It's late. I'm tired. Expect more pictures than words. Today we dug some trenches, mixed some cement and laid some bricks building the foundations of the first farm. We met some local businesses at lunch then finished the day meeting a group of women with business ideas we hope we can help to develop. It's hard to believe that 2 nights ago we stepped off a plane and began knocking some ideas around over dinner for a co-operative that would turn the women of village into business owners. Today we did this...
# Trench dug first foundation stone in place
# Broken bones won't get in the way of a bit of hard work
# The water to mix the cement arrives
# This is what happens when I do manual work... People laugh
# Women with dreams
# A dress maker? A doctor? A restaurant owner?
# The local barber
# You know we picked up the shovels just for the picture, right?
# Getting a commitment from the women of the community
Two years ago I went to Tanzania with a gang of people I met on Twitter to distribute footballs to some of the poorest villages and schools in the country. We kept in touch with our driver for the trip, Seb, who recently reached out to us asking if there was anything we could do for the women of his village. Myself and one of the gang Darren found that an offer hard to refuse.
The aim of the Great Football Giveaway was to 'Put smiles on children's faces', a worthy aim given dire poverty and poor health many of them were living in. It was an instant hit with instant results. After a few conversations with Seb it became clear that whilst money would go someway to changing the lives of many in his village, knowledge would stretch much further. As I pointed out here, the distribution of knowledge can be a very low cost solution, a resource that can last a lifetime. 'Teach a man to fish' and all that...
So we booked a couple of flights and landed yesterday. After a short rest followed by dinner with the elders of the village it was clear that there could be some short term wins easily achieved. When you are faced with that kind of situation you want to do the most obvious thing as quickly as possible. But we surveyed the pages of notes made during our meal and decided to sleep on them knowing that there were another thousand questions to be asked tomorrow.
We came to Tanzania with the following aims:
1. Empower the women to find a way out of poverty for their families.
2. Inspire belief by changing the poverty and dependency mindset.
3. Get every child in the village into school.
Yes, money is going to be needed, but so too are the skills and knowledge required to create a village of female entrepreneurs that will generate income which will go back into the village for the benefit of all. So I'll make no apologies for reaching out to my network over the following days, weeks and months for help in many shapes and forms.
Connectivity permitting I'll keep you all updated on the visit over the next 7 days.
I went to see Woody Allen's new film 'Midnight in Paris' today and couldn't help smile when the main character Gil, who is fascinated by 1920s Paris, gets into a debate with Adriana about when was the best time to live.
Gil meets Adriana (a beautiful Parisian who is having an affair with Picasso) after travelling back in time to his favourite era. The conversation takes place when pair travel further back in time to the 1890s, which is Adriana's favourite period in history. Gil wants to return to the 1920s but she wants to stay in the 1890s forever because the era in which she belongs holds no excitement for her. Whilst they are there they bump into Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gaugin and Edgar Degas who all believe that the golden age was the Renaissance and not the 1890s, the era in which they were living.
We all have a romantised vision of the past, a golden age that we long to return to for some rose tinted reason or other. We're great at ignoring the present and appreciating it for all its brilliance. Personally, I've never been like that, much to the disappointment of my friends as my enthusiasm for reminiscing falls short of theirs. I can be such a stick in the mud sometimes.
I've said it before. The greatest time to be alive is now. Teetering on the edge of tomorrow. I do forget sometimes, but then brilliant people share brilliant things using brilliant technologies and I get incredibly excited about the here and now again.
So. If like me you get excited by current thinking around the intersection of the real and digital world then you may just love the work of former MIT student John Kestner (thanks to the lovely Tom Uglow for bringing him to my attention).
Here are a few interesting things he has done. Please do check out the rest.
"Tableau acts as a bridge between users of physical and digital media, taking the best parts of both. It's a nightstand that quietly drops photos it sees on its Twitter feed into its drawer, for the owner to discover. Images of things placed in the drawer are posted to its account as well".
"The Proverbial Wallet gives us that financial sense at the point of purchase by un-abstracting virtual assets. Tactile feedback reflecting our personal balances and transactions helps us develop a subconscious financial sense that guides responsible decisions. In addition to providing a visceral connection to our virtual money, tactile output keeps personal information private and ambient".
I love this video which I've lifted from a brilliant blog post from David Hieatt. You must get around to reading sometime.
The video is of surfer, photographer and film maker Mickey Smith talking about passion for what he does. It's full of creative goodness and nuggets of knowledge that we all should have in our manifestos for a life of fulfillment. You can read the full script below.
Life on the road's something I was raised to embrace. Me ma always encouraged us to open our eyes and hearts to the world. Make up our own minds through experience and be inspired.
I see life in angles, in lines of perspective - a slight turn of the head, the blink of an eye - subtle glimpses of magic other folk might pass by. Cameras help me translate, interpret and understand what I see. It’s a simple act that keeps me grinning.
