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Hoops

Hoops

I’ve been to our brand new local health centre for some blood tests today. I’m pleased to confirm that despite rumours to the contrary, it is definitely blood that flows through my veins. It took a while to find out mind you.

Queue Number One: The queue where you wait to be given a queuing number (I kid you not). Then you move to…

Queue Number Two: The queue where you wait to be called through in groups of ten. Then you move to…

Queue Number Three: The queue where you wait to be called for your blood test.

This place opened at the end of May 2012, it’s supposed to be state of the art. There are electronic signs telling you what time the next train leaves the local station, scrolling news updates and even what temperature it is outside (like I haven’t figured that out on the journey there..?). And the NHS has designed in a queuing system the Victorians would be proud of.

Progress matters, it’s a powerful motivator. The illusion of progress? Well that just makes my blood boil.

photo credit

Faking It

Excuse the crappy home made logo mashup, it’s purpose will quickly become clear. Earlier this week my attention was drawn to a website set up by Shell to encourage people to strapline some new arctic energy ads for them. There were some honest attempts by people to come up with something environmentally friendly and catchy, and most people had opted to send Shell up. Here are a few examples:

Shell Spoof Ads

Turns out the whole thing was a scam set up by Greenpeace, and they’ve blogged about it here. In addition to the website Greenpeace had a fake Twitter account sending out legal threats from Shell. I suppose I should have guessed, and it did look plausible and I do feel a bit of a chump. I have Matt Alder to thank for pointing out what was actually going on and I’m grateful to him for stopping me (and perhaps others) from digging our own holes any deeper.

And the truth is, I feel more than a little stupid, I feel a little angry too. I’m not sure I appreciate being duped by an organisation that purports to tell it straight, at least that’s how I felt Greenpeace played it prior to this. On the campaign overall Matt observed, ‘An interesting approach and it certainly got spread around but I’m not sure that deceiving your supporters is such a good idea.’ Compared to what many have said on the Greenpeace blog, Matt is being very polite about this. It seems that Greenpeace has scored a spectacular own goal with one of the commenters from the Greenpeace blog, Mark Goodge saying ‘From now on, every opponent of Greenpeace only has to point at this [campaign] and say “Greenpeace are liars and fraudsters” and their case will be made.’

Faking it is a risky business, you’re likely to get caught and when you do, your trust is blown. Is it worth it?

BU2B – Brought Up To Believe

I read a great post by Steve Boese earlier this week called ‘On crazy ideas and taking action’. It’s a story about Steve’s pet rock (they’ve been together since 1975, awwww) and how the crazy idea of pet rocks made Gary Dahl a milionaire. It’s a top tale and I encourage you to take a pause and read it now before continuing here.

I hope you enjoyed Steve’s story? Now where were we… ah yes, crazy ideas and taking action. It’s no secret that I’m excited to be off to Ohio in September to speak at their SHRM conference. Rush are on their North American Clockwork Angels tour at the same time, and they pass close by to Ohio a couple of days after SHRM concludes. I’ve already got tickets to see them in London when the tour comes to Europe in 2013, and it might be fun to see them in the States too.

Then an idea forms, a crazy idea. Rush have been together for many years. They’ve seen and heard it all, and they’ve been together and apart and demonstrated a drive to learn and be great at what they do. They are for me a fantastic example of teamwork. And of course it’s not just them – what about everyone else who helps to make a tour like Clockwork Angels happen. I’m confident there will be many people behind the scenes who’ve worked with the band a long time, as well as newcomers. I’d love to learn the story behind the tour.

I dropped fellow Rush fan Kevin Grossman a line and we thought a little more about the crazy idea. Then we took some action. This week we’ve contacted Rush’s management company and asked if we could possibly meet some of the crew, and hey the band too if they have the time, and find out directly from them, what makes a team like Rush tick rock. So far, we’ve had no reply – and with the number of approaches they must get, it’s no surprise. We’ll hang on a few days yet, and give them a little nudge next week. Maybe something will happen, maybe it won’t, and whatever happens I was brought up to believe that if you don’t ask you don’t get.

Is it time to let your crazy idea out too?

The publicity photo used in this blog post was taken by the late Andrew MacNaughtan