Tim Waygood- Articles, Rambling, Downloads and
Links
June
2007
June - week one highlights.
New Signings complete Foundations Course
Everyone who joined the MotivAction Core Team over the past two months spent two days and one humorous evening together this week.
Welcome to Chris Davies, Sally Moffat, Jemma Joy, Aurora Capelli, Maddie Ridgway-Brown, Bridget Matthews, Ashley Ward, Richard Lewis, Claire Trask, Eleanor Rose, Gayle Murphy, Kirsty Little, Laura Thompson, Louise Kelly, Nikki Axelsen, Richard Wakeman.
The first session outlined our Vision, Mission, Strategy and Values, then we discussed the culture this group would like to work in, create and sustain. History, Financial Plans, Motivation Theory, Case Studies Galore, a tour of the Leadership Education Centre and experiential learning exercises also featured.
Leadership Development and Horse Whispering
Met Michelle and Helen an amazing combination of Horse Whispering and Leadership Development. Michelle being an original member of St Luke's Advertising Agency and Helen instrumental in the success story of Merchants an organisation started by very young people some 20 years ago. Merchants grew to a global organisation on the back of a strong sense of values and a defined culture based on recognising the human dimension to business.
We have agreed to combine our strengths and offer a very different and highly effective experiential learning service combining our venue, facilitation from people who have done it and can teach, and Horse Whispering. Launch is likely to be end of June. I am really excited about Michelle and Helen coming together with us, not just the horses that will be gracing Ardeley Park, but its great to have even more people on board who have been there and done it as well as being great facilitators and teachers.
Eco-Audit Completed
Donnachadh McCarthy, Author, Independent Columnist and Eco-Auditor has spent 3 days looking into the detail of our operations and advised and educated the team on further progress we can make.
The report will be with us at the end of the month, albeit we have started implementing now. It will be shared with our team and posted here when we receive it. He is really practical and detailed - never heard of Organic Paint before yesterday and although implementing some things will involve some investment, a lot of other recommendations will save cost.
Emma and I had an audit of our house and lifestyle. This was really good, a host of suggestions and pointers, most of which are easy to implement will mean that over the next year we will at least half our personal carbon emissions and save a lot of money.
Who is Donnachadh - my summary would be a man with a lot of integrity - he "over practices" what he preaches.
His web site is at http://www.3acorns.co.uk/ and if you "google" him you will see he is doing a great job of making a difference.
MotivAction on the Web
In no particular order found all of this on the web this week;
As a result of our refusal to work
with Exxonmobil, a number of articles and web-news
stories have emerged. The latest came in an edition
of The Hertfordshire Mercury, who also ran the story
on their site . This can be viewed here.
In response to this article, and
the words of Exxonmobil's spokesperson,I forwarded
this letter to The Hertfordshire Mercury's editor.
Text was as follows:
Dear Editor,
Thank you for your article “Green
company snubs oil giant in global row” on page three of this weeks edition, where you correctly quote me
as saying “we are aware of many articles, information
and evidence that ExxonMobil is funding climate change
deniers”. You then quote Mr Eglinton - Esso’s Spin
Doctor - as saying “We reject their absurd accusations”,
and he then goes on to list some things he claims
back up the assertion that “Exxonmobil takes climate
change very seriously”.
This included reference to funding work on Carbon
Sequestration. According to their own web site, this
was funding of 1,000,000 euros or approximately $1,300,000
- about 0.0036% of their $36,000,000,000 profit in
2005. It is less than half of the $2,900,000 dollars
spent last year funding lobby groups that misrepresent
the science of climate change: see
www.exxonsecrets.org and
www. environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1876538,00.html . He also quotes “partnerships with vehicle manufacturers”
and other vagaries. I have no doubt that Exxon and
its people do some good in the world. So do cigarette
companies. Although he is clever with words and phrasing,
he avoids the point.
Mr Eglinton has a lot of defending to do; from a quick
internet search he says “ludicrous” to Greenpeace
and “absurd” to Friends of the Earth, but falls silent
on the Guardian Article from the 2nd February this
year:
“Scientists offered cash to dispute Climate Study”
“Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000
each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's
largest oil companies to undermine a major climate
change report due to be published today. Letters sent
by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded
think-tank with close links to the Bush administration,
offered the payments for articles that emphasise the
shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).” http://www.environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/ story/0,,2004397,00.html#article_continue
And what is his response
to The Royal Society publicly writing to Exxon to
complain:
“As the UK's national academy of science, the Royal
Society has a responsibility to speak out when scientific
evidence is misrepresented” Full text see www.royalsoc.ac.uk/document.asp?tip=0&id=5851.
