The Daily Networker

Tomorrow, politicians, scientists and campaigners from around the world will meet in Copenhagen for landmark talks, aimed at resulting in a global deal on Climate Change. 

I’m not qualified to get into the science, however I’d like to ponder why we don’t care more, and do more about this important subject.  Here are a few ideas which you may not hear being put forward over the coming few days.  I’m sure that there are hundreds of possible theories.  Here are seven;

1)  We don’t care more because we don’t care about each other. We are brought up to be afraid of strangers and not formally disillusioned of the myth that ’they’ are dangerous. We don’t grow up connecting with people in other countries, so when we are told of their plight, we find it difficult to get our heads around this.  Modern languages are now optional in schools, which adds to how disconnected we and our children are from the rest of the world.  We don’t have enough substantial global networks, so we rely too much on politicians to represent us.

2)  We don’t care more because we don’t care about our descendants.  We don’t care about our ancestors either.  We are not able to imagine where we come from or what will happen to our genes.  We know that the people who will pay the price for our mistakes are our grandchildren and their grandchildren, yet we find this too difficult and abstract to imagine.

3) We think that ‘change’ sounds exciting.  Any business guru worth their pinch of salt will tell you that we must embrace and accept change.  This is of course nonsense.  If we were talking about Nature’s Destruction or Global Pollution, we would not feel as if this was something to accept. 

4)  Global Warming, when you’re based in a cold and wet country, risks sounding attractive.  This may not be as flippant as it sounds.  Names are important.  Some might care more if they were taking a stand against Global Wetting.   

4)  Too many spokespeople are ‘posh’.  George Bernard Shaw said that “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman despise him”.  In Britain, we confuse conversations about class with conversations about accent.  I have been in enough situations to suspect that millions of our fine country take an instant dislike to what might be called ‘posh’ accents.  Although this might be annoying and a great shame, it is true.  Until we have role models with a wider range of regional accents, this dislike will too often be connected with the substance of the conversation itself.

5)  We have become suspicious of politicians and, recently, scientists.  We tend to be sceptical of anything they say, and as long as they are seen to be the main spokespeople for any movement, we will not buy into it.

6) We don’t care because we don’t understand what’s in it for us.  We must continue to underline how a certain type of food actually tastes better rather than the fact that it is better for the earth.  Similarly, saving money will matter more to many families than saving energy.  We must inspire people to make changes which they will personally benefit from and this benefit must be clear.  The motivating force cannot be penance or guilt. 

7)  We don’t know who to agree with or ’believe’. The democratisation of voice, the idea that anyone can share their view, brings many benefits.  One risk is that we confuse volume with authority.  We begin to agree with people who quite literally don’t know what they are talking about.  As objects in the mirror may appear closer than they appear, so sources of information closest to us may appear louder, or more authoritative then they really are.  So the verdict of a global panel of scientists can be overturned by a single attention-seeking journalist, or indeed blogger.

So, I suggest;

1) More programmes to connect schools globally.  Gemin-i (with whom I am working) is a great example.

2) ’Stranger Safety’ schemes to integrate communities and undo the unwitting damage of Stranger Danger thinking.

3) More airtime to genealogy enthusiasts, with a moment to imagine the future of families.

4) A concerted avoidance of phrases with ‘change’ and ‘warming’, replaced by ‘pollution’.

5) More lead spokespeople who are neither ‘posh’ nor ‘politicians’

6) More explanation of the personal benefits of anything being introduced

7) A clearer representation of the weight of certain opinions, as opposed to the relative flimsiness of others. 

Regardless of the science or the overall temperature, it seems to me that we humans are killing our planet.   I hope it’s useful to think about why, in the hope that some solutions may come from a proper understanding of the causes, not just the symptoms. 

I’d welcome your thoughts! 

My most memorable phone call came when I was thirteen years old.  I was home alone, my parents were out. At the other end of the line, I was surprised and nervous to hear the voice of my headmaster, calling me Oliver.  He had received some news from a secondary school in Berkshire to which I had recently applied.  I had won a scholarship.   I was surprised and over the moon. If I’m honest, Mr Graham sounded pretty surprised too.  Excited and still feeling nervous, I scribbled a note to mum and dad (mobile phones were still a few years away), and went to bed, only to be woken by a couple of rather excited adults a few hours later.

