Since we are in the run up to Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol DVD has resurfaced in our house and apart from the fact that I still cannot listen to Michael Caine without expecting to hear him say "I only asked you to blow the bloody doors off", I am constantly drawn to the power of Dickens' original plot.
He captures one of the true motivations behind all human change or rather all change that is sustainable - namely "The pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of pain". The way in which the ghosts give scrooge an insight into what he used to be, what he has become and what he will become if nothing changes is a classic piece of NLP if ever I saw it.
2008 has been an entertaining year, I am sure you will agree, and I for one have had my fill of the media trying to tell me that the end of the world is nigh! I even had an email from a Maasai friend earlier in the year asking if I was OK in view of the "economic crisis". At the time he and his family were in the middle of a long drought. So whilst my level of comfort was under some threat, his life was on the line, and he was worrying about me!
If anything good comes from the current economic intrigues (and I am sure that it will) I hope that it can be like a visitation from the Christmas Ghosts. Let us look back only 30 or so years and realise what we considered to be success, happiness and a good life, let us compare it to where we are today and then extrapolate forwards another 30 years and see where it has left us. It was a good run whilst it lasted but you cannot build an economy on debt, let alone a business or a personal life.
And then let us get the world back into perspective. Only today I was listening to the radio as people bemoaned the fact that due to the "credit crunch" (heck I hate that term) they were only taking two foreign holidays a year. What suffering. When still 80% of the people on this planet can still not afford to eat well and regularly.
If we could only get those matters into perspective then we might also realise that the changes that we find so challenging and threatening at work are merely minor bumps in the long and winding journey and adventure of life.
So here is the leadership challenge for 2009. How can we get a real sense of perspective back into our lives and who is going to take responsibility for making it happen?
What needs to be done so that people start to take responsibility for themselves and their success and stop blaming their hardships on others?
Don't wait for the politicians or "the government", I don't think this is yet something else to expect from our teachers, it is down to each and everyone of us, especially those in leadership positions to take on the challenge and create some real change.
AND NOW..I have decided that every month I will post my favourite book of the month. It may be a worthy business book or a cheap thriller, if there was yet another Harry Potter to come, who knows it might have even made the list but this month it is "The Call to Brilliance by Resa Steindel Brown". If you want to know why I recommend it please feel free to email me and ask - chris@changemakerweb.co.uk
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