I never set out to become anything in particular. Only to live creatively, and push the scope of my experience, through adventure, and through passion. That’s still all that means something to me, same as most anyone with dreams.
My heart bleeds Celtic blood, and I’m magnetised to familiar frontiers. Raw brutal cold frontiers for the right waveriders to challenge. This is where my heart beats hardest.
I try to pay tribute to that magic through photographs. Weathering the endless storms for rare glimpses of magic each winter is both a blessing and a curse I relish. I want to see waveriding documented the way I see it in my head, and the way I feel it in the sea.
It’s a strange set of skills to begin to acquire, and it’s only achievable through time spent riding waves. All sorts of waves, on all sorts of crafts, means more time learning out in the water floating in the sea amongst lumps of swell, you’ll always learn something.It’s been a lifelong wise old classroom teacher of sorts, and hopefully, always will be
Buried beneath headlands, shaping the coast, mindblowing images of empty waves burn away at me. Solid ocean swells powering through deep cold water, heavy waves, waves with weight. They coax from comfortable routine, ignite the imagination, convey some divine spark, whisper possibilities. Conjure the situations I thrive amongst, and love to document.
We all take knocks in the process. Broken backs, drownings, near drownings, hypothermia, dislocations, fractures, frostbite, head wounds, stitches, concussions, broke my arm and that’s just the last couple of years.
I still look forward to getting’ amongst it each winter though cold creeping into your core, driving you mad, day after day. Mumbling to yourself while you hold position and wait for the next set to come. The dark side of the lens. An artform unto itself and us, silent workhorses of the surfing world.
There’s no sugary cliché. Most folk don’t even know who we are, what we do or how we do it, let alone want to pay us for it.
I never want to take this for granted, so I try and keep motivations simple, real and positive.
If I only scrape a living, at least it’s a living worth scraping. If there’s no future in it, at least it’s a present worth remembering.
For fires of happiness and waves of gratitude, for everything that brought us to that point on earth, at that moment in time. To do something worth remembering, with a photograph or a scar.
I feel genuinely lucky to hand on heart say I love doing what I do, And though I may never be a rich man, if I live long enough, I’ll certainly have a tale or two for the nephews, and I dig the thought of that.
I've been thinking a lot about Manifestos recently. I was talking to one of my team today about the importance of setting yourself personal rules for life every year. This year mine is 'Stretch Yourself'. Last year it was 'Do what you're good at to make the world a better place'. The year before it was 'Become an expert'.
Then I came across this which was taken from Tolstoy's 'Rules of Life' courtesy of Gretchin Rubin. I think it's wonderful.
"Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for every minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater."
Love this. Lifted from the Frank Crimero blog via Hugh at DARE. Having shown the brilliant Louis CK 'Everything Is Amazing' clip when I spoke there recently Hugh thought I'd appreciate this...
I'm not against looking to the past for inspiration, or even just to remind myself of what fun I used to have, but when people tell me the old days were better days (regardless of when the good old days were) I generally want to switch off and mess up their comb-over.
We are living in remarkable times and it's way too easy not to appreciate what's happening whilst it's happening. Why wait 20 years? How lucky most of the people who read my blog are to be working in the area they do when things are so exciting. Like David Bailey in the 60's, Tony Wilson in the 70's, Paul Morely in the 80s (and all the other people who were in the right place when things were so good) it's up to you and me to define ourselves by taking advantage of the brilliance that surrounds us. They were great people, and they were great times but for me teetering on tomorrow; this is the greatest time to be alive.
Here's the deal. I work for you and you make some children very happy. We all win.
As you may already know I'm heading to Africa in November with friends from the world of advertising to give away footballs to some of the world's most disadvantaged children. It's all for a charity called The Great Football Giveaway. To do so I need to raise some money to buy the balls. £10 will buy a ball which I will personally put in the hands (or at the feet) of a child in Tanzania. So far my Friends and work colleagues have been brilliant. I know people get hit with requests all the time in work which is why I've asked everyone to just retweet the link if they don't want to donate.
Despite my efforts I've some way to go to reach my personal target of £1500 and need to up my game. I'm about 1/3 of the way there which means I've got about 1 month to raise a grand. As the album goes 'A Grand Don't Come For Free' so I'm offering my services in exchange for donations.
So, does your company need consultancy, creative workshops or inspirational lunch-time sessions? Are you after youth insights, technology trends or just some really simple ideas around social media? Are struggling with an idea for a campaign or client I can help you with. I'll give you an hour of my time all for a donation of your choosing.
Some of the companies and events I've spoken at in the past include Ogilvy, AMV BBDO and DARE in the world of advertising, the BBC, Radio Academy and the Royal Television Society in broadcast, and couple of brilliant TEDx events to name a few.
I'm happy to come to your place for either lunchtime sessions or after 6 as long as it doesn't interfere with my Radio 1 work. I'm also based in Manchester and London so the options are open for companies in the North and South.
