The spectacular extravaganza that was the Olympics Opening Ceremony lived up to all the hype, in my opinion. And that was no small feat, in part because the hype wasn’t being built on actual facts.

By keeping the overall vision of the ceremony a surprise to media and the public, all we knew was that it was going to be BIG and quintessentially British. Anticipation added to the eventual enjoyment of the event for many people.

Metropolitan Thames River Police practice boarding techniques during an Olympic Games security exercise. From Defence Images on Flickr

Others, however, aren’t looking at the Olympics through rose-colored glasses. They view the event as an “unseemly binge,” in the words of The New York Times editorial writer Roger Cohen.

In his article “A Troubled Feel in London,” Cohen also discussed the extreme concern the Brits had about security at the Olympics — flames that were fanned by the media –and he used the psychological term “transference” to describe their angst:

“People are anxious about their lives in Britain and the West so they’ve decided to be anxious about the Olympics,” he wrote.

How are you as a thought leader handling the daily pressure of your own Olympic struggles in the business world? What are you doing when your teams seem to becoming more and more anxious in this challenging economy? Do you give them more facts and less hype so that they can see your company’s situation in a true light? Ask, assess, then act. We’re here to help.