And So It Goes

I have just read another scathing report of how badly we are fairing in the worlds ranking of Education Systems:

The problem with our education system is not that it is good or bad, it is that it does not, nor has never, worked that well. It was born of necessity when the need to educate the masses was the demand. The industrial revolution had taken hold and the need to create a work force who could read, write and compute was tantamount to the success of the country. The fact that until this point there was no other model which could lead the way, so it was demand which created a system.

Until this point there had been no need to have mass education as most of the population worked as laborers on tasks involving the needs of a feudal system. A general assertion I realise but accurate enough. Suffice to say there was little in the way of mass manufacturing at the turn of the 18th century. The system which educated the masses was created in the model of the factory rather than as a desire to allow any who wished to obtain a well rounded education in the area of interest in which they had a passion.

My grandparents generation finished their formal education at age fourteen and then went on to get a job in a factory. Some were lucky enough to become tradesmen and work an apprenticeship as a carpenter or electrician. The point of all of this is, the education system focussed on repetition of learning in a limited field of subjects so that a young man (typically) would the be able to work on repetitive skills in manufacturing.

Fast forward a couple of centuries and the world has become unrecognizable as far as this model is concerned, however the way in which we teach has remained pretty much the same. We still sit in desks in rows and we learn for the most part by rote. We have become so infatuated by trying to regain the leading foothold we had on the world stage of education that we have substituted results for learning and narrowed the field even more. If you are not a person who can learn by absorbing copious amounts of facts and figures you will surely appear to the system still in place to fit into the lower levels of the education system. Sadly many young people who would show to be just as intelligent (the definition of which is open to discussion) will be marginalized by this method of delivery of the education system.

Now fast forward fourteen years and my daughter just sent me a text to say that she just earned an ‘A’ in Physics. I’m thrilled, I’m a parent of course I’m thrilled, what kind of parent would I be not to be thrilled at a child's triumph? I would be even more thrilled if the same education system also nurtured her people skills that she so openly displays and her desire to make a difference in the world or to have classes in creative thinking and real world problem solving. How about a class in entrepreneurial studies or how to start a green business. All of these things still need all of the other subjects to support them, the difference is that the Maths and English would be attached to a real world reason for learning as apposed to ‘because the education system said so’ That reason is outdated and the youth of today don’t buy it any more. It’s time to revolutionize the education system and invent something exciting and current.

Live passionately, ask why!

The honour of Gay people serving their countries.

by Lee Wilkinson on Wednesday, 01 December 2010 at 10:47

On the subject of Gay people who are willing to serve and die for their countries: consider the comparison of the speech delivered by Shylock in Merchant Of Venice and substitute Gay for Jew or indeed any other human being willing to honour the dignity of service to others.

He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.  

I would be mightily impressed that those who dislike a person for their lifestyle would stick by their sad set of morals if they were in a hole on a battle field with a leg missing and bleeding to death knowing you might never see your children again but for the aid of one of your team, now remember he's gay. Would you refuse that help knowing you would never be able to look into the eyes of those you loved? That little girl who sits on your knee at breakfast time to share you toast, the little boy who wants you to play with him in the first snow of the year. That beautiful woman who has given her life to you. All of this I am sure you would not give up because the medic who is about to give you a blood transfusion with bullets and shit flying everywhere. That brave soul who is willing to risk their life for yours irrespective of your beliefs....You should be ashamed of your so called morals and get on with your life and let others get on with theirs. Maybe they should be allowed to declare their choice of lifestyle on the battle ground prior to giving medical attention.

Live passionately, ask why!

The privilege of parenting.

It is not a parents job to instill in their children what may not be achieved, rather it is our privilege to walk beside them as they dream the visions of tomorrow. How many times has the cure for cancer been possible within our grasp through the fleeting life of a human being, only to be stolen by the limitations placed on us by well meaning parents, teachers and education systems. Those who have made great strides in the past had the power of dreams as their guiding light -  Einstein, Richard Branson, Thomas Edison, Newton, Leonardo Da vinci and Vincent van Gogh to name what amounts to a fraction of the people who dared to dream of something which was to many, an impossibility.
If the present was brought upon by giving up our dreams to someone else's reality then we should claim back our dreams and envision a better future. One in which peace is the norm and compassion is the commodity of the majority. 

Live passionately, ask why!

Lee

Kate Blewett, undercover hero..

