Citius, Fortius, Altius. Faster, Stronger, Higher. The Olympic Motto can easily stand today as the motto of globalization. To win the future, we must out educate (higher), out innovate (faster) and out build (stronger) our competitors. Doing so offers low risk, high return and an ROI worth spreading.

Mayor Michael Hancock says, “I here people say we’re ready to turn challenges into opportunities for a brighter future.” Former Mayor, now Governor, John Hickenlooper used to frame his comments by saying, “This is what great cities do!” Jim Collins’ new book “Great by Choice” makes the case that greatness is a choice. Do the Olympics offer MileHigh a chance to choose greatness? Is there an enduring ROI from the endeavor? Why bother? The Olympic risk/reward profile has changed dramatically (since 1984), for American cities, due to privately funded American bids with corporate and media sponsorships. Translated that equals lower risk, higher return for a city. Is an Olympic pursuit worth the effort? It depends.

Denver 2022 exploratory committee’s work (Q1-2012) will evaluate the risk and reward of bidding, winning and hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. To get out of the starting gate, MileHigh must distinguish the endeavor as a low risk, high reward. To understand Salt Lake City’s 2002 Olympic reward/legacy click here. Winning (any) future makes one massive assumption…we have the will to do so. The invisible force of internal drive activated is mysterious. When you see its healthy expression, you witness deep passion and a joy found in effort. A former world champion was recently quoted on America’s new dominance in ski racing (vs. Austrian dominance), “Austrians now envy the less-rigid U.S. approach. We see them as super-cool because they look like they’re having so much fun… With the Americans, it comes from the heart.”

The five Olympic questions for Denver to ask are: How? What? When? Who? Why? The answer to “Why” precipitates everything else. However, it is often the last question asked and it should be the first.

Why Denver 2022? Jacque Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee [IOC] in paraphrasing the Olympic Charter says, “The Olympic Movement has the moral duty to place sport at the service of humanity.”  It is the highest calling, which unfortunately, has seen a great deal of cause-washing over the years. However, there is one Olympic city that embodied the challenge and shines above the rest. Why Lillehammer 1994? Answer: The “Environment”. The environment became an official Olympic pillar, by design, because of Lillehammer and Norway’s vision, mission and execution of the 1994 Winter Olympic “Environmental” Games. Henceforth, every city that bids on the Olympic Games must submit an entire environmental plan.  Lillehammer’s innovation put the environment into the Olympic Movement.

Upon launching the new Colorado Innovation Network, Governor Hickenlooper said, “We’ve got the Colorado Advantage… we are almost perfectly poised to be a center where we accelerate new ideas and translate them into prosperity.” How does America compete against the New Frontier Era of Olympic proliferation (i.e. Sochi, Rio, Pyeonchang – Doha, Istanbul, Baku)? Enter the MileHigh vision to elevate (Denver Olympics) for healthier generations.

Currently, “Health” is not an official pillar of the Olympic Movement. It seems both obvious and counterintuitive that it is not.  Global health needs the vigor of an Olympic partnership. Melinda Gates says, “We must engage the levers of culture to transform public health.” The Olympic Movement is a global, cultural lever.  Sixty percent of all the global death, every year, is due to lifestyle related disease.  Eighty percent of those deaths occur in ethnic, low and middle income urban communities (see global impact here). Beijing, London, Moscow, Cape Town, Rio, Calcutta, Seoul, Sydney, Dubai, Chicago, Denver, etc., all suffer this modern urban burden.

Global health institutions like the W.H.O., U.N., UNICEF, Gates Foundation, Clinton Global Alliance, World Bank, etc…need the advocacy and partnership of the Olympic family. They will become Denver’s greatest cheerleaders. The new frontier for the Olympic Movement is to become a global torchbearer for active, healthy lifestyles. The timing is right. In September 2011, President Rogge made the IOC’s first formal commitment to the United Nations to work together to combat lifestyle related (chronic) diseases. See President Rogge addressing the U.N. here. MileHigh can carry this torch to higher ground.

We can win our economic future with healthier generations. The Milken Institute report on the loss of economic prosperity (foregone GDP), due to lifestyle related diseases, is staggering. The tragic economics of it all, connect us all. Innovating Colorado’s health is an economic advantage that is low risk, high return. What if we became the first state in the U.S. to reverse the upward trends of childhood obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.? That’s a game changer. It is the equivalent of breaking the four-minute mile in public health. Denver 2022 represents a Sputnik moment for us to out educate, out innovate and out build healthier generations. To win the future, I cannot say it any better than President Jack Kennedy did in a 1960 article he wrote for Sports Illustrated entitled the “Soft American”.

