What is the point of the 14 points?

lifewide learning & education

2012-02-04T15:37:00.000Z

Things to do in 2011

2011-01-03T17:01:00.000Z

There is a reason for most things - What does the the letter 'O' stand for?

2010-12-01T20:36:00.001Z

In the alphabet the letter 'O' stands for opportunity.

'O' is absent in yesterday, 'O' appears once today, and 'O' appears three times in tomorrow.

Always be positive about the future!

Be positive!

A unique way of delivering enterprise education

2010-11-22T17:38:00.000Z

In the spring of 2011, and inspired by global enterprise week, I will be embarking on a project called "A Unique Way of Delivering Enterprise Education." Drawing on the experience and expertise of practitioners, educators, and students from around the world we will be delivering a series of workshops which are designed to share with participants a unique way of delivering enterprise education.

In these times of global uncertainty and decline in the old industries it has never been more important to prepare the young people of the world to have a go and start their own enterprises, to have a go and change existing enterprises, or to join the thousands of social entrepreneurs that are starting businesses across the world. The objective of this programme is to encourage young people, and to give them practical ideas so that they have the confidence to go out and have a go.

With the changing landscape of education, with the changing landscape of industry, with the changing landscape of commerce the unique way of delivering enterprise education will provide an opportunity for educational institutions, educators, and practitioners to show case their work and learn from their peers for the benefit of their current and future students.

What levels of learning do you encourage?

2010-10-24T12:52:00.000+01:00

Surface, Deep, or Strategic?

Strategies for embedding what you have learned : Reflection.

2010-10-17T08:59:00.005+01:00

Have you ever had the experience where you know that you know something, you know that you know how to do something, yet you just can not recall how to do it, the detail of the subject, or exactly what you know?

Here are three ideas that I have come across over the years that may be helpful for those of us who have had that frustrating feeling.

1) Practice using the new things that you have learned, and share with others what you know.

Sportsmen and women practice what they do continuously, teachers repeatedly share what they know, craftsmen constantly go through the same procedures again and again.

2) When you have learned something, or have had that moment where you have though 'mmm that was interesting' take some time to make a note. Write down, draw a picture, and describe your learning experience; make a note of your conclusion from the learning experience, write about the messages that you have gained; and then think about and record what you are going to do differently as a result of your new knowledge, make some notes about any plan for change that you may have, or describe your ideas about how you could do things differently.

3) Turn what you have learned into a story.

Tell your own story, and here is an example off how I might tell a story that incorporated the ideas of this blog post.

Let me tell you a story. There was a blog that I used to read. It was entertaining, full of fascinating bits and pieces, ideas, facts, experiences. One sunny Sunday morning the writer of the blog explained just three ideas that he had used to help remember and recall what he had learned.

American sportsman Michael Jordan and Robert the Bruce were not mentioned in the story but they could have been . Both of these characters built their lives on practice and persistence. Jordan knew that to get better he had to make mistakes, and keep making mistakes. He knew that only by practice he would improve. He knew that to improve he had to make mistakes. Jordan happily tells the stories of his mistakes. Robert the Bruce learned by watching others. He watched the spider try, again, and again, and again. He watched the spider practising making a web, failing, and eventually succeeding.

The excitement on Charlie's face soon turned to feelings of disappointment. His friend did not seem particularly pleased; in fact she was horrified and he was sad that his friend did not seem too happy with him. He wondered why his friend did not like the gift that he had given her for her Birthday. And then, like a flash of lightening, it came to him. Alison did not like snakes, she loathed reptiles, any kind of reptiles. No wonder she did not seem too impressed with being given a gift of a framed picture of a snake charmer and a Cobra. He though to himself and concluded that in future he would pay more attention to what his friends really liked and what they did not like. He decided that he would keep a little note about each of his friends and call these notes 'Ideas for brilliant gifts and presents' he decided that every time that he felt that a friend showed an interest in a subject he would pay attention and think about how that interest could be turned into an appropriate gift. He would then write these ideas down in a little note book.

Charlie never bought any more pictures. His gifts were much better. His future gifts showed that he really cared about his friends. Alison had mentioned one day that she had always wanted to go to New York but she knew that it was not possible at this stage in her life. Months later, Charlie arrived at her house with a 'New York cheese cake' - he had made it himself. With it was a little note saying 'whilst we eat this cake let's dream that we are sitting outside a cafe on Bleaker Street.

Alison was very impressed and wondered what it would be like to spend the rest of her life with Charlie.

Happy Sunday!

Benjamin Zander - Possibility

2010-10-05T23:18:00.000+01:00

Good Business; Success and Happiness; Measurement and Performance.

2010-08-13T12:54:00.003+01:00

David C Roberts

I have been thinking about definitions of success and also doing some reading around the subject -

Happiness seems to play an important role.

My own world view has been for sometime that success is a very personal thing and that each individual defines success in his or her own way. An example of success (for me at this juncture in life) would be something as simple as participating with my daughter whilst she learns something new. Another example would be when one of the students, whom I teach, has an ah-ha moment and is able to explain a new concept. Success is also about my own professional consultancy and the feelings that I have when I do piece of work well.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004) writes about good business - his research into how leaders make sense of what they do. Drawing on the work of Abraham Maslow he describes the progress towards self actualisation or happiness:

In the first stages the basic needs for survival are required. Food, clothing, a roof over our heads. Satisfying hunger brings a sense of happiness when your basic needs are not automatically provided for however, once these basic needs are there additional clothing or more heating are unlikely to make an individual happy, a twelve bedroom mansion with three swimming pools will not provide happiness, in fact it may lead to a sense of loneliness; The next stage is that humans require a sense of security , or keeping what they have already - police , a strong army, just laws, a stable economy are required. Even all these characteristics are not often enough to provide happiness; Next is the search for love, to belong, to be a part of a community and maybe at this stage we go in search of things that make us more loveable - fancy clothes, cosmetics, hair colours, or we join societies, take part in church activities, or search out more learning opportunities; Many people leave happy and contented lives at this level , but some search for more. Their search for "the next gateway" is self-esteem. This can be found in an honourable profession, it can be found in power or fame, or it can be found in the symbols of success. This is enough for some but for others there are still more requirements - self actualisation.

Self actualisation is about being the best we can be, it is about being able to express all of the potential that we have. Csikszentmihalyi explains that "It is as if evolution has built a safety device in our nervous system that allows us to experience full happiness only when we are living at 100% - when we are fully using the physical and mental equipment that we have been given." He further argues that this 'mechanism' ensures that after all of our other needs have been met there is an inbuilt desire to use the full armoury of of our talents which enable us to preserve the status quo and also innovate and grow.

So how does all this apply to measurement and performance?
A Good business is therefore one which seeks 'self actualisation' one which serves a useful purpose and one which enables those working within it to grow and flourish. A good business is not just about inputs and outputs it is also about the group of people that work within it. Organisations which consider their employees have a higher output, less absenteeism, lower staff turnover.
Good business, in Csiksentmihalyi's words, is not measured therefore on profit but on how it makes a contribution to human happiness. An argument offered too by the Hopper brothers in their award winning publication 'The Puritan Gift'

References for further reading

Csikszentmihalyi, M., (2004), Good Business, Hodder and Stoughton, Kent.

Hopper, K and Hopper, W., (2009), The Puritan Gift, I.B.Taurus, London.

Teaching Business Ethics

2010-08-12T22:55:00.000+01:00

A Requiem for Detroit?

2010-08-01T12:26:00.003+01:00

What is happiness?

2010-07-24T23:32:00.000+01:00

Salford Information Observatory

2010-07-23T21:18:00.000+01:00

About a year ago I was involved with a colleague, Vicky Harvey, in some preliminary work around a Multi Agency Data Sharing initiative for the Salford Strategic Partnership, The Salford City Council, and The University of Salford. The project was, and is, about improving the outcomes for the citizens of the borough, working towards a count once - use many times approach towards data, and simplifying the process of analysing and reporting of data.

During the pilot project it became apparent that one of the key factors to the success of Multi Agency Data Sharing was about cooperation across departments and also across service providers. The leaders of the project undertook an initiative called 'collaborate to innovate' where people from different service providers across the borough came together to share their information and understanding of what was happening. At collaborate to innovate events people talked with each other and were given the time and space to build relationships. This initiative -- unsurprisingly -- was a great success.

One of the recommendations of the report was that the focus of the efforts of the Information Observatory should be about how can the observatory be used to provide better outcomes for the local citizens. We cautioned against investing in software products that would enable quicker, fancier, sleeker reports in favour of an approach that would enable real innovation.

I wonder if the Knowledge Hub for Local government is about real innovation or just a fancy way of producing reports more quickly. I hope that it is the former, yet I fear that it is the latter.

Sociologist David Harvey presents his view on the Crises of Capitalism

2010-07-02T05:10:00.000+01:00

The spectre of apathy and the absence of Death.

2010-06-05T17:57:00.002+01:00

A friend wrote recently about the apathy of young people today. He also wrote about his own apathy and the apathy of recent generations. Goal setting coaches speak of clients visualising future goals - seeking the prize. Other motivators can be the result of pressure - examples being students leaving homework and revision to the last minute. In simple terms my friends apathy (or lack of motivation) could be related to a lack of vision -- or hope in the future -- and a lack of pressure to do stuff. Let us consider these things: Death, Innovation, and Religion and their effects on motivation or its opposite - apathy.

   In the days of our grandparents (and their parents) Death walked the streets of our land and stalked our populations: High levels of infant mortality, two World Wars, Industrial accidents; and the slaughter of the Christmas turkey were all examples to the living of the fragility of their existence. The spectre of Death prevented apathy. Maybe the fear of Death was and still is the greatest motivator.

   Wind the clock forward to today and look at the evidence: Almost zero infant mortality; extended life expectancy; vaccinations against fatal disease; and food that comes in fancy packaging in a ready to go state. The modern day human being living in the city does not, on a frequent basis, experience Death. Death as the great motivator is no longer able to exercise his authority. Think about it, if you were confronted by Death on a daily basis how would your attitude to life change?

   Innovation comes at a price. A glance across the Atlantic ocean gives us an example of the heavy price and the unintended consequences of innovation. Not so long ago engineers in the oil industry were lauded for their skill in extracting liquid gold from the deep depths of the ocean in the Mexican Gulf. It was never their intention to wreak havoc on the environment, the citizens, and the shareholders who are all now appallingly affected by the current BP oil spill. Maybe our apathy is one of the side effects of the innovation of modern social life, maybe our apathy is one of the side effects of the innovation of modern medicine, maybe our apathy is one of the side effects of the innovation of advanced industrialisation.

   The Christian message is one of hope. The risk of being a non-believer is the veiled threat of purgatory, hell and damnation. The cities and towns of our early industrial society lifted their voices each Sunday to John Wesley's rousing choruses. Methodist, Presbyterian, even Anglican churches were brimmed full with congregations singing songs of hope. "My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, came forth and followed thee." Methodist, Presbyterian, even Anglican churches were brimmed full with congregations looking to escape the spectre of Death and the veiled threat of burning in hell. Has the freedom of our secular society delivered us not from evil but from the fear of Hell? Today, many of those Churches are closed, and those that remain open have feeble, and frail congregations. Maybe our apathy is one of the side effects of the secular society that we live in.

   Has the freedom from the fear of hell and damnation, our  innovation, and the absence of Death become the ball and chain of an apathetic life?

Collaboration not Competition: the group is more important than the individual

2010-05-25T21:46:00.001+01:00

Once upon a time, about four hundred years ago, people believed that the world was at the centre of the Universe. They believed that the heavenly bodies, the stars, the moon, and all of the planets revolved around planet earth. The Renaissance and the Protestant reformation gave some individuals, brave individuals, the opportunity and the courage to question the old order of things. The Renaissance, or rebirth, was about the human spirit being reawakened as it was in the Greco-Roman era. There was a new way of thinking about the world we lived in: it became OK for people to ask questions. The reformation was about challenging the old order of the church and the old beliefs.  Copernicus -- possibly spurred on by the new freedoms of the Renaissance -- suggested that the cosmos did not in fact revolve around the earth, and after a while most people believed him or did they?

I am at the center of the Universe

At what looks like the local mafia convention (which takes place each morning just before 9-00am) SUV's with blacked out windows and supercharged 4.0 litre engines gather in the leafy suburbs of English cities. Their drivers, who can barely be recognised behind their tinted windscreens; bvlgari shades; peroxide ponytails; and layers of Channel deliver their precious cargo to the custody of the local prep school. Each driver has a default setting -- I am at the center of the Universe.

Down the Cambridge Road things are not so different. At the gathering of the brainpower of our nation (which also takes place each morning just before 9-00am) academics with myriads of degrees, qualifications, and other notable distinctions gather in the University cloisters. The faculty, who can barely be recognised under the weight of the pressure to publish, the need to research, the requirement to teach, the necessity to attract funding are entrusted with intellectual development of the nation. Each academic has a default setting -- I am at the center of the Universe.

And on to the Behemoth, known to me as the Trafford Center, things are not so different. At the mecca of the new economy crowds begin to gather ( which takes place just a touch later at 10-00am.) These crowds, who are laden with desire, excitement, money, lines of credit, race eagerly towards their destination. The nation's financial survival depends on their spending. Each shopper has a default setting -- I am at the center of the Universe.

The yummy mummy in the SUV keeping up with the Joneses, the academic wrestling with his rejected paper, and the shopper seeking retail satisfaction by paying £2-50 for a 10p cup of coffee, some skimmed milk, and a liberal helping of syrup have one thing in common. Since they were born they have been at the center of everything: they have been at the center of their universe. They have been in the middle of all of their experiences, things have happened to them, in front of them, to their left, to their right, things have happened behind them. Films have been screened on their television sets, music has been played on their iPods, and tears have been shed from their eyes. Why would they not see themselves (ourselves-- myself even) as at the center of everything? Why would we not feel that they were at the center of the Universe?

Copernicus demonstrated that planet earth was not at the center of things, and of course we know that as individuals the world does not revolve around us either. It is also no surprise to me that we call individuals who have a rounded view on life, other people, and the world in general "well adjusted."   Organisations who have a clear set of values that put the well being of the group before the individual on the whole succeed. Organisations, or individuals within those organisations, who put individual gain before the group can cause great harm to many people . When we accept that the group is more important than the individual the world we live in, the world we hold in custody for our grandchildren, works in harmony. When we get caught up in our own self then the car horns start hooting, the academic jousting takes place, and the viciousness of the shopper snatching for the bargain at the January sales materialises. When we put ourselves first often the worst side of human nature emerges.

In the spirit of the renaissance, however, it might be beneficial to stop and think once in a while and, remembering that we are not at the center of everything, ask the question why am I here?  And while we are at it why not occasionally draw upon the words of JFK and ask what can I do for my great country rather than what can my great country (company, community, School ) do for me.

Image
The 2002 Blue Marble featured land surfaces, clouds, topography, and city lights at a maximum resolution of 1 kilometer per pixel. (NASA image by Robert Simmon and Reto Stöckli) http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

Collaboration not Competition

2010-05-04T21:19:00.001+01:00

This is the first in a series of short posts which argue for the benefits and importance of collaboration and working together. Whilst competition may bring the illusion of short term gains it must now be avoided in favour of an approach that makes the very best possible use of the limited resources that will be available to us all in the coming years.

In my experience of working with organisations over the last 30 years it is clear to me that when individuals, teams, organisations, and even governments collaborate great things can be achieved. Lets have a look at a few examples of how collaboration works to improve the everyday life of citizens:

Healthcare - If you were under the surgeons knife would you want the team striving to save your life to be working together as a unit or to be in competition with each other? Just close your eyes for a few moments and imagine what would happen if the theatre team behaved in the way that you, or some of your colleagues, do.

Innovation - How many of the great inventions of our time have been developed by an individual working alone? Not many. I can, however, think of many for examples of innovations that have been achieved by team working: The motor car; insulin; space travel; champions league football;
all of these have been achieved as a result of collaboration over a sustained period of time.

Community - Great communities are forged by individuals forming groups for the benefit of all. Great communities never consist of individuals working for personal gain.

Encouraging collaboration and cooperation is the responsibility of all of us and in particular the responsibility of senior management. At home this is the job of parents, at school it is the job of the teachers, and at work it is the primary responsibility of the senior management team.

How can we do this?

When organisations reward and recognise people for individual achievements then the organisation unwittingly or wittingly undermines collaboration. A strategy for ensuring collaboration may include the following charachteristics, which were identified by Will and Kenneth Hopper, that the early Puritan migrants to America found so effective.

First, the organisation needs crystal clarity as to its purpose; secondly, there needs to be an acceptance that the group is much more important than the individual; third, those leading should only be leading if they have a thorough understanding of the organisation also known as domain knowledge; fourth the organisation needs to galvanise its resources; and finally new technology needs to be embraced.

It will come as no suprise that once these charachteristics were abandoned in favour of short term individual greed that the current financial crisis ensued. Maybe, on friday morning, our polititians will need to understand collaboration. For the sake of all of us I dearly hope they do.

David

David Roberts works to help individuals, teams, organisations, and communities collaborate and achieve more. . He can be contacted by email at david@wentworthjones.com

Plus ça change - Paul Scholes

2010-04-17T23:38:00.001+01:00

Paul Scholes is the talk of Manchester tonight. He has been the talk of Manchester on many nights over many years. Today in the Manchester derby he did his job again and scored a winning goal in the last seconds of the match. A goal which may lead to yet another trophy from Manchester United and another winner's medal for Paul.

Back in the summer of 2008 I wrote the following post. The only comment I make today is this one. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - The more things change the more things stay the same.

July 2008

Paul Scholes - He Scores Goals - I am a Mancunian

James Drucker writes a super little article in today's times about Paul Scholes and like all articles it is for the reader to make of it what he will. Paul's lifestyle and outlook is compared to that of Christiano Ronaldo's. Chalk and cheese.

"On the Football pitch Paul is without doubt the most technically accomplished English footballer of the last 20 years" says the article. Paul's name would be on the team sheet before that of Mr Ronaldo.

Paul is a Mancunian, he has overcome a career threatening eye problem, and, despite missing the hampions league final in 1999, carried on regardless. In Moscow the other month he picked up the cup with big ears. To Paul this was just part of the job, his day's work.