A friend of mine is a very successful and influential documentary film maker she has brought about change in the world with her films in a way that few others have. Inspired by her I am starting off a path of film making which I hope will also make a difference. Last week I had the great pleasure (Thanks to Kate) to go and interview her on camera and talk about her life. Apart from a few technical mistakes I was taken by something that was even more inspiring to me. I took along my daughter Erin. Erin is fourteen and I thought that a meeting with Kate justified taking Erin out of school for the day.

As we started Kate and I thought that it would be a nice idea for Erin to take on the role of interviewer. We wrote down several questions to be asked and off we went. As a film maker and a Father I was taken by the way Erin stepped up to the plate. Suddenly this fourteen year old kid was no longer a kid she was an interviewer. She moved from the questions we had written down to questions of her own and began interacting with Kate with confidence and passion.

What I learned was that given a chance young people are ready for the task and they do care about what is going on in the world.

Here are parts one and two of the interview, I hope you will give it a look.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZx_OfWJkNo





Lee

Belief

If you had a captive audience and fifteen minutes what would you say? If you had the opportunity to spend the day listening to people talking about things they are passionate about what would you want to hear? If you new this was your last year to live what would you do and how would you want to be remembered? If you could change one thing in the world what would it be?


I believe that every human being has the potential for greatness.

I believe that somewhere in the world as we speak there is someone else with the potential to discover the cure for cancer.

I believe there can be world peace, it may not look quite like we would think but it is possible.

I believe there are undiscovered and untold riches in the world which can bring an end to the suffering, famine and death.

I believe that the creativity of every person is largely untapped and under utilized.

I believe that if we spent more time working on solutions instead of creating problems we could solve many of the worlds problems in an astoundingly short time. In order to do that however, we would have to let go of the need to be right and shift our thinking to being successful and understand  they are not one of the same.

I believe the celebration of achievement at all levels is far more important than the criticism    we so quickly want to give to other peoples efforts.

I believe that it does not take what we believe a genius is, to be a genius.

I believe it is the belief we have and not the talent we think others have that will carry us forward and on to greater things as a collective group.

I believe love will always conquer hatred and if we simply believed that the future is in our children, we would treat them far better than we do.


Live passionately, ask why!

Have Faith, Live Passionately. Pass The Torch

In this changing landscape we live in, where times are uncertain and many of the values we have come to believe in have eroded away; it is at times like these when we must look to the simple truths to guide us.

There is one fact which to date has not been proven wrong: our time on earth is short and it to will pass. One day we will cease to exist but for the memories we have left behind and the impact we have had on others.

Therefor:

Take every day as though it is your last and remember, the sun is always shining even though sometimes it is obscured by clouds.

Spend time with your children especially when they are young. It is not a Woman's job or a man’s job, in fact, it is not a job at all, but a pleasure and a privilege. Their lives change daily and a second missed can never be reclaimed.

Children do not ask to come into the world, that choice is made for them. The responsibility lies with the parents to create the opportunities that will allow them to live a full and challenging life.

Learn from others especially your parents, their successes and failures where all hard fought for and even in their failures there are lessons to be learned.

Do something with your life that you love instead of punching a time clock. Something that will inspire you to get out of bed everyday and give you joy and pleasure. Trust that what you do will bring the same joy to others.

Do not sell yourself or others short, the abilities and possibilities of humans is relatively untapped and the future is limitless.

What you do today will have an impact on your future, your children’s future, your children’s, children’s future and countless others who pass through your life.

It takes less effort to be kind and the rewards to you and others are immeasurable. You will feel better and so will others. You may have saved someone's life by simply interrupting their day and being kind. You may have been the last straw to someone who has experienced grief.

Save a little and spend a little you really cannot take it with you.

Do not think for one minute that someone else has your best interest at heart only your parents will do that, everybody else has their own set of problems to work out. Care about people and, in general they will care about you but remember the final outcome is in your hands.

Get an education. Not necessarily College or University, some of the brightest people in the world are self educated and hold no degree, however their contribution to life has changed the world.

Pay for nothing with credit except your home and maybe a car. The rest, with a little patience and hard work will come to you. However if all of your income is taken up by paying back debts that you incurred for short term gain, you will never get ahead.

Do something nice for people when ever you can and don’t expect anything in return. It will be a wonderful surprise when it is returned.

Have faith but remember to date it has not been proven that any superior being is alive or ever was. Have faith but do not press that faith on others. Others will see that you have faith and in turn will have their own faith. Faith is a personal thing which will serve you on dark days. Faith is also the thing that when against all odds, one can succeed.

Remember we are all on this journey together and what goes around comes around.

Have an amazing life, because you can! Pass the torch!





Live Passionately, As Why!

The world is crying out to be inspired again!

