Inspiration
Suzuki, cut-through and authenticity
A good friend made a comment earlier about a talk they attended about a decade ago in Byron Bay where David Suzuki spoke. Similar to last night where the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House was full, in Byron 800 people were hanging on his every word about the necessity for action in saving the planet.
That was all great, until my friend stayed behind to help clean up and had to pick up the drink bottles and papers these same ‘green’ people had left behind.
This is not a spectator sport. Watching passively is not enough. How can we avoid ‘greenwashing’ and achieve authenticity?
My friend Matt the other day had some suggestions about cut-through and how difficult it was to achieve. We have all observed over the last few years that cut-through without authenticity is an empty and gesture. Perhaps a lighthouse is a good metaphor for cut-through and authenticity
I think my friend Fay has a solution:
Bring on some mindfulness – and some action.
You have to fail in order to move forward
Walking back from training this morning I struck up a conversation with Lee. Lee was walking ahead of me and looked a little unsteady on her feet so I asked her if she was alright. It turns out she had broken her back and spine a few years back, but through determination and persistence she was not only now walking again but also looking forward to again returning to her previous enjoyment of sprinting. Inspirational.
I was inspired by her story. The long journey of overcoming a disastrous turn of events, and the slow and gradual road to recovery. Achieving things which she was told she would never do again- standing, walking, independence- things we all take for granted.
She mentioned a quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger, which although not verbatim, is something like:
You have to fail in order to move forward.
Not everything goes to plan, and setbacks should just make you more determined to succeed. Being comfortable marked the beginning of the road to mediocrity. Listening to her story, it dawned on me that the level of discomfort and pain she had endured- physically and emotionally- would have been intense at different times.
I mentioned some minor discomfort with my left calf calf muscle in comparison to what she had overcome indicating that her story had put my injury into perspective. She listened and then suggested that maybe this irritation might be linked to my big toe. She suggested some stretching exercises, incorporation of swimming (for hip mobility), talked about diet and a list of awesome advice which was great to receive.
Lee gave me some insights to improving my training and conditioning- about excelling performance and avoiding overtraining. We finished with her giving me her philosophy to attitude and goal setting. A great start to the day. Thanks Lee.
The Only Limits Are Those of Vision
My friend Fay spoke at a recent breakfast about a friend attempting the impossible: climbing to the Everest Base Camp, with the added challenge of blindness.
Here is what she wrote as an update- a good news story!
For those who might recall my response to what impossible thing we were going to tackle today (at a recent breakfast) when I nominated a colleague’s efforts to reach Everest Base Camp, I’m pleased to report that he reached it – good work for any 47 year-old father of two, but simply amazing for a man who lost his sight in an accident at age seven. Anyone who has trekked in the Himalayas knows the effort involved – unimaginable to do it blind. But he imagined it, and did it.
While I was trekking the Routeburn, in New Zealand, I met an 82 year-old woman who had trekked thousands of kilometres, and she didn’t start until she retired at 60. When I asked her secret, she said ‘You just put one foot in front of the other’. Indeed.
In this fast-forward, instant-gratification society we can lose sight of the power of putting one foot in front of the other and the imagination to challenge yourself to do things which seem impossible because they will require huge amounts of effort and trust and assistance.
We all need to get over ourselves and our fears of failure and just attempt more – sometimes we succeed. And if we don’t, so what, in the scheme of things we are not important and most people are too focussed on their own inadequacies to take much notice of their neighbour’s.
Thanks Fay.
So what are you going to tackle today that is impossible?
Walking at last
Walking to the gym tonight for a session of stretching I passed a family of five or so idly standing across the footpath. A little toddler, eyes fixed ahead, started unsteadily walking toward his father from his sister across the path I was to pass.
I tried to sidestep the child, but instead seemed to be like a magnet and for a few seconds it was as though we were doing some strange dance together. I stood and watched, the child reached his father, then staggered off in the direction of more adventure.
The father and I exchanged a few remarks. It turns out this child had been walking only less than a week. Everything was before him now. The family encouraging his every move- doting in wonder.
How remarkable a young child is, and how wrong that so many children particularly in Sub-Sarahan Africa never reach the age to take their first steps. This should be a sobering reflection for us all.
What if it were you instead?
The Sharing of An Idea
Chris Anderson speaking at TED reveals his take on The Art of Spreading Ideas:
It is in the non-verbal portion that there is some serious magic.
Watch the video here.
What is the potential for a ‘pictorial petition’ with 24,000 images of people expressing what it means for them to be a bridge to eradicate extreme poverty while joining with others?
Let’s find out! Please I need your support. Considering the sponsoring of the book “Above the Line” to be presented to the G20 Summit leadership.
Check out the 24×24 Challenge: Is the Seemingly Impossible Possible?
Lost in Riverview
Saturday evening I headed out for a 24 km training run, but was confounded as darkness fell and I became geographically embarrassed in the streets of Riverview.
For those unfamiliar with Riverview, it is a leafy enclave of a suburb nestled snugly in the North Shore.
From Riverview you are able to enjoy spectacular views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and running at first I saw it over my left shoulder, and then later (thinking I was still headed in roughly the same direction) I saw it over my right shoulder as I looked around to check on surrounding landmarks. As soon as I realised I was going in a big circle I stopped to ask some kids kicking a footy on the street how I might run back to Sydney. They thought that was one of the most ridiculous things they had heard in their life…too far away for running!