Is it coincidence or part of the divine plan that the song that the supporters at Old Trafford sing about Paul Scholes is sung to the tune Kumbaya, a spiritual song originally encapsulating unity and closeness?

And on the subject of plus ca change here is another little ditty of mine from November 2008. There is a great deal more to football than 22 men kicking a ball around a field.

November 2008

Ports Rot Both Ships and Men

Without the night is cold, the freezing fog has lifted, and the city sleeps. But tomorrow joy of joy, for the Manchester Derby takes place at middle-east lands. There are no tips from me to the eventual winners of the game however there is a sense of expectation and excitement about the event.

There will be some thoroughbreds on display, a prince in waiting, an iron chancellor, with a puritanical steely grip on his throne, and two tribes of followers. Prawn sandwich brigades will fill the corporate facilities and a supporting cast of opinionated television and audio sages will wax lyrically about the potential outcome, the progress of the event as it happens, and to deconstruct the event at its finish.

Government security officers will be present in heavy numbers, not in case of an attempt of terror like the Irish Republican Army bombing of Manchester in the last century. Hundreds of said police officers will be present in the case that running battles between the tribal supporters erupt. There will be no religious bigotry no racism. There will however be some mindless violence.

Amongst the spectators will be some of the old guard and for many of us who understand the maxims of the game their names will bring back fond memories. A couple for your supper then from the history books. Frank Stapleton, the ex Arsenal and Manchester United forward player of the 80's who scored in many a derby game and Dennis Law, son of a fisherman from Aberdeen, who played for united at the age of only 17 and one of United's holy trinity. Many years after those early days at Manchester United Dennis "The Law Man" played for Manchester City and one spring evening back heeled the ball into United's net, and as a result United were relegated from the top division.

Plus ca change eh? As they say on Pendle Hill.

Munich Air Disaster 1958 and Old Trafford Manchester. Place attachment

2010-04-14T21:18:00.003+01:00

On a wintery afternoon on the 6th of February 1958 there was an aircraft disaster. An aeroplane plane carrying the players and staff of Manchester United, gentlemen of the press, and commercial passengers came to grief on take-off on the tarmac of Munich Airport. 23 Souls lost their lives including Duncan Edwards who, in modern day terms, was Messi, Rooney and Beckham. The Munich air disaster, as it is now known, became the defining point in the history of Manchester United.

Sir Matt Busby, who was the manager at the time, lay in a hospital bed on death's door, suffering from the injuries sustained in the crash. Twice a priest read him the last rites. He remained in hospital in Germany for two months. He wanted to pass a message of hope to the survivors, the bereaved , and the supporters of the club. He undertook a short radio interview, an interview which is now part of the folklore of the club. There was no digital sound quality in 1958. The recording was of poor quality and barely audible however the message from Sir Matt was crystal clear. "We will rebuild."

Sir Matt Busby was not to be defeated. He drew on an inner strength, a belief that he could overcome the almost certainty of an early death. Busby was no looser. Setbacks, were viewed by him as stepping blocks along the way. It was not a flash of inspiration or courage that got Sir Matt through -- it was a deep seated belief within that burned.

Ten years later in May 1968 Sir Matt lead his team out at Wembley Stadium, and, in an epic game, his Busby babes beat Benfica of Portugal four goals to two to lift the European Cup. Bobby Charlton, a survivor of the crash, scored with a cracking header.

I'm not sure what happens inside your mind when you go to your first football match, but I know that there is a powerful force operating that gets you hooked. My first visit to Old Trafford was in September 1972. I remember the floodlights, I remember the green pitch, and I remember that the game was a testimonial match for Bobby Charlton. I remember well the conversation between Dad and Uncle Alf about Munich, Sir Matt, and about Charlton surviving a crash. I was intrigued and hooked, lined, and sunk. The magnet which is United had me.

Sir Matt looks out over the visitors to the Old Trafford stadium. Dads stand with sons and explain the history of the club and of Munich 1958. Grandads stand quietly remembering those souls lost in the crash and are possibly reminded of other bereavements too. I stand under the statue of Sir Matt Busby and hear that scratchy recording of his voice. "We will rebuild."

Football grounds are special places for many reasons, each one very personal. For this Mancunian Old Trafford is a place of note.

http://www.placeattachment.com/ is a site where you can share your stories of places that have meaning to you and why they do.

Look before you leap

2010-04-13T10:07:00.001+01:00

“Look before you leap because when you go to India you will be overpowered by heat.”

(Harry Stamford 1914 – 1980)

Looking back on it my grandfather was, what would be described today by academics, an interpretive researcher. His “look before you leap” maxim served him well whilst stranded in Belgium during the Second World War. It kept him safe, alive, and aware that there are many, many sides to a story. His maxim is one that stands the test of time, unlike the promises of modern corporations who seem hell bent on short term gain and the long term corrosion of society and its citizens.

More about power

2010-04-11T21:15:00.000+01:00

This article is from one of the sites that I subscribe to www.dailygood.org

A Google search is not free.

James Clarage writes,

HOW much does a web search cost? You don't pay up front, but there are costs nevertheless, and they are not just measured in dollars.

The term search "engine" is apt. Searches are powered by millions of computers packed into warehouses, all wired together to function as a single system. Like any system, it obeys the laws of thermodynamics, and therefore wastes energy.

The first law says it takes energy to do work, even if that work is only to move electrons across silicon wafers. The second law says that no engine is perfect, meaning some of the input gets lost as heat. This is the entropy, or disorder, arising from your search.

A successful results page brings clarity and order to your corner of the universe, but down in the server farms things get messy. Thermal motion of silicon atoms agitates air molecules behind the CPU racks, heating them up. More energy must be fed in to power the computer fans and air-conditioning units needed to remove this heat from the warehouses.

Whatever you search for, it boils down to the same cycle: move atoms, then cool atoms. Both these steps consume energy. How much? Let's run through some numbers, using the leading search engine as our guide.

Whatever you search for, it boils down to the same cycle: move atoms, then cool atoms

IT research firm Gartner estimates Google's data centres contain nearly a million servers, each drawing about 1 kilowatt of electricity. So every hour Google's engine burns through 1 million kilowatt-hours. Google serves up approximately 10 million search results per hour, so one search has the same energy cost as turning on a 100-watt light bulb for an hour.

This doesn't bode well. Even though the average American performs just 1.5 searches per day, it is hard to imagine that this will not rise dramatically.

The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that data centres are responsible for 1.5 per cent of US energy use. How much more will that be when we, and our gadgets, are doing hundreds of searches per day? Or when the planet's 6 billion inhabitants all want equal access? We've all heard the future of information architecture is cloud computing. It just might be a cloud of carbon dioxide.

James Clarage is a physicist at the University of St Thomas in Houston, Texas

Greed, Corruption and Power - Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

2010-04-11T20:04:00.002+01:00

Individual corruption
This story dates back to the early 1990's and I wonder how many workers were affected as a result of the greed of one individual.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/arms-company-seeks-contract-safeguards-unions-threaten-action-over-losses-from-bribes-scandal-1467307.html?cmp=ilc-n

Corporate corruption

This article dates back to September last year and I wonder how many workers were affected as a result of the greed on these individuals.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6846790.ece

Institutional corruption in the Catholic Church

And how many lives has this piece of corruption ruined?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/21/pope-benedict-xvi-catholicism

There seems to me a common thread in these three items
The male of our species.

No Corrosion of Character Here

2010-04-08T23:05:00.002+01:00

Glyndwr’s story

Promotion to be the manager, at the age of fifty, of the foundry at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Manchester was a proud achievement in Glyndwr’s career and a proud achievement for any fifty year old man. From a humble beginning as a shop floor apprentice followed by hours of night school, National Service and years of reliable workmanship, underpinned by the foundations of a protestant work ethic, he achieved a position that he and his family were rightly proud of.

Few people knew of the specifics of Glyndwr’s family background yet many share a similar story. At the end of the Second World War, at age 11, his family arrived in the City of Manchester as immigrants. Unskilled immigrants. The family were hard working miners and farm labourers who had descended on the industrial city in hope of permanent work. A new life away from the hardship and the uncertainty of casual labour. His father secured work in a factory in Trafford Park and his mother in the kitchen of a local school. Glyndwr quickly learned to speak English and at the age of 15 secured an apprenticeship with Metropolitan Vickers in Trafford Park. He was to have a career. He was to have a trade, a purpose, a craft as a toolmaker, a career as an engineer.

Working tirelessly and always with enthusiasm Glyndwr provided for his wife and family. He worked over- time, he did additional work at weekends, and he kept an allotment but never grew any prize winning onions. He was the model worker, model husband and model parent. He was destined to enjoy the last fifteen years of his career in a relatively senior role and well paid to boot. No longer would he need to work at the weekends. He could spend his time at home, with his family and enjoy his fortnightly trip to watch his beloved Manchester United.

The Conservative government of the day were keen on privatisation and in 1987 Royal Ordnance was, like many other nationalised industries, privatised. It became Royal Ordnance PLC, and later underwent some re-engineering. This time a different kind of re-engineering, one taught by gurus from the business schools, re-engineering taught by accountants. This was much different than the engineering and tool making that had taken place at Nasmyth,_Gaskell_and_Company on the original site of the Manchester Ordnance factory and much different to the “real engineering” of making machine tools.

So here we have a man whose family had moved to England, a one family puritan migration even, to the city and made good. A family who had fully assimilated into the Manchester way of life, a family who were active members of the the community. So here we have a man who had forged a career, a man of character. How did he feel when he was issued with notice of redundancy? What was he to do? Just as he was expecting the good times to start to roll he was to lose his job. (Oh, any by the way interest rates were about to rise to 15%.)

Blame

It would have been unsurprising if Glyndwr had not tried to vent his likely anger and frustration by apportioning blame. Blame on the Thatcher Government for privatising a national asset would have been unsurprising. He could, some would argue, have rightly apportioned some blame on the British Aerospace financial engineers, the ultimate owners of Royal Ordnance, for closing his factory. Maybe he could have blamed those Chinese steel foundries who were turning out steel at a fraction of the price of his foundry by using poorly paid labour working in appalling conditions. Maybe he could have blamed his own failure, his own failure not to have risen to a managerial position sooner in his career. If he had been more senior he may have been able to secure meaningful work within the British Aerospace Corporation. Alas he was not senior for he was the Manager of a foundry which was no longer required, nor was he. He could have blamed himself.

There is a family story that goes back to the time of Glyndwr’s own father and the tale is of the General strike of 1926. Father Tom was a coal miner and in the aftermath of the strike was unable to find work in South Wales. At that time families struggled and suffered great hardship the likes of which we do not know today. Tom and his brother travelled to Liverpool and undertook any kind of work, sending back home what little money they earned. Glyndwr had learned from this family story many lessons. He had learned to distrust business owners, he had learned to mistrust conservative governments, and he had learned that you must never, never, ever quit.

In the face of being floored by his redundancy Glyndwr picked himself up, brushed himself down and carried on. Drawing on the lessons that he had learned from his family history he was not for quitting. He was not for giving up and he was not for apportioning blame. That was not the way. Instead he traded as a gardener and maintained the lawns of many a prestwich home. His engineering eye meant for Wimbledon like stripes and he enjoyed an income equal and equivalent to his pay from the Royal Ordnance. He enjoyed more benefits too. The drive to work was different each day, the locations changed. Whilst the M60 Motorway around Manchester caused pollution and occasional over heated drivers it was nothing like the heat, fumes, danger, and all round health risk of the foundry. Glyndwr was well suited to the outdoor life, he enjoyed it and so did his customers. He looked after them.

April 2010

“Blessing in disguise” said Glyndwr. “Someone up there must like me to have rescued me from that factory and allowed me to have enjoyed the outdoor life and rude health for the last twenty five years or so. Even better, without being made redundant I would never have considered leaving the ROF and doing my gardening round. I would have never have had the opportunity to meet and become friends with my customers. One of whom was a Lord, a Judge, a privy councillor, and the Chairman of Lancashire Cricket Club. In fact if I had stayed in that foundry for another fifteen years I would probably not be here today.”

Modern business and the short termism of today’s society was not to corrode Glyndwr’s character because he is made of much tougher stuff. And so are his sons.

This is a true story – I have written it as a result of being inspired by Glyndwr and also by the writings of the sociologist Richard Sennett www.richardsennett.com Will Hopper www.puritangift.com, Ivan Goldberg http://maa-uk.blogspot.com/ and Peter Kawalek Peter's Blog

Money is a little too tight to mention

2010-03-30T02:34:00.000+01:00

British Airways Cabin Crew Unite or Divide?

2010-03-30T02:21:00.002+01:00

The woman who left.

I know a woman who would be described by any employer as the model employee. Never a day off sick, never a day late, never a bad word about the company she loved and worked for. Her job was not a glamorous one, it involved picking up the telephone and listening to customers. With seemingly endless enthusiasm for some fifteen years she served her customers, her employer, and the other members of her team.

Her job was not well paid, yet she loved it. She loved being a part of the world’s favourite airline and she loved helping resolve the problems her customers sometimes faced. She loved the thanks that she received when she located a lost bag and the thanks she received when she arranged for an unaccompanied minor to be united with a grandparent in a far flung country. She even enjoyed, although it was painful at times, helping to relocate some of the mundane back office work to a service centre in India.

Later on she managed other members of staff and took responsibility for their training and keeping up their morale in times of difficulty. And there was a catalogue of difficulties some of which were unlucky, some tragic, some a result of greed, and some of which were self inflicted sent to test both her metal and her ability to train and motivate her people.

The tragic crash of the Air France Concorde, numerous industrial disputes involving baggage handlers, disputes about catering, terrorist attacks, the opening of terminal 5 all took their toll.

She describes the two kinds of employees in her company. First there were those who picked up the pieces, those who helped a passenger who had fallen ill half way across the Atlantic Ocean, those who traced a lost bag, and those that had to apologise to customers because a flight had been cancelled or delayed because one of their work colleagues had decided they had “no option” other than to take industrial action. Second were the others, those who believed their own propaganda, those who had not been aware of a fuel crisis, Ryan Air, Easy Jet, reductions in corporate travel, reductions in government diplomatic travel; Those who had “no option” other than to take action against their employer.

We move on to the present day and, for my woman , the current industrial action was not against the airline it was against her, all she had worked for, it was against her passengers, her customers, and her office based telephone teams. For my woman, who knows many colleagues who decided to strike, the current industrial action by cabin crew was all too much, too much for her team, too much for her passengers, and too much for her. After 15 years of giving she could give no more.

She joined her company in 1994 and was part of a workforce that strove to raise standards. In the early 2000’s she was part of a decreasing number of colleagues who were striving to maintain standards. In 2010 she decided that she could no longer say sorry and, more sadly, no longer look her team of customer service colleagues in the eye and ask them once again to contact passengers and tell of cancellation of holidays and family reunions as a result of industrial action by other colleagues.

Her striking colleagues, in my woman’s words, live in a strange place, a fantasy land up in the sky. They suffer from the Pygmalion effect. Things have changed and so must they. She makes the same comment of the so called leading academics mentioned in a recent article in the Guardian.

Richard Sennett

2010-03-28T16:07:00.001+01:00

I am reading a very important book, in fact a book so important that I now consider it to be as relevant and helpful as the Hopper masterpiece. The Corrosion of Character by Richard Sennett gives an insight into the challenges facing individuals in the capitalist economy. It gives me a lens through with I can view my life and more importantly the lives of others struggling along the path of meaningfulness.

Any fool can save 10%

2010-03-12T19:23:00.000Z

In theory reducing the budget spend is very simple. First of all you need to decide how much you want to save, and then you need to have a look for some efficiencies. Once you have made the decision on what to cut all you need to do is cancel some contracts and "hey presto" the savings are made. Finally all that is required is a cigar, a glass of champagne, and an expression of smugness as you revel in your success.

In practice however reducing the budget spend is a far more sophisticated activity and requires the skill and know how of an experienced hand. In the complex organisations that we work in today we must always be mindful and consider that each each part is connected to another, that everything is interconnected, that each thread is as necessary as the next to hold the organisation together. Before any cut is made the tailor must know how the suit will look when completed. Would a tailor design a one armed Jacket?

The sparkling picture above reminds those of us engaged in the business of efficiency that when we get it right, or even when we get it wrong, there could well be fireworks. Good luck.

The picture has been provided by Sociotard via http://www.flickr.com/photos/9918311@N02/4268587808/

How to be positive

2010-02-23T19:41:00.000Z

Sometimes I get out of bed on the wrong side, sometimes something, or somebody, upsets my mood, and sometimes it is just one of those days. One of those days when nothing goes right from morning till night, as Mr Presley would say.

I can't guarantee that the following Ideas are bullet proof but they seem to work for me in the daily requirement to be positive.

1) Make the inner voice in your head speak to you in a positive way.

When the nagging doubts creep into your mind replace them with positive thoughts or affirmations. Make these affirmations in the current tense, in a positive way, and personal to you.

For example swap any nagging doubts for an internal dialogue that says "I can achieve this." "I can complete this project." "I am a good parent"

2) Picture a positive outcome- Visualise a positive picture

Get a mental picture in your head of good things happening, visualise yourself being successful or achieving the things that you want. Make the picture vivid and as real as possible. If the self doubt creeps in close your eyes and see the picture of success for you that you have created.

3) Keep positive company

We are who we mix with. If we spent too much of our time with negative people then we too will become negative. To remain positive it is important then to spend our time with positive people. People who encourage, support and enthuse.

A famous football manager from England called Mr Brian Clough gave the following advice for when the going gets tough.

He said " Never never ever quit. If you ever feel like quitting go to bed and sleep on it. If you wake up in the morning and feel like quitting go to bed that night and sleep on it again. Keep going to bed and keep sleeping on it until such time as you have changed your mind.

Sleep well and keep positive.

The Law of cause and effect

2010-02-17T22:57:00.000Z

Law of Cause & Effect:

The Law of Cause & Effect states that absolutely everything happens for a reason. All actions have consequences and produce specific results, as do all inactions. The choices we make are causes, whether they are conscious or unconscious, and will produce corresponding outcomes or effects. The Law works the same for everyone at all times.

Distilled down to the simplest possible terms, this Law states that for every outcome or effect in one's life, there is a specific cause; poor diet and exercise habits result in poor health, constant and uncontrolled spending results in debt and money worries, not putting effort into your key relationships results in poor relationships and all of the associated issues.