We do not need more cctv cameras or another set of rules. We do not need more Nanny State governing or people telling what we can and cannot do or when we can do it, and we certainly do not need any more promises or arguments from Politicians about who was to blame and why they will be better and what they will do. Most of us are mature enough to make our own decisions now. What we need is inspiration, from leaders who believe strongly enough about the possibility that we are! We will do the rest!

When people are inspired, they will discover the what and find the how!

If you are anything like me then by now you must be wondering when the promises of the last several generations of politicians will come to fruition. It strikes me that to win an election all one needs to do is blame the last lot and say what it is that you will do. The only problem is between their backsides leaving the inauguration ball and taking their seat in the first day in office they have been bushwhacked by every special interest group and corporation on the planet. We are all tired of broken promises and promises that we know can never really happen at all, we just want to believe that something will come true and give us hope.

The problem is I believe, that as a parent we find it hard to come clean an all the promises we make to our children, why then would we believe that a leader in these difficult times could do the same with the hundreds of promises they have made in order to get into office. I am sure they all go into politics with an honest heart, but are soon beaten down by our demands.

I believe that what we really need to get us through the present down turn is inspiration! Now I am sure many of you are saying: “Nice idea Lee, but you cannot pay the bills with inspiration.” No indeed one cannot, but we also cannot pay bills with broken promises so maybe we need a shift in thinking? Maybe it is up to us to move forward and not wait for the politicians to take the lead. The thing that we need though is an inspired idea in order to achieve great things. We need to look for people who inspire us and make tears well up when we hear them speak or the hairs on the back of our neck stand on end when they talk about the things that they are inspired to do. We need to seek out those people who against all odds achieve great things, because they simply will not believe otherwise. You see, we are enough to go forward we simply need permission.

In 1961, President Kennedy made the declaration to the world that the United States of America would not only recapture the lead for the space race but they would have a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Sadly he did not live to see his inspiration come to fruition, but what he did do was galvanize a nation into thinking once more, that they could be the greatest nation in the world. It seemed like an impossible task especially given that the Russians had already taken the first step by putting Sputnik in orbit. Luckily Kennedy would not accept no as a possibility and a Nation raised it’s head once more and became an inspiration to the rest of the world. On July 21st 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon, inspired by the belief that President Kennedy had in the people of American to conquer the nearly impossible.

Sir Winston Churchill in WW11 inspired a small group of islands (Great Britain) to make a stand for what he believed was wrong and to take action against the rising army of Adolf Hitler. He made the statement that his fellow countrymen would rather die before they would surrender and live in tyranny. And he was right, my parents generation rose to that challenge and fought alone for a year, against what can only be considered insurmountable odds. In doing so their spirits soared and they came together as a Nation of doers taking it upon themselves to answer the call. Inspired by one mans undying commitment and love for his country. He made no promises and he broke none. He simply inspired the will of a people to become One, in a cause which was greater than their individual limitations.

He said; “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender."

I believe our spirits are greater than the present crisis and we will overcome the petty bickering and disagreements of our politicians. There will be those among us who simply will refuse to submit to the 'stinking thinking' of the 'Nay Sayers' and rise above it to be the next generation to inspire great things from us. You may have to look a little harder to see them, but they are there.



Live passionately, ask why!

In these troubled times

In these troubled times I believe that we should search our inner sanctuary to reconnect with the person we once were. The one who believed that nothing was impossible, the eternal optimist. We may find that person waiting at the starting post ready to run the race again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGeHXP24E0E&feature=player_embedded

Live passionately, ask why!

Who Do You Think You Are?

Who do you think you are?

I once heard someone say: “I’m not who I think I am and I’m not who you think I am, but I am who you think I think I am.” For many years I thought about that, trying to make sense of it and wondering what it said about me and others. Recently my fourteen year old daughter has become caught up in that same game and while it is okay for a teen to go through this as part of growing up, there comes a point when we must move on or become limited by the quandary.

I believe that many people spend too much time trying to be something or someone they are not and for all the wrong reasons. We are not our results or our upbringing. We are not our car, our house, our job or our education.

We seem to identify ourselves with the things that we have achieved or the failures we have experienced. There is a long list of people who have changed the way the world thinks and functions all of who had to overcome a major flaw in their lives and had to shift their thinking in order to be make the most of the opportunities they had. Albert Einstein is one of histories greatest scientists and he also had Dyslexia: Einstein showed language impairments at a very young age. His speech was severely delayed. He only began to talk at the age of three, and had trouble with language throughout elementary school. During a parent meeting, the Headmaster told Einstein's parents that he did not have the ability to be a successful professional. He recommended that Einstein attend a trade school. In fact, his teachers thought he was borderline retarded. We all know of his achievements, thank god he didn't listen to his well meaning critics.

"Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." This quote can be attributed to Thomas Edison. At the age of 12 Edison was thrown out of school because he was thought to be dumb. He then went on to patent 1,093 inventions.

Picaso, Da Vinci, Richard Branson and Whoopi Goldberg all had to deal with dyslexia on their way to being who they became and list goes on.

Winston Churchill was a poor student had a speech impediment and came from a dysfunctional family. He attended three different schools and was said to have little chance of amounting anything. History tells us, that we in Great Britain were fortunate to have had him at the helm during World War Two, his belief and undying courage at times were all that remained between Great Britain and surrender. In fact as a small Island Nation it may well be said that those of that generation were far greater than the limitations which should have held them back.

The point is, that we all have one thing we are born to do and with some encouragement, which, we may have to supply ourselves and some hard work we can all rise above the limited person who we think we are. I believe that every person and especially every child should be encouraged to rise to the level of their gifts and their potential. The challenge is overcoming who we think we are and becoming the person who we know we must be! A few years ago I had the privilege of being part of a team who was on an event which hosted Sir Ranulph Fiennes as the guest speaker. Since that event he attempted to climb Everest and it almost killed him, he refused to submit to his history and his failure and went back a second time and conquered the great mountain. He lived up to his possibility, his potential and his authentic self!

Live passionately, ask why!

Taking Action

Dear all

I am asking a small favour of your time in the hope that I can take action on a goal I have. As many of you know I have become more active on my blog site of late, the goal of which is to inspire people to take action in their own lives by making a shift in thinking. Hence the name of the blog is ‘A Shift In Thinking’

The favour I ask is that you visit the site once and take a look at what I have to say and what I am trying to achieve. If you like the message I hope you will visit often and if not then I wish you much luck in your future and may all of your dreams come true.

The goal I have is two fold for next month: one part is that I want to encourage 5,000 hits on the site and the second part and most important is to raise £4,000 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital. The way in which I intend to do this is through the sale of one of the books I have written. I have published 2,000 copies of a wonderfully illustrated children's book called Esmeralda Finklesteen which if sold will generate the £4,000 for a wonderful cause. I do hope you will support this by visiting the site and passing this on to your circle of friends.

The way you can help is by purchasing a copy of the book which you can do through my web site
http://www.leegwilkinson.com/  and I will donate 50% of the profit of that sale to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. If you are not aware of the amazing work that the hospital does for children you should take a look at their site http://www.gosh.nhs.uk/

 If I do not have a Shift In Thinking then this whole idea is simply a nice idea and nothing else. I believe that we are all capable of having an impact and making a difference, so I do hope you will help.

Live passionately, ask why!

Lee

Life Changing Events

This was written a few years ago after one of my colleagues at work who was only forty two died from cancer. I have recently lost another friend to depression. How easily we slip away.

I woke up one morning and my whole world had changed. It wasn’t as though I had planned it that way or even thought that it might turn out that way, it just showed up like an unexpected baby. "Oh my god! I missed pregnancy and I have a three year old who needs to be fed and clothed and who isn’t potty trained!"

So you run outside and yell at the sky as though it might rain. All that happens of course is that the sun pops out from behind a cloud and blinds you.

My friend died this year, she was 42. There was no warning and I didn’t know how to say good-bye. All I could do was look directly into the sun and yell at the sky and pray for rain so that it would put out the fire. She died of cancer, it stole her life like an evil little uninvited monster which had come to dinner but had not been asked to leave.

I had the feeling that life was a precious but vulnerable entity, which could be taken away without a moments notice by something that had no understanding of the turmoil it would leave behind. So I went to the doctors to have the mole on my side checked out. It’s been there for ten years and being a man I have never really thought that I could get sick, much less die. Suddenly, after Fiona had passed, I was aware of the fact that one day I would in fact die. Panic. I have a 13 month and three day old daughter who comes to me with an awkward gate in her walk and puts her head on my shoulder (I have to kneel down) and hugs me.  I know that she is 13 months and three days old because every day is special to me now. Every hug, every moment in my life is a moment I could waste. Every moment is one that if not used will dissolve into the forever of never used time and will not be regained no matter how hard I try.

The mole is a wart and is not cancer. But, how that cancer can spread, in the form of doubt and wasted time and lost hugs. The nurse said I was healthy and living the life of a man fifteen years my junior. I am 52 and Paige is 13 Months and three days. How wonderful is life that we should have this gift, this beautiful child who hugs me and calls everything daddy.