The Guardian commentary of this letter included “In
a letter earlier this month to Esso, the UK arm of
ExxonMobil, the Royal Society cites its own survey
which found that ExxonMobil last year distributed
$2.9m to 39 groups that the society says misrepresent
the science of climate change.”
There is also the Union of Concerned Scientists Report
on Exxon, January 3, 2007:
“As consumers of petrol and oil you have a choice
about who you get it from, and anyone but Esso is
our policy at this point. We can’t hold Esso responsible
for climate change, that’s all of our fault, we can
stand up to their constant attempts to distort the
truth and genuinely poor global stewardship.”
With the relevant scientists agreed that climate change
is both man-made and a catastrophic threat to mankind,
the truth is important when stakes are so high. So
was I really being “absurd”, which according to
www.dictionary.com means - utterly or obviously
senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason
or common sense; laughably foolish or false?
Mr Eglington’s
defense of Exxonmobil’s record of funding organisation's
that misrepresent the science of climate change denial
fits every word of the definition of absurd. But that
is what he is paid to do.
Kind Regards,
Tim Waygood
NOTE - Why Exxon?
ExxonMobil is the ONLY major oil company that denies the urgency of global warming and funds global warming skeptics that cloud the facts and create a debate where there isn’t one. ExxonMobil leads the charge against efforts to reduce global warming pollution worldwide.
Step One of the
new year resolution was to reduce our carbon impact
and ensure we look internally first.
Paul Wyman, our Group Operations
Director, has driven progress forward on all fronts
with a core team including our Health, Safety and
Environment Officer Steve Mobius and work streams
involving 20 people across the business.
A plethora of actions have and are
being undertaken - including switching to 100% renewable
electricity, transferring the vehicle fleet to LPG
fuel, introducing environmentally friendly lighting
products, scrapping kettles, re-cycling - for a full
account click
here.
Every week we have had a speaker,
film or update on the climate crisis, and actions
and plans have been highlighted. We have purchased
and distributed multiple copies of Al Gore's "An
Inconvenient Truth", as well as the plethora
of free education available on YouTube. Going green
continues to be at the forefront of our management
agenda and is now central to our operations.
On 21st May we have a 3 day eco-audit
starting. It is going to carried out by 3
Acorns and as well as auditing will be educational.
It will cover the basics and simple things we can
do as individuals across the business and what more
we can put in place across departments and the Group.
We conservatively estimate we have
reduced the carbon impact of our core operation by
30% (2006-07) and are offsetting the remaining estimated
impact. We are on track for our 2007 carbon reduction
and being carbon neutral by offsetting the remainder.
Steps two and three can now come
into play.
Step Two - Going Green -
Inspiring People - Helping our Clients with
Climate Change Awareness, Engagement and Action.
We have researched, designed and
launched a series of Climate Change, Awareness, Engagement
and Action events under the banner of "Going
Green-Inspiring People". To facilitate and speak
at these events, we have teamed up with 4 of the UK's
Leading Environmentalists; A Scientist, A Carbon Coach,
An Activist and an Accountant / Environmental Consultant.
(Names
and Biographies are available here)
“Green Light” is a communication
and education event combining experts with a fast
facilitated format to enable senior executive teams
to develop an environmental action plan. “Green Berets”
and “Global Warning” are ideal tools to educate, engage
and raise awareness about the environmental crisis,
and are enjoyable team building exercises for groups
of all levels. Fact Sheets are available
here.
Incorporating team building challenges
and creative tasks alongside facilitated seminars
and eco-assessments, the products target a full audience
spectrum – from senior decision makers to team members.
Our aim is to enable our clients
to inspire their team to make a difference whilst
still fulfilling team building and business objectives.
Having first focused on our core
operations, we are now extending this to all the events
and programmes we carry out on behalf of clients.
At the same time we are also continuing the process
of internal awareness, engagement and action amongst
our team of 100 full and 250 part time people.
Annually, 1000 national and international
events with a combined audience in excess of 250,000
can become more eco-friendly as a result of following
this policy. Reducing carbon impact, but still a achieving
business objectives is our mantra.
We will estimate the “carbon footprint”
of all events using a bespoke carbon calculator, this
models options for minimising an event’s total carbon
footprint.
Inevitably there will be a carbon
impact and a series of carbon
offset options are now in place. Our aim is to
make 90% of our events carbon neutral. We expect our
clients who have the same agenda as us to offset the
impact of their event, our job is to recommend carbon-lite
options and to calculate the impact in terms of carbon
pollution.