Riverview is a privileged suburb, and enjoys beautifully designed large houses, sporty cars, and well maintained gardens. Speaking with the kids playing kick-to-kick I soon discovered there were no buses operating at that time of night, and the nearest train station was miles away.
Not only was I miles away from where I would have preferred to have been, but I became aware I was worlds apart from the situation where people live in extreme poverty- the two environments are almost without comparison they are so completely different.
With no option but to run my way out of the problem, it became a problem solving exercise and a test of mental stamina and toughness that running training develops. After a certain stage in training when fitness has been proven, much of the training becomes more about a competition within yourself: will you blow off training one night? can you run hard when it hurts? will the small niggling pain that you feel (which every athlete gets and endures) eventually make you decide that it is just not worth it?
I worked my way out of the situation and salvaged the run. I passed an unfortunate car prang along River Road and thought that things could always be worse. When I finally was back onto ground I was familiar with and crossing the Fig Tree Bridge, then across the Gladesville and Victoria Bridges, I felt a great sense of achievement known to those who have experienced ‘the loneliness of the long-distance runner’.
As I came off Victoria Bridge, I felt I had proved enough to myself and a bus came tearing along the road, close enough for me to catch back to Town Hall.
For a short period of time I was contemplating: ‘was the seemingly impossible possible?’ The discipline of overcoming small challenges gives us the strength to combat the larger problems we encounter. Maybe this has some relevance to how we can address the situation of extreme poverty: a lesson from the most unlikely of places, Riverview.
Seth’s response
I subscribe to Seth Godin‘s blog. Daily, Seth posts a few small words encasing a big idea to think about.
I emailed Seth a few days ago about a question I had in relation to what he had written, and his response gave me more food for thought.
My question was about leadership. His answer basically encouraged me to keep going in the same direction. My reflection on Saturday was:
Leadership presents both opportunity and responsibility. Often the temptation is to first find validation or comfort through following others. Leadership in fact involves rising above this temptation and, through your actions, writing the narrative for those who follow.
The work required to eradicate extreme poverty involves some of this pioneering leadership, a lot of innovation and many to follow making good with what appears to work. Not everyone needs to lead, but not everyone should follow either.
What role are you playing? Leader? Innovator? Follower? Bystander? All of the above?
Inspiration…why do this to yourself?!
What has most shaped me to want to commit to the 10 City Bridge Run?
The idea for the 10 City Bridge Run was thought of and developed by myself (Matt Jones). My experience running a similar event called the 9 City Bridge Run last year left me with a sense of responsibility from the lessons I learnt to do something meaningful with that knowledge in 2010 which over time emerged into the 10 City Bridge Run.
My outlook in relation to this project has been largely influenced by my experience through my previous extensive service as an Australian Army Officer. This is broad and includes encounters with ‘unseen’ neglected and dilapidated Indigenous communities in Central Australia during the late 1980‘s, and later deployment on Active Service in East Timor seeing the often wasted efforts of a number of inefficient charity projects aside good examples of well run government and charity interventions.
Additionally later responsibilities as Desk Officer standing up and managing Australian Army response to the 2004 Aceh Tsunami relief effort showed the incredible power of media and the ‘fund raising industry’ to reap focused attention and financial contributions globally. The level of accountability following such efforts is often overlooked, along with less glamorous, unaddressed, longer-term, systemic issues which fail to have the capacity to ‘sell’ themselves. In these circumstances I witnessed the awesome efficiency by which the corporate machine is able to mobilise brand, but sadly often with disturbingly very little real impact on the ground to boast about other than a handful of photographs and well conducted fund raising efforts.
While this might seem overly critical, having worked in support of the United Nations in different capacities while serving in the Army I am concerned about the likely outcome of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) due to be reported on in 2015.
Jeffrey Sachs in his book The End of Poverty paints a picture where the eradication of extreme poverty might be possible to achieve by 2025, which is to some degree based on the successful achievement of the MDG in 2015.
Can we be sure that the necessary attention can be maintained by countries and institutions to achieve this? The influence of the global financial crisis is likely to be disruptive, and the outcome of Copenhagen last year was not a promising indicator.
Meanwhile, every day children continue to suffer and die as a result of the conditions of extreme poverty they are borne into. What can we do to change this?
Is giving more money enough? Should we start up more ‘not for profit’ organisations with a focus to eradicate poverty? Should we turn our backs on the situation? What will it take to move action forward on the MDG? Will a conference of leaders in New York this September cut it?
I recently conducted in person an informal survey of contacts I met across five countries between March and May this year. I was surprised that most people had never heard of these MDG. Even so, every person I spoke with was fully engaged when presented with the statistics on child mortality.
I contend that action needs to come from the global community, with people acting as bridge builders. What might this look like? I am not sure, but through the 10 City Bridge Run I intend to stimulate discussion to identify a crowd-sourced list of 10 actionable items that people can engage in to make a difference. Is this naive? Possibly, but nothing ventured, nothing changed. Two-thirds into the first time period for reporting on the MDG, progress is slow and maybe falling short. Maybe it is naive not to try all options which we are presented with, regardless how facile they might seem.
The significant output from the 10 City Bridge Run will be a book published featuring the photos of 24,000 ‘bridge builders’- people who are building a bridge between themselves and another- which will be presented to the G20 leadership as a pictorial petition.
Maybe you have a different view. Go ahead and prove me wrong, or give me a better option. I start running in 19 days.
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