Erin and Paige on Paige's first day at School

On Wednesday Paige started nursery school. How quickly time has moved on weather we want it to or not. Paige is now an independent soul on her own journey and all I can do is walk beside her and be there when she stumbles. I will do my best to help her up and dust her off, making sure not to live her life for her but rather, with her.

Nine Years On

I was driving to work at ‘Signature Theatre’ in Arlington, just outside Washington, DC. I had taken Erin to school, she was in kindergarten. The station I listened to for the traffic reports WTOP was a talk radio station. They interrupted the regular programming to say that a plane had flown directly into the World Trade Centre. A few minutes later they reported that another had flown into the second tower. I was driving on ‘I 395’ and talking to myself out loud, “Would the next one be the Capitol Building, the White House or the Pentagon?” As though reading my mind the reporter came on and said a third plane had flown into the Pentagon. As I drove along 395, I saw the plume of smoke ahead and the police already turning the traffic back. I circled the off ramp and began my journey back to where we lived.

I could not reach my wife who was at work. The lines were absolutely blocked with calls. She was far enough from DC not to worry though and I headed off to pick up Erin.

I spent the rest of the day watching as America was brought to its knees. Like everyone said, “How could this happen on American soil?”

After I knew my family were safe I frantically spent the remainder of the day calling and emailing the fourteen people whom I had spent the previous several years with and who I had come to care about deeply. They were all in the theatre industry and many were living in New York. Krista Brown, Monica Dixon, Dan Galperin, Dave Simpson and the others who I had shared two intense years of my life with at the National Conservatory Of Dramatic Arts. By the end of the day I had located all but one person who I knew lived in New York City. I was deeply concerned and I remember at some point I must have called everyone I knew who knew this person. Finally three days later I called ‘Buck's cell phone and I got him. He was on a bus coming back from ‘Atlanta Georgia’ from a sales meeting. He had missed the whole thing.

I know that thousands of people made similar phone calls that day and thousands of them did not receive the joy that I received of knowing that my friends were alive and well. The country was swept with fear then sadness and quickly with anger. Many people wanted to retaliate with force and others wanted to understand what it was that would make people want to do such an act.

One of the most unnerving things I saw was a stream of traffic, mostly SUV's, laden with supplies heading for the mountains. People simply wanted to flee to safety with their families. When the dust had settled and we all took stock of the situation, the general agreement was that the country had lost something as a whole, an innocence, a trust and a carefree attitude that is so indigenous to the American psyche. For years after I could not go anywhere without a full tank of gas and spare battery for my cell phone. I felt I always wanted to know where my family and friends were. In conversations with people who had been involved or had been there, many would inevitably cry and many more could not talk about it at all.

On this ninth year anniversary I fear we are still only just getting beyond the event, maybe we never will. I hope though that we can learn to trust again. Many people I spoke to in the years that followed said that they and their partners made love more in the days that followed. It was as though we needed to feel safe and alive. As though out of fear we did not want to miss the opportunity to be close to those we loved. For three glorious day after I experienced a phenomenon in Washing DC. People being kind to one and other, going out of their way to be kind in fact. It is sad to think that after those glorious three days anger and fear gripped the country and we began to take it out on one and other.

Live Passionately, Ask Why!

When Did We Stop Learning?

At what part of our education do we stop taking tests and start learning?

If Einstein’s quote, (Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results) is right, then educationally we are about to go insane. We have heard on the news, on the net, in the papers and from every direction imaginable that there are now fewer and fewer places for university entrants (a shortfall of some 200,000 this year alone) and even if they do get in to a University what will they do when they graduate? We have also heard that we are trying to push all of our students through a one size fits all education process, which does not work. Surely then, the sum total of our children’s education is to pass tests in order to apply for fewer places in further education so that they can have the daunting prospect of no work in the field they have studied for. INSANITY!

My fourteen year old daughter came home today and was explaining why she did not like science. Part of the problem was how much time the teacher had spent explaining how much of the information was going to be in the test and not teaching Science. At fourteen should we not also be learning how amazing the world is that we live in? Learning how to get along with each other and cooperate? How to play team sports and discover the limitless resources of our mind and body? Don't get me wrong, of course we should be learning Science, Maths and English and as many academic subjects as we can, but not simply in order to extract the leanest amount of information to pass a test and not at the expense of experiencing life or learning for the shear joy of it.

