Perhaps the most exciting game in Canadian sports history was played last week in Vancouver when the Canadians defeated the U.S. in sudden death overtime to win the Olympic gold medal. Could the stage have been set any better for the Canadians? It was an Olympics games final; it was hosted in their own country; they were playing the “official winter sport of Canada”*; and their upstart U.S. opponents had beaten them in an earlier round to almost quash their hopes of winning.

For Canadians, this sporting event took on a meaning that transcended mere sports. Despite the fact that their Olympians had already earned a record number of gold medals, it seemed that the nation’s pride, identity and even the future well being of the entire nation were all at stake in this one game.

Sometimes sports can do that to us. It can move beyond a trivial pastime and take on a deeper meaning. That’s what I love about it.

What if we could capture just a little bit of that feeling in business? Wouldn’t it be powerful if once in a while we could transcend mere business and feel that we are on a mission to change the world? I get that that feeling every now and then, and those are the days when I realize I’m not just doing it for the money.

* FYI: Did you know that on May 12, 1994, Canada’s National Sport Act (Bill C-212) became law, reading: “To recognize hockey as Canada’s National Winter Sport and lacrosse as Canada’s National Summer Sport”.