Mayor Hancock says, ” Now is the time for all of us to come together and turn our dreams and aspirations into reality. It is time for Denver to take its rightful place as one of the premier cities in the United States and around the globe.” America has lost its last two Olympic bids (2012, 2016). American speed skater, Dan Jansen, was the gold medal favorite in back to back Olympics. He fell in both. He came back for a third Olympics and won Gold because that is what champions do…they persevere. Winning 21^st century economic prosperity and hosting the world in 2022 requires a united approach and a collective will. Do you believe in miracles?  America’s 1980 Miracle on Ice was not a miracle.  It was a shining example of what a united team can do when they believe and come from the heart. Game on…

One thing I love about TEDx events is the unbelievable community of people. We are smart, we are interested and we expand ourselves and thoughts by sharing insights and experiences. I leave every event inspired and challenged to look at life differently.

Earlier this year I became curious about what makes a person quotable. How important is the context? The content? Timing and cadence? Or, do good quotes stand on their own? When wondering aloud at a friend’s birthday dinner, I promised to start a daily quote log to capture the clever, insightful or funny things I hear over the year.

This project has fine-tuned my listening to hear the brilliance in what people say. Everyone in my life is smarter and funnier than ever before! Some of my favorite quotes range from the profound, “Food: it’s meant to be eaten,” to sage advice like, “Passionately follow what you are in love with.”  And finally, the endless inquiry available in the question, “What if gummy worms could wiggle?”

Not surprisingly, TEDxMileHighSalon provided several days worth of material. When asked about the thinking he uses when faced with a difficult situation, Allen Lim said, “Take out the word ‘should’. Whenever you’re ‘shoulding’ yourself, figure out another way to say the same thing without it.” Theo Wilson, when asked what one thing is we can do to take action after the Salon said, “Maybe it isn’t what you do, but what you stop doing.” And, as professed by Dr. Huemer, “Rationality is expensive. It forces us to believe something we don’t want to believe,” as exemplified by the fact that over 70 times more people died from the ‘war on terror’ than actual terrorism.

From my experience over the last six months and as eloquently suggested by Cesar Gonzalez, maybe by “listening for the messiah in others” everyone can be quotable.

I didn’t have much of a plan that evening—but I found myself struck by the number of homeless strolling by, playing cards, chatting on the sidewalks. I went home to do some research on the homeless population found that there are 6,000+ homeless in Denver, of which 60% are families with children, 42% are women, and found this TED talk from 2009, where journalist Becky Blanton speaks about her experience being homeless.

The talk focuses on three main points: (1) society’s placement of value on having shelter, (2) the negative perceptions of others’ realities and the implications it has on an individual, and (3) homelessness is an attitude, not a lifestyle. Reading the comments below the talk, I found that there were many people impacted positively and negatively from the talk itself. The important piece, however, is the need to think about homelessness as we go about our daily lives–its causes, its truths, and its myths. The talk itself serves to be a springboard for conversation, not a piece that ends homelessness altogether.

In 2003, then-mayor John Hickenlooper created a 10-year plan to end homelessness in Denver, called Denver’s Road Home. An ambitious project, it was created to end homelessness in Denver by 2015. The current statistics on the project show the numbers of homeless have fallen by 11%, and the project has reduced chronic homelessness to a large degree, and has built over 1,000 new housing units to individuals and families in need. There are many myths and false perceptions of the homeless, but the truth is that many of the homeless have jobs, are seeking better lives, and aren’t panhandling for money. The vast majority of panhandlers in Denver, costing citizens over $4 million per year, aren’t homeless and most of the homeless don’t panhandle. We are on the right path in Denver, but we need to focus our efforts on truly solving the problem, which is not always by blindly giving to a man on a corner with a cardboard sign.

What are you doing to make a difference? How can our community rise up and continue fighting for decency for people, for understanding, and for better lives?

There are several ways you can boost your chances. If you’re already a fan of TEDxMileHigh on Facebook and a follower on Twitter, you will automatically be entered once to win. If not, ‘Like’ and ‘Friend’ us by January 8th. Our online presence is all about you, the TEDxMileHigh Community member, so our Social Media Team will be watching the activity over the next few weeks to identify our ‘uber’ fans. Comment here on our new blog. Chat with us on Facebook and Twitter. Share with your friends. The more you interact the more times you are entered to win tickets. We’ll announce a number of winners the week of January 9th. If you win and have already purchased tickets to the event, we’ll provide you with a refund.

For those who purchase tickets to TEDxMileHighSalon, you’ll also be entered to win some great prizes that will be awarded at the January 19^th event. To offer up a few clues, think about your favorite restaurant, museum, and Colorado activities.

Of course the giveaways pale in comparison to the stellar lineup that you’ll hear from and mingle with at TEDxMileHighSalon. Back by popular demand is professional cycling coach Dr. Allen Lim, plus you’ll hear what’s happened to SAME Café and Libby Birky since she last spoke at TEDxMileHigh 2011. You won’t want to miss it!

Tickets are only $25 and they’re very limited. You can get them here, along with details of the event. Good luck and we look forward to seeing you in January!

P.S. Details about TEDxMileHigh 2012 are coming soon…

With this in mind, consider this blog just one way that we hope to keep you connected and informed on the topics important to you – technology, entertainment, design, science, education, socially-minded enterprise and innovation of all types and, ultimately, community.