The Serious Business of Happiness…

modoto ltd has slightly disappeared off the radar over the past 18 months or so because we’ve been dedicating pretty much all our time to Happiness.  The Happy City Initiative is gaining some recognition (we’re included as ‘rising stars of tomorrow’s green scene’ in this weekend’s Observer magazine) as people begin to understand the power and scope of our initiative for change.

The first hurdle to ‘getting’ what we’re doing, is the word ‘Happiness’ itself.   We’re so bombarded by ideas of happiness as pleasure, that people often struggle to distinguish between the two.  This confusion has deep roots because the marketing and advertising machinery of economic growth has devoted its considerable skill to persuading us that things which give us pleasure are the route to happiness.  This has never been true.

Pleasure is always short-lived. No matter how pleasurable the activity/thing is, an overdose of anything will begin to pall in time, and ultimately become repulsive.   Happiness as we’re viewing it is a set of universally recognised qualities in life.  Irrespective of culture, geography, age or any other factor, we KNOW that people value relationships most highly and that we ALL thrive when we have a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose and place.  Noticing and naming these things for ourselves is an incredibly powerful thing to do, because happiness is the magic key to social and environmental transformation, not simply an ephemeral bit of joy.

Since everybody has their own ideas about happiness, it’s a conversation we can all have.  The magical part (the bit that leads to social, environmental and yes, economic transformation) is that conversations about happiness built on the points above, draw people into positive, constructive engagement in ways that overcome some of our most intractable challenges. This is hugely important.

In business terms, there’s plenty of evidence around to show that employees are looking much more actively for a good work life balance, and that many are making changes that de-prioritise cash if it relieves them from being in the stress/burnout zone.   This shifting perspective should come as no surprise to any forward looking organisation, since it’s so clearly linked to the shifting landscape of 21^st century business.  We’ve overdosed on consumption to such an extent that people are searching for meaning, and that search for meaning is highlighting the effects of our industrial impact on environment and society.

So what can we do to adapt?  We’ve developed a ‘Happiness Challenge’ that helps people get to grips with the meaning, importance and value of happiness as a focus which improves work and life in many ways.  The challenge, which starts with teams inside an organisation and develops to include stakeholders and eventually local communities, is a sure-fire way to build a positive, happier workplace where people thrive and success naturally flourishes.

We’ve got the evidence to show that a happiness focus is incredibly effective as a way to increase creativity, pro-activity and to reduce interpersonal conflict.  We know it enhances collaboration and negotiation skills, and these things quite naturally increase job satisfaction, improve health and retention rates, and as a result, directly boost the happiness of customers and suppliers.

The challenge itself is a 10 week programme including group workshops, on-line and supported learning, coaching and action with trainer mentoring throughout.  It’s based on live issues and features leadership, positive psychology and cross- cultural facilitation. Expect practical, challenging fun with effective outcomes to make your organisation flourish.

The Happiness Challenge launches in September. To register interest and receive full details, write to mike@happycity.org.uk

modoto continues to offer facilitation, coaching and leadership support and will happily tailor a bespoke event or programme for organisations which are serious about positive change.

The Hungry Elephant

Well budget day has been and gone, and unsurprisingly, nothing has really changed.  Small things have, but nothing of consequence.

The biggest problem we face on earth is the idea that growth is more important than anything else, and economic growth remained the unquestionable centre of yesterday’s announcements.  At the Happy City Initiative, we believe the best thing for business is the same thing that’s best for people, and that is the prospect of long term prosperity.  Annual growth forever is an utterly destructive nonsense that will surely rip apart both people and planet.

The resources do not exist for this kind of fantasy, and anyway, if we re-directed our efforts towards better measures of prosperity, we’ll find plenty to do that enhances life more meaningfully than simply selling more stuff.

Let’s stop confusing our ideas about Happiness.  Selling more stuff to get richer so I can buy more things that make me happy is all about Shortwave Happiness. It doesn’t last.

Developing our sense of community, care for the places we live and how we live in them are the ingredients of Longwave Happiness. This CAN last.

We believe there’s heart-felt truth in the desire for sustainability and social cohesion, but these things cannot, and will not become a reality until the banking systems have been reformed in favour of service to the public, and the notion of growth as our ultimate goal has been dropped.

So we’re here to stand for a new, practical and applied form of people-friendly economy that works in the interests of all of us.  We created the Happy City Initiative to name the ‘Elephant in the room’, to help people see and act on an alternative vision, and to help provide the skills which make us all masters of our own economy.  Let’s not forget the elephant of growth REQUIRES our unhappiness to feed itself. If we become content with who we are and what we have, our interest in consumption fades.

Call us if you’d like to focus your team on the skills which promote long term prosperity, are good for business, good for people, and good for the planet.

 

Changing British Life?

Give the government a choice between a nice long pole and a horse to help them cross a high wire, and it looks like they’d go for the horse.   There’s no doubt that they can see the wire, and that they understand how important it is not to fall off – but for some reason (perhaps an inherited love of horses), they seem determined to take the wire at a canter.

Cameron has just talked about budget cuts, emphasising the need to reduce our budget deficit and keep the confidence of the market.  He’s said “How we deal with these things will affect our economy, our society – indeed our whole way of life. The decisions we make will affect every single person in our country. And the effects of those decisions will stay with us for years, perhaps decades to come”.

He’s right of course – but he’s got there by using the right formula in the wrong order – and that means he’s likely to get it wrong in the future.  As Bill Clinton’s campaign team so rightly said ‘It’s the economy, stupid’, but the decisions are NOT actually about debt and trade.  The real issue is that we’re living as though we had three planets at our disposal, and the key driver for that sorry state of affairs is our attitude to finance.  The ‘markets’ are simply made up of people playing a game by a set of rules that make no allowances for the real world effects of their activities.

