Courage or compliance

Seth Godin posted an interesting blog today about the balance between teaching compliance and innovation; it prompted me to think about the fear-driven measurements that society has become so comfortable with using. Measuring what we know we can teach is wonderful for short term safety, yet doesn't teach many of the skills that will give us the innovation we need to find new, human-friendly ways of doing things.

It's good to aim for innovation, for sure, and before we get that, it's important to focus on doing some gardening. Grow some courage, commitment and passion - they're the food for innovation.

Here's the blog post:

"Compliance is simple to measure, simple to test for and simple to teach. Punish non-compliance, reward obedience and repeat.

Initiative is very difficult to teach to 28 students in a quiet classroom. It's difficult to brag about in a school board meeting. And it's a huge pain in the neck to do reliably.

Schools like teaching compliance. They're pretty good at it.

To top it off, until recently the customers of a school or training program (the companies that hire workers) were buying compliance by the bushel. Initiative was a red flag, not an asset.

Of course, now that's all changed. The economy has rewritten the rules, and smart organizations seek out intelligent problem solvers. Everything is different now. Except the part about how much easier it is to teach compliance."

Do change

Here's a flavour of what's in store for the Do Lectures 2010 participants - an edited version of the intro I gave at the 2009 event. The issues are the same, just a bit more urgent. If there's one event that you attend in the next five years, I'd make it this one. www.dolectures.com

Do Lectures 2009 from Andy Middleton on Vimeo.

Observation, evidence and change

In this age of Daily Mail and Fox Confused News interpretation of information that over-enthusiastically interprets scientific research, we each need to be careful about what we read, and the meaning that deduct from what's going on around us. The evidence is clear that more action on sustainability, food, energy and climate is needed and an obituary before Christmas reiterated the importance of patience, clarity and perseverance.

Professor Jeremy Morris, who died at 99 had been one of the first scientists to make the link between exercise and heart disease. 60 years ago, he initiated a study that looked into the relationship between the occurence of heart attacks and workers in different occupations. One thing stood out clearly - that the drivers of double decker buses, who sat still for most of their shift, had substantially more hear attacks than the conductors, who'd be working the step machine of the upper deck, stepping as many as 750 steps up and down each day. His figures for postmen who delivered on foot showed the same trend compared to their colleagues who sat still for most of the day.

Despite the evidence, when Professor Morris' research was published in the medical press in the early 1950s, it was received with widespread scepticism, and now - more than six decades later, in an age of increasing TV and Facebook consumption, health professionals, educators and GPs still struggle to make the link between information and behaviour.

Now's a time for stories that connect, make sense and lead to action.

Here's a little Do: start to collect a few more stories about change that has worked, for communities, for you, for others, for real.

Turning thoughts into action

Here are some neat insights from Do Lectures founder and co-pilot David Hieatt. The new year is a good time for focusing on action for the year ahead. These tips might help:

The path of a Doer.

Set yourself a goal.

Set yourself a deadline.

Define success at the start.

Make a plan to make it happen.

Build a team to help you.

Get the team to sign up, head and heart, to the plan.

Understand there will be hurdles, barriers. Accept them. But defeat them.

Work each day toward getting things done. A little can do a lot.

Keep the end goal in your mind at all times.

Understand the importance of your energy. Your stubbornness. Your persistence.

Half way through a project is always the lowest point. You are neither at the start, nor at the end. Energy dips, morale is low. Have a day off.

The next day remind yourself why you started it in the first place.

Focus. Focus. Focus. But focus on the most important thing.

Tell the world what you are doing.

Tell the world your deadline.

Celebrate progress. Any progress.

Never give up.

Look back at how far you have traveled. It will surprise you.

It will also tell you that you are closer to your goal than ever before.

Keep going.

Then one day, after many, many days, you will complete your goal.

You got there in the end.

Your words and your deeds are one. Most people in life are just talkers. But you are a doer. Well done.

Resolving issues

Colleague Mike Jones from Open Minds sent me this quote recently, and it feels particularly appropriate for the work that's developing around A Million Minds and community climate change response:

"When people are engaged in the resolution of problems affecting themselves or the whole collectively, energies are unleashed which enhance the likelihood of the creation of imaginative solutions and successful strategies"

John Stuart Mill, Political philosopher (1806 - 1873)