Written By JR Robinson

"Memphis is definitely a place that goes out to go beyond expectations," began Devon Harris, addressing a packed room at the recent cityCURRENT breakfast. It was a fitting opening from a man whose entire life story is defined by defying expectations.

Harris, a three-time Olympian and an original member of the legendary 1988 Jamaican bobsled team—the real-life inspiration for the Disney classic Cool Runnings—brought more than just nostalgia to the stage. He brought a hard-won philosophy born on the icy tracks of Calgary and refined through decades of entrepreneurship and philanthropy. His message centered on a simple, yet profound mantra: "Keep on Pushing."

The connection between the speaker and his host city was immediately palpable. Harris noted that Memphis, the birthplace of Rock and Roll and the home of FedEx—a company founded on an idea others said was impossible—understands grit. "When others see obstacles, You see bridges," Harris observed of the cityCURRENT audience. "When they say it can't be done, you go, 'Yeah, let's show you what we can do.'"

Before diving into his framework for success, Harris addressed the cinematic elephant in the room with characteristic humor. Referencing the famous crash scene from the 1993 movie, he wryly assured the crowd, "My neck is fine... I'm kidding. I'm fine. But that is not the recommended way to go down the track."

While the movie made them famous, Harris was keen to share the true, grittier story of how a tropical island nation ended up at the Winter Olympics. It didn't start with a disgraced American coach, but rather with two Americans living in Jamaica who witnessed a local pushcart race—a derby akin to soapbox racing down island hills. Seeing the explosive speed at the start of the race, they theorized that Jamaica possessed the raw sprinting talent necessary for a world-class bobsled start.

They took their theory to the Jamaican army looking for recruits. Harris, then a young officer and a middle-distance runner, was skeptical. "I’m sensing a funny vibe here," he recalled thinking. "I mean, why do you think the United States or any other superpower for that matter has never even considered invading Jamaica? We have a serious army, man."

Despite his doubts, and the fact that he was an 800-meter runner rather than a sprinter, Harris tried out. He failed the short sprints but excelled in the 300-meter dash and the "push test," earning his spot on the inaugural four-man team in September 1987—just five months before the Calgary games.

The journey was a crash course in the impossible. Their first sight of a bobsled was in Lake Placid, New York, where they were invited to practice on ice with the US team. "We spent more time on our backs... than the sled spent on its runners," Harris laughed.

Returning to Jamaica, their training ground was a crude concrete "push track." Showing a photo of the team training on concrete in the tropical heat, Harris pointed out the absurdity: "Every single thing we're doing in that picture is wrong. The position of the hands, the back, the elbows, it's all wrong."

Yet, this imperfection held the first major lesson of the morning. "You should never, ever wait until everything is perfect to go after your goals," Harris urged the audience of business and community leaders. "Because it's never going to be a perfect time... I know for a fact that if you sit around waiting for a perfect moment, you spend your life waiting." They started wrong, but they started.

The culmination of that hurried preparation was the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. The film depicts a triumphant, albeit crashed, finish. The reality was harsher. The crash happened during a four-man event they had never competed in before, having recruited a new teammate just days prior.

"Have you ever failed at anything and felt like a loser?" Harris asked the room. Failing on international television was a defining moment. It took time to reframe that experience not as a character indictment, but as data. "Failure is just feedback," he emphasized. "It’s an opportunity for us to learn and... begin again more intelligently."

Harris returned to the Olympics as a driver in 1992 and 1998. Today, he uses those experiences to fuel his Keep On Pushing Foundation, which supports education and nutrition programs for children in his impoverished hometown neighborhood in Kingston.

Drawing from this extraordinary journey from the ghetto of Kingston to Sandhurst Military Academy and the Olympic stage, Harris outlined five keys to the "Keep On Pushing" mindset.

1. Perception Initially, Harris thought a Jamaican bobsled team was the "most idiotic idea I ever heard." His eventual participation required a massive shift in perception. He defined perception, or vision, as "the ability to look at what is and imagine what could be."

He related this directly to the work of cityCURRENT. Where others saw a city divided by crime and pandemic challenges, the organization’s leaders saw an opportunity to mobilize thousands of volunteers and unite nonprofits and businesses. He challenged the audience to change how they view their own community challenges, particularly regarding at-risk youth. "If your perception is that there are threats, guess what? You avoid them. If your perception is that there is potential, you invest in that."

2. Purpose Purpose, Harris argued, is the engine of persistence. It is the answer to the question, "Why am I here?" When enthusiasm fades and obstacles mount—like pushing a heavy sled on concrete in the Jamaican heat—purpose is what remains.

"Purpose makes the hard work worth it," he said. For the leaders in the room, whether they were managing a thin nonprofit budget or prioritizing mentorship over profit margins, knowing that their work served a greater good was essential to keep going.

3. Personal Leadership Before you can lead others, you must lead yourself. "Can you give what you don't have?" Harris asked. Personal leadership is about the internal discipline, growth, and habits developed when no one is watching.

Sharing photos of his childhood home—a cramped house he shared with dozens of family members—Harris offered a powerful testament to self-improvement. "Where you start has absolutely no bearing on where you can go," he declared. By committing to daily personal growth, individuals become more valuable to their teams and communities.

4. People "Success is a team sport," Harris stated flatly. In bobsled, four individuals must synchronize perfectly in five seconds to push 600 pounds of metal and fiberglass to speed. If one person hesitates, the race is over before it begins.

He invoked the African philosophy of Ubuntu: "I am because we are." No significant goal is achieved in isolation. Harris praised the collaborative spirit of the cityCURRENT network, noting that they act as bridges between resources and needs, proving that we must lean on each other to go far.

5. Persistence The final key ties everything together. Persistence is the difference between starting strong and finishing strong. Harris dispelled the myth that success is a smooth, upward trajectory. "The finish line is never as close as you think it is. The road is never as smooth as you think it is."

He illustrated this with his grueling journey to the 1998 Nagano Olympics. In January 1997, he had no funding and no sponsors. He spent a year training during the day and delivering pizzas at night, physically wrecked and financially strapped. He wrote sponsorship letters to names he found on supermarket shelves. Finally, just two weeks before the deadline, a sponsor signed on.

It was a vivid reminder that the capacity to endure, to return to the "top of the track" after a failure, is the ultimate differentiator.

As the event concluded, the message resonated deeply with the Memphis audience. Devon Harris’s story is not just about sports; it is a universal blueprint for navigating uncertainty. It is a reminder that whether you are building a business, serving a nonprofit, or trying to lift a community, the conditions will never be perfect. There will be crashes. But with the right perception, a clear purpose, a commitment to others, and unyielding persistence, you can always keep on pushing.