HYDE PARK — I watched an episode of Mission: Impossible with my 11-year-old yesterday.  It was 1968 and they had to trick a bad guy into believing it he’d been frozen for 12 years.  So they froze him and he “woke up in 1980″.

It was great to see what 1980 looked like from 1968.  There [...]]]>

HYDE PARK — I watched an episode of Mission: Impossible with my 11-year-old yesterday.  It was 1968 and they had to trick a bad guy into believing it he’d been frozen for 12 years.  So they froze him and he “woke up in 1980″.

It was great to see what 1980 looked like from 1968.  There were rocket cars, flat screen TVs, lots of buttons to push, and no more money. It was all just cards.  But, yea, there was still an attractive woman to take your order and/ or your bedpan.

I often wonder how far short we have fallen of my grandmothers’ sense of what the future would hold? 

Last week a lady came in for a visit,  she’s been laid off while on maternity leave and had been told convincingly by someone that ‘mothers never get their good jobs back’.

That winds me up.

She’ll need flexible hours and maybe short weeks, but she’s ready to work… and yet she’s convinced the world is not ready for her. 

There must be a better way. 

We’ve got the flat screen TVs, the Internet, we’ve even got cars that go like rockets.  But 51% of the population think they can’t work and have a family.

/df

OXFORD STREET — At my local Starbucks everyone this morning was ending their sentences with “…for you.”  I think if I worked there I’d start doing it too.  It’s a cross over from a number of European languages that add the possessive to sentences for emphasis.

We don’t really do it English so much.

Except we do [...]]]>

OXFORD STREET — At my local Starbucks everyone this morning was ending their sentences with “…for you.”  I think if I worked there I’d start doing it too.  It’s a cross over from a number of European languages that add the possessive to sentences for emphasis.

We don’t really do it English so much.

Except we do now.

And why not?

We were cheering for Mexico in my house last night.  My kids are 1/4 Mexican.  And word from the other side of the ocean is that my mother-in-law was shouting at the TV and my macho brother-in-law was crying.

But we’ve actually spent far more time in France.  Cheering for the winners is maybe the fun bit.

There’s a story in the paper today about how the UK is suffering the creeping influence of Latin America.  Apparently there’s an Brazilian ice cream shop in Newcastle.

My British business partner has just gone on holiday in his native Italy.  With his Indian wife.

What have we become!

Pluralistic.  Open-minded.  And a damn sight more interesting.  Is the answer.

In my native Canada we’re still pretending that arguments about French and English matter.  In the UK we’re pretending that Class is an issue.  It’s not.  Ask the England football team.

Let’s more on. 

Is that okay, for you?

/df

HOME — I’ve had a bit of an epiphany.  Again.  I realised that there may be another defining national characteristic that I hadn’t really understood.

I used to think that the national flag of the United Kingdom ought to be this: Instead of this: But maybe the one at the top of this post is even better?

In the [...]]]>

HOME — I’ve had a bit of an epiphany.  Again.  I realised that there may be another defining national characteristic that I hadn’t really understood.

I used to think that the national flag of the United Kingdom ought to be this:

Instead of this:

But maybe the one at the top of this post is even better?

In the paper today a columnist refers to it as “the inviability of the individual”, which I think is a posh way of saying “I’m always right.”

And you see it a lot on the streets.  Motorists heaping abuse on each other over the most minuscule of sins.  There will be shouting, and gesticulating, and a swift move from any discussion of the issue to name calling and odd hand gestures.

Whatever the offence, one thing is always 100% clear: I was right, and you… well you’re just a &€#@?*!!, aren’t you?

So far, not so different.  You can see arguments on streets across Europe, Africa and other worlds.  What separates Britain is the fact that the one who is most aggrieved will be absolutely certain to be at a safe distance, with a clear getaway planned.

Nothing wrong with that.

It worked for Sir Francis Drake.  And we know what happened to that Spanish armoire thing, don’t we.

Who are you looking at anyway!  Huh?

/df

TCR — My mother’s maiden name was Young. And her sister’s called Carol. So, I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but I feel quite proprietary about Carl Jung.

Jung and Freud are also set to be the subject of a saucy film about their relationship with a Russian emigree. It will be out next [...]]]>

TCR — My mother’s maiden name was Young. And her sister’s called Carol. So, I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but I feel quite proprietary about Carl Jung.

Jung and Freud are also set to be the subject of a saucy film about their relationship with a Russian emigree. It will be out next spring and star Keira Knightley. So I’m sure we’ll all feel a but different about Carl and Sigmund soon.

Today though the subject is Carl Jung, leadership and communication.  Jung’s view on human behaviour, motivations and character types has been fully adopted into our world view.  Western societies (at least) just assume his views to be true. 

Which is remarkable when you consider how mad they were at the time.  And even how controversial Jung and Freud’s lives were seen to be even after they had died.  If you talk to business leaders about MBTI (as I don’t really like to do) or about the transition curve, performance management, reward, promotions, and the like they’ll often spout something about enlightened self-interest or leading with the need which all owe some debt of gratitude to my errant Swiss relative.

