The What Goes Around Blog

Let’s Make The Future…

…Look Like The Past We Want.

Paul Hebert (that’s him on the left) wrote something on Facebook in the run up to Christmas. I love what he wrote and Paul kindly agreed I could repost it here. Before that…

Thank You

Thanks to each and every one of you who has popped by to read and comment on the blog this year. Thanks to each and every one of you who has shown faith and confidence in me through hiring What Goes Around and investing in Stop Doing Dumb Things. Thanks to each and every one of you who has inspired me. Without people, you’re nothing.

Everything is mixed feelings. So thanks for the anger, thanks for the laughs. Thanks for the hate, thanks for the love.

Happy New Year. 2014 is packed with possibilities, and my hope is that as you discover them – you either act on them, or have the generosity to give them to someone else who will act on them. Proceed until apprehended. Thank you.

Please

When you ask me to share some ideas, or to quote you for some work, please give me feedback. If I’ve made the approach then that’s my choice, my investment. In those instances I’d still appreciate feedback but hey, I started it and you can’t have everything. But if you started it – don’t leave me hanging around, please.

When we work together – please pay me promptly. Me chasing you for money you owe demeans us both. Please don’t make me do that.

When I make a mistake, tell me and give me the chance to put it right. Please.

When someone comes to you with a new idea, when that person is taking a risk – support them. Please.

Don’t be a jerk, at least not too often. Please.

Everything I want for Christmas I Can’t Have – by Paul Hebert

My Christmas list is full of things I really, really want but can’t have any more.
I’m not happy with that.

I want…

My kids to be 5 and 7 again so they can do Christmas cookies poorly and still enjoy the process.

To see the kids lose it again when they get that $15 present that absolutely freakin rocks their world (and via their reaction – rocks mine.)

The last 15 years back so I can spend more time with them.

To go back and do more for my wife on Christmas – not spend more- DO more. It really is about the thought.

To reinforce more traditions and be less easy going about letting folks skip out on decorating the tree or the cookies.

To go back and save more money so we could fly home to see our parents (the Grandparents) more often instead of using that as an excuse to stay home.

To decorate the house more – to let the glow of the lights fill not only the yard but my spirit with just a little more holiday cheer.

To have spent more time on charity work than mall shopping.

To be able for my wife to spend Christmas with her parents – she misses them.

To spend more Christmases with my Dad – miss him too.

To go back about 30 years and tell myself to not pick up that cigarette – and I want to go back a year and not be diagnosed with cancer.

I want, I want, I want.
Sounds so selfish doesn’t it?

Compare that to what I have…

A wife who is more a Saint than many who have already been Canonized.

Children that still say they love me at the end of a phone call and still hug me (my 20 year old boy too) when they leave to go back to college.

A house that is warm.

A tree that is decorated.

A wonderfully fattening Christmas dinner in my immediate future.

A CAT scan with the words at the bottom that say… “No evidence of metastatic disease.”

My Mom – my brothers and sisters – my in laws and the nieces and nephews on both sides of the family.

And finally – I have the ability to start doing many of the things I wished I’d had done before.

So… Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this.

Focus on the things you can DO – not the things you haven’t done. That is my Christmas wish this year.

Let’s all be happier, healthier and wiser.

Let’s make the future look like the past we want.

Come As You Are

Aside from being a top tune by Nirvana, Come As You Are for most people means no need to prepare, just turn up. This kind of spontaenous approach works well for parties, maybe less so at work.

A while back I was asked to deliver a three hour session on collaboration, and I agreed in principle. I followed up my agreement with a note:

Before I get stuck in and fully commit to this – can you confirm what my remuneration will be for the design and delivery of this piece of work please? I anticipate this taking two days overall – one to design, one to deliver.

We weren’t able to proceed because the budget on offer was half of our previously agreed one day rate, for what I thought was two days work. It wasn’t so much the fact that I felt the fee was too small, although it was, what surprised me more was the attitude towards preparation time. The company went on to explain:

The idea was for you to come along and provoke their thinking rather than teach or train them anything, as all the content will be covered off by A.N.Other during the main sessions. This session is an added bonus we have thrown in for the client so I’d like to think you could come along and “recycle” something you already have prepared. I appreciate this might not have been made clear to you, so would understand if you chose to decline the piece of work, but we would like you to do it…

I subsequently called to discuss things – just to make sure everyone was clear on how this was supposed to work, or rather, not work. During the conversation I looked for some clarification, asking, ‘Are you really OK with me turning up and working with your client having done no research and preparation?’ It turns out that yes, they were OK with it, at least to the extent that they saw no need to pay for my preparation time. ‘We thought you’d just rock up and give a talk’, was how it was positioned in a subsequent conversation.

We left it there and parted on good terms. No hard feelings but for me to accept this proposal would have been to seriously devalue my own worth and more importantly, that of the team I would have been let loose on.

Preparation Matters

Whether you’re employed or self employed, an integral part of work is the preparation that you invest beforehand. You wouldn’t expect a top flight sports person to turn up for a race, finish in last place and then say, ‘I did no training for this event whatsoever and yet somehow, I finished last. How did that happen?’ in the post race interview. Likewise when you’re working with colleagues you can usually tell if they’re prepared or not – and I may be wrong, but I expect you make judgements on their suitability for future work based partly on their preparedness or lack of it?

We spend time in preparation, in development, so that the delivery is as good as it can be. So why are people sometimes so reluctant to see past that burst of face to face time, and beyond to the hard graft that made the real work, work?

Everyone has a budget, everyone has to make a call on what good value looks like eventually, but I smiled when my friend Gary Franklin shared this on Facebook recently.

Art for Work’s Sake – Milton Keynes

After the success of Art for Work’s Sake in Euston a few weeks ago, we’re running another one in the new year. This time it will be taking place in Milton Keynes. Full details and how to buy tickets are shown below. There are a maximum of 16 places available, six have already been taken. It would be great if you can join us, and please tell your friends and colleagues.

Art For Work’s Sake

You are invited to Art for Work’s Sake, a workshop designed to help people explore art and artistry as a way of making work more effective.

During the workshop you will have the opportunity to try out a variety of drawing, sketching, painting and other art forms. These techniques will be combined into a series of methods designed to help you think more clearly and creatively about your day to day work.

A guest at our recent London workshop left saying, ‘It seems I can draw, despite 20+ years thinking I couldn’t! It only took 60 seconds to realise I can’. Despite this, the purpose of this workshop is not to turn you into an artist, it is designed simply to give you the time and space to explore a few new techniques to help you think differently at work.

Art for Work's Sake example sketch

All materials will be provided and you will get to keep all your work plus pencils, charcoal, a set of water colour paints and some high quality heavy duty cartridge paper.

You have the option to purchase a discounted set of Stop Doing Dumb Things Cards when you buy your ticket. These cards have been designed to help unlock creativity and make work better and are in use in the UK, Canada, USA and Australia. The set of 48 cards normally sell for £36 per pack inclusive of VAT and shipping. When you purchase them as part of this workshop the cost is only £23. Make sure you select the Stop Doing Dumb Things Special ticket and you’ll get your set of cards at the workshop.

Stop Doing Dumb Things Cards

I am facilitating this workshop and donating my time for free on this occasion, and the venue has kindly been provided by Boots The Chemists, thanks to Helen Amery. We will break for lunch – the cost of this is not included in the ticket price.

Tickets are available here, and I hope you will join us for a few hours of useful and enjoyable creative work.