The law can also be applied in the physical sense through examination of Sir Isaac Newton's third Law of Motion, which states that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." If, for example, you were to hold your hand over a candle's flame (the cause) the effect would be that your hand would burn and it would hurt! While this is an extreme example, it serves to illustrate the point very well.

Consider another situation which is specific to business. Imagine that your business is so successful you cannot keep up with the demand - a nice problem to have! Eventually, the levels of customer service deteriorate as your staff attempts to cope with the problem. You receive complaints and employee morale begins to suffer.

At this point, you have a choice to make - try to muddle through with the existing situation or hire more people. This is a difficult decision as there are many unknowns when hiring - will you get the right person, will he / she be part of the solution or part of the problem, what will happen to your cash flow etc.

Whichever decision you make becomes the cause - either you hire or don't. The effect is the result of the decision. If you hired someone, there should be some relief for your existing staff, and customers should become happier with your service (providing of course, you hired the right person and then invested to train them properly). If the decision was to not hire, the effect would likely be dissatisfied, and eventually, lost customers and potentially lost employees as well - unless you can find another solution (cause) to implement (process re-engineering etc.). This is a recipe for disaster which could easily see the business fail altogether - the ultimate effect.

The same holds true with your personal relationships. If you treat the important people in your life with respect, love, compassion, dignity and honesty (cause), you will experience loving, solid relationships - which lead to happiness, fulfillment and peace of mind (effect).

Making It Work For You:

The truly wonderful thing about this law is that by definition then, we should be able to manifest that which we truly want (the effect) simply by exerting the same causes that others before us have exerted and been successful. Let me explain:

If you have a desire to be a successful and highly paid businessperson in your chosen field, then you should be able to look back and study what made others, before you, successful. What books did they read, courses did they study, beliefs did they hold, actions did they take?

If you were to emulate the things they did to be successful, you would achieve the same results over a period of time. If, over time, this does not occur, it is likely because there is something different in what you were doing - some vital piece of information that is missing.

What You Can Do:

There are three action exercises, which you can put in place immediately, to help you get more of what you want:

1. Determine the Cause & Effect relationships in the areas in which you want improvement or success. Identify the specific things you will need to do in order to get the results that you desire.

2. Take action! Make the decision to focus on, and do, the things that other successful people have done in those areas. Half the battle is taking action. It is your ability to actually begin that will set you apart from the majority of the population.

3. Persevere. If you take action and do the things that others have done, you will eventually get the desired results. Rome was not built in a day and it has taken you a lifetime to get into the position in which you now find yourself. Success takes time, so if it doesn't seem to be working immediately, don't give up! Stay focused, analyze your causes to ensure you are doing the right things; tweak your approach if necessary - you will get the desired results!

There is no mystery to achieving success - it is available to all of us. One need only be aware of, understand and live in accordance with Universal Law!

From www.ezinearticles.com

The law of correspondence

2010-02-17T22:38:00.000Z

Law of Correspondence

The Law of Correspondence tells us that our outer world is nothing more than a reflection of our inner world - as within, so without.

This is an extraordinary principle and really says that our current reality is a mirror of what is going on inside us. If our outer reality is unhappy, chaotic or unfulfilling it is a direct result of what is happening inside us. If we have low self-esteem, feel badly about ourselves or constantly feel anger, hatred or loathing, then our outer world will be a place of turmoil.

The truly sad thing is that it becomes a self-perpetuating situation - we feel badly about ourselves and our outer world is unhappy. The worse the outer world becomes, the worse we then feel about ourselves, which has a direct impact on our reality. To escape from this treadmill, it is critical to shift our paradigm.

Nothing in our outer lives can change without first making changes on the inside. In fact, the basis for all self-help is 'change from the inside out!' It does not matter one iota what we change on the outside, if we haven't done the work to change on the inside. Our reality will continue to evolve so that it is a reflection of our inner beliefs and world.

In all cases, our outer world reflects our inner world in every way, shape and form. If we desire change in our outer world, we must first change our inner world - our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes. Stated another way, our current situation is a direct result of the way we think. If we want to shift our paradigm, then we must change the way we think!

We have total and complete control over only one thing in life - our thinking. It is not until we change our thought patterns to focus on what it is we truly desire, that we can effect meaningful and lasting change. This is difficult for most people to accept, as blaming others for the things that are wrong in our lives has become common practice. Let's face it - it is much easier on our egos to blame someone else for what is wrong in our lives, than it is to accept the responsibility!

The truly wonderful thing is that by taking control of our minds and thinking, we take control over all other aspects of our life. This is the key to personal happiness, freedom and peace of mind! By focusing exclusively on what it is that we truly desire, and by eliminating all thoughts of what we don't want, we can begin to shape, mold and build our lives to our own specifications!

What You Can Do

There are three things that you can start doing immediately that will help you to begin to build the life you desire:

1. Take a hard and objective look at your current reality - career, relationships, health and financial situation. Ask yourself the question "How are my inner thoughts and attitudes being reflected in my outer world?"

2. Take full responsibility for whatever is happening in your life, be it good or bad. Begin today by making the choice to change your thinking.

3. Begin to visualize the world that you truly desire and focus your thoughts on this. Ask yourself the question "In order to achieve this 'outer world', what changes will I need to make internally?" Whatever the required changes, take action today to start making them!

Understanding the Law of Correspondence is the first step towards taking control of your life. If you want positive change, look inside first and remember:

Change the quality of your thoughts and you will change the quality of your life!

Reproduced from www.ezinearticles.com

John 11:25

2010-02-02T00:31:00.000Z

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."

I've decided that It's time to resurrect "What is the point of the 14 points." Whilst I'd like to say that I have been blessed with divine intervention I can't.

I can, however, let you take a peek at a blog post on the Transforming Management online magazine that has encouraged me to recommence sharing my thoughts, comments and observations.

Thank you Felicity Goodey.

Adieu mon ami

2009-06-16T22:42:00.003+01:00

It's time to say goodbye to www.variationanddeviation.blogspot.com

The pleasure is in the journey and not the destination. I hope you have enjoyed the trip and brief insight into my view on life. It's now time for me to take a different view.

When the seagul follows the trawler it is because he expects sardines to be thrown into the sea.

Au revoir.

The day that the world's greatest athlete met his match

2009-05-17T20:19:00.018+01:00

Haile Gebresalassie ran ten kilometers to school each day. He represented Ethiopia at the 1992 junior world championships and won both the 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals. World championships and Olympic success followed. He broke his own marathon world record in 2008 to become the first human being to run a marathon race in sub 2 hrs 4 mins.

Haile Gebresalassie has broken twenty six world records and today (19/5/2009), in Manchester, United Kingdom, faced one of the stiffest challenges of his career.

David Roberts was born in Urmston. He was not regarded as an athlete. In fact he was not regarded as a sportsman except of course for that great achievement, almost Boycottian, in defending his wicket for over 20 minutes in the 1975 Amersham Close Test Match.

On the 17th may 2009 Haile and David were to cross swords on David’s beloved Manchester Streets. Those same streets that Ann Lee had walked nearly 400 years earlier, those same streets that Emmeline Pankhurst had graced. Those same streets that had inspired Engels, Marx and Rylands. Those very same streets that had called Busby, Edwards, Charlton, R., Robson, Cantona, Beckham and Ashley Grimes.

Tony Lloyd, a hardworking politician, wished David well as they travelled together to the event.

A lazy wind blew litter through the streets of the city, masses of spectators gathered for the spectacle and Russell Watson sang an inspirational ballad shortly before the start of the race.

10K, 10,000 meters, was Haile’s bread and butter. Those daily runs to school were part of his make up. David had no fears however because he was on home turf.

The race was underway and Haile sped in to an early lead. David raced valiantly and achieved a personal best time. The crowds cheered and the strategy of the runners unfolded. Haile at the front setting a blistering pace. David ran at a controlled and even pace. Remembering the story of the hare and the tortoise David was sure his strategy would lead to victory. Haile drawing on his Olympic and world championship experience continued to lead from the front. A fascinating race unfolded and on this occasion experience was the winner.

Shortly after crossing the winner’s line David was greeted by Haile. Haile smiled his broad smile and said “it could have been another record except for the wind”.

David congratulated Haile and looked forward to the opportunity of challenging him again. Haile said he would love to come back.

In addition to the two protagonists a further 33,000 souls joined in the Great Manchester Run today and for good measure some £2,000,000-00 was raised for charity. A sense of community filled the city of Manchester and in the midst of the economic concern further evidence of the transformation could be seen. The transformation from take to give. The transformation from materialism to spiritualism. The transformation from what’s in it for me to what can I do for society.

All this reminds me of a different Corinthian spirit. Faith, Hope and Charity and the greatest of these is Charity.

Plain English and how not to explain things!

2009-05-06T17:10:00.008+01:00

Football is known as the beautiful game. It is simple and involves the idea of scoring more goals than the opposing team to win the game. In some competitions the winner is decided by the total score over two games. One game usually played at the team's home stadium and the other game played at the opposing team's stadium. Hence the expression "Home and Away games."

Just after Manchester United had scored their first goal last night the commentator uttered the following statement which left me and my daughter bewildered.

"Well that's the all important away goal for United. And for those of you who are not regular followers of football the away goals rule is an instrument which is invoked as tie-break mechanism for separating the teams in the event that after 90 mins of the second leg the aggregate scores are level"

"Oh that's interesting" said my 8 year old daughter. "I thought that the away goals rule meant that if the match was a draw away goals counted double."

I replied "Poppy you are right and I think the commentator has been on a course."

Update: Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona. The away goals rule was invoked as a tie-break mechanism as the aggregate scores were level at the end of 90 mins of the second leg. In other words it's Manchester United FC v Barcelona in the Champions League Final later this month. As the match is a one off the away goals rule will not apply. Poppy is pleased!

Swine Flu protection for you and your employees

2009-05-04T19:15:00.002+01:00

I wondered how useful this article might be.

How to Protect Yourself and Your Employees from H1N1 Flu

By Paul Diamond, Web Editor, Vistage International

The recent outbreak of H1N1 flu (swine flu) has many business owners concerned for their employees’ health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released detailed information on H1N1 flu and says the symptoms are similar to the symptoms of the common influenza virus. The good news is that most people who become infected with H1N1 flu will recover without hospitalization or long-term complications.

Symptoms
The most common H1N1 flu symptoms include:

Cough
Congestion
Nasal Congestion
Body aches
Joint Pains
Fever
Chills
Sore throat
Headache
Fatigue
Diarrhea
Vomiting
Decreased energy

Those who are immune-compromised, older or pregnant may be at higher risk of complications or serious respiratory illness.

Transmission
This strain of H1N1 flu is believed to be transmitted, like other human viral flus, by casual contact or through the air by sneezes or coughs. Touching or eating pork products will not transmit this flu.

According to the CDC infected people may be able to infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to seven or more days after becoming sick. That means you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you’re sick, as well as while you are sick.

Prevention
Here are actions people can take to help prevent getting or spreading the flu virus:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
If you get sick, the CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others.

What to do if you suspect you have H1N1 flu
If you live in areas where H1N1 flu cases have been identified and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you may want to contact your physician. Your doctor will determine whether influenza testing or treatment is needed.

If you are sick, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people as much as possible to keep from spreading your illness to others.

Treatment
Currently, we are at the tail end of our normal flu season, and most people with flu symptoms simply have a viral infection and not the H1N1 flu. Maintaining adequate hydration is highly important if you contract any viral illness.

If you contract the H1N1 flu, there are two flu medications which can be helpful. The CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with H1N1 flu. The CDC says that the antiviral medications amantadine and rimantadine will not work against H1N1 flu.

Young people under the age of 18 with fever or flu symptoms should not be given Aspirin or aspirin-containing products (such as bismuth subsalicylate – Pepto Bismol) due to the risk of Reye syndrome.

Travel
Susan Locke, M.D., Medical Director of Vistage Healthnetwork, discourages any nonessential travel to Mexico at this time. “If someone needs to go for business,” she said, “I would recommend seeing his/her physician prior to leaving and to get a prescription filled for either Tamiflu® or Relenza, both of which are effective against H1N1 flu. These should be started at the onset of any flu-like symptoms.”

For those who have recently traveled to Mexico and have any flu-like symptoms, Susan recommends they go to their physician immediately and get tested for H1N1 flu.

The Vistage Healthnetwork is available to assist all U.S. Vistage members and their families with preventative testing and treatment for all health concerns.

H1N1 Flu Vaccine
Currently, no vaccine is available to help prevent the H1N1 flu. For those who received the flu vaccine this year, it does not offer protection against the H1N1 flu.

Sample Message for Your Employees
To help prevent an outbreak of flu or H1N1 flu within your organization, establish a “do not come to work” policy for employees who report flu-like symptoms. The policy you adopt should be clearly communicated to your employees both in writing and verbally by managers. Below is a sample announcement which Vistage members can use or modify.

As news continues to emerge about the outbreak of H1N1 flu, we want to be sure that everyone at our company is equipped with the best information about how to cope with this potentially serious disease.

Our official company policy until further notice is that all employees who are sick with cold or flu-like symptoms should either work from home or take PTO and stay at home until symptoms are gone.

Business operations are normal at the present time; our office is open for business. All employees should report to the office according to their normal work schedule. We are carefully monitoring the evolving H1N1 flu outbreak. If you or someone in your family is ill with the flu please stay home until all symptoms have cleared.

Q. Should I stay home if I have flu symptoms?
A. Yes. If you are sick, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people as much as possible to keep spreading your illness to others. You should record that time as PTO.

Q. If I stay home because my child’s school or daycare is closed or because a family member has the flu, how will my pay be handled?
A. If your job allows and with your manager’s approval, you can work from home for this period.

Q. What if my job doesn’t allow me to work from home?
A. You should record that time as PTO.

Q. Where can I find the most current information regarding how H1N1 flu is transmitted, treated and when one should see a doctor?
A. Refer to http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm.

Our Steph explains the new normality!

2009-05-01T18:55:00.003+01:00

The UK treasury has pronounced that today's economic position is the new normailty. In this article our Steph, Stephanie Flanders explains the notion that the financial crisis is a mere lightning bolt and as a result £5bn has been wiped off the books. There was no boom and bust , there was in fact just a one off, unforseen strike of lightening.

So Ivan according to The Uk Treasury we are right. This is the new normality.

About Coaching - The Anatomy of a coach

2009-04-21T20:49:00.004+01:00

My friend Ivan has written an informative and fascinating article about being a coach. I've reproduced it for you here. Ivan is the Managing Director of Michael Adam associates, A vistage chair and a very special friend.

The Anatomy of a Coach

By Ivan J Goldberg

Perhaps the question to ask is - what is a coach? My view is that a coach should be a support system, a point for accountability, a facilitator, a challenger, an honest commentator and a totally confidential advocate.

There are other aspects but perhaps the most important factor is what a coach is NOT and that is an advisor, a consultant or a crutch.

In more than 3,000 coaching sessions over the past sixteen or so years, I have learnt that there can be no prescriptive format or a formal process which takes the coach and the coachee (if that is the right word!) to the Promised Land.

Rather the coach must remain open minded and trawl very carefully to discover the real issue in the mind of the client. Too often, the initial statement of issue is one which masks the real issue and this can only be uncovered by sensitive questioning.

In order to “peel the onion”, the use of the “what else” question can be valuable but essentially, the coach must ask the question and then, vitally, listen to the answer. Remember that an anagram of “listen” is “SILENT” and silence will help the client to marshal their resources and thoughts so as to come to an eventual conclusion.

Stay silent after the client finishes and continue to stay silent until they start again. That restart will take them to deeper thoughts and feelings which may well start to help them uncover the issue. Don’t be tempted to break the silence - the client is more important than your opinions!

There are one or two useful questions to ask - the use of “how does that make you feel?” as a supplementary is a great opener with someone who is prepared to dig into their subconscious, and never allow anyone to say “I don’t know”. That usually masks a reluctance to vocalise their feelings so go on digging deeper until the real answer starts to emerge.

As the client goes deeper into their thoughts and feelings, the true reason for help can emerge. Notice that I said “can” emerge. Because this is a free ranging process, unless the coach stays very alert for some indication in the client’s answers about the real issue, then the point can be lost. This requires great sensitivity and some sort of instinct for the right thing which comes perhaps with experience.

Consequently, a prescriptive approach can almost always be counter-productive. If a formalised approach is used there is a danger that important points can be missed in the perceived need to follow the prescribed format of questioning.

Most essentially, the coach is NOT a consultant so never dive in with prescriptive answers and opinions. That is not what the client needs (it may be what they want, of course) but until he/she comes to their own conclusion, then the session needs to continue.

Always try to use “open” questions (who, why, what, where, when and how) as they can’t be answered with a yes/no. Be careful with “why” as it can sometimes be seen to be aggressive but if it is used with sensitivity, it can be a most valuable tool in the coach’s armoury.

Remember to use the “what else?” question to enable your client to dig deeper each time.

Always summarise at the end of the session. A short paraphrase on the basis of “I have heard that you ……………” or “You said that……….” is best, together with a summary of what you will discuss at the next meeting. Give them something to take away and think about and always make yourself available, by telephone or email, between sessions. It can be a demand on your time but if your client needs it then you should always be there to give help and support.

Oratory - The lost art and some devices for you to use

2009-04-18T19:53:00.004+01:00

Friends, readers, twitterers lend me your ear!

The BBC shares with us all their recent show "The Lost Art of Oratory" - here is the link to the BBC iPlayer where you can watch it.

The Lost Art of Oratory

For those who fancy a stab at becoming the next King, Obama or Cicero here is a link to a super little piece - A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices.

http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm

Enjoy its contents, enjoy its craftsmanship and enjoy using it!

Sir Alex Ferguson - How to get inside the mind of your pusillanimous adversaries

2009-04-18T10:06:00.005+01:00

Adversaries come in many shapes and sizes, they take many forms and they do not always present themselves in a clear and unambiguous way.

Sir Alex Ferguson though is transparent. His motives are clear, his purpose precise and his recent attack on the pusillanimous Raphael Benitez will serve to destroy and undermine the moral of the Liverpool manager.

Take a peek at this clip from the BBC and notice the body language and the careful choice of words.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8004367.stm

Beyond the pail?