What radical ideas on business are we creating today that will be a commonly held belief by the time my grandchildren are retiring?

It’s worth thinking about.

/df

SPRINGFIELD — I don’t like being told what to do. My wife says that anyway.

But when I am on 2 wheels and fighting my way through London streets, I have that Canadian instinct for accommodation.  I won’t put myself or anyone else into any peril.  So I am constantly surprised when I get told off.  [...]]]>

SPRINGFIELD — I don’t like being told what to do. My wife says that anyway.

But when I am on 2 wheels and fighting my way through London streets, I have that Canadian instinct for accommodation.  I won’t put myself or anyone else into any peril.  So I am constantly surprised when I get told off.  And REALLY amazed that it is ALWAYS by another cyclist.

We are a disparate tribe of censorious, shy, egomaniacs.  No two cyclists will be seen talking to each other at a light.  One guy started talking to me once, when he saw me walking my bike across the pedestrian crossing in Hyde Park:

“I’ve never seen anyone do that,” he laughed.

Here’s the start on my suggested code:

1. I am not a car. I don’t need to cycle down the middle of the street.

2. I will drive predictably.  I am a respectable mode of transport. Give me space.  If you hit me I will die. So pay attention.

3. I will wear the right kit. Reflectors, lights, helmet.

4. I will avoid busy roads — if possible. (I still smart over the guy who rides down the A40. It’s a highway where two cars can barely fit and go at 70 mph.)

5. I will occasionally talk to other cyclists.

What do you think?

/df

Don’t invent symbolic events.  Just look out for them.

Some of us (consultants) will happily tell you that a symbolic event is tremendously important in [...]]]> KNIGHTSBRIDGE — We have worked on a couple of very prominent instances of this recently.  Indeed we’re doing one now.  And there’s one single message that has emerged as the most important:

Don’t invent symbolic events.  Just look out for them.

Some of us (consultants) will happily tell you that a symbolic event is tremendously important in sealing and unifying a great change. But what we often get wrong is how that event comes about. Let me give you two examples.

THE GOOD – Mandela and the Springboks.  I won’t belabour this, as it’s been all over the press with the Clint Eastwood film Invictus.  But essentially when the new black President put on the jersey of the traditionally all-white rugby team, the country could see old wounds beginning to heal.  It was good enough to turn into a film.  But it was a culmination of lots of hard work and it was a natural extension of the characters involved.

THE BAD – “Mission accomplished!” it said on the aircraft carrier where US President George W. Bush landed a fighter plane and swaggered down the runway.  And it wasn’t.  The mission wasn’t accomplished. He was nowhere near the scene of the mission.  He had learned to fly while sitting out the Vietnam War.  There was so much about it that smelled wrong that Americans don’t even like to talk about it today.

There is a great deal of work to be done to determine how to bring brands together and how to unify company cultures.  And most of that spade work is real hard graft.  Planning, studies, system changes, restructurings, communication, coordination, etc.

It is only when all that work is done and starting to take effect, and when real change is happening that events occur and/or opportunities emerge.

Don’t lead with it, don’t invent it, don’t force it.  It won’t come that way.

/df

MAYFIELD — I was in an outdoor restaurant in beautiful downtown Riyadh a few years ago and this lovely guy with a brilliant smile came over with some food.  I looked at him and said: “Your from Kenya!”

And indeed he was. 

I could tell by his disposition.  There’s no faking it.  It just is.

For me it [...]]]>

MAYFIELD — I was in an outdoor restaurant in beautiful downtown Riyadh a few years ago and this lovely guy with a brilliant smile came over with some food.  I looked at him and said: “Your from Kenya!”

And indeed he was. 

I could tell by his disposition.  There’s no faking it.  It just is.

For me it has been 30+ years since I last lived in Africa. And two years since I last travelled there.  But there haven’t been enough trips in between.

My friend JJ lives there now. Like me he’s not an African.  But he’s married an African and he has African children.  And that’s something that I could so easily have done.

It’s hard to say what is so right about Africa.  Especially for an outsider like me.  It always sounds wrong.  Whereas, by contrast, it is easy for any and everyone to say what they think is wrong about Africa.

I know if I had stayed there I would have known so much more tragedy.  Humongous, daily, Shakespearean sadness.

But that’s not what Africa is about.  And that’s not why your children and my children will know so much more about it.  Africa will shape our future in unanticipated ways as much as China or India might.  (Maybe that’s why China and India are spending so much time and resource in Africa?)

Africa is about success.  It is about optimism.  It is about happiness an it’s about ability.

It’s impossible to think of anything that Africa cannot do.

That’s where communication and business come in.  Africa needs to be supported as it starts to speak out.  As it communicates its unique world view and as it takes up more and more space in business.

Make room.  I’m looking forward to it.

/df

SOUTH CAROLINA — My mom has been calling her American friends: “You guys are being so nice about Canada, thousands of people are going to emigrate…”

The NBC coverage of the Vancouver Olympics has been very complimentary.  Long features with Wayne Gretzky.  Hymns to Canadian style and bouquets about the natural world we inhabit.   Even Stephen [...]]]>

SOUTH CAROLINA — My mom has been calling her American friends: “You guys are being so nice about Canada, thousands of people are going to emigrate…”

The NBC coverage of the Vancouver Olympics has been very complimentary.  Long features with Wayne Gretzky.  Hymns to Canadian style and bouquets about the natural world we inhabit.   Even Stephen Colbert had a good trip up north.  All very nice.