The problem is that the retention of information through this method of learning is not for everyone. It’s the reason why on the onset some appear to have a greater IQ than others. It is simply the ability to retain information when fed it. Sadly many young scholars are now clued in and are asking the teacher what they need to pass the test. Even more startling, parents are holding schools and teachers accountable for not giving their children that specific information. Not for not teaching well, but for not giving specific information relevant to a test. Now some might say well of course, we go to school to go to a better school to go to a university and start a career. If that is what you think you may want to reread the beginning of this blog.

What happened to going to school to learn? To learn the things that we love to learn and the things that make us excited and passionate. Learn the things that we then are still talking about and cannot wait to get back to? It’s different for everyone. But from this learning comes ideas and from that comes confidence and from that come creative ideas and lets face it, it’s creative ideas that will get us out of this mess not tests. If you want a test just look at the mess we are in worldwide? That should be test enough for anyone to solve, not SATS or University entrance exams.

Go to this link, especially if you have children and take 20 minutes from your day to watch and listen and learn. Then if you dare, become passionate about your children’s future and learn with them. Challenge them and yourselves to learn more, more of what makes you joyful and passionate not what might help you pass a test.

Live Passionately, Ask Why!
Sir Ken Robinson, bring on the revolution.

A question of Beauty.

Like many parents, I not only have the regular problems of raising children, but as the years progress so does the added pressure from the media, social networking sites, peers and reality TV.

Actually that to me seems somewhat of an Oxymoron as there is little in the way of reality about it. And to top it off we are now training Actors to be reality TV Actors, doesn't that defeat the object a little. Suddenly a medium that is called reality, which, in fact has little to do with reality, now has Actors trained to be realistically....never mind, I’ve lost the thread.

A friend of mine posted this clip on facebook and I thought, especially for those who have daughters I would re-post it.  Boys take a look also, this is what we have helped to turn women into.

A Question of Beauty

Context over Content?

You do not go to University to become more intelligent, you are either drawn in a direction which desires an aptitude for that intelligence, or you are not. You go to University to gain more information. You are either intelligent or you are not and who are we to judge the criteria for intelligence?

The problem is how we have come to measure intelligence. It would appear that one is intelligent based on what kind of degree you have and where it was earned. While no one would say that a plumber is not intelligent, it is taken for granted that it does not take the same kind of intelligence to be a plumber that it does to gain a Master Degree in Philosophy from a Russel Register or Ivy League University. Therein lies the issue though. While it does not take the same kind of intelligence, it does not take any less. It simply takes a different kind. A different way of thinking, a different aptitude and a different way of learning.

In an attempt to shift our thinking we might consider content over context. A crude analysis of the two might go like this: Content is the specifics. In a speech about law that would entail specific information as to how a law is judged. In a book it would be the subject, the grammar and the spelling. The Context is more in the direction of why something is done and not what is done. “I am writing this blog in the hope of inspiring the reader to shift their thinking a little and perhaps consider a different understanding of people.”  The content of the blog is within the spelling, grammar and information.

When I was a young man in the Army (about a hundred years ago) sixteen years of age to be exact, we had to wait for seven weeks (half a term) to write home for the first time. Strangely enough we all looked quite forward to that, as technology had not taken hold. One of the young men wrote home to his mother who was an English Teacher. Like the rest of us he was excited to tell of the experiences he had in the last seven week. The thing we looked forward to of course, was receiving a letter in return. The mother of this poor young man sent the same letter back with all of the spelling and grammar corrected in red and nothing else. Needless to say, he was distraught. As far as we knew he never wrote back to his mother in the following two years of training. She missed the point of course by a mile; she should have been only concerned with the context in which her son had written and not with the content of the spelling and grammar.

The problem is that we do this with each other and we also do it when we are sending young people off to University. Firstly we try to cram everyone into the same content driven criteria and we forget to consider their context. Even if we do, we then place a value on the context of what people do rather than placing a value on the skills, service and knowledge they bring to society. Truthfully someone with a Phd in Philosophy is of little help when there is a leak in the water pipe, unless of course that Phd is also adept at plumbing. We have reached saturation point with the amount of young people who are leaving University with degrees in subjects, which, are of little use to them in today’s changing market and which they never wanted in the first place. What we need to do is nurture creativity and imagination (context) in young people, for it is that which will move us forward and out of this quagmire and not driving young people like so many cattle down the same one size fits all rout. Which incidentally, it does not. We need to make it okay for a young person to choose a context driven future and not necessarily a content driven one.

Think passionately, ask why!

The Real Face Of Leadership.

What turns a raving lunatic into a leader!

The real face of leadership

the joy of knowing WHY!

• Name Simon Sinek
• Location New York
• Web http://www.simons...
• Bio To run and jump and laugh and cry and love 
• and hope and imagine...to experience as much as I can 
• all for one purpose: to inspire.