My most memorable email arrived on the 17th of October just last year, at twenty past eight in the evening.  I was sitting in the Village Tandoori in Clapham with Verity, and I certainly shouldn’t have been checking my Blackberry.  It was from Michael Birch, the founder of Bebo.  At one minute past nine that morning, I had written to him about Make Your Mark with a Tenner, the scheme I had started a couple of years previously. It was a long shot, but we were a hundred and fifty thouand pounds short, for a challenge we wanted to launch the following January.  Over Cobra and poppadoms, an email arrived.  A red light flashed.  He said yes, to the full amount.

Messages can be memorable because they are unexpected, or because they bear especially good (or bad) news.  They can surprise us when they come from unexpected people, or in unexpected ways.  So imagine my surprise, when just over a fortnight ago, I received a message from none other than Sarah Brown, wife of the British Prime Minister.  Stranger still, the message arrived not on embossed notepaper, nor by secure phonecall, but via Twitter, the social networking site.  Now, it is well known that Sarah, a supporter of the Million Mums campaign, is an avid Tweeter, and has risen to become one of its most followed users in the UK.  But could this really be her, by direct message, asking for my address, because she wanted to send me something? 

A quick phone call to a colleague in Whitehall confirmed that yes, this was indeed the case, and I should pass on my details worthwith.  Which is why this evening I am to attend a thoroughly modern gathering for a new and connected era;  A Downing Tweet Christmas Party.  My friend and colleague Holly Shaw, who I met through Channel 4’s Battlefront will be there and I’ve already discovered several others from around the UK who will be meeting at Number 10 to raise a glass to the Million Mums campaign.  I’m looking forward to it.  I’ve even told my mother, who herself is one in a million.  I might call my old headmaster.  He’ll probably be surprised to hear from me.

A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square, the location of this morning’s Stone Club meeting, hosted by the inimitable and brilliant Carole Stone.  The question being discussed was whether or not technology is overwhelming us.  Our speaker was, Ian McCaig,  CEO of lastminute.com and the group proceeded to have a stimulating discussion over a delicious cooked breakfast. 

Over scrambled eggs, I confessed that, having replaced my Blackberry several weeks ago, I have not reactivated the email on it.  I can still access my webmail, I just don’t have the constant dripdripdrip of incoming messages.  Without doubt, this has been a blessing because I have enjoyed more books, newspaper articles, brainstormed ideas not to mention refreshing downtime as a result than I have in several years. 

One of the guests felt that the rise of the digital age was producing young people whose social skills suffer.  I disagree.  For years the UK has been churning out millions of repressed individuals who don’t know how to connect with each other. Through web technologies, relationships can be developed and people can discover their passions in life, including other people quicker and more easily.  Better still ,this can lead to face to face meetings.

Of course, as sure as a nightingale sang, someone slagged off Twitter.  This mildly annoys me as I compare it to someone slagging off mobile phones, which would be seen as a daft and grumpy comment. I encouraged them to see that Twitter, unlike email (portrayed as the villain of this morning’s piece), allows you to see only who you want to see.  It also encourages people to be brief, which is a blessing.  Many people use it to share links to things they find interesting, so it’s like a personalised news service, brought to you by some of the smartest people not only in your world, but also in the whole world.

Back when I were a lad, we used to be taught how to write letters.  We made sure that the address and the date were in the correct place and we knew when to sign off sincerely and when faithfully.  Yes sir, them were the days.  Today, we have tools (like email) which we are untrained to use.  I see trouble ahead.  Because one day soon,  we’ll have to admit that children need to be taught how to use email in the same way that their grandparents were taught to write letters and their parents weren’t taught to write anything .  This will be greeted by howls of derision and the politician involved will, sadly, have their head blown off by someone claiming, wrongly, that they are trying to replace History with Twitter.  In a world of information overload, if you don’t know how to get the most from search engines, email and, yes, Twitter, then you will drown a sea of information.  Ultimately, they are like essential fats or sleep.  A healthy balance is what we’re all after.  Too little or too much and we sometimes end up all at sea.