Canadians are unaccustomed to hearing nice things about our country or ourselves.

Earlier this week the New York Times dedicated a portion of their front page to that question we know we’ve all been asking: Why most Canadians play hockey left-handed?

Canadians, by nature, seem eager to please.  And aspire to being unflappable.  Maybe we’re coming of age a bit with these Olympics — paying less attention to every ‘helpful’ criticism we receive.

In the USA by contrast people seem almost inured from any criticism.  The so called Tea Party movement has caught my imagination.  Some say that TEA stands for ‘taxed enough already’ but that was probably thrown in after this right-wing protest got going.  What really boggles my mind is that these old matrons and local townsfolk who largely have never been political before have a common caption: “I’m afraid of my government.”

How does that work?

I have been in countries where the governments regularly chop off hands and heads.  I have lived in places where corruption was part of the ordinary daily life.  America is not one of those places.

I love being in the US on short visits.  It probably is the greatest country in the world.  But it’s confusing as could be.

/df

WESTFIELD — Human Resources departments and Corporate Communications departments have a great deal in common.  Including a mutual suspicion and occasionally antagonism.

Both: • focus primarily on people • believe they can use their systems and processes to make people think / do what they want • don’t like people much

Someone called last night and said: “What is it about Communications people, [...]]]>

WESTFIELD — Human Resources departments and Corporate Communications departments have a great deal in common.  Including a mutual suspicion and occasionally antagonism.

Both:
• focus primarily on people
• believe they can use their systems and processes to make people think / do what they want
• don’t like people much

Someone called last night and said: “What is it about Communications people, that they are all so timid? They never say anything.”

And the same can often be said of Human Resources professionals.  With some notable exceptions they tend to be quite modest and happier working quietly behind the scenes.  However, in working behind the scenes they can also have quite a strong sense of self-importance and self-belief.

If more people listened to them — they are convinced — the office would be a better place.

Communication people know in their bones that they can get ideas across to people.  They can move people and make the business better in a multitude of ways.  They have creative powers.  Awesome powers that are being under-utilised.

HR people on the other hand have processes that are flawless.  They can organise, advise and design systems that will make the business run like clockwork.  (If only the people didn’t get it wrong so often!)

Fran at Connected Communications recently pointed me towards this brilliant blog: My Hell is Other People.

It’s almost too good to be true.  The author claims to be a major London HR Director.

It sums up the frustrations of HR professionals.  Not necessarily in a way I agree with, but certainly in a way that I recognise from working in HR half my working life.

The fact is that HR people have great ideas that people don’t understand.  And Communications professionals have great ways of teaching people stuff but not enough good content.

If HR and Communications professionals could find common cause — even if it has to be an antipathy towards people — the the world of work could be a better place.

/df

14 BUS — There’s a rotten picture in the paper today of the opening speaker at the Copenhagen conference, Dr Rajendra Pachauri.  I know it’s not a nice thing to say, but he is a very unusual looking fellow.  Yes, it’s shallow and unimportant, but it’s another diversion from the real issue at hand.  And [...]]]>

14 BUS — There’s a rotten picture in the paper today of the opening speaker at the Copenhagen conference, Dr Rajendra Pachauri.  I know it’s not a nice thing to say, but he is a very unusual looking fellow.  Yes, it’s shallow and unimportant, but it’s another diversion from the real issue at hand.  And it seems like there are too many of those. 

The Copenhagen conference could still pull out a great victory.  Even if it satisfied 1/10 of the expectations put on it, it would be a success.

The issue being exploited successfully by those who would have it fail (and I can’t imagine the motivation of those people, but there seem to be many of them) is a lack of focus. 

When managing change programmes in organisations we often see a real problem in a lack of clear vision and mandate.  If you don’t know exactly what you are trying to do, and have agreement on that with your sponsors, then you’ll come a cropper very quickly.

Amongst those manning the barricades in Copenhagen already is my compatriot Naomi Klein, author of No Logo etc.  She’s trying to whip up a stink over Hopenhagen – a rock concert I hadn’t heard of.  Successfully it seems as some bands have withdrawn.  She says “This is our last chance to save the world… [...] The deal we need isn’t even on the table. [...]” And with reference to the dreaded rock concert: “The globe has a Seimens logo on the bottom and the whole event is sponsored by Coke. That is a capitalisation of hope.”

Oh.  No sense really getting out of bed then.

There are just too many issues on the table.  As my colleague Paul describes it, there are people sneaking up in the night and hitching their wagon to the back of your project.

There are plenty of reasons to think that rational thought will prevail, and people can make decent decisions even when presented with too much, often irrelevant, data.

But it’s not made any easier.

There’s a job to do in Copenhagen.  Let’s not confuse it with poverty, capitalism, power or… Coke.

Focus.

/df