Maybe we should begin by understanding how amazing things are right now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOzNrO54xsY&feature=related

This is a funny but very thought provoking conversation.

Give It Forty Five Minutes At least!

As a Manager for a large restaurant chain I once attended a Management Training Seminar. One of the topics we discussed was our mission statement. We broke into groups and worked on a statement that the whole group would be able to rally around. The idea of the exercise was so that we could go back to our own restaurant and work with our team to come up with a mission statement of our own, that would serve as the core value of what the restaurant stood for. That way that we could focus on it to drive us forward. The group that I was in worked well together and pretty soon came up with a working mission statement. We all read it out loud so that we could experience the feeling of it and when the overall seminar leader called for the group leaders to say if they were ready, our group came to a grinding halt. One of the members of our group had an issue with the placement of a comma. It then took us forty five minutes to come to an agreement about the grammatical phrasing and structure of the mission statement. While we became frustrated with him we relised that it was important to him and the whole group to be able to negotiate and feel as though we all had ownership in the outcome.

We are now in one of the most difficult and challenging times in our history, I certainly do not in my 55 years remember a time this stressful, yet we expect two new Governments to step in and sort out the dilemmas that both have inherited in what would appear to be a completely unrealistic period of time. If six people in a group could get held up by a comma for forty five minutes on a simple mission statement which, was simply an exercise, then surely we must give those who are running Great Britain and America a little more than a year to sort out this horrendous mess which has taken eight years to get into. However we voted and however angry we are with the situation, allowing that anger to run over into pressuring change instead of negotiating change and working towards change will surely give us more of what we have.

I am not advocating one political party over another, but surely, given the quandary we are in it would benefit us to take the forty five minutes and do the job right.

Be Passionate, ask why!

You can be right, or would you rather be successful?

You Can Be Right
Or
You Can Be Successful

(And sometimes both, but rarely)

So now what? Well, we have two choices as I see it. We can either be right or successful. Now being right does not always mean being successful, but being successful does sometimes mean that you have to let it go of being right. Let go of what ever has got you. This is not some kind of Zen trickery, don’t worry I’m not going to creep up on you by using stealth ‘warm and fuzzy.' So what am I babbling on about?

The fact is you have the right to be right. You are right if you say that the people we trusted just brought the country to it’s knees. You are right if you say that the bankers and politicians have squandered our trust and stolen from us. You are right if you believe that we are paying more and more tax for less and less return and you are most certainly right if you believe that we will be paying for this recession long into the lives of our children and possibly grandchildren.

So what’s wrong with being right!? Well...nothing unless the consequences outweigh the returns. I am going to say that the need to be right in these circumstances will quickly turn to anger and anger has a very definite way of wearing you down. Anger produces a negative way of thinking which in turn creates more anger until you become a victim. Once you are a victim you have lost the game. You get to be right but at a price. And yes, you are right when you say “That’s not fare!” But that will be discussed in another blog.

So what do you do? Well, here’s a suggestion: give yourself a short amount of time to be right and maybe a little angry, you deserve it. But then you must move on to the being successful part. And in order to be successful you must take control because believe me there is no one waiting to give you all the things you want in life. Remember the clerk who you went to see about your dream job? Well they just became unemployed and they are looking for their dream job.

Here’s one last thought on being right and having rights.

If two people are born at the same time and one has the right to a job, an education, health care and all of those things which make a life worth living, then which one of the two is born with the responsibility to give it to the other?

Be Passionate, ask why!

The Ugly Truth

Ugly truth. No one really cares about you! Well, okay, your kids care and your spouse and maybe your mum and dad and a few close friends. But, at the end of the day they all have their own basket of problems and their own worries and concerns and for the most part they do not go home and start thinking how they can make your life better. What they do is go home and start working on how they can make their life better. The problem is that we as individuals have been brought up in a country (and a fine country may I add) but non the less one where it is frowned upon to think too highly of ones self. The problem is now that we are deep into a recession and if we don’t start thinking for ourselves and about ourselves then who will?

What used to be a quaint and likable thing about the British ‘The slightly self deprecating manor’ that we had has now become out ‘Achilles Heel’ our downfall in a time when we need to be forward thinking.

Let me give you a better example.

☞My Assertion. It is my assertion that there is no Government!

Wait! Don’t leave yet!