What is the future of news?  I don’t know, do you?  What I do know is that for my daily junk, I don’t especially mind who it comes from and I’m not inclined to pay for it.  At the fine dining end of the spectrum,  if Daniel Finkelstein, Matthew Parris, Charles Moore and Andrew Davidson would like to form a quality journalism publishing  skunkworks, I will happily pay the four of  them ten pounds a month to read everything they have to say about anything they care to write about, if that allows them to write more often. 

Speaking of fine dining, over on Comment Central, and inspired by this excellent list from the New York Times, Hattie Garlick wants to know what your pet peeves are about restaurants.  I’ve given her eight of mine to be getting on with.  For some reason, the memory of my six months going through Disney’s training process in Florida lingers on…

Imagine nine people sitting in a room in front of you.  Perhaps around a table.  Now try to imagine ninety people.  They might be filling a room at an event.  They would be quite noisy.  Can you imagine nine hundred people?  That would be a full Globe Theatre, not including the players on the stage. Do you remember Michael Jackson’s memorial?  There were nine thousand fans in that stadium.  To reach ninety thousand people we have to imagine the enormous stadium at the close of the Beijing Olympics.  A far cry from that small room of just nine people.  Finally, let’s think of ten Olympic Stadiums, each packed full of young British people.  Ten Olympic Stadiums. 

That’s how many 18-24 year old Brits are currently unemployed.

One person who isn’t happy about this is Tanya de Grunwald, who I met this week.  Her book, Dude Where’s My Career attempts to fill the gaping void where decent careers advice at university ought to be. 

Career change is something which Katie Prescott is getting used to.  Until last month, she was executive assistant to none other than TV Dragon (and supporter of Make Your Mark with a Tenner) Peter Jones.  I’ve been enjoying reading her regular blog as she begins her new adventure as a broadcast journalism student at Cardiff University.  Mark my words, reader, Katie Prescott is a name to listen out for in future.

Another Katie who is well worth listening to on the subject of careers is the brilliant Katie Ledger.  She has titled her book (written with colleague Barry Hopson) with one of the questions which I dread at events; “And What Do You Do?”.  It’s a practical guide to creating your own portfolio career and I’m flattered that Katie has quoted me a couple of times inside.  Katie herself moves effortlessly from writing to facilitating and training, as well as looking after a young family.  If you get the chance to cross paths, I’d highly recommend it.

Thinking back to my time and school and my rather limited time at university, I’m increasingly struck by the lack of decent advice that we were given.  With almost a millon young people out of work, I see little to suggest that the quality of advice has risen over the past ten years.  I hope that Tanya, and people like her can team up with organisations who have the trust of this enormous audience.  As well as helping them into their first jobs, we need to help them get their head around how their careers might consist of many jobs, across several industries, and to help them prepare for this adventure.  We need to introduce to them the idea that it’s possible to have more than one job at once and, for some, to be their own boss.  

They need to know that, as enjoyable as they might be, there’s more to business than The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den.

I get it.  You haven’t got time to follow me on Twitter.  You’re rushing around.  You haven’t got time to watch YouTube videos.  Until later in the day, things calm down again and you can put the kettle on, sit back and take a break to let these links and short clips fire your imagination.

How do you get people to use a Bottle Bank one hundred times in an evening, as opposed to just twice?  One idea is to turn it into an arcade machine, like this one on The Fun Theory, sponsored by Volkswagen.

Another way to capture people’s imagination is by telling them a story.  The brilliant Matt Locke over at Channel 4 knows this and is organising an event next year all about story telling.  It should be great fun too!

You will hardly believe your eyes when you watch this clip of some amazing skills by some NFL players in the US.

One of the highlights of this year’s TED Global was this wonderful talk by Rory Sutherland;

My grandfather used to walk something in the region of a thousand miles to work each morning.  He would wake at midnight and trudge knowingly through the howling wind to work, at nine years old, before having to set off home again almost immediately.  All mild exaggeration aside, he was a great fan of the outdoors and well into his eighties would swim in the British channel during the summer months.  It was on our days together that I first began to appreciate the benefit of exercising in the open air.

