Listening to a debate about Scottish Independence on BBC’s Question Time last week, I was dismayed by how ill-informed it all was. Kelvin McKenzie asserts that without Scotland’s labour vote the English would face perpetual Conservative Party rule. No historic foundation for that and he had to admit to being badly-advised by a researcher.  Then an excited audience member raised that old chestnut about the English (London) subsidising the Scots. This is a questionable assertion. Scots represent 8.4 per cent of the UK’s population; yet generate 9.4 per cent of its tax revenues. In  2009 – 2010 Scotland’s deficit was, at 6.8 per cent of GDP, 3 per cent lower than England’s. Current economic circumstances aside it also ignores the massive industrial contribution made by the North of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Is this not the source of much of the wealth that allowed London to prosper?

Now Add the 2012 Olympics. I hope they are a resounding success not just for London but all of the country. That all depends on the success of the legacy planning that I know is in full throttle. Until, we see real returns on the investment we may find that London is the most subsidised part of the UK.  Think on that.  The trouble with arguments that draw on a narrow frame of reference and recycle the tired old clichés of politicians, London cabbies and sections of the press is that it fuels ignorance and moves the argument into dangerous territory. Do you want the debate about our constitutional future led by the same people who think “Ed Milliband?  too ugly to lead the country?

Many years ago, I was that pupil. I loved being inspired but hated being taught. My imagination was in overtime and my curiosity knew no bounds. I had a love of language and the arts and an insatiable desire to explore and learn. Every tree was a climbing frame. By the time I was eight I’d spent three years in Pakistan, stayed in Port Said weeks before the Suez Crisis, I had tasted spaghetti in Naples, seen the Vatican and journeyed through the Alps by train. I had witnessed unimaginable poverty and opulence. I had learned the rudiments of Urdu and knew beyond doubt that people of all creeds and colours where kind, resourceful, open and talented.

I had seen life in full technicolour. I hated sitting still, and an asthmatic, I wheezed and coughed more than most. In primary school these were misdemeanours for which I was punished. My head was even hit against the blackboard for sniffing during prayers. At each stage of my schooling I was dismissed as stupid. With parents warring at home and teachers disregarding me at school I didn’t know where to turn – my first sniff of the perfumed air of opportunity came when I was kicked out of school at 15. Life has certainly been eventful since. Yes, I know times have changed. I am 61 now. But how many young people with gifts unsighted are still vanquished to the stupid corner?

More than ever we need fish that swim against the tide. We need intelligent challenge rather than daft consensus. May we find some of our best hopes doing what I was doing at school? Badly.

Here’s an idea for 2012. Why not do what Google does and make your workplace an escape from the gloom, not a perpetuation of it? A place of work should make you feel valued and lifted. It should be a source of inspiration and a daily reminder of why you get out of bed each day – the difference you make to your customers’ lives. If you’re not inspired, neither will your customers be.

Google uses colour, simplicity and upbeat language and they live by the ideas of their people. The imaginative flexing of the Google logo recognises and celebrates global events,  creating an important feelgood feature and their offices are designed to keep their people alive and connected to their vision. Their business dynamic “everyone is an innovator.” Why not follow their example? It stretches minds and responsibilities, pushes boundaries and motivates. It keeps people on the front foot and provides an energy boost when it is most needed. Enormous opportunities exist out there for new collaborations, shared resources and intellectual capital to create win, wins.

The resourcefulness of staff is worth more than any bankable funds – yet do we tap into its richness? I still see too many examples of unintended alienation – too much jargon, low-level objectives, e-mails and letters that confuse and deflate and a succession of clumsy acronyms. Thinktastic helps its clients discover their internal strengths and puts the wow into their communications. Google is one example of excellence we draw on.

This nation’s most wasted resource is the untapped potential of its people. Measuring wealth and poverty using a financial rather than human capital model no longer works. Nor does investment in physical rather than community regeneration. Over the years this has resulted in an escalated burden on the public purse, an increasingly dependent community and opportunities missed. People don’t vote because they believe their votes don’t matter. They don’t join community groups because they see meetings that go nowhere.

In November, I shared a stage with Jim Diers who heads up Seattle’s neighbourhoods department. “In Seattle, says Jim, “Tens of thousands have taken part in over 2,000 community self-help projects – building new parks and playgrounds, renovating facilities, recording oral histories and creating public art. Five thousand community garden volunteers generate 10 tons of organic produce for food banks each year and maintain more than 17 acres of public space.” More of that please. We need more inspirational approaches to help people shape their neighbourhoods positively? Thinktastic’s shown what’s possible by using motivation and fun to give people the encouragement, power and connections to improve their communities. That’s democracy in action.

