I didn’t want to write something negative about a cause I believe in and think that others should too. This led to a wider conversation with the lovely Katy Cory who agreed and added “this is the problem with movements that we want and need to believe because the headlines of what they are they for and what they do are so important but generally they don’t deliver, for example the United Nations (UN)”. We wouldn’t want to ‘out’ the UN as not having the muscle to deliver what it needs to because we know the world is better because of the concept of the UN but is this right? Do we expect less or are our expectations too high, after all it was Mandela who said “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb”.

That conversation has haunted me all afternoon. My disappointment with the ANC is firmly with its political transition where its leaders are failing the people who really need them while they indulge in the power struggles and greed that plights politics all over the world. The movement that that freed people from the Apartheid regime was amazing and resulted in a change that should always be believed in, they seem to have lost their way and I hope this anniversary puts a spotlight on that.

We were so quick to judge an organisation like the UN for its lack of tangible delivery but the truth is some things need to happen and they don’t always have a hard output that can be measured, does that mean they have failed, disappointed us or worse don’t give us a reason to believe?

When I though about this in the workplace I realised it had been 3 years since we had worked on an enabling project, a project that will help get a tangible result, but not directly, it provides the infrastructure or the glue that brings a number of people, concepts and processes together to get the result. Enabling Projects need a reason to believe that goes beyond a hard deliverable, something that you know should happen because so many things will be better because of it, the greater good…sadly this kind of thinking doesn’t resonate in these economic times but it should.

So, when you are reviewing what projects you are supporting in 2012, think about what you need to deliver in terms of output and how many of these deliverables could be brought home if you linked them together through an enabling project – the glue, infrastructure, sanctions that could provide the greater good that makes it all happen. Spare a thought for those organisations like the UN without which the world would be a worse place (Major Achievements of the UN).

Homelessness is more than just a housing issue; family problems , mental health issues, losing your job and so confidence, not feeling like you can be part of society for a variety of reasons – every person has their own story, you need to get beyond the drink and drugs issues, of course sometimes that is why they are there but it’s also a way of surviving where they are.

When I lived in Bristol I could walk to work everyday (the only time I have been able to do that), when you walk through a city early in the morning and late at night you can’t ignore how many people are living in subways, under bridges, doorways and park benches – I just couldn’t walk past them day in day out as if they weren’t part of my life, I saw some of them more than my family at that time! So I didn’t, I made them part of my life and it was an experience so rewarding I remember them dearly…BUT generally people thought I had finally lost it and I found the preconceived ideas of why people are homeless and the way they were judged very sad.

So this year we have donated the money we would have spent on Christmas cards to The Wellspring in Stockport, they have done a fantastic job for years and this year you will add to their Christmas cheer.

From everyone here at Cheeky Monkey we would like to thanks you for your support this year and hope you have a brilliant Christmas and New Year. Spare a thought for those not as lucky as we are and as you walk past the homeless as you rush getting your last minute bits, stop for a chat make them feel part of your life – it’s the warmest feeling you’ll get all season.

Firstly, it’s free to play. You can build villages and help neighbours for ‘joy’ currency, in-game coins for real charitable works which are converted to real-world non profit donations that promote healthcare and education. Buying an in-game fountain, for example, contributes a donation for cleaner water. Players can support projects they choose that help people around the world and then track them on a day to day basis. But perhaps most commercially distinctive, players can generate a donation from a sponsored advertiser through ‘joy’ points, without any money out of their own pocket.

I’m not a gamer myself, but could this ‘social gaming’ be a thing that really takes off? Two problems I can see create an interesting debate. Is the very attraction to gaming, in that it’s disconnected from the mundaneness of real-life, undermined by this link to the harsh reality of the real world? Further, is linking this harsh reality for some to frivolous play-time for others ever going to be good thing?

Personally, I fell in love with this idea. The question of success will be answered in how well it’s executed. Social enterprises often struggle with the straddling of economic success and moral purpose, needing to be doing ‘good’ in two often incompatible ways. The key in delivering success in all areas will be answered by asking how well they are fulfilling their players, investors and customers’ needs.

