Watering the Bamboo

I have been on vacation this past week, and spent much of it happily watching college football on TV with my sons. Thank you, Comcast, for broadcasting re-runs of the entire Ducks season. I was at all but one of the home games, and watched the away games on ESPN or the networks, so I missed Ducks Athletic Director Mike Bellotti’s commentary on Channel 37 each week. Fascinating. Plus, it is way more fun to watch the games knowing they have happy endings.

My son Luke pointed me to this very sweet interview (Thanks, Ross Hamilton of the Oregonian) featuring assorted Ducks including amazing freshman LaMichael James.

In it, LaMichael talks about “watering the bamboo”. It’s a reference to a motivational speaker Coach Chip Kelly brought in, Greg Bell, who tells listeners to Water the Bamboo. Watch the video, if only to see what a nice young man LaMichael seems to be. Bell’s site states,

“Water The Bamboo is really just a metaphor to remind us that all great success takes time and work. When you water giant timber bamboo in the first year, you see nothing. In the second year, you see nothing. In the third year, you see nothing. In the fourth year, it will suddenly rocket 90 feet in just 60 days! Bamboo farmers know you need to water the bamboo a long time before you see any sign of success.”

Like football players, it seems to me my team in City Hall will need to keep nurturing the values we believe in, in order to hope to see exponential growth in four years.