The You Tube symphony

2009-04-15T19:31:00.004+01:00

Now this is a proper mash-up!

Further to your introduction to the art of mash-up YouTube presents the world premiere of the Tan Dun composition "Internet Symphony, Eroica" as selected and mashed up from thousands of video submissions from around the globe.

Listen and enjoy the craftsmanship and the musicianship!

Compelling stories and leadership

2009-04-12T20:27:00.006+01:00

I penned this blog in July 2008. For some reason it has been languishing in the in tray.

Let me tell you a story.

Steven Alistair is brilliant at it, so are John McC and Paul M. Ivan and Howard are fabulous too. Bill Philips is a master. Russell Moss falls into the same category.

Human beings are primates with genes only 2% different to that of chimpanzees and to survive have adopted the characteristics of predators. Through the history of nature we have been on the lookout for places of danger, opportunities, the enemy and constantly thinking about how to survive, how to win. We have lived in a drama.

At recent Vistage meeting Don Schminke spoke about using ancient wisdom to develop extraordinary leadership and highlighted the secret of closing the performance gap – Executive value.

Let me explain, we know the traits of great leaders, inspiration, loyalty, vision, teacher, mentor, motivator, trust, values etc, however on a daily basis in the every day world after the inspirational leader has left and gone to bed, like bagpuss coming out to play, the following behaviors appear from the cracks and recesses like an ancient plague.

Toil as you will great leaders it’s a fact that in the underground organization the following are all but inevitable.

Rebellion, hidden agendas, inconsistency in performance of the staff, manipulation, unethical behavior, back stabbing, apathy, sloth , turf battles, silos, personal agendas and the rest.

Chambers, Murray, McCluskey, Howard, Philips, Moss Taylor could have written and presented Don’s paper and his three key points, because like the characters studied in Neil Strauss Book The Game, they are Naturals.

Rule number one to bridge the Gap between what we want to happen and what really happens

Create a compelling saga.

When people are living in a drama, a saga, there is no need for them to create their own. Ask youself where is the battlefield, who is the enemy? How do we win? and get to work on crafting an epic saga.

Chambers is a brilliant teller of stories, his phone calls will start with these words, “Caton just let me tell you this.” John McCluskey too is the Wayne Gretsky of using the story to explain things. Craft Great stories, sagas, not a flimsy paragraph called a vision or mission. Paul can tell a million stories illustrating and reinforcing his ideas and points. Craft them and adapt them over time, test them, tune them, evolve them.

Remember never to get seduced by the tools of the business gurus, investment bankers, venture capitalists and the MBA cult. Content and Process.

So for our business we must tell the stories that describe how it is going to be-how successful, how important, difficulties that we will face, adversity, struggles. It must be passionate because when we are passionate our people will believe, change their behavior and bring brilliant results.

If you are looking for some ideas of compelling sagas then checkout the history books and look up Rolex, jewellery not watches, 3M to solve unsolved problems innovatively, Ritz Carlton Hotels, ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. The Munich Air disaster.

Rule number two

This one is straight from the John McClusky school

Develop a strong management team with passion about what they are doing and who understand that speed brings results.

Go to war with a strong team, not on your own. Lone rangers rarely survive.

The passionate army using stealth always wins. Dominate the ego force inside your people, Ensure that your saga is so compelling that they are willing to die for it.

Ask the questions “How is the passion?” “How fast are we?” The great military generals always did. Develop a code of honor.

Assess the capacity for mental complexity of your team – how far out can they see? One month , One year, Three years , Five years, Twenty years?

Ask them what is the longest term project they think that they could manage? That will give you a clue about how visionary they are.

Rule number three

Craft a tribal environment.

Look after and create Symbols, Rituals and Magic moments.

Seek out the negative stories and destroy them and if needs be create new positive ones. Make sure that the rituals, symbols and magic moments support the saga.

Take a stroll around Old Trafford football ground, look up at Sir Matt Busby, everybody knows the story of his radio interview from his hospital bed in Munich. Sir Matt returned and some 10 years later with the Busby babes he lifted the European cup. How many times has Sir Alex Ferguson spoken about that to his players?

Donna Law must be very proud every time she drives past old Trafford.

Talk about, write about, explain to newcomers the magic moments, publish pictures, and remember them frequently and with passion.

Keep telling the stories!

Twitter - Highly recommended!

2009-04-12T20:08:00.004+01:00

Friends - you will recall my blog entry last summer about Twitter http://variationanddeviation.blogspot.com/2008/07/twitter-twitter-twitter.html and my cries of exasperation. Well the facts have changes and I've changed my mind. Twitter is an excellent resource and I strongly urge you to experiment, get a set of interesting people to follow and share, like a good professor does, things you have learned, things you have seen and things you have written with your following.

But be quick or you might miss the curve! Oh and as a start how about following DavidCRoberts on twitter?

The Magic of Banking

2009-04-10T22:00:00.004+01:00

Robert Peston published this blog entry yesterday. If it was not true it would be comical. I find it frustrating that even in the middle of the crisis our institutions are still performing accounting Tom foolery.

Here is Mr Peston's article in full make of it what you will.

Barclays says that it has sold iShares - a provider of specialist stock-market funds - for £3bn.

But it's not a sale in the sense that most of us would recognise. Because it has lent the buyer, the private-equity house CVC, £2.1bn of the purchase price.

In fact Barclays' continued exposure to iShares seems even greater than just those loans, in that the deal adds £2.7bn to what the bank shows on its balance sheet as its so-called risk weighted assets.

That said, Barclays says that through the miracle of how banks do their accounting there will be a useful addition to its capital resources, its buffer against losses on lending.

Some would argue that extra bit of buffer has been acquired at the steep price of selling a growing business at a knockdown price into a buyer's market.

Which only goes to show quite how desperately Barclays - like most banks - needs capital, even if it has avoided the indignity suffered by Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland of getting that capital from us, from taxpayers.

What's even more delightful for the purchaser, Barclays will pay CVC £120m if it rats on the deal by securing better terms from another bidder (there's also provision for both Barclays and CVC to receive between £34m and £120m if either side walks away for other reasons).

And for some Barclays employees who have stakes in a subsidiary of the bank, BGI, there's a lovely windfall from the deal, in the form of a cash dividend and a more than doubling of their holding in BGI.

Barclays' president, Bob Diamond, will receive £4.7m in cash and a substantial increase in his interest in BGI.

So to summarise: Barclays is providing the buyer of iShares most of the finance to "buy" iShares; the purchaser will receive £120m, if Barclays secures a better offer; and the transaction has triggered handsome rewards for some Barclays' employees.

In normal times, that would be seen as a deal so bad for the bank that shareholders would be volunteering to throw themselves off Beachy Head.

But Barclays' share price rose more than 12 per cent today.

To state the obvious, these are not normal times, these are credit-crunch times: and, I guess, if a bank can raise capital in any way at all without tapping taxpayers, that's seen as good news.

Renault Laguna car sales set to surge in manchester

2009-04-07T08:21:00.002+01:00

See link to Renault UK. C'est manifique!

http://www.renaultcantona.co.uk/

Au revoir.

One and one makes anything you want it to!

2009-04-05T08:07:00.004+01:00

Simon and Garfunkel, Peters and Lee, Gilbert and Sullivan. Maybe not to everyones taste but certainly couples we are familiar with.

A mash up or in techie speak a web application hybrid combines data from one or many different sources in to an integrated single tool. Similar to the what are you doing now? dashboard post earlier this year.

A mash up in music speak as I understand it combines music of different genres into an integrated piece for the listener to enjoy and appreciate.

How about The Beach Boys and Nirvana?

Give it a try.

The 1973 Grand National - Red Rum and Crisp

2009-04-04T15:51:00.004+01:00

Here is the link - Sit back and enjoy this trip down memory lane.

I watched it a Grandad Stamford's house. Where were you?

The Management Consultant, the Tortoise and the Hare

2009-04-02T22:52:00.002+01:00

Thanks to John Kay and the Times for this twist on one of my favorite stories. Enjoy.

The Tortoise and the Hare

A fable for senior executives

Once upon a time, there was a tortoise which lived in some marshes on the edge of a large plain. The tortoise had a hard shell with an attractive lustre and had lived contentedly in the marshes for many years.

But the tortoise was happy no longer. The source of its distress was the athletics contests which were frequently organised by the animals of the plain. The tortoise did well in some events, like hide and seek and limbo dancing. But not in the races. In every event, from the hundred metres to the cross country, the tortoise was left far behind by most of the other competitors. Especially by the hares.

What was to be done? Like everyone who is not sure what to do next, the tortoise turned to a firm of management consultants. It sought the advice of Boston, McBainey and Butterson, one of the best-regarded firms in the business. Within a few days, the tortoise was surrounded by youngsters with MBAs from the finest business schools. They measured the dimensions of the tortoise and the way it moved. They held in-depth interviews with other tortoises, and with hares. Above all they listened intently to the tortoise’s own concerns.

Following this intensive appraisal, Boston, McBainey and Butterson went away to prepare their recommendations. Soon the consultants returned to present their findings. This time they brought a senior partner from the firm and a van full of audio-visual equipment.

They began the session with their diagnosis. The reason the tortoise kept losing races, they pointed out, was that tortoises could not run as fast as hares. They illustrated this with several PowerPoint slides, and, conclusively, with a video that showed hares regularly overtaking tortoises. The tortoise was extremely impressed. “I can see”, it thought to itself, “why these young people earn such high salaries. They have learnt to listen to the client and to focus exactly on the nature of its concerns.”

But there was better to come. The consultants went on to explain why the tortoise could not run as fast as the hare. It was because the tortoise had short legs and a heavy body. When you put diagrams of a tortoise and a hare side by side on the screen, there could be no doubt about it. The hare had much longer legs and a lean figure.

By this time, the tortoise was rolling on its shell in delight. These people did not, like some consultants, just relay back to you what you had already told them. The clincher was an elegant diagram that summarised it all. One axis described the length of legs; the other, body weight. The best position to be in was long legs, low body weight; the worst was short legs, high body weight. There was a picture of a hare in one box, a tortoise in another, and an arrow to show how the tortoise needed to move, or re-engineer itself, as the consultants put it. “What relevance! What insight!”, the tortoise chortled in delight.

Finally, the lights dimmed and the consultants moved to their recommendations. They showed the tortoise a picture of a jaguar. The elegance of the jaguar’s graceful legs and slim body took the tortoise’s breath away. So did their video which portrayed jaguars bounding across the plain, leaving hares trailing in the far distance. What the tortoise needed to do, the consultants explained, was to turn itself into a jaguar. Short legs were only superficial manifestations of the tortoise’s problem. The real obstacle to success for the tortoise was that it was constrained by the limits of its imagination. So many creatures in today’s environment, the consultants explained, suffered from this deficiency; so many had been helped, by Boston, McBainey and Butterson, to overcome it.

The consultants left their (rather large) invoice on the way out, but the tortoise’s first reaction was that this had been money well spent. Yet after a few days, some doubts began to penetrate even the thick shell of the tortoise. Finally, it plucked up courage to telephone Boston, McBainey and Butterson. “How exactly do I go about changing into a jaguar?”, the tortoise asked.

Embarrassed at asking such a naive question, the tortoise was relieved when the consultants offered an immediate answer. But then it remembered that good consultants always had an immediate answer.

Many of our clients ask that, Boston, McBainey and Butterson explained; so many, in fact, that we have just set up a new change management division to help them. These consultants are trained to explain to every part of the body the importance of turning into a jaguar. Indeed, the new programme allows them to stay with a client for as long as necessary, until the change process is complete.

The tortoise was attracted by this proposition. But before returning the engagement letter to Boston, McBainey and Buttersons, it had a word with the wise old owl. And what the wise old owl told it was this. Tortoises and hares have evolved for very different environments. Hares do best in wide open spaces, where their speed gives them a competitive advantage. Tortoises survive for many years in hostile territory, where their shells protect them from predators and the weather. That is why even if the plains may sometimes look more attractive, they are attractive for hares, not for tortoises; and why equally it is not sensible for hares to come down into the marshes. A happy creature is one whose characteristics match the environment within which it operates, and that is what the gradual process of biological evolution helps to achieve.

The tortoise thought this advice was shrewd, and trundled back into the marshes. It proved to be a wise decision. A few weeks later, a pride of lions found its way onto the plains, and ate all the hares. The tortoise lived on in the marshes, slowly but happily, almost ever after.

The Hare and the Tortoise with 5 twists!

2009-04-02T22:49:00.001+01:00

BE STRATEGIC - NEW VERSION OF THE HARE & THE TORTOISE BE STRATEGIC - NEW VERSION OF THE HARE & THE TORTOISE sszma

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Academic Work Business Uncategorizable-Unca Business-Management

Nobody cries if the robot is put away for a year or so

2009-04-02T22:17:00.004+01:00

Laying people off should be the very last resort not the first option for organisations looking to reduce their outgoings. Redundancies and lay offs can have profound effects on workers, their families and their communities. Those who survive redundancy can be equally affected as they will inevitably be concerned about future redundancy.

In laying off people organisations waste their investment in training and development, loose valuable experience and domain knowledge which may not ever be recovered.

Robots however can be switched off, wrapped up and put away in a cupboard until at some time in the future they are needed again. Robots can work at half speed, one third speed or any speed the company wants them to work at. Nobody gets hurt if a robot is switched off.

If you think that it might be necessary to reduce your capacity have a long hard look at the robots first.

How can I give more than 100%?

2009-03-30T18:54:00.002+01:00

I came across this little beauty today and I thought that you might find it interesting.

Beauty of Mathematics !!!!!!!

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn't it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Now, take a look at this...

101%

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What equals 100%?
What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been in situations where someone wants you to
GIVE OVER 100%.

How about ACHIEVING 101%?

What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help
answer these questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:

H-A-R-D-W-O- R- K

8+1+18+4+23+ 15+18+11 = 98%

And:

K-N-O-W-L-E- D-G-E

11+14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+ 5 = 96%

But:

A-T-T-I-T-U- D-E

1+20+20+9+20+ 21+4+5 = 100%

THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:

L-O-V-E-O-F- G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+ 6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While hard work and knowledge will get you close, and attitude will
get you there, It's the love of God that will put you over the top!

How much do you know about trans fat?

2009-03-21T09:09:00.003Z

What is trans fat? Why is it banned in some countries? Do you really know what you are putting into your body on a daily basis?

This article from the Sunday Times give us an insight.

From The Sunday Times

May 4, 2008

The truth about trans fat

A clinical trial in the 1970s showed just how harmful trans fats are - so why can they still be found in most baked foods in our supermarkets?

Maggie Stanfield

What do you know about industrially produced trans fatty acids? Unless you are actually a nutritionist or a doctor, the answer is most likely to be: nothing at all. And why should you? One survey a few years ago found that of the sample asked, 15 per cent thought trans fats were good for your love life.

Trans fats are a lethal side effect of boiling vegetable oil. Why boil vegetable oil? That all goes back to a pharmacist called Wilhelm Norman in 1903. Mr Norman was trying to find a way of making a substitute for tallow, which was very expensive at the time. Mr Norman discovered that if he boiled cotton seed oil up to 260 degrees Centigrade in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, that when it cooled, it went hard. He had produced cheap candle wax by “hydrogenating vegetable oil”. The thick, greyish-white slabs produced were great candles but Mr Norman did not anticipate human beings eating them.

Food giant, Proctor & Gamble, saw the potential and bought the patent from Mr Norman. They were soon producing Crisco in America, a hard vegetable fat that was great for baking and had a long shelf life. Along came a whole series of Crisco cookery books for Japanese, Jewish or Philippine households. Titles included: A Cookery Course in 13 Chapters; 24 Pies Men Like; and Crisco Recipes for the Jewish Housewife. That Crisco contained no animal fat made it ideal for vegetarian, Kosher and Halal households.

But there was a problem: this industrial processing of vegetable oil into hydrogenated fat (HVO or PHVO) turned out to be killing people. It was not really until a big clinical trial, The Nurses' Health Study, which ran for about 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s that the damage really surfaced.

By carefully detailing just what kinds of fat were being consumed, the researchers identified this hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil as the queen of fast food. It was more of a killer than saturated fats. They discovered that you would need to increase your intake of saturates by about 900 per cent to have the same harmful impact that you would have from the same amount of trans fat. Just small amounts of trans fat - say two grammes a day - increases your risk of heart disease by 23 per cent.

There is no use looking for cartons of trans fat to avoid on the supermarket shelves. What you need to look for is hydrogenated-anything on the ingredients panel, very possibly in a text so small that unless you have a magnifying glass, you will find it hard to read. Even so, you may still innocently purchase commercially baked produce containing trans fats - because the ingredients do not have to be declared on in-store bakery goods.

So surely the European Food Safety Authority would ban it immediately? Not so. It is far too useful in the catering trade. Apparently, it gives great “mouth feel” - what you get with a nice sticky doughnut or a moist Danish pastry. It lengthens shelf life too. One man lobbying against trans fats in America appears on television with a cup cake made more than 20 years ago. It still looks perfect and has retained the soft springiness associated with such confections.

Like so many of the dangerous substances we consume, trans fats appear in everything from stock cubes to sweets, children's cereals to vitamin tablets, Danish pastries to doughnuts, deep-fried foods in restaurants, lunchtime snacks like sausage rolls and other produce from takeaways. They were in lots of the Easter eggs we gorged on a few weeks ago, they are even in some of the so-called “energy” or “health” bars on the supermarket shelves.

It is ironic that so many Danish pastries contain trans fat because Denmark was the first country to ban them in 2000. Nowhere there can hydrogenated vegetable oil be used, including within the catering and restaurant industries as well as the food producers. On April 1 this year, Switzerland followed Denmark and introduced similar legislation. In the rest of Europe, we continue to gorge our way through mountains of dangerous products.

When I came to writemy book on the subject, it was this deception that really annoyed me. How dare the Food Standards Agency, our elected politicians, the consumer outlets and the catering and restaurant industries not tell us that we are eating candle wax.

All of them have known full well about how trans fats are associated not only with a five-fold increase in heart disease but also with Type 2 diabetes, some cancers, infertility, inflammatory diseases, obesity and insulin resistance.