There is a significant cost to doing this in terms
of time and money, but nothing like the costs of doing
nothing and disregarding climate change. We will engage
our clients to work together with us and so far we
have had some fantastic support and co-operation.
Our priority is to challenge and
engage our internal team to change our modus operandi.
Given that we have a great team of people who do care,
we can be confident of carrying out our part.
The challenge to major corporations
who make up our client list will be whether they will
contribute their part, the challenge to other businesses
in our field is to do the same, and our offer to them
is to help by sharing information and knowledge we
have and are gaining.
A Campaigning Company
This will be a further step, started
in our stand against climate change denial, and will
move onto campaigning for carbon taxes.
If you could have a dinner party and invite any 10
people, living or dead, who would you invite?
Any of these?
May
2007
Causing a Small
Ripple
This week we refused to work with
Exxon Mobil. This is due to its role in attempts to
undermine the scientific consensus on climate change
by funding individuals and organisation's that perpetuate
the idea that global warming is a debatable theory
rather than a scientific fact.
After an enquiry into running an
event for them we replied with an email to Exxon stating;
“We are very concerned about climate
change, both taking action and the communication of
the issue and we are aware of many articles, information
and evidence that Exxon mobil is funding climate change
deniers. Given that this is the case, it would not
be appropriate for us to work with a company whose
ethics are so opposed to ours”.
“Conference and Events agencies can play a big part
in creating awareness and engaging businesses in the
environmental problem. By engaging our clients and
suppliers, we can help to create action within all
business sectors. We can’t claim to be environmentally
friendly and continue to take money from organisation's
that, according to information in the public domain,
help to pervert the communication of climate science;
thereby confusing the public and creating an illusion
that there is a debate around it”.
“I am happy to provide references
and information to anyone in the industry interested
in making a similar stand.”
Last year Britain's leading scientific academy, the
Royal Society demanded that the US oil giant withdraw
its support for dozens of groups that have "misrepresented
the science of climate change by outright denial of
the evidence". The scientists strongly criticised
the company's public statements on global warming,
which they describe as "inaccurate and misleading".
So far feedback has been positive
from our clients, who in many cases are not as free
as we are to make choices about whom they work for,
us being independent of institutions and shareholders.
Thank you to those who have taken the trouble to write
in support.
Inevitably if you put your head
above the parapet some bullets will come flying at
you and this has started at www.meetpie.com
on their discussion boards.
Other initiatives I have been taking
include refusing plastic bags at garages and shops
and explaining why. Mostly I get a "here we go
another nutter" look. These of course maybe accurate
observations.
CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility
Following on from Y2K, B2B, B2C,
B2B2C, CRM and the hundreds of other abbreviations
used to communicate we now have CSR.
CSR this, CSR that and CSR the other
are banded about. Often it is intermingled with the
"strategy" word, in business conversations
and the media. Mostly its a PR / Branding thing and
we all know perception and reality are very different.
There are a plethora of definitions
of what CSR actually means. Wikipedia settles on the
following;
Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) is a concept that organisations have an obligation
to consider the interests of customers, employees,
shareholders, communities, and ecological considerations
in all aspects of their operations. This obligation
is seen to extend beyond their statutory obligation
to comply with legislation.
The word that sticks out for me
in this definition is "consider".
People "consider" lots
of things, most of which lead to no action but plenty
of words, statements, spin, conferences and (HR?)
reports. We can consider the evil in the world, in
the papers, or on our doorstep. Consideration and
action are different things... and consideration of
what?
Should organisation's be good to
their stakeholders and go over and above that required
by legislation? Sounds like a good idea to me. But
making real change is more difficult and has to go
beyond mere considerations.
For all the great Make
a Difference Events we or anyone else does, and
all the great CSR work that does go on, I can't helpthinking
that all the CSR activity is only able to scratch
the surface of the social and environmental problems
we face.
However well meaning CSR initiatives
may be, business has to follow the rules. In most
countries Directors have a legal duty to put the shareholders
first, putting legal obligations and CSR in juxtaposition.
It is governments that set and enforce
the rules of the great game of business and corporate
relationships with people and society. We need legislation
to make a real difference, nationally and internationally.
An example of what I am on about
here... Supermarkets, Shops and Plastic Bags are bad
news! They issue 11 Billion of them a year in the
UK, all made from oil, and ending up in landfills
or apparently causing
immense damage to the marine environment.