Drop me a line if you think you could use my knowledge in return for a donation. If you just want to make a donation you can do so here. Easier still, just retweet this blog and spread the word. It'll cost you nothing to do that.
SuperMe is a collection of games, quizzes, videos and tips aimed at educating teens on how to feel good about themselves. It's about dealing with failure, coping with the knocks life brings and recognising the powers we already have within ourselves to achieve a state of happiness. I won't go into detail about how it does that, you'll just have to go play. As good games should be it's really easy to engage (you'll be gripped in seconds) and has multiple layers for deeper engagement.
Other than it being a brilliant game there are 3 other reasons why I love it:
1. It's the best bit of public service media aimed at teens you will see this year. Full stop.
2. It's Channel 4 perfecting the excellent work they've been doing around education for some time. If what they've done so far is to be seen as the working out then this really is the answer. I think they've really nailed the balance needed to make difficult subjects engaging through play.
3. And most importantly it's worked for me and my son who has recently been having one of those rubbish moments life occasionally brings. For week's I've been trying to simplify and impart my learnings from all the books I've read on the subject. It's not been easy. This has suddenly made my life a whole lot easier. It's all there, in simplistic terms, with videos of great people as real-life examples of how happiness can be achieved. Win!!!
So last night I was into my 4th hour of SuperMe (it's research I tell you) when my son looked over my shoulder. "You still playing that game?" has asked as he tore his eyes away from Call of Duty for the briefest moment. "Give it here, I'll show you how it's done" he said dropping his controller. Anything that stops my son's pursuit of a Tactical Nuke in favour of finding happiness is all good in my house... Unless of course you're chasing a 'Wisdom Achievement', which I was. "Nah, it's OK son. Stick to COD for now, you can play this later".
Well done to everyone at Channel 4 Education, Something Else and Preloaded.
I just found this and think it's great. Apparently this Threadless design was inspired by Conan O'Brien's last monologue on The Tonight Show. The final paragraph went something like this...
"To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your
kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I
ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism —
it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in
life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you
work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen."
I'm not sure of the story behind his departure but you can see the full monologue here.
Work hard and be kind. It's such a simple but obvious bit of advice when you think about it. So why do we rarely hear it? You always hear people saying that they achieved their success by 'working hard', but rarely through 'being kind'. Personally, I think there's too much emphasis on the first bit and not enough on the second. Get the second bit right and the 'working hard' bit becomes a whole lot easier. I'm no fan of the 'nice guys come last' school of thought. That line is usually rolled out by people with a very different perspective of success than my own.
I've 'lucked' my way through a great career by creating my own opportunities for serendipity and being nice when the moment arrived. I got my job at the BBC by just saying 'Hi' to a passing stranger. Sometimes it really can be that easy. It always amazes me when I meet people whose default settings aren't locked on 'be kind'. It's quite remarkable how many of them you come across in an average working day. Count them.
Being kind allows me to achieve things I might not achieve otherwise, with the added bonus of keeping the smile on my face through to the end of the day. At the same time I watch colleagues stumble over obstacles left by people who don't know what it means to be kind. It makes the workplace look like a giant game of snakes and ladders. Be kind and good things happen. Don't be kind and you'll inevitable take a fall.
I read Tony Hsieh's 'Delivering Happiness' yesterday, a great read if you're interested in business, shoes or happiness. It's the story of the rise of online shoe store Zappos, which is now turning over a billion dollars a year. They're a remarkable company. You can find out more about them in my blog post from SXSW
Zappos is proof that your company's brand and your company's
culture are two sides of the same coin. Get the culture right and
everything else should follow.
I must admit, I've been interested in Zappos as a company for some time so I was hoping to learn more about Tony's personal quest for happiness. The cynical amongst us would say that it's easy being happy when you've sold the 3 year old company you started after leaving college (LinkExchange) for $265. But it's been proven that once you earn enough money to bring you the necessities in life (food, shelter, clothes etc) your level of happiness will not go up with rises in income. Lottery winners have this peak of happiness after winning which then drops off soon after.
Taking inspiration from books such as Happiness Hypothesis and Happier Hsieh built his happiness framework around 'perceived control', 'perceived progress', 'connectedness' and 'being part of something bigger than yourself'. So naturally, with a history steeped in acid house, I was delighted to see the impact clubland had on the culture of Zappos.
Hsieh reluctantly crossed paths with acid house one night when he was dragged to a club that played 'repetitive music he hadn't heard on the radio'. From the moment he walked in his life was changed. The connectedness and tribal nature of the rave scene shaped a large part of his happiness framework. He bought a loft space, threw mad parties and had random conversations with strangers. That feeling of connection, coupled with being part of something greater became a large part of the culture of his company.
Whilst there's something Nathan Barley-esqu about their operation, you
can't but help like the guy and his company. When it comes to customer service he's nailed it. When it come to creating a culture of happiness in the work place he goes above and beyond the call of duty. Viva Acid House!!!