Eight of the big supermarkets said in January 2007 that they would remove all trans fats from their “own brand” ranges within the year. Some managed it. Others did not. There is nothing the law can do because this was a voluntary agreement. Besides, how much of what you buy in the supermarket is “own brand” produce? If you shop at Sainsbury or Tesco, then it is likely to be no more than 10 per cent.

Professor Steen Stender is the cardiologist in Denmark who became the driving force behind the decision to ban trans fats there. He says: "Between the introduction of the ban in 2000 and 2005, we saw heart disease rates in this country decline by 20 per cent. What more proof does the EU need before it dispenses with ineffective food labelling ideas and voluntary codes and introduces a level playing field for the food industry throughout the EU where no trans fats are used anywhere?"

More about Maggie Stansfield and Trans Fat here.

The temptation of chocolate

2009-03-15T22:41:00.003Z

During Lent the Christian tradition is to give something up. This year I’ve given up chocolate. So far so good but it’s getting difficult. I heard that it takes 30 days to establish a habit. By the time we get to Easter 40 days will have passed and hopefully, for me, so will the temptation of chocolate.

One of the churches in Modena Italy has asked it’s congregation to give up texting on Fridays. The church seems to think that technology has got a hold of its congregation and that giving up texting on Fridays will act as a reminder to the members of the church to rid themselves of the temptations of wealth and material goods. Maybe the Diabetes community could give up television and electronic gadgets once a week and spend the time getting some of that exercise the Diabetes educators constantly remind us all about.

As spring approaches should we take the opportunity to spend a little less time with our televisions and electronic gadgets and get out doors and enjoy the sights, sound and smells of nature a little bit more?

Amanda’s Photographs on our site www.mydiabetes.com always remind me of how beautiful the outdoors is. http://mydiabetessocialnetwork.ning.com/profile/Amanda28

How are you and your diabetes getting on this week? Here is the link to our forum where you can share your story. http://mydiabetessocialnetwork.ning.com/forum/topics/how-are-you-and-your-diabetes

Have a great week

Of course the Black Cat Bastards knew all of this stuff

2009-03-09T23:02:00.003Z

But did you? x x

2009-03-08T13:40:00.001Z

The Art of Ageing – A guide for myself!

I had two Damascus road experiences this week. The first involved a group of undergraduate students attending a flying start event held at Liverpool University. The second involved Jim who is an eighty year old chap who smokes, mutters, drinks brandy and port for “medicinal purposes” and for his sins chooses to sit next to me when I go and watch the footie at the John Alker Hall, Flixton ex-serviceman’s club.

As the eldest student in the cohort at University I am often put in a position where my fellow students seek my advice. I hope they seek my advice because of the way I have demonstrated expert knowledge and mastery of the subjects being discussed. I know they seek my advice because I have some grey hair and probably look just like their wise old uncle. If the students really knew about the mid life crisis that every 40 something goes through I’m sure that I’d be last person they would turn to.

The flying start programme offers support for university students who are considering starting their own business. It encourages entrepreneurialism and its intention is to give practical “how to” advice and ongoing support to the students who attend the programme.

The event in Liverpool lasted 3 days and on the final afternoon the participants were tasked with selling their business ideas to a panel of so called experts. As the presentations started I was expecting to hear a series of get rich quick ideas from the group of students who, incidentally, all looked like they needed a wash and a good haircut. Instead I had the pleasure of learning about numerous plans and schemes which would help the community, environment, healthcare and children’s education. The expression “you could have knocked me down with a feather” was more than appropriate.

Watching the football last night I gave my usual lecture to Jim about the perils of smoking and drinking. Not so much of a lecture more of a way of expressing my concern for Jim’s deteriorating health and an attempt to encourage him to make some small changes so he can dodge for a few more years. I noticed the ex services badge pinned on his Nike tracksuit top and politely asked which regiment he served in. “Shut up” came the reply “United are just about to take a free kick.”

10 minutes later Jim told me about the 8^th Army and the Battle of El Alamein, the Normandy landings, the occupation and Germany and then how he left the army when he was posted to Suez. “I’d spent enough time in the F…ing desert” he explained. Jim then went on to explain how his brother who was a soldier had gone missing feared dead early in the war and how two years later a letter from the red cross had arrived at home explaining that he had been captured and was being held as a prisoner of war. He told me of his father’s stories of the battlefields of the Great War. He explained how he resigned from his job at the age of 17 and joined the British army so he could “F…ing kill a German.”

Here is the fascinating thing. Jim the half cut, mumbling smoker who shuffles across the floor to go to the bar had disappeared. He had been replaced by a man of passion, a man of conviction. He was no longer slumped in his chair he was sat bolt upright and his speech was clear and precise. I sat transfixed listening to his story embarrassed at my earlier pathetic attempt to suggest that smoking is maybe not the best idea for him.

The new Jim finished with the following comments. “People ask me what El-Alamein was like and I tell them that you had to be there. We were told to just keep going, not to stop for any injured colleagues, just to keep going. That Monty he was a c…. , a dandy with two badges on his hat. I tell them it was probably like the battle fields of the Great War.”

Quick as a flash the Jim that I thought I knew returned and muttered something about United. I didn’t catch what he said.

Its all about "Atmosphere" on www.mydiabetes.com

2009-03-08T11:53:00.003Z

Making your “atmosphere” the right one.

Question: Why is there life on earth and no life on the moon?

Answer: Because of the atmosphere on earth.

Life requires a specific atmosphere to support it – nitrogen, oxygen, traces of argon and carbon dioxide with some water vapor. We have that kind of atmosphere here on Earth; the moon doesn’t.

We often take the earth’s atmosphere for granted and only really pay attention to it at times of severe weather conditions or natural disasters like hurricanes, droughts and bush fires. Most of the time we go about our day to day lives breathing in the oxygen and drinking the water without giving it too much thought.

Occasionally we may think about the greenhouse effect or global warming.

The Diabetes Atmosphere

Managing our own health and our own lives requires an “atmosphere” too. We need to make and create the kind of surroundings around ourselves the support and encourage each of us much in the same way that oxygen and water help to sustain life on our planet.

Our diabetes “atmosphere” includes the choices we make, the food we eat, the exercise we can take, the advice from our medical professionals, medication where required, our friends, our neighbors, our family members and our community.

We often take our own “atmosphere” for granted and as spring starts this seems like a good opportunity to have a look at the things around us and pay attention to our own diabetes “atmosphere”.

One way may be to talk about the good choices we are making at the moment. For example the changes in diet that we have made so far, the care that we are taking with looking after our feet or even our increasing knowledge of diabetes. Spend a little time appreciating these things because like the oxygen in the air we may sometimes take the good choices and changes we have made for granted. At the same time we might want to think about getting to grips with the things that we have not yet addressed. For example can we move away from choosing those fizzy drinks or the temptation to choose to ignore some of the advice from the nurse educator?

I’m sure that you have many many ideas about your own diabetes “atmosphere” and I look forward to learning all about them.

The purpose of mydiabetes is for patients, family members, friends and healthcare professionals to support and encourage each other along the diabetes journey and to add a little to the “atmosphere”.

Please continue to write about your own experiences, share your stories, swap ideas and pass on the http://www.mydiabetes.com/ details to anybody who you think may be interested.

Members are the "atmosphere" of mydiabetes.com and it was brilliant to learn that this week 20 more members joined our community.

There once was an ugly duckling

2009-03-06T23:28:00.005Z

Time is a funny old thing. I can't remember the new photograph being taken however I can still remember the day the old photograph was taken some 35 or so years ago. Hope you like the stripey T-shirts.

That's me on the left as you look at the picture, Howard is on the right and Glyn is in the middle.

QE a new trick from Mr King and the Bank of England

2009-03-06T09:59:00.001Z

Quantitative easing is about getting more money into the economy and stimulating growth and spending.

Quantitative easing could be described as rolling the money printing presses or like a dose of laxative on a severely constipated patient.

Too little laxative and the patient remains constipated too much laxative and the consequences are unmentionable!

To some commentators quantitative easing is about the central bank creating money as if by magic.

A necessary tool to stem the recession and avoid the threat of deflation or is it stoking the fires of inflation and further economic hardship in the future?

The economist provides the technical details for those of you who need them and for the rest of us its probably enough to know that the reduction on interest rates today to 0.5% is the end of the road for the usual tools available to the monetary policy committee to heat and cool the money supply and control inflation.

Will QE (as our Steph so eloquently describes it) work and get the patients constitution moving again?

Time will tell.

Cognitive Surplus. What!

2009-02-27T01:14:00.004Z

Relax because cognitive surplus means simply the spare time your mind has now that the industrialised society and the modern world has taken away all of those time consuming things that kept our minds busy.

No more early starts to plough the fields, no longer do we have 6 children to care for, no longer do we have grandparents to feed. Now we have the web so we can do things on-line like play games and shopping! Today in our modern society we have time to think. This time is now to be known as cognitive surplus!

We can use this time to surf the web, keep in touch with face book, enjoy DVDs or music on our mp3 players. Some of us even have time to flick through the odd book. Some books are very odd indeed but that is another story.

I ask the question "Are we ready for cognitive surplus or are we better off doing a hard day's work and getting a good nights sleep?"

Next thing you know we will be living a sedentary lifestyle, eating a poor quality diet, drinking too much and slowly but surely killing ourselves. Hang on a minute I've go a feeling of Deja vu

Hang on a minute I've got a feeling of Deja vu.

Leaders and Followers

2009-02-23T20:12:00.007Z

"Leaders get the best out of followers and followers get the best out of leaders."

Does your leader get the very best out of you? If not why not? And moreover if she does not get the best out of you don't you think that it is high time you discussed the situation with her?

Now turning the telescope around and having a peek from the other end I ask the question about you when you are leading. Do you get the very best of every member in your team? You do? Are you sure? Have a long hard think about it and maybe tomorrow morning you might want to instigate an update with some of your team members.

Today, once again, I changed my mind in the style of the famous British Economist John Maynard Keynes who coined the phrase, "When the facts change I change, what do you do?"

I have spent the last three days in the company of some very interesting young people of the generation known as generation Y. Sometimes described as the generation that expect everything to be done for them and the generation that takes no responsibility. I refered to generation Y as work sky and plain rude.

The event I attended was about teaching graduate students and post graduate students the benefits or otherwise of setting up their own businesses. This afternoon the young people gave presentations about their business ideas and I waited expecting to hear a raft of selfish get rich quick pipe dreams. Instead I heard passionate affirmations about new social enterprises that are to be formed with the intent of helping other sectors of the community. You could have knocked me of my chair with a feather.

John and Liam described with passion their Educational software to help teachers engage with their infant school pupils on difficult subjects such as physics and engineering.

Jenny discussed fair trade clothing, organic cotton and the perils of child labour and her Ideas of competing with the multinational retailers

Will who recently broke his back and seems at one with his wheel chair is exploring the idea if recycling the waste foods from the supermarkets, Wal mart, Tesco, etc and distributing the edible food amongst the needy, and recycling the remainder in an Eco friendly way. Currently all the past sell by date food is spitrited into land fill disposal sites.

Rachael discussed her idea of using dance and poetry in schools with a view to helping troubled children deal with their problems.

Oli described his green taxi business and his vision of cleaner air and a safer environment with the ultimate aim of a better world for his grand children to live in!

Inspired I left Liverpool and returned to my Mancunian home with a new take on the work shy generation Y and with a renewed faith in our future.

Andy Warhol and Heather Stott - 13 minuites left!

2009-02-16T22:27:00.005Z

Today I had the very special pleasure of having a chat with the charismatic and ubiquitous Heather Stott of BBC GMR. Heather is the modern day Terry Wogan and well briefed by her team of researchers she interviewed me for nearly 2 minutes about www.mydiabetes.com. Doing my best to explain that to most people diabetes means shock, anger, fear and resentment the interview came to an end with a mention of the online social network and praise for the UK National Health Service.

I could hear Frederick Banting whispering in my ear "Is that it?"

When Andy Warhol coined his concept of 15 minutes of fame I hope he also hypothesised on the possibility that the 15 minutes could be segmented into bite or even byte sized chunks.

If that was the case then I've still got another 13 minutes to look forward too!

On a more serious note thanks to the coverage that Heather gave today www.mydiabetes.com has attracted a significant number of new members.

Stephanie Flanders fear not as the party is still in full swing

2009-02-13T20:08:00.007Z

Our old friend Shylock reared his head again this week in the guise of the UK parliamentary treasury committee enquiry and the questioning of the former and current heads of the UK banks.

Once again we forgot that there are two sides to every story and the question of blame is of little benefit in a learning organization or indeed an organization that wants to learn. Trying to apportion blame is about as useful as trying to fathom who is to blame in the case of the drunk or the liquor store who sold him the booze. (Interestingly in the UK it is the Chardonnay drinking desperate housewife that is most at risk of drink related disease).

Stephanie Flanders is the BBC's economic beauty who has just returned from maternity leave. Stephanie gives her take on the drastic decline of the German economy despite its manufacturing prowess and prudent financial outlook and in her words you may sense her frustration at commencing maternity leave at the very start of the financial meltdown.

Have no fear Stephanie because things are not yet at the bottom of the curve and you will have plenty of material to write about in your copy over the days,weeks and months ahead.

As for our German friends it's a case of Shadenfreude.

Auf Wiedersehen pet.

What should I give?

2009-02-08T08:33:00.002Z

Here are seven great gift ideas...

Gift of service: donate to a cause, as a holiday gift for your best friend.

Gift of affection: be generous with hugs, kisses and pats on the back.

Gift of laughter: clip cartoons, share funny stories.

Gift of a written note: send a 'thank you' note, write a letter to an old friend.

Gift of a compliment: a simple 'you look great today', a sincere 'thank you for a wonderful day'.

Gift of listening: no interrupting, no daydreaming, no responding, just listening.

Gift of solitude: spend some time in silence, help others spend some time in silence.

The story of the dog that has been taught to save his owner who has diabetes

2009-02-07T21:51:00.004Z

A guide dog in County Durham saves her owner's life on a daily basis by detecting whether he is close to a diabetic collapse.

Zeta, one of the first "hypo-dogs" in the North East, has been trained by diabetes sufferer Cherry Kearton and his wife Angela.

She puts her paws on his stomach to test whether the amount of sugar in his blood is at the correct level.

If there is a risk of coma, she warns him and he takes his medication.

Angela, who trains guide dogs for a living, taught Zeta the life-saving skills when she was a puppy.

'Saved his bacon'

She said: "Zeta was being trained as a guide dog but at the end of her training she went lame and could not carry on, that's when I thought I could use her to help my husband.

"Believe me, she has saved his bacon on many an occasion. She is not always 100% accurate but she does seem to err on the side of caution."

She trained the Labrador by leaving traces of her husband's sweat, which would either be high or low in blood sugar, on a ball of handkerchiefs.

Zeta started to familiarise herself with the smell, and when she detected the difference she was awarded with a treat.

Ms Kearton added: "It took just over two weeks, the hardest part was persuading her to jump up and alert my husband as she was used to being an obedient guide dog. She has definitely got the hang of it now though."

this story came from www.bbc.co.uk

20 slides in 20 Seconds - Japanese Chatter - Pecha Kucha

2009-02-07T21:09:00.006Z

Get Back Up

2009-02-07T18:38:00.005Z

You can't change the cards that you are dealt but you can choose how to play your hand.

Here are two links to two very special individuals who have played their cards with mastery. I hope that this blog entry inspires you too.

The last Lecture
Professor Randy Pausch

Get Back Up

Nick Vujicic

Leadership after the storm

2009-02-02T20:23:00.009Z

Maxlrain lies in one of the most beautiful areas of Upper Bavaria close to the city of Rosenheim some 60 km south of Munich. The landmark of the small village is the Renaissance castle of the same name, Castle Maxlrain, and its championship golf course.

In the late summer of 2003 Dr. Erich Prince von Lobkowicz, owner of the castle ( The Prince); Herr Schmitt, Captain of Maxlrain golf club, (The Captain) ; and Howard Wentworth Roberts, green keeper and groundsman, (The General) stood overlooking the damage that had been inflicted in a 15 minute summer storm of savage brutality. Hail stones as big as rocks, and hurricane force winds had made their best effort to raze the clubhouse, the Castle, and almost every tree on the course. Trees and branches had been tossed like small wooden boats in the southern ocean. The Castle had been all but destroyed and the manicured greens, fairway,s and tees of the golf course had taken on the appearance of the battlefields of the Somme.

The care, the attention, the love that the Prince, The Captain and The General has invested in the grounds and buildings counted for nothing as the storm ripped apart land and property. Surveying the battlefield the three leaders stood still and quiet and after a few moments the Prince spoke as he looked at his Castle without a roof.

He said "Life has been good to us and this is but a minor setback. The land can recover and the property can be rebuilt. We have been prudent over the years and as a result of the prudence we have reserves which we shall use to rebuild. "

The Captain nodded in agreement, he was already Future-basing completion of the task ahead.

The General drew the attention of the party to the remnants of club flag which were fluttering in the gentle breeze - kissed by the bright sunshine that invariably follows the storm. "Gentlemen" said Howard "Our flag is still flying and we are not defeated. In time we will look back on this day not as a disaster but as a test which we passed with flying colours."

Displaying vision and confidence in completing the task ahead the three leaders went on to galvanize the workforce, club members, the local community. and sundry contractors. Over time rebuilt the Maxlrain estate to its former glory.

Don't Quit!

2009-01-31T16:02:00.003Z

As I stop pulling 40 and start to push 50 like most human beings the lens focuses on health and wellness. Food intake is reduced, diet programmes are subscribed to and health regimes started. Health checks invariably say that whilst you are in reasonable shape a few Lbs or Kg's lost would do no harm. Starting the health programme is easy but sticking with it is more of a challenge. Much like the business that starts on a quality programme and then returns to the old ways of counting the short term numbers close to the quarterly return dates.

Don't quit says my muse as it is not a sprint it is a marathon. It is a marathon and the purpose of the marathon is to be happy, build loving relationships, share what you know and keep learning.

Focus on the right thing and not on doing things right. Keep the company of inspirational people and smile.

This is one of my favourite poems. Enjoy

When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out:
Don't give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tints of the clouds of doubt
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

A different approach to investing and borrowing

2009-01-29T17:54:00.004Z

ZOPA offers a different approach to lending and investing. It's called social lending and if you are concerned about the falling returns on your bank and building society deposits or if you are looking to refinance some expensive credit card borrowings then ZOPA may be something of interest to you.