Is the doom and gloom picture we present to our young people helpful? I think not. After speaking at a recent event for 16-19 years, I was handed a yellow sticky note that said: “Mike Stevenson has just changed my life – I’m going to do something now.” My message that day had been simple. “Each of you has unique skills and qualities but, and this is a big but, there are always people around you who choose to point out what you can’t rather than what you can do.” There were nods of agreement all around.

I spoke of any job as a learning opportunity and pointed to the hospitality industry as a chance to develop valuable people skills. I spoke of the contribution they can make to their local community and to their city. I damned the idea that “these are the best days of your life” and spoke of the best as yet to come. Sure there are far fewer jobs around but life still holds opportunities. Painting young people as victims serves them ill. There is an abundance of determination, inventiveness and enterprise among them – we just have to help them release it. I have met many young people in the past year who simply yearn to be valued and allowed to show their strengths. Let’s make 2012 the year our young people take the space and opportunity to shape, rather than simply inherit, the future.

Children always know where they are going – wherever they can and oblivious to danger. That’s the simple pleasure of childhood. You want to see, touch, smell and taste everything in sight. If only you could cram more into your day as a toddler. You could travel so much farther. You also discover that the direct route may be faster but it’s less fun. That’s why children skip, avoid the cracks on the pavement, sway from side to side, walk backwards or walk on a wall.

Be honest. Do you walk a different route each day, experiment with different foods, learn new tricks, go to a different shop or even walk on the dewy grass barefooted? If not, why not? If we don’t regularly feed our senses we settle into a routine – we do things out of habit – we don’t notice things and most importantly we don’t experience them.

It makes us at best a bit stale and, at worst, entrenched and unyielding to new ideas. No matter what our role in life it is too easy to stay where we are – it feels comfortable and safe, but does it fulfil us?

Imagine if you could se the world again as a child does? To treat the world around you as abound with new opportunities. Imagine if you woke each morning with renewed energy and enthusiasm. What would you give for that? Try it. Step into those little shoes again for an hour a day and see what happens

Inverleith 2014 - new vision

What happens when you bring people of all ages and backgrounds together to think of ways to improve their community using resourcefulness as the driving force? Last night in Inverleith that is precisely what happened and I was privileged to lead a two-hour discussion at Broughton High School. Over 100 people, aged from 15 to 80 turned out and came up with a range of creative and ambitious ideas. Allotments used to train young people and share knowledge, a community language learning centre, school green space used to grow vegetables, a young people’s Festival, more salad bars for young people, social enterprise cafés where young and old can meet and share ideas and many more. Watch this space and see these ideas come to fruition STV local provided a live Twitter feed to get outside contributions to the discussion and young musicians gave staggeringly great performances. We need more community ambition events like this. They are dynamite.

Disney comes to Scotland

Why do I want to see leaders from across all sectors attend the Disney Masterclass? Because, I am confident that Scotland can lead on turning the economic gloom into a new era of success. The Masterclass can be a vital catalyst in changing how we approach the future – creating new style leadership and collaboration, developing a Scottish version of the great customer experience. If we put the ‘chutzpah’ into business and public service we can start to build a different type of economy – which maximises our human and financial capital. Too often we have focussed on the latter at the expense of the former. That is not good economic planning. Invest in our people the Disney way and we will see the returns. Disney is without rival when it comes to empowering its people innovate for their customers. It’s a formula we can learn a great deal from. And, it works in all sectors from healthcare to airports.

Book Online at:

http://disneyedinburgh.eventbrite.com
(to pay by invoice, cheque, credit card or debit card)

SNP re-election campaign: positive and confident

I have always believed language influences behaviour – not the other way round. Think how your spirit sinks, when you are surrounded by complaint and negativity. The Scottish election has proved that voters are now receptive to positive and confident messaging. Regardless of where you sit politically, that has to be good. Hearing opponents knocking spots off each other is a turn off. Add to that, a growing list of words, phrases and acronyms that mean nothing to anyone – even to those who use them. When they enter the daily vernacular of organisations that language filters through to the customer and the relationship is damaged.

We need new determination to promote feelgood and understanding rather than just products and services.  How many people really understand hedge funds or ISAs? Linguistic spaghetti ties us in knots and belittles us. Let’s speak and write like we want people to understand. That has become a treasured skill.  They say people don’t remember what you say but never forget how you make them feel. Always bear that in mind.

Make customers feel good about themselves

We in Business, as well as those in public services, have a responsibility to help make the world a better place, creating in the process, an environment receptive to our products and services. Loyalty is not built on dependence or an inability to break from a contract. It is based on openness, trust and confidence.

We crave to be understood, recognised and rewarded. When people inside a business feel fantastic about themselves they perform with more energy and commitment. Make customers feel good about themselves and you are more likely to win them over – and keep them.

Too much focus and budget is still invested in the wrong things. High spend marketing campaigns are wasted, if brand integrity is sabotaged by an ill- mannered receptionist or bad service. How much better to spend time and money on creating an internal culture that delivers a customer experience that compels people to return again and again.