Weekly Blog by Philip King, CEO of the ICM - 'Seeing is believing'

After years of planning and anticipation, the finale of the Olympics Games is fast approaching. The predicted transport disasters have failed to materialise, the Team GB medal haul has been better than many expected, and generally people have little to say other than praise for an event that has done the UK proud and for plans brilliantly executed.

On a personal basis, I remain gutted that I was unable to obtain any tickets and attend an event in person, an emotion that has been heightened by the fact that I was in London for several days and sharing the tube with people who had been, or were going to, events. Nevertheless, there was a palpable feel-good factor in the capital and it was great to see people's joy and excitement. And the army of volunteers visible all over London seemed to me to be doing a fantastic job whenever I saw them interacting with visitors.

What is perhaps more interesting is the contrast between predictions and reality. There have been many stories in the press over the last day or two to highlight the point: hotels speak of block-bookings made for officials being released too late to allow for replacement guests to be found; the gridlock on the roads never really materialised; shops expecting a bonanza were disappointed as they found that Olympics visitors were doing no more than commuting from hotel to the Olympic Park and back. Other attractions found that the usual influx of visitors had stayed away so numbers were down, and huge numbers of staff worked from home so normal business was reduced.

So, why did people get caught out? Did LOCOG over-state the potential problems to ensure that the risk of them occurring was minimised, or did the media hype things so much that there was an over-reaction? Or, perhaps, the publicity had the desired effect and allowed the Games to be pulled off successfully and without the disasters that we'd all, if we're honest, probably expected to happen!

The lesson in this is that, although businesses need to listen to advice and take account of what they hear and are told, they also need to plan for themselves and apply basic rules of common sense in their planning. None of the situations outlined above can be that surprising when considered in the light of experience over the last few days. I know hindsight is wonderful but, if we always believe what we hear, we're likely to get caught out. By the same token, we should perhaps stop believing that there is no hope for an economic recovery and maybe, just maybe, we could turn the tide for our own organisations by applying our own positive spin to some of the things we hear.