3 Degrees Off: The Importance of Recalibration
A Strange Word Tapping on My Shoulder
As we fly through 2025 it’s important to consider a term you might not hear very often: Recalibrate.
A term usually saved for when I make a wrong turn and my GPS lady-in-a-box (my kids call her “Linda”) yells at me. But, for some reason I have heard the word “recalibrate” several times here lately, and when that happens, I’m quite certain it’s not a coincidence, and I usually pay attention.
So, I got to thinking about the word “recalibrate”. It literally means to the process of adjusting or correcting settings, measurements, or systems to ensure its accuracy and proper functioning.
In other words, a process of fine-tuning something to its intended purpose.
An example of this is if you step on the scale and it reads your weight, but the weight that it reads you is inaccurate, then it’s not calibrated properly.
Dial It In
What am I getting at here?
Well, when we take flight into a new year, we start to think about all the things that we want to accomplish. But the truth is, if our initial calibration wasn’t done correctly, then we can put all the best laid plans on paper, even into practice, and heck, we can even follow through on a few things… but if the calibration on the front end wasn’t conducted properly, then we’re going to end up nowhere near where we intended to go.
Let’s look at it from the perspective of a pilot. My husband has his general aviation license, and my son is aviation-obsessed to say the least, so despite my lack of interest, I’ve been learning a bit about aviation hanging out with them.
I’ve learned that there are different types of ratings and systems used to keep planes on accurate flight paths. One of the basics is called Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Pilots start out flying with VFR, which means they navigate by using things like landmarks, indicators, and helpful apps.
But as you advance throughout your training, you can get certified in what’s called IFR, or Instrument Flight Rules, which allows you to do things like fly higher and fly in the clouds where the pilot cannot use visual landmarks to ensure staying on course.
Whether you’re flying VFR or IFR, where you focus and how you calibrate those systems are crucial and determining where you end up.
Look at it this way, if I jumped on a flight from Denver and I was headed to Heathrow, but the pilot’s systems were improperly calibrated just a few degrees off one direction or the other, not only would I miss London, I’d miss the entire UK and probably end up either somewhere in the North Sea or as far south as Spain!
The further you travel – on a plane or in life – without being properly calibrated, the farther away from your intended destination you become.
Mayday, Mayday!
Remember in the second Madagascar movie: Escape 2 Africa when the penguins were flying the plane to take Alex, Marty and crew back to the Central Park Zoo in New York City from their adventure in Africa?
Yeah, you get the point. Knowing where you’re heading and being able to read your gauges is critical! A few degrees – and a bit of competency – can makes all the difference.
So, what does this have to do with our world in the sport and tourism industry? Well, everything, actually.
You see, it’s important as we continue down the path of innovating in sport and tourism that we are properly calibrated. And if not, we take the time to recalibrate. What a better time than as we round second and head for third in 2025.
Right now, our industry is changing exceptionally fast.
We’re no longer looking at simple trends like we have in years past. Those days are done. Now we are looking at seismic shifts taking place right in front of our faces, let alone in the next one, three, or five years.
We cannot get stuck in the old ways of doing things assuming that the industry is immune from any calamity and paying little attention to the swelling waves.
I could say this a dozen different ways, but the point is, it’s worth your attention. Our industry, our communities, and our jobs depend on it. And very few are talking about it.
Look no further… intercollegiate sport, youth sport, professional sport, Olympic sport, travel and tourism in general, geopolitics, consumer behavior, the AI-driven economy… I could go on and on (and have in several of our Expert Analysis pieces).
19th Hole with Stoll
It’s time to make sure that our systems are properly calibrated – or RECALIBRATED – so when we take flight onto new courses of destiny, we ensure that we land where we intend to be. We cannot use the maps and compasses of the industry 30 years ago.
At Cimarron Global Solutions, we’re going to continue to bang this drum. We’re following the so-called “trends”, we’re collecting our own data, we’re smashing the rose-colored glasses for those fitted with lenses of reality.
And we’re REALLY excited about the new things in store for the sport and tourism industry! Unparalleled opportunity abounds. We’re here to help you make sense of it all with knowledge and insights to make sure your organization is recalibrated for the future so when you take off from Denver, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight.
Evoke a thought.
