Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Space invaders, dooms-day and the galaxy's evil empire descending

I was sitting in the living-room just now, looking at a research-show at the BBC. And suddenly I heard this huge low-freequent noise coming from above my head, like the roof was shaking! Like "wrrroooossjiihhhrrmmm....." And suddenly the windows went dark! Outside it's bright snow and sunshine behind big white clouds. You can probably imagine that I got scared there for a milli-second as the living-room went into gloom in the bright of the day, the low growl from the roof increased and the house was shaking! I had no time to reflect on what was going on as I noticed some horizontal glitches passing by in rapid speed inside the darkness outside the window. It gave the impression of thick and big blankets of clay crashing through the air to surround the foundations our house! After the initial fraction of a second with a light freak-out and combating of short-cutting of the brain to evaluate plausible escape-routes, I realized I was back in Norway again in the mid-winter. -as I haven't been for quite a few years. It was just last weeks snow-fall avalanching off the roof due to the recent mild tweak in the weather. Quite normal, and very entertaining 20 years ago! Brain-functions back to normal.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Hårreisende dårlig idrettsledelse!

Så Bjørn Einar Romøren var først utfor den nye Kollen. Anette Sagen er blid og fornøyd og synes ikke det tar glansen fra det første offisielle hoppet. Pappa’n hennes var i Japan og ble kjempesint, men får ett litt mer balansert syn etter en viss pressekonferanse og sa at Romøren ”så ut som en pisket hund.”

I ett interviuv med VG Nett sier hoppsjef Clas Brede Bråthen at ”innimellom har jeg vært i tvil om Romørens dømmekraft” uten å spesifisere, og forteller oss at Romøren (som er lei seg, hadde fått beskjed om at det skulle prøvehoppes først og har ringt Anette Sagen og bedt om unnskyldning) har gjort ett feil valg. Hoppsjef Clas Brede Bråthen drar så med seg sin syndebukk på pressekonferanse, viser ham frem for det Norske folk og forteller at nå blir det disiplinære tiltak mot ham. –mens Romøren selv ser trist og nedbrutt ut og titter i bordplaten.

Som tidligere idretts-trener lurer jeg på hva det er Bråthen tror han holder på med! Om man bedriver idrett eller næringsliv er det utenkelig å refse sine ansatte i full offentlighet om man vil bevare lagånden. Den Romøren som kommer tilbake til hopplandslaget etter utestengelsen kommer ikke til å være den samme som før. Om han ønsker å komme tilbake i det hele tatt da! Han vil enten være nedbrutt, betvile trenerens intensjoner med korrektiv kritikk og føle seg på utsiden av laget, eller være overtent på å ”ta igjen” med idrettsprestasjoner som utklasser resten av laget. Det første bringer tafatthet på trening, det andre bringer unødvendig sjanse-tagning. Ingen av løsningene bringer lag-samarbeid, men begge reduserer lagets samlede prestasjoner.

At bakken skulle prøvehoppes var planlagt. Romøren gjorde nok allikevel ett litt dårlig valg, men er villig til å ta kritikk etterpå og strekker seg langt for å rydde opp i det. Men hvem var ansvarlig i bakken? Hvem ba ham om å være prøvehopper, og hvem gav klarsignalet? Det kan se ut som man begynner i feil ende. Om man på død og liv vil fordele skyld da!

Hoppsjef Bråthen forteller oss også at det er interne regler i laget han støtter seg til når han nå utestenger Romøren. Det er det ikke noe lurt å si til en hel nasjon igjennom media! Om en domstol begynte å dømme etter interne regler hadde vi ikke hatt noen form for transparent rettergang lenger. Om vi skal informeres om dette må vi vite i klar tekst hva reglene eller forskriftene sier, ellers kan Bråthen for alt vi vet ha laget dem for anledningen.

Anette Sagen smiler som solen, Romøren er lei seg, Pappa’n til Sagen var veldig sint men har fått litt mer perspektiv (selv om litt til kunne hjelpe), og det Norske folk har nettopp fått en flott ny hoppbakke og ett fint idrettsarrangement. Den siste som er igjen av de ordentlig sinte er Bråthen som virker relativt strippet for både perspektiv, tilgivelse for en som er lei seg og kanskje viktigst av alt, fundamentale leder-egenskaper! Hvis laget og en av dets sentrale utøvere skal reise seg fra denne kneiken i den nære framtid må det mer integritet inn i ledelsen, og det betyr at Bråthen må ut! Man behandler ikke folk under sin ledelse på en slik måte og forventer framtidige lagresultater!

