (arena).  Three falls determined the winner. It was at least featured as a sport since the eighteenth Olympiad in 704 BC. Wrestling is described in the earliest celebrated works of Greek literature, the Iliad and the Odyssey.   Wrestlers were also depicted in action on many vases, sculptures, and coins, as well as in other literature. Other cultures featured wrestling at royal or religious celebrations, but the ancient Greeks structured their style of wrestling as part of a tournament where a single winner emerged from a pool of competitors.   Late Greek tradition also stated that Plato was known for wrestling in the Isthmian games.
When the Olympic games resurfaced at Athens in 1896, Greco-Roman wrestling was introduced. After not being featured in the 1900 Olympics, sport wrestling was seen again in 1904 in St. Louis; this time in freestyle competition. Since then, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling have both been featured, with women’s freestyle added in the Summer Olympics of 2004.
2. Wrestling has a tight knit passionate community of participants and followers globally, who greatly value and honor the Olympics. Â Wrestling does not have a professional wrestling option as many other sports. Â Unlike many other sports, the Olympics are the highest and most important venue for wrestling. Â Many other sports have other higher levels (professional ). Â All US (and international) wrestlers who got our start after him, grew up idolizing Dan Gable and his perfect performance (no point ever scored against him throughout the games) in the 1972 Olympic games. Â I had the privilege of attending Dan Gable’s Iowa Intensive Training Camp back in 1983.
3. Â Wrestlers and their friends have significant influence in today’s society. Â It is ironic that the day the IOC chose to drop wrestling happens to be wrestler and greatest US President, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Â We will use that influence to do anything in our power to change this short sighted decision. Â Whether the wrestling greats like Dan Gable or the many others who have gone on to excel in their professional pursuits, we will work together to fix this. Â Here are but a few of the well known Americans who wrestled (from the National Wrestling Coaches Association):
U.S. PRESIDENTS
Chester Arthur Calvin Coolidge Dwight Eisenhower
Ulysses S Grant Andrew Jackson Abraham Lincoln Teddy Roosevelt William Howard Taft
John Tyler
Â
Â
U.S. SENATE
The late John Chafee (former senator RI)
Lincoln Chafee (former senator RI)
Chuck Hagel ( Nebraska )
John McCain ( Arizona )
The Late Paul Wellstone ( Minnesota )
Â
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Brad Glass
Greg Ganske (Iowa )
Jim Jordon (Ohio)
Jim Leach ( Iowa )
Jim Nussle ( Iowa )
The Late Carl Albert (Former Speaker of the House)
Dennis Hastert ( Illinois ) (Former Speaker of the House)
IOC, I believe you will listen to reason so long as it is delivered by your sponsors. Â These sponsors are global companies most of which are based in wrestling countries as are their customer. Â The global partners of the Olympics include (along with their twitter handle):
Here is the petition to re-instate wrestling into the Olympics.. please sign it.
If you are really motivated, tweet about it, mention the sponsors on twitter and worst case if we do not get support, take your business to other companies who are not supporting the IOC and this short sighted move.