So, all these retailers are up to
speed on CSR...all have policies and are considering
lots of things..... and what action? - some tinkering,
extra points and a designer bag here and there...
so far.
EU or Government could surely outlaw
/ change to recycled paper bags by bringing forward
legislation and change the game overnight. This is
only a small example, of my point that to make major
changes it is governments we need to press for action
on all fronts of CSR and this means changing the rules
of the economic game.
One of the big ones is Carbon Taxation...
the need for a global move away from income and/ or
VAT taxes to Pollution Tax is essential for combating
climate change. It will only happen if we all take
the trouble to understand the issues, get behind the
spin and buzzwords and get involved in changing the
politics.
Whether or not our media is dumming
down is difficult to measure objectively. it certainly
seems that way to me, and those I discuss it with.
You can listen to 5 Live for an hour and learn virtually
nothing, watch TV news where reporters grandstand
and comment on what has not happened, or read a newspaper
with little but pap, mindless celeb commentary and
propaganda.
Reading books has always been an
"escape to sanity" for me, but now with
pod casts, youtube, google video and the internet
it is possible to feed the brain with interesting,
stimulating and amazing information that really does
fall into the category of knowledge.
If I had read these words just 3
months ago I would have thought skeptically.
The only society or organisation
I belong to is The Skeptics Society which is dedicated
to the pursuit of rational enquiry and promotion of
science.
My experience of the climate change
/ global warming issue has been transformed over the
past 3 months, the more I have read, researched and
learnt from a variety of sources, the more concerned
I have become, realising that the time for action
is not now, but was 20 years ago.
Prior to watching, Al Gore's An
Inconvenient Truth, my awareness and knowledge was
derived from a Harvard Reunion in Venice in 2004,
where there was a lecture from a top climatologist.
It was clear there was a problem and that Venice itself
was at threat and a wall was being contemplated. The
main message seemed to be to expect a metre rise in
sea levels over the next 100 years, some cities would
have to move, but that it was containable, given a
Kyoto type treaty. This, it turns out is the bright
side.
Other than this I was vaguely aware
of a debate and this turned into becoming more and
more aware over the course of last year.
More recently we have got to the
point where the debate is over from a rational point
of view. Al Gore's summary of the information, communicated
brilliantly and widely, through the now oscar winning
film, coincided with a tipping point for me, when
Michael Shermer of the Skeptics Society declared that
it was not credible to be skeptical about climate
change. And greenhouse gases being the cause. There
followed all the evidence and links to references
etc.
Other sources I would recommend
if you have any doubts on this would include those
I have made links to the right of this page.
The law of probabilities based on
the existing evidence would suggest urgent action.
How drastic this needs to be depends on your appetite
for risk. Rational Enquiry and referenced evidence
publicly available on the internet suggests that without
change there is probably an 85% chance that we will
destroy life as we know it, within a couple of generations,
maybe sooner, maybe in our lifetime. The cause - carbon
emissions mainly.
It is a huge message, that is still
being distorted and the waters muddied by media outlets,
such as Channel 4, cashing in on advertisers willing
to buy slots supporting "controversial"
programmes put together by discredited "documentary"
makers and a few maverick and already exposed "scientists".
Again some of the sources on the
right helped me to discern why this is and has happened.
More polemical is "who killed the electric car".
Trying to become aware and trying
to make a difference is good business. As well as
the obvious "you can't do business if everyone
is dead", there are great bonuses and cost savings.
Some examples we have experienced
as we have implemented and researched different initiatives
include;
- Ecotricity - power 100% from renewable's, cheaper
than Powergen -
- Moving fleet to lpg could save 20% of our fuel bill.
- Providing a hot water facility and giving up kettles
= 95% reduction in power usage.
As well as being aware and accounting
for £ we are going to need to become as literate in
the "carbon economy". There are only two
approaches to take- reduce the carbon footprint of
activity and offset the remainder.
However I suspect that this will
not be enough without the sort of action that has
throughout history, been needed to jog the rich powerful
communication barons and the political classes into
action. In other words moving or removing entrenched
interests in the status quo.
The message I have taken and am
trying to communicate is that we have to think radically
different, to think in terms of carbon emissions,
minimising them, accounting for them and that we must
do this now.
For MotivAction this will have to
mean that we only work with aware and responsible
partners, clients and suppliers. This means we have
to be an example ourselves, in everything we do, first.
Any other course of action is irrational
and questions our fitness to survive.
We are 20 years late, so speed and
urgency means top priority.
Horseshoes &
Arctic Predators - Recent Visitors to the Farm.
