What Really Matters?

A Sneak Peek Behind the Scenes of Board Meeting Preparation.

Taking a train into London during the rush hour, I overheard a conversation about today’s board meeting at Megacorp, and more specifically, what kind of sandwiches each board director requires. Huge attention to detail, many different requirements. The giver of the information knew everything there was to know, she had clearly done this many times before, and duly passed it on, name by name, sandwich by sandwich. Without missing a beat.

Joe: Cheese and Pickle. Debbie: Ham. Peter: Prawn….etc etc.

One of the Directors is called Nick, and the chat about him really caught my attention. Apparently he doesn’t like lettuce, and if you get him a sandwich with lettuce in it, he really complains about it. Really complains.

Poor Nick, I really feel for that guy. Fancy going to all the trouble of being paid to attend your own board meeting, only to find that someone might bring you lunch with *shudder* lettuce in it. Imagine that happening. Imagine the humility of having to pick the lettuce out in front of your fellow Directors, you’d lose all respect, wouldn’t you? No wonder he really complains.

I get off the train at this point and leave all the high level stuff behind me. Whilst it was great to get a brief insight into the strategic planning behind a board meeting, I confess things were getting too exciting for a mere worker like me.

Before my attention drifted to what sandwich I might want for my own lunch (note to self, I need to recruit a sandwich advisor), two thoughts flashed across my mind. The first was this: If the board’s sandwich requirements are so utterly predictable, what might that tell us about the rest of the meeting? Board meeting? More like bored meeting. And second, I can’t help but feel that the world might be a better place if once in a while, we told people like Nick to go and get the sandwiches.

I first published a version of this post on Medium back in 2015. I was inspired to revisit it after reading this excellent piece titled Minutes, Meetings and Minutiae, by Gemma Dale, which challenges that persistent behaviour whereby women are so often expected to take the minutes, get the sandwiches, etc.

Book Pixies : Inspired By Art

Buy a book. Read a book. Pass the book on.

The highest purpose of art is to inspire. What else can you do? What else can you do for any one but inspire them? (Bob Dylan)

I was contacted a few days ago by Sam. Sam works in the library of a local school and has been following the free art project for a while now. Inspired by the project, and by Emma Watson’s Book Fairies, the school, Carshalton High School for Girls, has devised a community pay it forward project of its own. This week, Book Pixies came into being.

Students from the school have begun to distribute books in the local area. They visited a children’s hospital this week to start the project and give an interview to hospital radio. You can follow progress and find clues to where the books are being hidden on the school’s Learning Resource Centre instagram account. I wish the girls and the Book Pixies project every success. Who knows, maybe we’ll team up for a joint free art and book drop some time in the future?

I learned of the Book Pixies project while I was deep in preparation for an art exhibition. I was busy making and curating, surrounded by my work and wondering…’is it good enough?’ The timing of Sam’s approach, coincidental though it was, uplifted me, and helped motivate me to put together what became my most succesful art show to date.

I’m delighted to learn that the free art project has inspired others to act, and I am grateful for Sam taking the time to let me know. These little circles and loops are important so I’d like to leave you with something to think about. Who is inspiring you? How are they inspiring you? Have you told them?

Be curious. Start something. Keep going.

Father’s Day

Earlier this week I was going through some old papers, searching for news cuttings which Dad had kept that connected us as a family, to the local area. Leafing through the stack of documents, I found much more than I was originally looking for. I uncovered some of Dad’s old school reports, his St John’s Ambulance certificates, and his membership of The Noddy Club, carefully stored in an envelope post marked February 1965.

I also found Mum and Dad’s birth, marriage, and death certificates. Alongside these papers, I had stored a few sentences, hand written in 2012 by our then nine year old daughter Keira. These sentences form the eulogy which she wrote, and asked to read at Dad’s funeral. I thought you might like to take a look.

As you might imagine, this piece of paper stopped me in my tracks. I remember at the time, how proud I felt that someone so young felt able to contribute to a funeral in such a meaningful way. It turns out I still have that feeling. I’m not particularly big on ‘Hallmark Days‘, yet they can and do offer us moments to reflect, and be thankful. If your Dad is around I hope you get time to see him today, and if not, may he be in your thoughts.

‘We’re only immortal, for a limited time’. N Peart.