What can we learn from the Amazing Race?

I am an addict – I admit it.  I am addicted to the television show The Amazing Race.  I am not a big fan of most reality shows, but I LOVE The Amazing Race.  I love seeing the different locations they travel to and the tasks teams are required to perform to get the next clue.  The “detours” and “roadblocks” are never degrading and usually tied into the culture of the country or city they are in.  I find it entertaining and educational simultaneously.  As I have watched this show over the last 11 seasons (I didn’t discover it until season 5), I have noticed certain characteristics that separate successful teams from those that fall early in the competition.  Furthermore, I believe these same characteristics are essential in our daily lives.  These are the lessons I have learned from watching The Amazing Race:

Respectful communication is critical – The ability to communicate effectively and respectfully with their partner and others is perhaps the most important characteristic of successful Race teams.  Every season there are a few teams that lack this essential element.  Under the stress of the race (which can be extreme) these teams often spiral into petty bickering (at best) or (at worst) name calling and screaming.  Forward progress usually stops until the bickering and name calling subsides.  Furthermore, teams that snipe at other teams often earn a target on their back which can have calamitous results.  Those teams that choose to communicate respectfully are able to avoid such delays and U-turns, and often end up in the top three, running for a million dollars. 

Maintain emotional control – If you are not in emotional control, you are completely ineffective.  Every season there are some classic emotional meltdowns.  Again, any forward progress stops until the contestant can “pull it together” and focus back on task.  This evening’s episode is a prime example.  While teams were assembling a very large, 96-piece puzzle in Shanghai, China, the wind kicked up and blew puzzle pieces everywhere.  While the model-team’s Brent stormed and fumed about how he had almost completed the puzzle before the wind messed it up – the cowboy-team’s, Cord went to work anchoring the remaining pieces down with folding chairs.  In the “confessional” shot that aired at that moment he said, “Throwing a fit and kicking and screaming wasn’t gonna get my puzzle done.”  That calm demeanor has served this cowboy team very well, as they have arrived first at the pit-stop more than any other team this season – even going from last place to first, which was the only time that has happened thus far in race history.

Pay attention to detail – Every season there are turning points when, in their haste, a team has missed an important part of their clue or instruction.  Maybe they took a taxi to the pit-stop when the clue said to take the bus; or having completed the detour or road-block they have grabbed their clue and ran, forgetting their back-packs and their passports.  Each time one of these teams misses an instruction they are assessed a time penalty that must be waited out before they can be checked in at the pit-stop.  Many times this results in the team being eliminated.  The aforementioned cowboy-team’s last place finish in leg 7 of this season happened for that reason  They missed a key part of the clue and had to go back to complete the task before being checked in.  Luckily for them it was a non-elimination round. The old adage of “haste makes waste” is viable here. Teams that take the time to fully read the clue over to make sure they understand all facets of the instructions do not end up with time penalties.

Maintain a positive attitude and never quit – Rarely do teams know exactly where they stand in relation to other teams during any particular leg of the race.  Even if a team believes they are in last place at the time, there could very possibly be extenuating circumstances are “great equalizers” that they are not aware of.  Therefore being willing to stick-to-it with a positive attitude is essential.  Last season one of the strongest teams was the Harlem Globetrotter team of “Flight Time” and “Big Easy.”  They were fan favorites until one of the last episodes when they made a decision to give up on a roadblock and not complete the task.  This caused them to incur a 4 hour penalty and subsequently be eliminated from the race.  Many times teams have worked long hours to complete a task and been retrieved from the field by the host, Phil Koeghan.  The fact that they did not give up on the task until it was obvious that they were last, and therefore eliminated is admirable.  Just as often teams have run to the finish line, certain that they are the last to arrive, to find out that there are other teams still behind them.  The only certain way to lose the race is to quit.