Social Lending

Social Lending is a smarter, fairer and more human way of doing money. It's like borrowing and lending with your friends and family - except there are thousands of people you can lend and borrow with.
Both lenders and borrowers get better rates, because Social Lending is more efficient than the traditional banking model. Banks have massive overheads, with thousands of employees to pay and hundreds of branches to maintain. So they have to take large margins on the money that passes through them.
An online marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow has huge cost advantages – which is why Zopa members get a fairer deal when it comes to their money.
Zopa was the world's first lending and borrowing marketplace. By demonstrating that Social Lending works on a large scale, Zopa has changed the financial sector for good.
In Zopa's wake, copycats – such as Prosper in the US, Smava in Germany and Boober in the Netherlands – have sprung up across the world.
Social Lending is a financial category of genuine and increasing importance.

Russell Lincoln Ackoff - Foreword to the Puritan Gift

2009-01-27T23:05:00.006Z

Foreword to the paperback publication of the Puritan Gift
by Professor Russell Lincoln Ackoff
He Writes
"This is one of the best books I have ever read in my long life, and I don’t just mean books on business. The brothers Hopper have written a social history of the American nation, which doubles up as a commentary on managerial culture. I am indebted to them for providing an
understanding of the evolution of American society from the 1630s to the present day. The Puritan Gift is no dry academic text. It is also exciting. I am excited to learn how Puritan values shaped the development of American society – and saddened to learn how a recent retreat from
them has led to the economic and social problems afflicting our nation today, including the contemporary Credit Crunch. As I write, our economy is in a mess, the worst that I have experienced. Few, if any, understand what is going on. Moreover, there is little awareness of the
weaknesses that led to our current discontentment. I once heard an economist say that the proof of the superiority of the American economy lay in the fact that no other could survive as much inefficiency as it generates; even if that were true, it would provide us with little comfort
today. The Hoppers tell us not only how we got into the current mess, which is interesting, but also how to escape, which is useful. In addition, the book shines a bright light on the American Occupation of Japan. Edwin E. Reischauer, President Kennedy’s Ambassador to Japan, told us long ago that this event ‘will stand as one of the most … important as well as spectacular episodes in the epochal meeting of East and West, which may become increasingly the dominant theme in the history of mankind in our age, recasting or even overshadowing the
[Cold War].’ That the Occupation achieved such success was attributable
in large part to the excellent managerial practices associated with the name of General Douglas MacArthur, the effective ruler of Japan from 1945 to 1951. I was especially impressed by the story told by the Hoppers of how MacArthur listened to the advice of one of his most junior colleagues, the American engineer, Homer Sarasohn, before making a
decision that would change the nature of the world we live in (see pages 119 to 120).
There is an old saying to the effect that if you never make a mistake, you will never make anything. Intolerance of mistakes precludes learning; we will never learn anything new by doing something right, because that merely confirms what we already know. We learn by identifying
mistakes and correcting them. It is not sinful to be wrong but it is sinful to fail to learn from it. There are two kinds of error: those of commission, doing something that should not be done, and those of omission, not doing something that should be done. The latter are much more serious than the former. Most corporate failures are due to errors of omission. A firm that records only mistakes of commission (as almost all do) and punishes them (as most do) creates an environment in which the best way to retain one’s job is to do as little as possible,
preferably nothing. The Puritans knew that progress was not possible without change; they sought and welcomed it, despite the hardships that it entailed.

The Hoppers make a serious charge in Chapter 14. In a section called ‘Capital Expenditure and the (So-called) Experts’ from pages 203 to 207, they remind us that the Vietnam War caused serious inflation in the 1960s. Anxious to pursue that war to its end, the administration
sought to convince the American people that the rise in prices was the result of over-investment by American manufacturers. Statistics purporting to show that existing equipment was extremely young – and that large-scale additional investment was, therefore, unnecessary and
perhaps even harmful – were presented to the public with the full authority of the US Department of Commerce. In June 1970, Kenneth Hopper challenged the accuracy of these figures by means of a Special Report published in a McGraw-Hill journal. The administration
stopped using them there and then, but failed to acknowledge its error. Industrial investment collapsed and did not recover until the 1980s. Most occupations have their proud traditions, an exception being the corps of industrial managers. However, no other group of people
has done more to raise the standard of living of the poorest of the world, both at home and abroad. The Puritan Gift is the first book to acquaint American managers with their own remarkable history. They created the most effective industrial culture in the world; we can be proud that, after World War II, they shared it with the inhabitants of Japan and other developing lands. Above all this book is a ‘very good read’. I love the many and enjoyable
anecdotes – for example, the story of how the youthful Homer Sarasohn taught the founders of Sony to sweep the floor (pages 117– 119). There are many managers at work today who could learn from his example."

Russell Lincoln Ackoff
Anheuser-Busch Professor Emeritus of Management Science
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
January 1, 2009

Financial Bonus a good thing or is it?

2009-01-26T19:30:00.002Z

James Crawford of Touchpoint Change shared with me today his thoughts on Bonuses and Systems Thinking. Here is a extract from one of his recent articles which makes powerful reading. James writes.....

Ever since the financial industry’s early million pound bonuses started being reported in the press in the late 1990s they have courted controversy. Ostensibly they were a ‘necessary reward to attract retain highly motivated people and reward them for entrepreneurialism and risk taking’. Conversely, others believe that bonuses are not effective, either in the private sector or the public. They argue that bonuses encourage perverse behaviours and foster an ‘every team for itself’ mentality with a culture of hitting this month’s numbers; at all costs. Ultimately they sub-optimise the system by reducing co-operation across the

business, causing peaks and troughs of performance and damaging the organisation over the long term.Both points of view appear to be valid. The City has indeed been very successful at attracting and rewarding those highly motivated by money and risk-taking. And the events of the last two years have indeed shown that the higher the bonuses the greater the damage.

Bonuses are very powerful, but ultimately unguided, weapons. They have often influenced performance in the short-term, at the expense of the long. Those most motivated by the bonuses are the ones likely to make the biggest impact – for good and ill - and in the early days it can be very difficult to tell the difference.

Interim Performers, a leading resource agency, held a round table event recently to explore how interim HR Managers could best leave a positive legacy with the clients they worked with. One Interim Manager present noted that bonuses do often cause a change in behaviour, so businesses should be very careful how they use them.

Or put another way, be very careful who you recruit. It is vital that managers and staff have the long-term interests of the organisation and its customers at heart. Ultimately this is less about altruism than about self-preservation, and the owners of businesses should assure themselves of the motivations of the team they put in place. Maybe it should be a criterion during job interviews.

Management approaches based on Systems Thinking and Continuous Improvement provides a sustainable way for organisations to marry the objectives of owners, customers and employees.

A German Director at an international Six Sigma conference last year remarked that the business school he attended for five years had not mentioned Systems Thinking during the course. When he encountered it years later it completely changed his outlook and the way he managed his organisation.

An understanding of systems, and a little psychology, highlights the glaring flaws in the bonus culture; a culture that is still espoused by many business schools across the world. It is clear that the performance of an organisation depends on far more than everyone doing their best. It requires a good strategy, joined-up thinking at the Board, carefully managed process flows and customer pathways and everyone to be synchronised. Incentives that cause individuals or teams to work at the expense of their colleagues or customers can cause backlogs, frustration, extra cost and customer dissatisfaction, or worse.

Recently one more organisation has decided to turn the tide. The Carphone Warehouse is to abandon bonuses for sales staff in its stores. Following a successful trial across 200 sites in London last year, HR Director Lynne Weedal is extending the scheme to all stores. She anticipates that it will foster better teamwork, enable sales staff to give more impartial advice and result in more satisfied customers. But if you are looking for change, or even remorse, from those who profited most from the financial boom, you might be disappointed. The psychological make up of human beings tends towards self-justification. Despite our behaviours believe that we just did our best. Even in the field of human conflict, the perpetrators of war crimes view themselves as having been swept up in an ugly situation and that they were not personally to blame. We can expect a similar attitude from bankers, regulators, politicians and others. It seems to be part of how human beings try to stay sane in the aftermath of trauma.

Unfortunately there are few new lessons learned here – just another case study, albeit a good one. But the learning is the most important outcome here. In the wake of the Savings And Loans scandals in the US in the ‘80s and ‘90s and the collapse of companies such as Enron (who took the bonus culture to extraordinary lengths) one might think that we would have learned the pitfalls of aggressive performance management and the unintended consequences of fear in the workplace. We still have a lot to learn as we rebuild our economy, and work to transform our businesses and public sector. Let us hope that the shocking outcomes of the financial crisis will shake our belief in individual heroics and usher in a new era based on working together across our organisations to deliver the long term benefits we aspire to. If a stable and fairer society emerges from all of this, that would be a real bonus.

You can contact James at Touchpoint Change Consulting.

James.Crawford@TouchpointChange.co.uk

Bread and Butter Manchester - Out with the new in with the old

2009-01-25T14:20:00.008Z

Tea and sympathy, oh and of course some retro clothes and no hint of McDonaldization.

Bread and Butter is a cafe located on Tib street Manchester. There is no sign, definitely no corporate identity. There was a lady called Lizzy who told me this morning that as it was Sunday they were selling "breakfast barms" (an English way of describing a large flat bread roll filled with fried egg, sausage, bacon and if you are feeling healthy some fried tomato and fried mushrooms.)

In a strange and contradictory way also because it was Sunday there was a sale on. Not however a food sale but a retro clothing sale. Clothes with a look of the 40's and 50's. Brilliant and what a contrast to the bland and corporate Trafford Centre.

Out with the new in with the old!

Tib street is in Manchester's trendy Northern Quarter (which has been trendy and new for at least the last 35 years) Close to the Green Quarter and just down the road from China Town,

the Village, and as many sundry other Quarter's as you wish to mention.

Maybe the Traffic Centre (Trafford Centre) and its boring same old, same old, has had its day. I hope so!

www.mydiabetes.com support for the diabetes community

2009-01-23T20:13:00.004Z

Everybody has heard about diabetes, most of us have a family member who lives with diabetes and close to one in every 10 people we pass on the street lives with diabetes and will do for the rest of their lives.
Diabetes is a lifetime disease, a long-term (chronic) condition caused by too much glucose (sugar) in the blood. It is also known as diabetes mellitus.

In the UK, diabetes affects approximately 2.3 million people, in the world as many as 200 million.

mydiabetes.com is an on line community network for people living with diabetes to share their stories and experiences. Its purpose is to provide a friendly network of like minded people who understand the day to day challenges of living with diabetes.

Please come and join us.

What are you doing now?

2009-01-23T17:28:00.004Z

There is no instant pudding according to Dr Deming and regular readers of my blog www.variationanddeviation.blogspot.com will be well aware of my concerns about short term thinking.

The www has brought the world closer together and that's good. The trend towards instant gratification is however, wrong and this link sent through by Jay confirms the stupidity of short term thinking and measurement of the meaningless.

(it's fun though) Click and enjoy the ride!

what's happening now?

Segregation to Inauguration - Happiness

2009-01-20T23:21:00.009Z

What is happiness?

It's not about how much money you have, it's not about how young you are nor is it about what school you went to. It's all about mood.

When you are in a good mood you can take on the word, when you are in a good mood you can deal with the difficulties that present themselves in life.

People who can put you in a good mood are priceless. People who can make you smile are priceless. People who can inspire are priceless. People who can make you happy are people who you need to be with.

President Obama has put a smile on the face of America today, Pilot Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger put a smile on the face of America last week as he skillfully landed his stricken jet safely on the Hudson river.

This week if you meet or come across someone who make you smile, somebody who makes you laugh, someone who makes you happy, enjoy the moment and reflect upon the smile that is on your face and pass that smile on.

Nick Vujicic understands happiness - he made me cry and made me smile today and confirmed that if you have faith and do what you know is right then all will be good.

(if you have read this far then click the Nick Vujicic link and watch all the video - You may shed a few tears but he explains that mood and happiness is the key to it all)

Be Happy!

Family, Wealth and a sense of Community vs Self Interest

2009-01-11T10:00:00.002Z

Late last year I went with my my wife and our 8 year old daughter to the 50th anniversary celebration of Hayeswater Road Methodist Church Davyhulme. The photographs from the archives were fascinating and amongst the pictures from 1968 was one of a five year old little boy attending Sunday service, looking very smart in his Sunday best, his new school uniform. Stood next to me looking at the pictures was one of my primary school teachers who pointed to the little boy and said. "That's you David"

There were about 100 or so people at the church that afternoon, and on the lawn in front of the church the children and congregation sang songs and played games. There was a real difference between these people and some the people who I have met in the commercial world.
Interestingly the congregation was referred to as the Hayeswater Road family, everybody seemed genuinely happy. There was a real wealth amongst these people, a wealth that could not be measured by bank balances, pension funds, return on investment, stock portfolios, motor cars, holiday homes or designer watches. The wealth was in their sense of community, their sense of genuine goodness, their happiness, their family.
These people had at least two families- (Biological and Church), some had more, one of the congregation, a 60 year old man was wearing his Manchester City shirt with pride, he had at least three families.
I'm not suggesting that we all learn the words to the seminal Wesleyan hymns or indeed rush to the Trafford centre to buy copies of the scriptures but it might not be a bad starting point as there are few of us who have the security of both parents loving and looking after us, there are few of us who have had the same partner for life, there are few of us who have siblings and if we do they are probable far away from home,there are few of us who would want our mother in law moving into our homes to see out the rest of her life.

To get things done, to effect change, to make things happen Larry R Smith of goalqpc explained to me his thoughts that when we get people with knowledge of a subject, people with authority and people with a sense of community to work together good things happen.

Schools are indeed nurturing nets, as are Churches, Gangs, Football Terraces, Blogs even. Some have community, others have self interest.

Community is the only way and one of the real benefits of Web 2.0 is that it provides a mechanism, a forum to foster community.

Yosser Hughes

2009-01-09T22:18:00.005Z

Back in the dark days of Thatchers Britain a desperate Liverpudlian TV character had a profound influence on me. My article yesterday and about Merkel prompted a call from Germany and a gentle reminder of the story of Yosser Hughes a fictional character from Alan Bleasdale's epic television series, 'The boys from the black stuff.' A story about the demise of the old working class Britain and the terrible waste, human waste, caused by unemployment, redundancy and urban decay.

This link From Wikipedia gives a picture of Yosser and his life. If you do get the opportunity go and hang around you tube for a while and search for Yosser. British Black Comedy aside Yosser's story is deeply moving.

As a starter for ten here is a review of the series which remember was back in 1982.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wmu3Rn6Vp_s

What is Servant leadership? What is a Servant leader?

2009-01-08T23:13:00.005Z

The Servant Leaders

Bonhoeffer, JFK, Bevan ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.

According the Greenfield Centre for Servant Leadership the phrase “Servant Leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, he said:
"The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature."
"The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?"

What kind of a leader are you? I like the concept of the servant leader, what do you think?

The Sad Story of Adolf Merckle - Drive out Fear

2009-01-08T21:39:00.006Z

The Economist reported this evening the sad story of Dr Adolf Merckle , a wealthy German industrialist, who committed suicide after making a wrong bet on the direction of Volkswagen's share price. What drives a seemingly successful person to the act of suicide? Who knows.

Dr Deming talked in some detail about driving fear out of the workplace. He said that nobody can put in their best performance unless he of she feels secure. And the Latin scholars amongst us know that se comes from the Latin meaning without and cure meaning fear or care. Secure= Without fear.

Dr Deming tells us that one of the common denominators of fear in any form anywhere is the waste and loss from under performance and padded figures. I'm not sure exactly what Deming meant by 'padded figures' but the level of debt that Dr Merckle had amassed to build his empire was, I am certain, in some way procured by using 'padded' forecasts of future profits and growth. What fear drove him to take his own life?

According to the report in the Economist Merckle had taken a big hit on the VW Shares. What fear must he have been facing? No matter the size and scale of the financial loss was money worth more than a human life? Clearly yes as far as Merckle was concerned.

And this takes us back to Shylock and his pound of flesh. In business and and in our lives do we forgive mistakes and let things pass? Do we carefully consider and learn and allow ourselves our friends and our colleagues to grow. Or do we look to apportion blame? Seek revenge? Hold grudges?

How about re-visiting the Bible and Jesus's teachings of forgiveness and turning the other cheek? or indeed the Easter story where Jesus defeats death to drive out fear once and for all. If you are not comfortable with the Christian viewpoint then Chris Agyris from Harvard Business School has some neat advice about surfacing the underground organisation.

If you spot fear in a friends eyes then spend some time with them and let them know that everything can be fine. One Merckle is one too many.

Point Number 8 - Drive out Fear.

The Trip to Buchuresti part II

2009-01-05T22:37:00.000Z

Pan European Professional Truckers and their Head Office support staff and well versed in the practice of preparing documentation for the bureaucracy of customs and border crossings. We were not. (And remember this was pre expanded European Community).

Our careful planning, timely refreshments and all round good navigation meant that we were on schedule, were, being the operative word. Once some time had passed, fees had been paid for unnecessary paperwork and a Manchester United Shirt with "Cantona 7" printed on the back had been gifted we were free to proceed into unknown territory, Hungary.

Seven hours spent getting some forms stamped and then a wave of the border guards baton and off we went. The motorway to Budapest was much like any other motorway and the service station we stopped at was much like any other service station, well not like the Walt Disney service station in the Austrian Mountains, but very similar to Watford gap on the M1 or Birch on the M62. On to the city of Budapest and the Novotel Hotel for a proper nights sleep.

Budapest on a Sunday night was quiet, free of people , cold and wet. Similar to Manchester on a cold, wet, Sunday night with one exception. There were fewer English speakers in Budapest.

All this was an adventure, fun really and quite pleasant. The thoughts of the Orphanage and what was to meet us had been put to the back of our minds as we set sail on Monday morning across Hungary and onwards to the Romanian border, Oradea, Transylvania and on to Bucharest.