Last weekend my shower gel had a wonderful name.  It was called ‘Happy Feeling’, which cheered me up almost immediately.  I rather like the idea of the marketing brainstorm which ended up ditching Cherry Breeze and Peach Awakening before going for the ultimate in consumer promises; A Happy Feeling.  Luckily for the manufacturer, I emerged from the experience on excellent form, laughing and whistling into the steamy bathroom.  Perhaps just by seeing the name, the gel had worked its spell on me.

I should count my blessings that the water was warm.  Only recently, I met the staggeringly energetic explorer Alastair Humphreys, who likes nothing better than cycling around the world whilst plotting his next expedition to the North Pole.  Even when at home in London, he does press-ups whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.   His challenge to me was to try taking a cold shower each morning to see the effect that it had on me.  The greater gauntlet thrown down was to see if I could jump in a freezing river, something he thinks everyone should do once in a while. Whatever, Al.  From the warmth of a roaring fire in deepest Wales, I knew that this activity could wait for another day.

They say that there’s no smoke without fire. This is not true, as I discovered this month whilst crouched in a wood near Cardigan.  My Fred Flintstone antics took place during one of several workshops at the Do Lectures, a tipi-dwelling retreat created by clothing brand Howies.  In fact, I hear there is a hundred degree difference between smoke and fire, which roughly translates to an awful lot of huffing and puffing and a rather nasty friction burn.   Very briefly, what happens is this; you take small, pencil-like piece of wood called a spindle and spin it incredibly fast on a flat piece of wood called a hearth.  This technique is achieved using a bow, made from a bendy piece of wood and some string, which you just happen to have in a corner of your cave.  At the point at which the wood changes colour (and your face is shade of darkened beetroot), it is time to carve what is known as a ‘bird’s mouth’.  This cleverly timed incision into the hearth allows the air to get in, which in turn increases the chances of embers emerging.  You are too smart, dear reader, for me to need explain the intricate marketing nuances of this Neanderthal metaphor.

The next day’s activity involves volunteering for a run in the countryside.  All dreams of a leisurely jog evaporate when I notice that amongst the group is none other than Al Humphrys, he of the Espress-Ups.  We set off at a sprint, and sped up.  After climbing mountain paths for almost an hour, we finally begin our treacherous descent.  Reader, you’ll never believe what lay at the bottom of that hilly path. Yes, you’ve guessed it; it was a rushing river.  Before you know it, all ten of us were gasping for breath in what can only be described as a moment of madness.  It felt amazing. 

The average Brit sleeps for between eight and nine hours a night.  They are, if they are male, five foot nine and will live until seventy seven.  They are shortest at the end of the day, because during the day, and presumably in water, they shrink.  This is why you should never be measured for a suit, bed or coffin at night, because you could be almost an inch out.    My big theory is that the reason most Brits are not as happy as they could be is that they are not sleeping or exercising enough.  As I wander around, everyone looks exhausted, don’t they?  What is happening to us?  What we probably need is a good hour extra in Slumberland, and another hour of working out.  Either that or we need to change our shower gel.  I will leave you to decide.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. So said Ratty in Wind in the Willows, and he may have had a point. 

This month I spied none other than Jeff Bezos, founder of the mighty Amazon, weaving his way down the sunlit river Cherwell in Oxford. On the day his company was busy snapping up online retailer Zappos for a cool $850m, billionaire Jeff was relaxing at über-conference TED Global. As the saying goes, some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs know when to take a punt. 

TED, it turns out, is a heady mix of stunning speeches and diverse delegates, blended together in an intoxicating week-long cocktail. Founded in California, word has spread online through the popularity of TED Talks, downloaded 100 million times by over 30 million people. Here in Oxford, Meg Ryan and Cameron Diaz can be seen at the bar, rubbing shoulders with rocket scientists and rock musicians.

My lastest Growing Business column is now online…

I’ve just returned from a wonderful few days at the Do Lectures. I’ll try to post some thoughts over the next few days, however in the mean time, here are some pictures which I hope capture some of the spirit of what this excellent event was all about. 