When we think that someone else will take care of our troubles and we say "It’s the Governments job!" This is what happens:

Let’s take as an example the Unemployment Office (at least that is what is was called when I was a young boy). For a start if they were thinking positive they would call it the Employment office. So the responsibility of the 'Unemployment Office' is to find us work. The recession has hit hard, you have been made redundant and off you go to the Unemployment Office. The first thing that happens is that you begin to feel as though you did something wrong and you see yourself standing there with many others in the same situation as you, but also with a lot of regulars who you have been propping up with your taxes for the last, how ever many recessions.

So you suck it up and give all of your details to a complete stranger some quite personal and you are asked why you do not have a job? You explain about the recession and cut backs etc and that you are willing to do anything, in order to work. The clerk says they will see what they can do.

The thing that we must accept is;  when the bell goes at the end of that persons working day, they do not take your file home and keep working on it on your behalf. No, they take themselves home, sometimes to a worse situation than the one that you have and they worry about their life and the new job they want. You have now become a number in a computer program which will spit out jobs that may or may not suite you, but the thing is it’s a computer and it does not care. The clerk who you saw today will be inundated by a new group of people in the same situation as you tomorrow and you will be a distant memory.


The problem is that when we think that the Government will take care of (it) we fall foul to an unrealistic expectation of a group of people who work in buildings belonging to the Government. (Well actually, when you think about it the buildings belong to us). The only responsibility that the clerk has at the Unemployment Office is to clock in on time, follow the guidelines set down for them in the employee hand book and then do the best they can to get you a job in the time in which they are on the clock. Truth is, it is not their job to get us a job at all, it is their job to find opportunities for us to explore and the rest is up to us!

The Government that we have come to know and love is, in fact nothing more than a lot of office buildings with people in them doing jobs, just like you and I and at five-o-clock they all go home and Government as we would like it to exist, no longer does until they all clock in again the following morning.

Lee

A shift in thinking

I have been thinking lately that the fundamental beliefs, which are true to us all, have basically fallen apart. This is one of the, most unsure periods in history since the war
(and by that I mean World War ll).  All of the rules have changed and the goalposts have been moved. For some the game has completely changed or does not exist anymore. It is indeed a very scary time.

During the Great Depression there were more people who became Millionaires than ever before. There was a shift in the way of thinking. There will be many Millionaires as a direct result of this recession as well and there will once again be a shift in the way of thinking.

This time however going into this period in history the world was connected in a way that as such is unprecedented. We have the ability and the technology to connect immediately to each other via facebook and twitter, by websites and blogs and the news is now reported as it unfolds. Because of these technologies exposing us to the successes and sufferings of others all over the world and now because so many have lost so much as a direct result of so few, I believe there has been a shift in the collective conscience. Now more than ever people are asking why they are doing what they do? Why do we get up in the morning and go to a job, spend eight hours there and then return home? Live the life we live. Have the friends we have? What price are we paying for those things? And is it worth it?

For many years generations have gone along with the flow doing what our parents did before and never really questioning why. It is a shame that we had to get to this point before we truly asked and then listed to the answers….

Because my parents did it. Because I got a degree in it. To pay the mortgage. That’s what I thought you did.

When I left school in 1971, I joined the Army as a boy soldier. The reason I joined was because when I went to see the guidance counselor and said I wanted to be a PE Teacher, she did that stupid English thing and screwed up her face as though she had something smelly underneath her nose and…well if your English you will know the rest. So I joined the Army because I did not want to work in a factory and because I believed that you left school and got a job. Admirable but not what I truly wanted to do and the WHY was the wrong WHY.

So now more than ever people are realizing that they will spend their whole life working at something, who said it cannot be with a passion? Who said we were not allowed to make a difference? Be a Teacher? Fireman? Artist, Actor or Writer?

While tragic to many I believe we had this coming. We have allowed others to run our lives for too long and given ‘carte blanch’ to those who were in charge. For some the price has been total loss and for most of us we are finding it tough. But for many we have looked at the situation and said if this is the price I pay for following the rules then the hell with it. If I am going to be in charge of my own destiny then I get to chose how my life turns out and that means how I spend my time.

If you are wondering what the next move is and who is going to give it to you, I have the answer. The next move is what ever you want it to be and you are the one who is going to give it to you. The question we must start asking ourselves is WHY we do the things we do. I assert that to make money (While not a bad thing) is also not an inspiring enough reason anymore. If that is the only reason then we are prone to take the best paying job we can get, which we may not really be that passionate about work hard for years at it while paying a high price for it’s monetary rewards and then find ourselves out of a job when there is a change in the economy. My suggestion is to find the thing we love and are passionate about, make that our life’s work and truth that we can create an income from it. Check out these links I hope they inspire you as much as they have me.