East of Budapest things changed, changed exceedingly quickly. BMW's aged 20 years, pot holes in roads increased in frequency and severity. Driving standards declined to the point where those German Autobahn drivers witnessed only 24 hours earlier seemed like examples of text book safety driving. Waggon drivers over took on blind bends and every now and then there was a horse drawn cart (the frequency of the occurrence horse drawn carts was to increase exponentially). Our average speed reduced from 50 miles per hour to 25. The rain fell and the teams moral fell too. The Hungarian police man seemed friendly enough when he stopped us and advised that we had the wrong lights on the car. He apologised too that he had to fine us for said offence. He seemed disappointed that we were not able to pay the fine in local currency however was good enough to accept the ubiquitous US$ as payment. He did not trouble us with any paperwork either which seemed kind of him and a sensible use of time and energy.

The queues of lorries at the Hungary/Romania border crossing at Bors/Oradea were ridiculous and as we were Mancunian and on a humanitarian mission we decided to go to the head of the queue. (Little did we know at the time that because we had a small waggon we were allowed to go to the head of the queue anyway). We parked the vehicles and joined a queue of other drivers clutching wads of documents. Methodically we went from one office to another with our paperwork. At each office our forms were examined and stamped. I have never seen before or indeed since such a wide range of different stamps. Shanghai Airport and the border guards there had fine stamps. Mumbai too back in 1994 but the stamps at the Oradea border crossing were something special.

Some 5 hours later with a collection of stamps and initials on our paperwork a secret police officer (we knew that he was a secret police officer because he sported a badge that read Polici Secret) waved us on our way towards the centre of Oradea.

On that miserable Monday night The city of Oradea looked miserable the people looked miserable and we were miserable too. I'm sure it's all different now but on that evening miserable was an appropriate descriptive.

Night fell and we proceeded on towards to Transylvanian mountains, more rain, fog, drug crazed Turkish wagon drivers and further into the Romanian countryside. I know that we are all taught to get out of the comfort zone from time to time, to do things that are different, to push the envelope. Driving through the Transylvania mountains at night in atrocious weather conditions is none of these things. It is just dangerous and stupid. On numerous occasions we could have died as a result of either careering off a cliff edge or being crushed by a 42 tonne waggon.

The night dragged on, our average speed slowed and, at last, after the longest of nights dawn reared her head. A tint of colour to the east signaled that day was coming and soon the dark would be transformed in to light. In almost biblical fashion the weather cleared and the sun shone. There was a rainbow, a sign maybe, that our ordeal was nearly over.

Buchurest was still hours away and we would need one further night time effort before we reached No6 Orphanage. Early on the Wednesday morning we rolled into Buchurest. In 1997 Buchurest was grey, in fact the whole country of Romania was grey with the exception of the Logo's and signs of the few western Multinational companies. The yellow of Shell and the red of Agip on the petrol stations. The blue of Novotel and the Red and Yellow of McDonald's. (I always thought red and yellow were to colours of communism, it was only then that I realised that they were the primary colours of capitalism too). Soon we would be at the orphanage. Talking had become infrequent as our thoughts turned to what we were about to encounter.

Duncan McKay was from South Africa, he was a big man and a kind man. Cheerful in his outlook and had become quiet. The stories of Bats, Vampires and the like which are linked with Transylvania feared him. Strange that a big, strong man should be frightened of bats. More strange that the unknown of a children's orphanage should frighten him more.

Chris Wildman, Peter Shore, John Faulkner, Derek Taylor and Martin Harding had their stories to tell too. At this stage in the journey all were quiet. What harrowing sights were we to see? what deprivation? what pain? what disease?

(to be continued)

The FA Cup - A bastian of english tradition, The Cup that cheers and a Mancunian enclave.

2009-01-04T22:56:00.007Z

Flixton Ex-Servicemens Assoc (John Alker Club) is a magnificent venue to watch a 3rd round FA Cup tie on a Sunday afternoon. Those of you looking for an enclave of working class tradition would be well pleased with your find. A find surpassing the evocative tune to "Sports Report" on Radio 5 live at 5-00pm each saturday afternoon. Even before Kick off the excitement built as the 4th round draw was about to commence.

[The John Alker Club is situated in Flixton, Manchester and entrance is gained by way of a locked door at the side of the building. After swiping the electronic key fob one then climbs the stairs being careful to avoid the Stannah chair lift. At the summit of the staircase a steward collects the £1 entrance fee from members wishing to bring guests. I was a guest.]

Silence descended on the club room, which was occupied by a gaggle of men aged between 45 and 80 as MK Dons boss Roberto Di Matteo, a winner and scorer with Chelsea in both the 1997 and 2000 Cup Finals joined Wimbledon's goalkeeping legend Dave Beasant, who saved a penalty against Liverpool to help the Crazy Gang lift The Cup in 1988 to make the draw.

The first ball out was Liverpool and a cheer of amazement and awe rung through the building as Everton were drawn out second. That's right in a Mancunian stronghold there was genuine excitement at the prospect of a Mersyside derby in the 4th round. After Chelsea's draw yesterday and the 3-0 defeat of Manchester City by Nottingham Forest the FA cup is alive and kicking!

Later during the Southampton v Manchester United 3rd round game (I know you are asking how can a 3rd round game be played after the 4th round draw. Best ask the Football Association, ITV, SKY,BBC and Setanta for the answer to your question.) the commentator made a classic remark, which could have been penned by Sid Waddell. After a Southampton player had been sent off for the most ludicrous and dangerous lunge at Mr Vidic from Serbia he spoke these words, "The Southampton fans are fueled by their own perceived injustice."

I'm not sure about the meaning of his statement but as full time approached I percieved that all but one of the the protagonists at the Alker Hall seemed to be fueled by John Smiths Bitter. And of course a 3-0 victory for Manchester United. Happy New Year!

The Manchester Guardian and The Observer - Some sensible business advice

2009-01-01T22:55:00.003Z

It was pleasing to reads Simon Caulkin's article on how businesses can beat the recession. So good that I've reproduced it here in full. Enjoy and pass it on.

Be efficient, please customers, cut costs ... that's it
Simon Caulkin, management editor
The Observer, Sunday 28 December 2008

With even Toyota forecasting unprecedented losses, managers contemplating 2009 may be tempted to echo Louis MacNeice in "Bagpipe Music":
It's no go my honey love, it's no go my poppet;
Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit.
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,
But if you break the bloody glass you won't hold up the weather.
Storm warnings are indeed flying everywhere. But while there's no point in breaking the glass, you can stop making the weather worse, as most management nostrums unerringly do. Do good business, please your customers and cut costs at the same time. Here's how.
Quit thinking about cost - give people what they want. Customers aren't interested in your costs. They are only interested in being able to get from you a product or service with the minimum of fuss and the maximum of convenience - their convenience.
Any organisation that can consistently deliver this will win both gratitude and loyalty. But it will also keep costs to a minimum. If that seems counter-intuitive, think of it this way: if you give people what they want, and only what they want, you're not paying to give them what they don't want. Ergo:
• Forget productivity, work on quality. Improved quality (defined in customer terms; this is important) leads to increased productivity for a disarmingly simple reason. Capacity, said Taiichi Ohno, architect of the Toyota Production System, equals work plus waste. Take out waste - anything that does not contribute to value for the customer and - hey presto - capacity, and therefore also productivity, increases in proportion.
• Stop obsessing about scale: think flow. In making a product or service, the critical cost is end-to-end - that is, measured from receipt of order to delivery. What determines end-to-end costs is not the cost of individual activities - taking calls in a call centre or making parts for a product - but the smoothness of flow between them. An organisation that delivers just enough effort to advance an item one step at a time from beginning to end will have lower overall costs and faster throughput than one building huge batches of parts at every stage to gain economies of scale. It's even better if production is synchronised, not only internally but externally, with the market - but that's difficult when demand is subject to wild swings, as at present.
Government and its agencies, egged on by the big management consultancies, are hooked on scale, which just magnifies the other traditional cost-containment mistakes. This is what drives the monumentally misguided rounds of enforced shared services among local authorities and other public-sector bodies. In most cases, these drive up end-to-end costs by fragmenting the flow and making it harder for customers to pull value - in other words, worsening quality.
• Size doesn't matter. Big and remote is the mantra of the past, the driving principle of General Motors and other beached whales of the industrial world. Small and local is the most efficient way to deliver most services, and plenty of products too. Economies of flow and effort far outweigh dinosaur-like economies of scale. Scale, says Tom Johnson, a prominent accounting professor, is dead: "Beyond very small volumes, [it] is a concept that should be discarded."
• Stop trying to performance-manage people; focus on improving the system. Trying to cut costs by tightening individual performance measures is self-defeating. ("There's no way they can raise my productivity faster than I can raise their costs," says an airline pilot meaningfully.) Fear - of punishment, ridicule, losing a job - is the biggest barrier to learning and improvement, which only happens when people control their working lives and are proud of what they do.
• Finally, forget about competition and build co-operation. The parts of a system - which includes customers and suppliers - have to work together. A system can only be optimised as a whole, to a recognised aim and purpose. Of course it competes with others in the marketplace, but the aim must be for everyone to gain - shareholders, employees and society- over the long term. Internally, competition is usually a wrecker.
This is how you get to the truth that by taking care of customers you serve the company's financial goals, while the reverse is not the case. Of course, we've really sensed this all along - we've just forgotten it in the Gadarene rush to get rich quick, the results of which are forlornly strewn around us.
Like all the points above, the truth that profit is a by-product, and as such can't be approached in a straight line, comes straight from the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, who was writing and lecturing 50 years ago. Pace MacNeice, it's time to put back the clock and change the weather. Happy new year.
simon.caulkin@observer.co.uk

Happy New Year - Change

2009-01-01T12:22:00.005Z

The paradox of the New Year. On one hand I detest change. The older I get the more I hanker back to the old days when things were "better" on the other hand I make plans and resolutions for the future and dream about great things to come.

Change. The word that launched a few careers and ended many others.

The review of the year programmes on the television serve to recalibrate the retrospectoscope making the past year seem different and in some ways improved. Ah the joy of reflection as a reminder to make less hasty decisions. Events that seemed so important at the time now seem trivial and hardly worth worrying about. Other events that seemed trivial at the time now in looking back at them seem almost life changing.

Let me give you a couple of examples. What the heck It's new years day so I'll mention three of the many.

1) A chance meeting with a Professor from Manchester Business School.
2) A brief chat with a Lecturer from Salford University.
3) The Global economic crisis as a way of cementing friendships.

The Professor mentioned that his job was to find things out and then share what he had found out with others for the good of society. I liked those words a lot. I'm glad that I met him. He has inspired me.

The lecturer, in a brief conversation offered me some thoughts about mood. He said "David, the thing that has the highest value is the mood that you are in." I thought about what he said and since that conversation I have defended my mood like the Arsenal of old defending a one goal lead. He is so right, when you are in a good mood everything and anything is possible. If somebody puts you in a bad mood then your day is ruined and a ruined day is too high a price to pay. Ignore and avoid negative people who put you in a bad mood.

A very special friend has taken a pummeling during 2008. The destruction of his materiel assets, divorce from his wife and the possible collapse of the organisation he has worked for since leaving university some 25 years ago has in his words made him a little more philosophical. The joy on his face as he told me about how he was learning how to train his two new dogs and the special feeling he had when they responded to him confirmed to me that good things will come out of the 2008 financial crisis. His dog training put him in a good mood. Good for the dogs and good for him.

I hope you are in a good mood this morning and stay in your good mood for the rest of the year. I hope you meet your Professor to inspire you and If your friends haven't already found out that there is more to the story than Pounds, Dollars and Euros then give them a dog.

Catch you later.

Happy New Year - Some advice from the BBC about Resolutions

2009-01-01T12:16:00.002Z

New Year Resolutions are 'bad for your health'
Deciding to turn over a new leaf in the new year could do more harm than good, a mental health charity has warned.
Mind has urged people not to feel they must start 2009 armed with resolutions for self-improvement.
The charity said resolutions which focus on issues such as the need to lose weight or job worries create a negative self-image.
And if the plans fail to materialise, that could trigger feelings of failure and inadequacy, the charity said.
Mind chief executive Paul Farmer said focussing on problems or insecurities can lead to feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem and even mild depression.
"We chastise ourselves for our perceived shortcomings and set unrealistic goals to change our behaviour, so it's not surprising that when we fail to keep resolutions, we end up feeling worse than when we started," he said.
"In 2009, instead of making a New Year's resolution, think positively about the year to come and what you can achieve."
Instead of easily broken resolutions, the charity has suggested a few steps to improve all-round mental health in 2009:

1) Being active - exercise releases endorphins and even a gentle stroll is beneficial for mental well-being.
2) Going green - evidence has shown that connecting with nature can boost moods.
3) Learn something new - it will keep minds stimulated and give confidence.
4) Give back to the community - it can be just as rewarding for you as those you choose to help.

Eccles and District Round Table Area 46 RTBI and our first trip to Bucuresti Romania and the Cassa de coppi scholari No6 Children's Home.

2008-12-08T21:40:00.021Z

Tick tock goes the clock that is on the wall in my Kitchen. It's a special clock because it was a gift from the executive committee to commemorate my Chairmanship of Round Table Area 46 back in the last century. (I love using the expression "back in the last century" even though it was only 9 years ago).

It was some three years earlier in 1996 sat at a dinner table with John Labella that we came up with an idea that would in some small way transform the lives of the members of our small club. Let me tell you the story.

Are you sitting comfortably? Yes? Then we'll begin.

The Round Table is a wonderful service and fellowship organisation and I owe a debt of gratitude to Louis Marchasi and the members of the club. The format of our group was to have a twice monthly business meeting where we would discuss future charitable events, plan the events and have an all round good time. The annual bonfire was a great money spinner, away days doing repairs at the Salford Children's holiday camp were memorable, fancy dress on children in need night complete with a personal invite from Heather Stott to attend the BBC North West studio went down well too.

The Christmas float and can collection was the glue that bound together our group and throughout the country round tablers and their local communities looked forward to hearing the refrain of George Michael's last Christmas being belted out from the PA system precariously fixed to the back of a Salford van hire 7.5 tonne flat be truck. The fortnightly meetings commenced with a sit down dinner. Monthly area meetings started with a sit down dinner and annual ladies nights, charter nights and sportsman's dinners included the obligatory silver service sit down dinner. Round tablers did a good deal of dining out and their waist lines grew. But that's another story.

Great Britain was in the middle of the Mad Cow disease hysteria and as a result the menu at the Round table events we attended consisted of Roast Chicken, Roast Chicken and Roast Chicken. One Saturday night at an Area dinner I said that If we ate any more Roast Chicken dinners then we would end up looking like Roast Chickens. John Labella's reply was along the lines of "Well if you are sick of chicken then you can do something more interesting. "Like what?" came my reply. "Like go to Romania" said John more in jest than as a sensible suggestion.

Recent television news has shown harrowing pictures of the plight of Children in Romanian orphanages and we thought that it would be a good idea to organise a humanitarian trip to Bucharest to help "the orphans of Romania".

I know that is sounds a bit grand but at that point nobody has told us that Round Table members from Manchester were not supposed to organise humanitarian trips to Children's orphanages in eastern block countries. We did not know that work of this nature was handled by the Romanian Government and internationally registered NGO's. We did not know that a Group of thirty something blokes were no supposed to borrow a van and take a load of useful items out to eastern Europe. Because we did not know we started about the task of finding out what "These orphans needed".

By the Monday morning I had made contact with a charity called "To Romania with aid" and Roy Gray who, in his full time role was the deputy head of the inner London probation service. In his evening role he coordinated the work of this small charity and it's volunteers who worked out in Romania.

Roy cheerfully described the problems involved in arranging trips like the one i was suggesting and provided me with some ideas as would what kind of items would be useful at the cassa de copii scholari No6 or Number six as it is known. Roy told me about thee full time volunteer called Kieran Hart who lived in Romania and wished me well.

By the weekend we had agreement from British gas to borrow a waggon, insurance for the trip, 100's of pairs of training shoes thanks to Adidas and Umbro. Tesco Wythenshawe had donated thousands of packets of sanitary towels and via the round table contacts we had raised enough money to fund the cost of fuel and fund the accommodation fees of the full time volunteer for three months or so. Seven volunteers including myself applied for visas and within 4 weeks we were being waved off by wives and families and on our way into the unknown. Our intention was to take some useful items and make a little bit of difference to the lives of a few orphans in a far away land. Our only previous contact with orphans was via the television set and the film "Oliver."

I had followed Roy's instructions to the letter regarding import/ export paperwork however I did not really understand his comment of "You might have to invent it a bit on the way into Hungary and Romania"

Paperwork and administration can be troublesome at the best of times. At 2-00am on a cold and wet October morning at Dover docks it was pleasing to find a freight clearance company who was good enough to help with the necessary forms for a small fee. If I'd have found the freight clearance company office 4 hours earlier we might have been asleep in Calais. Whilst pleased that we could board the ferry I was alert to the potential problems that might face us at the Hungarian and Romanian border a day or so later.

Our convoy consisted of a lead car kindly loaned to us by Thrifty car hire and the British Gas Truck. The car was new, reliable and comfortable. The van was noisy, loud and uncomfortable. Our driving plan was organised so that we rotated every two hours and took turns navigating . sleeping, driving and brewing up using the little kettle that plugged into the cigarette lighter.

Calais in the fog is interesting. Dirving on the wrong side of the road in the fog is interesting and following the fog lights of our lead car was also interesting too. Tailgating in the fog is a no no however on this occasion we felt it was sensible not to separate.

The French motorway became the Belgium motorway and our first circumnavigation of Brussels. Those of you who have turned left instead of right will recall the Brussels ring road an the magnificent church with the dome roof. The ring road is kind enough to take you past the dome a number of times. First of all on the upper ring road and then on the lower ring road. We escaped eventually and continued our journey into Germany passing the cities of Colne, Frankfurt and Munich.

An army marches on its stomach and Round tablers need feeding. The catering on the trip was magnificent and using all of the skills acquired in Leo's restaurant Monton, John Labella has crafted a menu manifique. Ham, beef and chicken barmcakes, pork pies, crisps and of course enough Mars bars to sing the Graff Spee . Mineral Water, Lemonade and Diet Coke by the flagon added ballast. Mothers, Grand Mothers and Wives had baked cakes and the British staple diet of Cadburys Chocolate was in abundance. The sight of an old British gas van and seven blokes tucking into Mars bars and pork pies on the forecourt of a German motorway fuel stop must have raised a few eyebrows.