So yes, we need to reduce debt, and yes, we need to head for recovery – but the government needs to make it clear that a recovery has to address our financial hedonism, or it will involve the ultimate cost of life.   The efficiency of public spending, certainly needs addressing, but the banks and banking system should be squarely in the frame at the same time.

At the moment, it looks to me like the government is preparing for Beechers Brook, and they don’t stand a chance of crossing that wire.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Sustainable Change

Indiana Jones is a committed pioneering, flexible, multi-talented, adaptable, high energy risk taker at the cutting edge of his field.   I always believed he was just an archaeologist who liked adventure holidays – until I was approached by Chris Chapman.

Chapman visited me in June 2007 on the pretext of interviewing me for his Masters degree on “Change Agent Skills & Strategies”.  I remember that the sun was out and my guard was down as we sat in the garden chatting about ‘making  a difference’.  At the time I had no idea how I was being manipulated, but  soon came to see I’d been stripped like a bamboo in a Panda Pen.

Chris used his considerable charm to talk to 5 other unsuspecting Change Agents, before retiring to his Irish bolthole to hatch an audacious plan.   He used the information we gave him, studied, added his own experience, and set out to describe in detail the traits of exceptional Sustainable Change Agents. He later returned with a plan for world domination. It’s time to tell all…

Book Marks

This year I’ve decided on a whim to try and keep track of the books I read and what I thought of them.  If you’ve thoughts on my thoughts – do share.  Also happy to receive suggestions along the lines of ‘if you liked that, you’ll enjoy this…’  Thanks for dropping by.

Reviews below: Can Any Mother Help me? – Getting Up and Down –  The Secret Life of Trees –  English Constitutional History –  Taming Your Gremlin –  The Happiness Purpose –  Three Cups of Tea – Piracy, Turtles & Flying Foxes – Digital Fortress – Toby Alone – A Face to the World – The Long Road Home – Being White – Cycling into the Sunrise – Letters to my Grandchildren – Bel Canto – Paradise Now – Winner Take Nothing

Currently reading:

What are your optimistic about? by John Brockman, Pocket Books, 2007
Tao te Ching by Lao Tse

REVIEWS

Winner Take Nothing by Ernest Hemmingway, Jonathan Cape, 1934.  This book is a masterclass in descriptive writing. Wikipedia tells me this is his third short story collection, in the period when he was summering in Wyoming and wintering in Key West.  The 14 tales aren’t so much stories with a beginning and an end, but artful vignettes that snap fragments of people’s lives. I really enjoyed them – particularly the ‘homage to switzerland’ which retells the same scene in a railway station cafe three times with a different central character for each part.   The only reference to the title is in a poem at the beginning of the book which reads ‘Unlike all other forms of lutte or combat the conditions are that the winner shall take nothing; neither his ease, nor his pleasure, nor any notions of glory; nor, if he win far enough, shall there be any reward within himself’.  Worth reading for the skill of the writing. 6/10

Paradise Now by Jari Moate, penpress, 2010.  Jari Moate is an excellent writer whose style reminds me of Ben Okri. Paradise Now is filled with delightful and surprising descriptive turns of phrase, and the story itself is shrouded with a sense of questing mystery. The main character, Elektra, is filled with uncertainty and her doubts raise questions which aren’t neatly resolved. The book, once finished, isn’t finished with you.

Set in Bristol, the plot centres on the convergent paths of a local artist who shoots unexpectedly to fame, and an Afghan shopkeeper who seeks to avenge injustice.  The Company [sic] represents the forces of corporate greed, but the ‘bad guys’ aren’t a caricature of evil.  The only parody

Language & Leadership (Gurteen Knowledge Cafe, Bristol)

This Script is what I intend to say at the Gurteen Knowledge Cafe at Pervasive Media Studios in Bristol on 26th November.  At least, that’s the idea – I retain the right to digress at will….

Judge me by my own criteria… one of my central messages is that if you are clear for yourself about the purpose of the language you are using then you are far more likely to achieve that purpose. 

The art and value of pollination

Pollinators are almost invariably popular and curious people – they are compelled to connect people and ideas wherever they go. For some, it’s an art form and their trade. 

The conundrum for these pollinating specialists (the traders) is that they’re constantly seen as ‘good people to have along’ for their great connections and ideas, but there’s never any expectation to pay.  It’s both a virtuous AND a viscious circle in one.  

World Wide Views on Climate Change

A great report from Involve on gobal views about Climate change and what needs to be done about it are published here. Well worth a look – it’s main points are that climate change is NOT too complex for public discussion, that people with facts and information on climate change want action, and they want it to be fair for less developed countries.  The report urges the UK government to be more ambitious about cutting carbon emissions, that it puts much more effort into public information, and that the British public should be far more engaged.

Collaboration for Sustainability in a Networked World

The other day, I went to hear Alice Marie Archer talk about her Masters thesis on ‘Collaboration for Sustainability in a Networked World’.    The buzz acronym (or BzA) was ‘COIN’, which stands for Collaborative Innovation Networks.  We didn’t hear about the optimum number of people for collaborative work in networks (most people I know plump for somewhere between  6 and 12) – but Alice did say

ARE WE HOOKED ON UNHAPPINESS AND CAN WE ‘GROW’ WITHOUT IT?

ARE WE HOOKED ON UNHAPPINESS AND CAN WE ‘GROW’ WITHOUT IT?

The central ideas behind ‘Western’ thinking about economy and society are pretty straightforward. It goes a bit like this: People desire things, people work to make more money to buy more things, people buy more things, more things are required, more work is created, the economic output of the country increases (ie GROWTH), and everybody gets richer & happier (well in principle anyway).