The reason Evolutionary Novel Behaviour…basically kids with a higher IQ grow up searching for the new stuff. This makes perfect sense and normally that fact would focus on the positive outcomes that you would expect to see, this though shows that it’s good and bad and of course gives me a reason for my willingness to indulge in an extra glass or three!

Although the articles are interesting, the comments left by people were more so…

“Drinking is a social lubricant; most days you don’t fit in but with a few drinks you do; Ignorance is bliss; Dumb people are happier; Intelligent people are more sensitive to what is going on around them, drinking creates a moment in time; Drinking helps to cope with the idiots”

The use of the word intelligence is also well debated; the studies used empirical data (IQ) but we have progressed enough to know that is only one measure, that is what makes the study of the brain so fascinating. Before anyone draws any egocentric conclusions on my behalf, I’m not putting myself in the traditionally intelligent bracket but I do have a mind that never switches off and the comments about alcohol creating a moment in time did resonate with me.

I was also taken by the social nature of all the comments, they weren’t about going home closing the door on a world that didn’t understand you and drinking in isolation, they were about fitting in, being social, getting on with everyone…the real element of “social” in our world of virtual networking.

So as the party season kicks off and we are at our social best, when someone raises an eyebrow at you enjoying a festive tipple or two, remind them you were a smart kid – kick back enjoy the moment and enjoy the company of all the other smart kids around you.

When was the last time someone asked you or even considered “what it was like to be you?”

This thought has been in my head since I watched The Help the film based on the book written by Kathryn Stockett.

Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, a southern society girl returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends’ lives – and a small Mississippi town – upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families as part of a secret writing project that breaks society’s rules and puts them all at risk.

Every day I am astounded by the lives that people lead, the number of different people they are caring for and or the difficulties with health issues they are trying to overcome the concerns, hopes and dreams they have for the future it is always inspirational and humbling.

It’s all about courage and taking the opportunity to change: starting with the simple premise just one person deciding to understand what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.

When I get the opportunity to bring people together to work on global initiatives, it is always amazing that wherever in the world you live at a basic level what people are juggling is the same although the environments may be staggeringly different.

I have very fond memories of a night out in Jakarta with a group of women from Indonesia, Bali, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Thailand, Poland, Greece and the UK. We as a group represented every religious faith and cultural background you could mention and to begin with the conversation was polite.

As the night went on and we got to know each other barriers came tumbling down as it was clear we all shared the same thoughts, the things that occupied our minds were the same, the way we had to deal with them was different but in a way that we could all understand and take something from. That night changed the relationship I had with those women and dramatically changed the way we worked together resulting in the delivery of change within the project I never thought we would see.

If you are struggling to get an initiative to realise it’s true potential and you think that people are your blocker take some time to walk in their shoes, ask them what it’s like to be them right now, you could change the course of history.

Kid A and Amnesiac

The release of In Rainbows

The In Rainbows tour

In a staggering feat of twisted logic, lawyers for Coca-Cola are defending the lawsuit by asserting that “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.” I completely agree with John Robbins who says I still can’t get over the bizarre audacity of Coke’s legal case. Forced to defend themselves in court, they are acknowledging that vitaminwater isn’t a healthy product. But they are arguing that advertising it as such isn’t false advertising, because no could possibly believe such a ridiculous claim.

” Noting that the soft drink giant wasn’t claiming the lawsuit was wrong on factual grounds, the judge wrote that, “Accordingly, I must accept the factual allegations in the complaint as true.”

WHY? When they know it will make a difference?

As I read the Times, one after the other these stories added to the argument well underway in my head.

First the crimes of neglect. The parents of two brothers whose toxic upbringing, led to them torturing two innocent children. “31 missed opportunities to take action that would have prevented the crime”.

We live in an imperfect society where we know that people can ignore their responsibility and are not always accountable for their actions. To protect the innocent people who get caught in that imperfection there is a process and rules, a safety net.

How could this safety net have missed so many opportunities to make a difference?

Part of the training we deliver is “don’t be sheep”. If after following the process and rules you can see that something is wrong take accountability for ensuring that the right decision is made, don’t just tick boxes and then sit back and ignore responsibility by thinking your job is done.