Night fell as we made our way to the north of Munich and on the the Austrian Border. Bavarian Autobahns did not have street lights back in 1996. The rain fell relentlessly making driving almost impossible and S class Mercedes Benz, BMW 7 series and Porches sped past us at breakneck speeds on a seeming death wish. The German motorway in the dark and the rain is reminiscent of the M62 in the fog. Something to be avoided.

Dawn broke and we pulled into an Austrian service station more reminiscent of a fairytale Bavarian Castle than a road chef rest stop. We enjoyed a good break and contemplated what lay ahead of us. Our journey through familiar countries was near an end as soon we would be at the the Austro-Hungarian border and all that it would throw at us.

Salford to Watford gap to Dover had become Brussels to Cologne. Frankfurt and the roadworks at the Airport, Wurzberg, Nurnberg , Regensburg, North East of Munich onto Linz, Vienna and the Border at Nikersdorf and Gyor.

To be continued.........

The Amazing Frank Feldman

2008-12-04T20:13:00.003Z

London taxi drivers tell the best stories (well at least they think they do) and here is the tale of the very special Frank Feldman as told by a London cabbie recently.

Enjoy.

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says,"Perfect timing. You're just like Frank."Passenger: 'Who?'Cabbie: "Frank Feldman. He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time."Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody."Cabbie: "Not Frank Feldman He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy."Passenger: "Sounds like he was something really special."Cabbie: "There's more... He had a memory like a computer. He remembered every body's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, he could do everything right."Passenger: "Wow, some guy then."Cabbie: "He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman. As regards love making he was capable of many hours of non stop love making and so innovative in that department "Passenger: "An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?"Cabbie: "Well, I never actually met Frank. He died. I'm married to his widow."

Peter Kay voted UK's top comedian

2008-11-30T23:40:00.004Z

I saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you might like to read it too.

Peter Kay voted UK's top comedian

Phoenix Nights star Peter Kay has been overwhelmingly voted the UK's favourite comedian in an online poll.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/7757262.stm

A little Black Cat story. It was about 12 years ago when I saw Peter Kay perform live at a Round Table function organised by Royton and Chadderton Round Table. Happy Days.

Ports rot both ships and men and Football should be played at 3-00pm on Saturday

2008-11-29T20:26:00.011Z

Manchester, 29th November 2008.

Without the night is cold the freezing fog has lifted and the city sleeps. But tomorrow joy of joy, the Manchester Derby takes place at middle-east lands. There are no tips from me to the eventual winner however there is a sense of expectation and excitement about the event. There will be some thoroughbreds on display, a prince in waiting, an iron chancellor with a puritanical steely grip on his throne and two tribes of followers. Prawn sandwich brigades will fill the corporate facilities and a supporting cast of opinionated television and audio sages to wax lyrically about the potential outcome the progress of the event as it happens and to deconstruct the event at its finish.

Government security officers will be present in heavy numbers, not in case of an attempt of terror as the Irish Republican Army bombing of Manchester in the last century. Hundreds of police officers will be present in case running battles between the tribal supporters erupt. There will be no religious bigotry no racism. There will be some mindless violence.

Amongst the spectators there will be some of the old guard and for many of us who understand the maxims of the game their names will bring back fond memories. A couple for your supper then from the history. Frank Stapleton. The ex Arsenal, Manchester United forward player of the 80's who scored in many a derby game and Dennis Law, son of a fisherman from Aberdeen who played for united at the age of only 17. One of United's holy trinity. Many years later Dennis "The Law Man" played for Manchester City and one spring evening back heeled the ball into United's net. United were relegated from the top division.

Where are you watching the game?

Update 23:00pm GMT

Manchester United beat Manchester City with a goal scored by Wayne Rooney (Rooney's 100th goal for Manchester United) just before half time.

What is at the center of a successful business?

2008-11-29T09:46:00.011Z

This is the question that is on the tip of the tongue of every would be business person, every student of business, business consultant, management guru, Institute of Directors member etc

To answer the question first of all we must understand the question, we must understand the meaning of the words in the question.

Humpty Dumpty, one of the characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice through the looking glass, would be able to answer the question as he knew the importance of the meaning of the words and he knew the meaning of the words too. So, I though that I'd ask him. Here is what he said.

"At the centre of a successful business is the conceptual framework of Marketing and Knowledge Management. Because of the power of Intellectual Property it is without doubt that this is kept as the central focus. Finance is at the centre of any business worth its salt and of course without customers a business is nothing so Customer Focus must remain at the centre at all times. Your operation must be the primary concern as without operations nothing happens so this is the hub in the centre of the business wheel and of course until sales are made there is no business so sales require central attention. Businesses compete through supply chains, supply chains compete and People Means Business, without people I ask you people, what would there be so keep people at the centre of the business. Having a clear, defined, planned emergent strategy which is fixed and highly flexible and gives a clear unambiguous path to follow whilst being chaotic is the kernel of any successful business. The law and legal requirements whereas requires the incumbents to pay attention to their duties so this must remain central. So the two central tenants of business are therefore IT, Location, the creation of a Learning Culture a collegiate approach that is diverse with common goals. Central to a successful business is the leader who is an entrepreneurial highly prudent big risk taker, focuses on the needs of all stakeholders and individuals including investment bankers, the environment and yamasumi poke yoke lean kanban.

Gobbledygook!

Obesity or middle age spread?

2008-11-23T00:28:00.004Z

I carry a little too much weight. I always thought that the reason for my extra girth was to do with the simple fact that I consumed more calories than I used up. Today I stumbled upon the obesity system influence diagram (above) which explains, clearly, why I am overweight. If you carry a few extra pounds the diagram might give you an interesting insight as to the reasons why.

http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html

Let me know how you get on.

I'm thinking about changing my car. Hypocrisy?

2008-11-22T23:40:00.004Z

It's time to change my car and with the current financial situation there are so many brilliant offers around that I'm confused. For example this Toyota bus is selling for around £7300.

I recon that buying this mini bus would make good sense. Most of the time it's just me and the family in the car but there are occasions when I am asked to pick up and drop off friends. A 15 seater could come in very handy on those occasions. So although it would be fairly infrequent it would be rational to have some spare capacity always available. And at a price of just £7300 why not? It's within budget.

Do you agree with the logic of this idea? Do you agree that it makes sense? Of course you do.

Why not? What do you mean it's a stupid idea to own a vehicle with a capacity to carry 5 times the normal load. What do you mean when you think that it would make more sense to own a normal car and hire a mini bus on the occasions when there was a need to transport 15 people at once. I don't understand you.

You have a vehicle that has 4 or 5 times the capacity of its normal load. If you think that my idea is so ridiculous then it would make sense for you to get a one seater car and rent a bigger car on that rare occasion when you need more seats. Think about it. I'm serious. If my ideas is so ludicrous then why do we all have or need 5 seater cars? Most of the time there is only one of us in the car.

Maybe it's high time we all had a good think about our transport ideas, especially those of us who live close to the beloved Trafford Centre. Interesting that the owners of the Trafford Centre, which is the cause of most of the traffic congestion to the west of Manchester, should be the backers of the "No to the congestion charge campaign." Hypocrisy?

Speaking of hyposrisy it's not really my idea to buy a mini bus. The idea came from Ian Walker. Thanks Ian.

ceteris parabus!

Free Palm Reading! An experiment and an entertainment

2008-11-01T22:00:00.004Z

Occasionally there comes along something that It's difficult to say no to and tonight my dear readers here is for you and just you one of those opportunuties. Via the wonderful medium of the Internet I'm going to read your palm and then after I've read it I'll send back to you in confidence your own palm reading. Go on give it a try send me a photo of your hand and get for yourself an inkling of what the future holds for you. Do it now.

What is it really like at the coal face?

2008-10-26T18:50:00.001Z

Look before you leap! Understand what is happening before you make a decision, before you choose, before you jump. On the other hand if you try to fully make sense of everything in life you will go barking mad. Escher's impossible staircase sends me mad.

Anthropologists call it Ethnography, the Japanese call it going to the Gemba and Atticus in the novel ,To Kill a Mockingbird , by Harper Lee called it crawling around under another persons skin.

What does the coal face mean and why is it so important to those of us who attempt to make sense of things? The coal face is the expression for the place where the real thing happens. The shop floor in both a factory or a retail sense would be the coal face. In business we might describe the coal face as the point where value is added. In a health care situation we may describe it at the point where there is interaction with a patient. The coal face is the place where the real thing happens. The reason why the coal face is so important is that before we make decisions it is necessary for us to know what is going on.

However if we really think we understand what is going on and then make the optimal decision based on the facts we should look at the work of JG March and H Simon and the theory of bounded rationality.

Human beings according to March and Simon are unable to make the optimal decision, unable because we never have all the information to hand and even if we did we would never fully be able to comprehend and analyse it in a sensible amount of time. Instead we draw upon our previous experiences, what we have learned and choose the first satisfactory outcome that we think will be good enough. Hence the term satisfice or satisficing. A morph of a word indeed. We choose the first option that is satisfactory and that will suffice.

The more information that there is the more of our attention is taken and all that we have is attention. The more information that is available to us the less attention that we can give to things. Here is an example. Below is a link to a video clip and before you click it I want you to pay attention to the people in the white shirts. They will be throwing a basketball to each other. Count carefully the number of passes. If you can honestly count all 14 then well done. You'll have to really pay attention because they pass fast. Good Luck.

http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

How many passes did you get? 14? Well done!

OK here is the point. The information that we have at our fingertips whilst important and no doubt interesting is only a fraction of what is going on. We need to be able to use all of our senses if we are to get anywhere near either making the right decision or even something close to what might be right. Before we make decisions it is vital that we walk the ship, crawl around under the skin of the other person, go to the coal face.

And another thing. Even if you do go to the coal face keep you eyes open or you might miss something. Something big and nasty like a Gorilla! Have a look at the video again and this time look for the real thing. You won't miss him now that you are paying attention!

Have you ever wondered why some things catch on and other things don't? Why do some people call British people Limeys?

2008-10-21T21:50:00.019+01:00

This gentleman is Everett M Rogers and he theorised about the rate at which innovations take off through his concept of Diffusion of Innovation. Mr Rogers passed away 4 years ago today.

In his book Diffusion of Innovation Rogers tells the story of the discovery of the remedy for the condition scurvy. Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the diet. Signs of scurvy include tiredness, muscle weakness, joint and muscle aches, a rash on the legs and bleeding gums. In the past scurvy was common among sailors and other people deprived of fresh fruits and vegetables for long periods of time. Untreated scurvy can lead to death and in the sailing days of old often did.

John Woodall was an eminent English military surgeon who after a series of experiments with sailors whilst at sea discovered that lemon juice acted as both protection from and a cure for scurvy.

In 1617 Woodall wrote in his publication The Surgeon's mate a description of scurvy and detailed the antidote, lemon juice. Woodall also persuaded the East India Company to provide lemon juice for its sailors.

Scurvy was the scourge of the British Navy so why is it then that over 100 years passed until
1747 when an officer in the British Royal Navy, James Lind, conducted a study on 12 patients with scurvy. He divided the patients into 6 groups of 2 and gave each group a different remedy. Only the group given oranges and lemons recovered. Even then citrus fruits were not adopted wholesale. Oh no! It took Lind 41 long years to convince the British Royal Navy to implement his recommendation.

Interestingly the British used lime juice instead of lemon or orange juice to prevent the disease and from that day British sailors became known as Limeys.

Why oh why did such a brilliant discovery take so long to percolate into the mainstream?

As a fully paid up member of the Awkward club it is blindingly obvious to me why someone else's inventions and ideas are scorned. In fact my friends see things the same way. Gladwell or Abba you decide. The main concept of the awkward club goes something like this. I'll do It my way, in my own time when I'm good and ready. If the ideas comes from somebody other than me or my closest friends I'm simply not interested or at the very best highly sceptical.

Rogers describes in some detail the four stages of the acceptance of new ideas and innovations as

1) The Innovation or perceived newness of the innovation

2) The communication channel (who tells you about the innovation or the means by which the message is communicated)

3) Time, the decision process, the rate of adoption

4) The social system that adopters of the new idea are connected to

The outcome of his work gives marketeers and anybody interested in understanding why people do not always accept our brilliant ideas a framework to try and make sense of what happens if and when they do.

The diffusion of innovation process maps out eloquently how new products and ideas spread through the market place. Innovators and early adopters first. Once proved the early majority take up the mantle later the late majority join in and then the laggards (lovely word eh?) take part in the party.

Making sense of these findings the message goes something like this. If you have some ideas to get across think and plan carefully who you should communicate them to first? Who will be the most likely adopter of your ideas? Who is most likely to recommend your ideas? Rogers advises that it will probably be somebody who is fairly like you, somebody homogeneous with you.

Beware of the laggards because as you well know it hurts banging your head against a brick wall.

The even more deafening sound of shoppers purses being snapped shut

2008-10-18T13:22:00.011+01:00

It's been a busy this week what with discourse with real people, writing letters and the reading of academic papers. Whilst the blog serves as an opportunity to rant on real communication is conversation if you get the meaning.

I read an article written by Astrid Kersten of La Roche College where she discusses Diversity Management. Nothing like a bit of paradox eh?

It's a funny old world. Alison has run off to Horse camp with Lynn. I'm off to the Hunt's 50th Anniversary ball tonight with Bob and Fay is staying at home to look after the farm. A look through the headlines on the first couple of pages of this Weekends FT could have been written just for me. "Blistering rant on idiot bankers" "Idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and a Harvard MBA" "Aviva's £1bn policy pay out in jeopardy" and I was banking on that to help pay for my foray into higher education. "PM urged to take control of builders" with a share price of 11p even I could afford to take control of Taylor Wimpey. "Digital economy to 'reboot' Britain" I can hear hubristic the refrains of "I told you so- I predicted it" emanating from the eminent ones. "Keynesian stimulus" a reference to John Maynard Keynes and using his tools to stave off a recession. And by page 5 an article about DIY and home grown food with the headline. "Carrots beat the crunch in a new era of austerity."

Throw in a couple of new words, parsimonious and dirigisme and my Saturday morning is almost complete.

Fancy a coffee?

A little bit of hubris does no harm, only a very little bit mind.

2008-10-13T00:32:00.006+01:00

On the 28th of September I posted When the facts change last night Robert Peston wrote, and I quote "I've also been musing on the historic significance of tonight's events, and I think it can perhaps be seen as the death of Thatcherism, or at least of an important strand of the dominant ideology of the 1980s and 1990s."

Nationalisation of the London Clearing Banks. I'll just repeat that. Nationalisation of the London Clearing Banks.

I remember the words now and they go something like this "Giv'em enough rope and they'll hang themselves."

And in the works of Jim Royle "Exotic credit derivatives my arse!"

Matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs

2008-10-12T23:26:00.006+01:00

We are on a sentimental journey now and next we meet L.S.Lowry artist of the working classes and inspiration of this one hit wonder by Brian and Michael.

Brian aka Jeffery Kevin Parrott was a colleague of mine when I worked at ITT back in the last century.

Enjoy the music and enjoy the paintings by Mr Lowry

Glyn and Howard happy memories. The big ship sails on the ally ally o!

Salford by the Sea. Salford Children's Holiday Camp Prestatyn.

2008-10-12T15:55:00.014+01:00

What am I? Urmstonian? Mancunian? English? British? European? Global? Amplified Individual? All of the above? If I look at my parental lines I can also stake a claim to be a proud Salfordian and a Scouser.

Today I am adopting the mantle of being a proud Salfordian with roots in the City of Salford, the banks of the River Irwell and an attendee of the Salford Poor Children's Holiday Camp as it was called before the concept of political correctness was dreamed up. The Jam Butty camp as it was, is, and always will be referred to by the thousands of kids who have had the opportunity to attend the camp, situated on the North Wales Coast in Prestatyn, over the last 80 years or so.

Historians will give you the minute detail, this article however was sparked by an advertisement in the window of the Salford Museum and Art Gallery which is situated in the grounds of Salford University.

The Advertisment reads, "Salford by the sea. A hands on exhibition for all the family. We all love a holiday so pop over to the museum for a seaside experience in Salford! Take a stroll along the prom and look at how people used to enjoy their Whit Week many years ago or stop off at a stall and enjoy some seaside treats. There will even be a big holiday scene for you and your family to add too.

I wandered into the museum (nothing like the last museum that I wondered into) the exhibition was upstairs and on display was a book called Salford by the Sea written by William Wilkinson. I took careful hold of the book and glanced through looking for a reference to Ken Stamford. Kenneth Stamford was my great uncle and I remembered that he was the manager of the Camp. Uncle Ken ran the camp with his wife Ivy back in the 70'S and as a little boy I can remember going to visit the camp. Grandad Harry Stamford used to take us in his Morris Minor motor car. Funny how when you start to think about things the memories come flooding back. Even now as I write I can visualise the trips, the details, some of the stories, the music. Top of the pops at the time was "You don't get me I'm part of the union by the scaffold." Where was I? oh yes.

As I turned the pages I came across a photograph of Ken and Ivy and on the next page a copy of a poem written by Uncle Ken about the Kids who attended the camp and one kid in particular. I could not get through the whole of the poem because I started crying. It was the bit about the little kid who turned up with one pair of socks, one shirt, no spare underwear and two shillings and sixpence. He did not have much to his name really, nothing much at all. The poem goes on to explain how the little Kid spent his money on eight sticks of rock. One for his mam one for his dad and the rest for the other kids. He bought nothing for himself. The kid was a Salford.

I feel proud today. Proud to be a Salford and proud that great Uncle Ken did his part.

My brother Howard lives in Bavaria and works as Golf Course Manager. A freak summer thunderstorm decimated his gold course. Hurricane force winds and hailstones the size of tennis balls wreaked havoc on the local community and Howard's land, his pride and joy.

Howard tells the story of devastation as he stood the next morning with the chairman looking out across the shattered trees and land.

Fluttering from the flag pole was the Golf Club Flag. In shreds but still flying. The hard graft of 6 years had been destroyed in 20 minutes by a weather storm. Howard took a deep breath and said to his chairman. "Our flag is still flying, We are not defeated we will rebuild the golf course.

And he did.

Howard can lay claim to be a Salfordian. Glyn you can too.