Jim Citrin Leadership by Example

These simple words are the guiding principle for compelling nonprofit humanitarian and development organization Right to Play. Headquartered in Toronto, Right to Play uses specially designed sport and play programs to improve health, build life skills, and foster peace for children and communities affected by war, poverty, and disease.

I had the privilege of meeting Right to Play's president and CEO, Johann Olav Koss, last week, and talked with him about the organization and his transition from athlete to leader pursuing an inspiring mission.

Setting a Standard

Koss isn't just any athlete. A native of Norway, he's one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time. Koss, a speed skater, won three gold medals and set three world records at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Over the course of his career, he broke a total of 11 world records.

In 1994, the people of Norway awarded Koss the distinction of "Best Norwegian Olympian Ever," and he received the Norwegian Olympic Committee's highest award: The Fearnleys Honorary Award. Just so no one could ever accuse him of being an underachiever, Koss is also a trained medical doctor with a master's degree in business and an honorary degree in law.

A Life-Changing Moment

As exceptional as Koss' Olympic and academic feats may be, they aren't what he's most proud of. His achievements on the ice and in the classroom have been surpassed by his efforts in building Right to Play. Today, the organization has programs in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, including such hot spots as Sierra Leone, Chad, Pakistan, Sudan, the Palestinian territories, and Indonesia.

Koss first became involved with Right to Play in 1993 (it was called Olympic Aid at the time) when he visited Eritrea as a volunteer. "At the time, I was in the final stages of training for the '94 Games," he said, "and I was feeling sorry for myself about how hard I was working and what I was missing out on. But when I visited Eritrea, which had just concluded a long and brutal civil war, I was profoundly moved by the plight of the kids."

Koss described the precise moment that changed his life. "The children were talking about how one particular boy was the most popular in the community. I didn't understand it when they said that he was popular 'because he has a long sleeve shirt.' Then I saw why. He took off his shirt and rolled it into a ball, which they used to play soccer. They didn't have a ball!

"At that instant any egotistical self-pity evaporated," he remembers. "I realized that despite such terrible poverty, danger, and seeming hopelessness, you can see kids enjoy the purest joy of play. I vowed then and there to dedicate myself to improving the lives of children in need." After winning the gold medals, Koss donated the prize money to Olympic Aid and challenged other athletes to do the same. They responded by raising $18 million.

A World-Class Team

Since Lillehammer, Koss has devoted himself to growing Right to Play into an internationally recognized non-governmental organization and a leader in enhancing the healthy physical and psychosocial development of children. Right to Play has a lean full-time staff and achieves an administrative overhead of only about 10 percent, making it one of the world's most efficient philanthropies.

An international team of world-class Athlete Ambassadors volunteer from more than 40 countries to staff programs, work with the children, and through media attention help raise awareness and funding for the organization's projects. Athlete Ambassadors include Koss' fellow speed-skating Olympic champions Eric Heiden, Bonnie Blair, Joey Cheek, and Dan Jansen; the entire Chelsea Football Club; swimmers Jenny Thompson and Janet Evans; and NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, among scores of others.

Right to Play focuses on four program areas: 1) Basic education and child development; 2) Health promotion and disease prevention, with a major focus on HIV and AIDS, malaria, and immunization; 3) Conflict resolution and peace education; and 4) Community development and participation. To get a sense of how Right to Play really works and achieves impact, consider the case of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan project.

Right to Play in Pakistan

Children comprise a substantial number of the estimated 2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Due to cultural restrictions, many refugee children, particularly girls, don't attend school and can't even play outside, depriving them of a healthy and physical lifestyle and psychological development.

While other relief efforts aim to provide refugees with basic necessities, support for the physical and psychological development of children has been severely lacking. In order to address these problems, the Right to Play program in Pakistan was designed to provide sport and play activities that promote health and teach leadership, communication, conflict resolution, and peaceful coexistence skills to Afghan refugee children.

Koss described how project teams worked with mothers and daughters inside their dwellings, taking small steps to get them more comfortable with the notion that play is good. "Over time, this gave way to outside activities," he said. "Later, when one of the staff who was originally from Afghanistan went back to where the project was running and saw young girls playing soccer outside with boys, he welled up with tears, pride, and joy."

A Model Worth Following

Rather than providing temporary relief, a core principle of Right to Play is to achieve sustained impact by training local coaches and teachers. In this program, Afghan refugee coaches were trained to help the children continue participating in sports and play activities upon their return to Afghanistan.

In the two project locations of Peshawar and Quetta, Koss estimates that the number of direct beneficiaries exceeds 13,000 individuals, including the Afghan refugee children, 150 Afghan refugee teachers, 25 Afghan refugee Coach Trainers, and 6 Afghan refugee supervisors and project coordinators. He adds that indirect beneficiaries of the program are estimated at 50,000, with an average of 8 persons per family.

Johann Olav Koss is an inspiring example of leadership by example. He was an individual who used his natural talents, hard work, and determination to become one of the greatest Olympic champions ever. But at the pinnacle of individual success, he broke through and became a leader, working with and through other people. He found his life's calling in Right to Play and is building his legacy by inspiring thousands of people around the world to join him in helping some of the world's neediest children. Koss is a role model well worth following.