Our responsibility in challenging times
I was having a cheeky mid-week beer with a friend of mine this week who I haven’t seen since I started my new job. Along with the usual questions re the new job, he also asked me “how does everything going on [Brexit] effect your work?”.
We live in uncertain times as any busy owner especially will tell you, with populist movements and protectionism polices tightening their grip on society. The temptation, and the easy thing to do, is to accept that the world is becoming more detached and the focus should revert to our immediate surroundings.
As any history student will tell you (and I was one once upon a time) the growth and development of humanity throughout the centuries has come off the back of being exposed to and embracing ideas from different peoples from different cultures. The engineering techniques spread by the Romans, the skills taught by the prominent renaissance artists and more.
This is equally true in a sporting context. Alongside the sporting spectacle of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, it was also a platform for city states and peoples from across the region to meet in a peaceful environment to share ideas and values.
(No more history from now on, I promise!)
Bringing it back to the present, today (7:00pm-8:30pm local time & 1:30pm-3:00pm UTC) for the first time ever we’re holding a Bloomberg Square Mile Relay race in Mumbai, India. It has been a joy seeing the excitement and enthusiasm of our local agency, our local charity partner Magic Bus and the conversations online, that the race is coming to India. Like all of our events we have multi-national companies taking part in Mumbai with the likes of The Blackstone Group, LinkedIn and Mastercard all running today. Their employees will then mingle, socialise and exchange ideas just like the Olympians in Ancient Greece did at the race's official after-party (sorry I know I promised!).
The final straight of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay course in the Mumbai sunshine ahead of the big race this evening.
Sport is still perhaps unsurpassed for its ability to bring people together from different cultures irrespective of what else is happening around us. In a digital work without borders it is even easier rally global audiences around a single game, match, race, contest or event.
So, in response to the original question my answer was this... whatever the political circumstances, it [Brexit] has placed even more importance on the responsibility that every one of us, at all levels, has to continue engaging with people from all backgrounds and from all places, to learn, grow and develop ourselves and improve society. As history has shown this has always been key to making us the best we can be.
You can find out more about the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay and our global race series on our website.