Keep it all in perspective – Every season has several tasks or moments that my family refers to as “great equalizers.”  Perhaps, regardless of when they leave the pit-stop (the first team to arrive is the first team to leave and therefore has a time advantage), all teams end up on the same flight to their new destination.  This makes it a brand new race when the plane lands.  Maybe the clue is located inside a museum that doesn’t open until 10:00 a.m.  That means that whether teams arrive at the museum at midnight or 9:58 a.m. they all have to wait until the museum opens and again it is a brand new race.  Great equalizers might be tasks that, for whatever reason, are incredibly difficult for the first place team, but the last place team breezes through it and catapults themselves into first.  Sometimes the strongest teams have fallen to a great equalizer and there is nothing that can be done about it.  As each team falls, they lose a chance to race on the final leg for a million dollars.  None-the-less, they got a chance to travel the world and experience things that some of us only dream about – things that perhaps they would never have had an opportunity to experience.  That is a blessing in itself.   It is important to keep all things in perspective.


High Road Challenge for the Week: Our daily lives are not as adrenaline packed as the 12-15 days the teams experience on The Amazing Race.  Still, these characteristics are just as critical to our daily success as they are to the Amazing Race teams.  My challenge to you this week is to communicate respectfully, maintain emotional control, pay attention to detail, maintain a positive attitude, never quit and keep it all in perspective.

THIS is why they call it "March Madness!"

With an improbably 3-point shot Ali Farokhmanesh secured perhaps the greatest upset in recent NCAA basketball tournament history as Northern Iowa University defeated the number one seeded University of Kansas.  Just that fast, 98 percent of the brackets in America were shattered, including the one projected by President Obama. Maybe this is why they call it “March Madness” – because anything can happen.

I have found it intriguing to read the follow-up stories and see the sports broadcasts that have ensued from that upset.  Here are some thoughts that have come to me through the miasma of press these past couple of days:

This "should have been" the title team.

Several sports writers have said that KU was a team all but assured of another title… Really?  According to whom?  I am sure that the teams still in the tournament would beg to differ.  There has also been discussion of whether or not the Jayhawks were too cocky going in to this round.  After the game senior Sherron Collins is quoted as saying, “We were the better team. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”   Whereas an NIU forward said, “We came into the game looking at it like a basketball game. We were confident we could play our own game. There wasn’t really any special emphasis put on who we were playing.”

A title team is not a title team until they have actually earned the title.  My father, “The Colonel” often said to me, “Coulda, woulda, shoulda… potential doesn’t mean a thing in the end.  The only thing that matters is the score on the board when the clock ticks to zero.”  NIU played better basketball, all the way to the final buzzer.  It’s as simple as that.


How you deal with defeat is just as important as how you deal with success.

This team has been under an incredible microscope this week.  Some of the players handled the defeat with grace, lifting their heads and giving the NIU Panthers credit for playing well and dominating the game.  Others did not. 

Upon being named Sportsman of the Year for 2003 by the NABC, professional bridge player Larry Cohen said in his address, “Being a good [team player] is a big part of sportsmanship.  When top level players demonstrate [sportsmanship], the behavior becomes imitated by other players as well.  Sportsmanship is also how you handle defeat.”  He went on to close with humor, “Perhaps next year I can… give my opponents the opportunity to show how gracious and sportsmanlike they are in defeat!”

That is what the Jayhawks need to focus on right now.  How are they going to get back to the tournament next year?  How are they going give next year's opponents the opportunity to demonstrate sportsmanship in defeat?


If you think you’re cursed, you are.

Much has been made this week about the perceived Oklahoma City curse on the Jayhawks.  Several of the past crushing and unexpected defeats KU has suffered have happened in Oklahoma City.  Is it possible that there was that underlying thought running through Jayhawk brains as they played on Saturday?  Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”  Maybe it will take a solid victory in Oklahoma City for this foolishness about a city curse to go away.  The subconscious perception of such a curse could very well have played a factor in the way the KU team played.


It’s just a game. Keeping perspective is important.

The image of KU sophomore Marcus Morris curled up in tears on the court will become iconic, I am sure.  It was a crushing and surprising defeat, and yet, let’s grab some perspective here.  It is not a life threatening situation. No one suffered career ending injuries. No one will lose their home, a child or a limb because of the outcome of this game. For Morris it isn’t even the last year he’ll play at KU.  There will be other shots at a title for him.  It’s a game.  Let’s keep it in perspective.