To set the scene, imagine 70 people, in rural Wales, meeting and listening to inspiring talks in a Tipi.  They stay together, eat together, talk and think and plot together.  Between talks, organised workshops invite them to start fires, split wood or chop and chat whilst preparing dinner.  Attendees and speakers converge for 4 days…

I hope you’ll enjoy my photos;

Do Lectures

I’ve just hosted an event with Make Your Mark at the British Library, called Passions into Profit.  The thinking behind the event was simply that at a time when thousands are being made redundant or are unable to find their first job, perhaps working for yourself is a good option. Our three speakers shared their personal stories;  Robin Campbell went from banker to baker when she was made redundant and hasn’t looked back since her cake business took off.  Her career has literally ended in tiers.  Rosie Brooks is a successful illustrator whose clients have included children’s books, national charities and even Paul McCartney.  Finally, Matthew Crawford saw his own redundancy as an opportunity to begin a market stall, selling Jamaican Food, and within a year was generating over £400 profit per day.  His venture, ‘Easy Nuh’, attracted the attention of the Make Your Mark in the Markets competition, which he won. 

For me, the evening raised three questions.  Firstly, when should you turn a passion into a profit, and when should it remain just a passion?  Secondly, at what point does someone who has decided to set up a venture cease to enjoy their activities, precisely because their business has taken off, meaning that they are drawn away from their original passion.  Thirdly, is talk of starting a business in a recession absolute nonsense?  It’s this third question which I’d like to focus on.

Richard Tyler, over at the Telegraph, quotes American entrepreneur  Eric Ryan, founder of ethical cleaning products firm Method, saying;

“Starting a business during a recession is like vacationing in the off season…It’s a little less crowded, and everything goes on sale”

Certainly, people do not stop spending money completely in a downturn, they just behave differently.  They look for good deals, for greater value, and for opportunities for doing things a little differently.  Enter the entrepreneur.  David Cruickshank, CEO of Business IT Online points out that  ”in a recession, consumers and businesses are looking for savings, so new services that supply them can break through.”  Without the burdens of large structures and cost commitments, they can afford to ‘zig whilst others zag’.  Dan Martin, editor of Business Zone  sums this up when he says “In times of economic gloom, the big players can’t  afford to be as flexible as they once were.  That’s where nimble SMEs come in.” 

Who then, would be crazy enough to start a business during a recession?  Someone like Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft in the downturn of 1975.  Or Steve Jobs, who launched the iPod in 2001, following the dotcom crash.  Years earlier, HP (1939) and  Burger King (1954) both began in significant downturns.  So it doesn’t always make for a whopper of a mistake.

Why else might starting up make better sense when the financial climate is gloomy?  Well for a start,  if so many people are losing their jobs, or feeling threatened, then this must be good news for entrepreneurs on the hunt for team members. Tom Allason, founder of ecourier, who is preparing to launch his next business agrees, saying “Talent, the most critical factor to a start-up’s success, is the cheapest and most abundant it has ever been”.  Better still, when that talent is taken on, it may be more loyal than in brighter times.  Tough times encourage a greater focus on costs and better still, on customers.  It can’t be too difficult to argue that if a venture can survive in a recession, its prospects in a boom must be rosy.  Finally, remember that this is a great time to get a good deal.  Surely this applies to the entrepreneur seeking office space and suppliers, just as much as it does to the holidaymaker or high street shopper.

As unemployment rises, and graduate recruiters close the doors to their schemes, many will see 2009 as a terrible time to become self-employed or to begin a venture.  Others remain optimistic.  Raj Dey, founder of Enternships has some advice for graduates, asking “Why settle for a job that you don’t want or won’t enjoy?  The recession gives you the chance to take stock of your real hopes, dreams and aspirations, and the time to give it a shot.”  Meanwhile, Jamie Murray Wells, founder of Glasses Direct  thinks that a recession “makes people more comfortable with the idea of radical change.”  What an amazing and inspiring way of see the downturn!   I look at it this way;  our speakers this evening have multiple customers.  Multiple clients. Multiple sources of income.  By contrast,  even the best paid of corporate employees in the room were reliant on just one cash provider.  At a time when talent is waiting to be snapped up by entrepreneurial spirits, problems ready to be solved and customers ready for a change, who are the REAL risk takers now?

Photo by Cormac Phelan