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November 20, 2006
The Innovation Haka Dance
If you enjoyed the film Friday Night Lights or have ever attended a Friday night Texas high school football game, you'll enjoy this. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal (link via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) described how the Trinity football team in Texas has been transformed into a high school football powerhouse through the infusion of talent from the tiny island of Tonga. In fact, more than half of the team weighs now between 250 and 308 pounds and are at least 6 feet tall. The Tongan football players also brought with them a fierce tribal warrior dance from Tonga that is more than 200 years old and originated with New Zealand's Maori people. As seen in this YouTube video from Adidas, the haka dance has also been embraced by the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team.
At Texas high school football games, fans wave haka signs, wear black haka shirts, wait patiently at the end of the game to do one final haka dance, and show up early to do the haka with team members. The haka is such a craze that the team has performed the haka at elementary school assemblies in order to fire up the children before state-mandated tests. The team has also performed at the local City Council for legislators.
So... what if corporations also had an "innovation haka dance" to get workers fired up for a day of creativity and innovation? Who knows? Maybe next year, if you sign up for the FORTUNE Innovation Forum, you will be able to learn the steps of the Innovation Haka Dance from a group of 300-pound Tongan football players or warrior-like New Zealand rugby players.
[image: Adidas All Blacks]
Posted by dominic at November 20, 2006 10:37 AM | Recommend this! (1) | +dlc | +dig
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