Courageous Frances Inglis, jailed for 9 years for the mercy killing of her son. The process and rules allow for the starvation of her son, “If a vet let a dog die like this, he would be reported to the RSPCA”, but not by lethal injection which is of course what we do to put an animal out of its misery.

The process and rules followed but to what end? I have no doubt the Frances was willing to end her own life to stop the suffering of her son, being imprisoned does nothing to protect anyone, not her or society. So by following the rules and process here what difference have we made?

The mother of “Britain’s sickest child” jailed for 3 years after faking his illness. This boy had been seen by doctors more than 325 times and had undergone 9 operations. She managed to do this by bullying hospital staff and playing them off against each other.

The story focuses on the cruelty of the mother and I am not for one minute disputing that but come on, 325 times in front of a doctor and 9 actual operations, she is not the only person under the microscope here surely?

Don’t be sheep

My final story “courage and comradeship keys to survival in an inhospitable land” working in Sangin, Helmand. The armed forces the pinnacle of a world that relies on people following process and rules, taking responsibility and being accountable. People who understand the value of these things and the difference they make but who have the intelligence and courage to do what is necessary when it is necessary.

These are people who make a difference everyday

So as I close the paper and look at my parachute I thank my luck stars that a life will not depend on me finding out why this team are not following the PLM process and rules and are shirking both responsibility and accountability, but I will act like it does because I know it will make a difference.

We did not want to be wallpaper

How many times a day do you say “I love… something” and mean it? You know, the heart beating faster, adrenalin pumping, couldn’t be happier that you have that thing or are in that place or with that person you love.

How many times a day do you say “I hate… something” and mean it? The feeling of disgust swirling inside, a sickly view that you just don’t want to be part of or a place that you don’t want to be in, something that you would be willing to take a stand against.

How many days go by when you don’t say either you love or hate something?

How many days are you just wallpaper?

When you work on delivering change, everyday something amazing happens, good and bad, it’s a roller-coaster of highs and lows. We struggle to recruit staff because not everyone is comfortable with that, people think they are until they have to surrender themselves to these emotions day in day out, then we realise, many people are more comfortable being wallpaper.

Why?

There are many reasons why people are less emotional than they used to be.

My personal favourites are:

• Political correctness
• The “everyone’s a winner” mentality
• Fear of having the spotlight on you by rocking the boat

You will have your own theories which we hope you will share.

Life is not better for this; we are not better people because of this.

One of our partners said:

“If there are people out there that love Cheeky Monkey, you need to keep the name because there are not many things people openly love any more.”

That has got to be one of the saddest statements I have heard in a long time.

Surrender to love

Today, open yourself up to your emotions, find something you love or a place that you love to be in, or even better a person you love to be with. Face it, feel it, and then tell someone about it because there is no better feeling, it will make a difference to your day.

I consider myself to be an honest person and wanted to test my belief in the ‘honesty lab’, thankfully I still consider myself to be honest, but my contribution to this research highlighted the fine moral line that guides our perception of what is honest.

Are we “doing honesty” or being honest?

In this “dog eat dog” world we will all face circumstances where we are tempted to apply situational ethics to gain the edge.

Last week the British Olympic gold medallist, Rebecca Adlington, hit the headlines when she refused to wear a performance enhancing swim suit because she considered it cheating. A legal battle by the manufactures has prevented the suit from being banned, and so, Rebecca’s competitors will wear this suit and believe that their honesty and integrity is intact. When the truth is out, who has the edge?

Honesty = Trust

When we act dishonestly we become a mystery, people are not able to read us and this leads to distrust and suspicion. Without trust we have no credibility and it is this that is at the core of being able to influence people and provide strong leadership.

Trust = Confidence

If we consider that we all need a level of confidence to conquer life’s problems, can success hinge on others having confidence in our actions and motives? Confidence is what encourages us to take risks and success is rarely achieved without risk.

Be True to Yourself

The results from the ‘honesty lab’ experiment will be presented at the British Science Festival in September, until then my belief will be that the level of a person’s honesty is linked to their self respect and respect of others. Be true to yourself, when we are real and open as people we show our true self to others, we can show that we are genuine and can be relied upon.

“The truth is the only thing worth having, and, in a civilized life, like ours, where so many risks are removed, facing it is almost the only courageous thing left to do” – E.V. Lucas