January saw the most successful
jockey in English National Hunt Racing visit Ardeley,
this time on a four wheeled steed.
Richard Dunwoody has ridden 1699
winners and became champion jockey three times. Plagued
with injuries, his career was cut short in 1999. Since
retiring, Richard has focused on his business - specialising
in a range of marketing services, sponsorship and
personnel management.
Richard is now an extremely compelling
motivational speaker, sharing his experiences as a
top sportsman in a highly competitive environment
with business audiences. We were treated to Richard
re-living several Grand National races with fervour,
and took great wisdom from his determination and concept
of controllable and uncontrollable factors – applicable
in Horse Racing, business environments or even an
afternoon in the pub…
In late February Adrian Webster
entertained the troops with talk of Polar Bears and
Neg Ferrets, though this was not an Attenborough documentary
or recollection of an expedition in the wilderness.
A varied career encompassing riot police work, milk
delivery and radio presenting culminated, somehow,
with Adrian’s realisation that he was an exceptional
motivational speaker. Using this skill, he has carved
a name for himself as one of the best in the business.
Author of the book Polar Bear Pirates
and their quest for Fat City, and creator of the Polar
Bear Pirate world, the animated Webster proceeded
to give a stirring speech filled with emotional extremes.
Both engaging and highly humorous, he focuses on the
power of people and personality within business, and
applies highly recognisable terminologies and analogies
to our lives and the people who inhabit them. From
the superb and successful ‘Polar Bear’ to the egotistical
‘BLOATER’, Webster’s imaginary realm contains characters
that we all can spot in the real world.
Adrian suggests true success
lies in the adoption of light-hearted but determined
values: that the tiny, noticeable things (TNTS) are
what will ultimately separate you from the rest of
the field.
We will be launching a series of
Team Events over the course of the next 3 months linked
to the science, facts and consequences of Global Warming.
Objectives and content will include;
Raising Awareness
Team Building
Skill Development
Creative and Analytical thinking
Communication
Personal and Business Environmental Action Plans
We are looking to engage a couple of clients in the
development phase - if this is something you may be
interested in helping to develop please contact me.
Over the holidays I "discovered"
YouTube. WoW. I found myself spending hour upon hour
finding and viewing some educational, inspiring, amusing
and memorable broadcasts.
WOW - almost anything can be found
on anything, and no porn!It is now possible to learn,
for nothing, from some of the best teachers and scientists
around the globe, to hear and see some stunning lectures
and debates, opening eyes and ears to anyone with
the time, internet access and inclination
Being able to download pod casts
to listen to in the car ( I am also an evangelist
iPODer) and YouTube at home have revolutionised my
listening and viewing habits.
MotivAction Case Study Available
from Harvard Business School by clicking
here.
After 10 years in business I decided
I'd better learn a bit more about it. This led to
applying for the Harvard OPM Programme which entailed
a month a year for 3 years, 98,99 & 2000, staying
on campus at HBS.
This was a considerable shock to
the system, a huge learning curve and harder work
than I have experienced before or since. Bill Bruns,
a man who can make "Accounting and Control"
stimulating, interesting and nearly exciting, came
over to the UK to write a "case" on MotivAction.
Now Harvard MBA's learn about MotivAction and occasionally
one or more email me to ask "what happened".
Advice to a young woman - try
making these 4 agreements with yourself
Agreement 1
Be impeccable with your word - Speak with integrity.
Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak
against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the
power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
Agreement 2
Don't take anything personally - Nothing others do
is because of you. What others say and do is a projection
of their own reality, their own dream. When you are
immune to the opinions and actions of others, you
won't be the victim of needless suffering.
Agreement 3
Don't make assumptions - Find the courage to ask questions
and to express what you really want. Communicate with
others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings,
sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you
can completely transform your life.
Agreement 4
Always do your best - Your best is going to change
from moment to moment; it will be different when you
are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance,
simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment,
self-abuse and regret.
Most of us love talking and admire effective speakers
– good listeners are much more rare. However, effective
listening is central to success in business, as it
is key to establishing and maintaining good relationships
with clients and colleagues.
Good conversations are underpinned
by trust and mutual respect and allow rapport and
empathy to be developed. Rapport is a sense of ease
and mutual understanding between people. Listening
is core to developing rapport.
Effective listening involves:
giving your full attention to
the speaker
reflecting back what they say
(facts and feelings) i.e. picking up what’s not
said and how it’s said, as well as the actual words
summarising and interpreting
what’s been said to check y