Romøren gjorde en vurdering som bygget på at det var planlagt prøvehopp som Sagen forøvrig ikke kunne delta på. Det ble det voldsomme reaksjoner av! Romøren har merket det. Romøren tar ansvar og beklager handlingen. Kanskje Sagens pappa hadde helt rett. Her har vi å gjøre med ”noen skikkelige drittsekker!” Eller, i hvert fall en! Gjennom dårlig lag-ledelse og nasjonal utskjelling av sin egen angrende utøver kan vi klart konstatere at Clas Brede Bråthen passer den beskrivelsen som hånd i hanske!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Leave the Crown Prince alone!

I just learned from the news something that upset me ferociously! The Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry had invited our Crown Prince to participate in a comity to advice on the future of Norwegian industry and business. While I usually have nothing good to say about the viewpoints of the mentioned Minister I thought this was an exceptionally healthy idea! It turned out though, that a mass of people from the parliament to the media deemed it un-constitutional and made a shameful fuzz about it. The so-called un-constitutional aspect is that the Monarch (in this case the future Monarch) shall not have any political power apart from the sanctioning of laws. This, however was an advisory body put together of young Norwegian business-leaders and they were going to have no decisive political power what so ever.

Our Crown Prince has His education in Governmental Science, International Trade and Development Studies, and His military- and leadership-education is from the Norwegian Navy. He has partaken in weekly counsels with various Norwegian governments since He was 18 years old, which is now 19 years ago. Since it is the practice that the Norwegian Crown Prince partakes in these weekly meetings from age 18 there are literally no living human being inside or outside the borders of Norway that has anything close to the knowledge of national matters through the years as an old regent. Our Kings have always stayed strictly up to date with all the matters of state, and our current Crown Prince already has both an experience and education most politicians can only dream about. But in addition, the Crown Prince has one last advantage that no politician could ever beat: His advice is based on experience, education and situational understanding, regardless of how He will perform at the next elections!

Questions have been raised about the constitutional aspects of the matter. Questions however, voiced chiefly though the media should by no means give direction for common practice inside any framework of laws. In the name of democracy and freedom of speech many chose to attack the decision for a Royal to serve in this particular position in society. It is sad though that where the anti-Monarchics and left-wingers (in this case even some liberals) are used to two hundred years of shouting very-very loud, there have been few voices to match them on this matter. So with a smile on his face and positive words the Crown Prince took the high road and turned down this great opportunity for Him to serve His country in an even more extensive manner. It seems like the more educated and cultivated, the lower the voice and better the manners; and the more ideologically bound and less interested in a distanced view the much much louder the voice. Forcing someone to obey you for society's general freedom is oppressing the general society. There are ways of settling disagreements like these without a big ramble through the media. Most notably inside the parliament. Especially when the arguments in this case were so clearly beneficial for the Nation of Norway.

It is funny how things can bite its own tail. Marx wanted to set us free from the forces of capital, and Royals with it, to make a governmental system that distributed the wealth of the nation evenly to the benefit of everyone. In this case, a Royal has decided to help the nation gain wealth through its industries and business-life, in a nation with an extensive taxation system and high public spending. That is; to the benefit of the common citizen. Then newspapers and other media who are not free from Marx's forces of capital, but needs to sell as many copies as possible criticizes and puts the case in a bad light so that the Crown Prince in the end steps back. Armed with a good portion of Marxist critique and another portion general business and legal knowledge it is still hard to know who the media is serving in this situation. The common good of the people? -or their own treasury?

Some dear to criticize the costs of running a Royal Castle. Some would silence the Royal Family and only let them out on national celebrations to smile at the people and not have a voice. If Royals keep silent they are met with critique that suggests they have become national money out the window. But if they serve in a position (like the one mentioned) where we get more value for the tax-money we sustain the Monarchy with, it is then supposed to be anti-demochratic and un-constitutional. The only solution by such argumentation is to become a republic. But those who want to silence the Royal Family and keep them out of the public eye are forgetting one very important thing: The constitution! For in their own chasing towards democracy and the fulfillment of the constitution they have forgotten that the very constitution they set out to serve tells us that Norway is a Monarchy. A certain level of education and cultivation teaches us to respect such matters. Anything else would be un-constitutional.