William Wilberforce - A 'fanatic' who changed the world for the better

I’m sure the word ‘fanatic’ sparks different emotions for all of us.

‘Fanatic’ can be a description of an extremist, even a dangerous person … or not

William Wilberforce, the famous Member of Parliament (MP) was described recently by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the greatest Englishman of the last millennium.

As a Christian and an MP, William Wilberforce led the battle, for 20 years, to abolish the British Slave Trade. He was hated by many because slavery was big business and people ‘in the business’ were strongly against abolition because their livelihood would be threatened.

Nevertheless Wilberforce remained single minded and determined mainly because of his faith in God. Despite numerous defeats of his Bills to abolish the Slave Trade in the House of Commons he persevered.

Eventually the British Slave Trade was abolished in 1807. Wilberforce carried on for another 27 years leading the battle for slavery itself to be abolished. Three days after the abolition of slavery Wilberforce died.

He had battled for almost 50 years to rid the world of this appalling testimony in the history of mankind.

At the height of his battles Wilberforce was described as a ‘fanatic’ by his many opponents. In a speech to the House of Commons, William Wilberforce said;

“If to be feeling alive to all sufferings of my fellow creatures and to be warmed with the desire of relieving their distress, is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”

What fabulous words from an incredible man.

Front liners know best yet again!

I think it is timely for me to say I feel honoured to have so many fabulous readers who make outstanding comments to Simplicity Blog. Thank you all so much.

Among many comments on my Simplicity posting on Wednesday this week, my friend John O'Leary said this:

“I was working with frontline workers to redesign workflow in an Ontario sawmill. When we solicited cost-saving suggestions from one worker and learned of a simple and quick fix that would save the operation millions of dollars, we asked him why he didn't mention it before. He replied, "I did 10 years ago, but my supervisor told me to just stick to my job, so I did."

Everyone who reads my Blog, my articles or my books will know I have a passion for enabling front line workers to just get on with the job with no interference. I also call for the obliteration of petty, silly rules and the 'control' attitude of some managers.

John's powerful comment reminded me of one of my favourite quotes from the great management guru – perhaps THE greatest – the late Peter Drucker who said;

“Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.”

Sums up the supervisor in John’s story perfectly wouldn’t you say?

Amen to Mr Drucker's words and thanks again to John – I just had to make a special posting of this one!

Free Speaking Advice from the Top Man

With Tom in May 2006 in London

If you want some fantastic FREE advice about the art of speaking from one of the world's leading speakers on business then go to Tom Peters at this link. Tom has a phenomenal record of speeches to millions of people all over the world over the last 30 years.

I was fortunate enough to attend a Tom Peters Seminar in May 2006 in London. Tom spoke for 6 hours in four 90 minute slots. It was a brilliant experience.

If you were to ‘buy’ professional advice on public speaking you would pay a fortune.

In this half hour interview Tom provides many nuggets of advice. The highlight for me is when Tom talks about the power of stories – Amen to that Tom. In fact my book ‘I Wanna Tell You a Story’ is a collection of 16 leadership stories. It has always been my belief that story telling is the most under used skill in any manager’s repertoire.

I hope you find time to enjoy listening to the great man in conversation.

Complexity and Simplicity

I’ve been thinking about the very legitimate discussion that happens now and again between those who think simplicity is not the real world of business and life. I'm pretty sure some believe the world is full of complexity and maybe they think that simplicity as a mantra is a naive view.

Of course I accept that not everything in business is simple.

Of course there is complexity and it is hard work to try and work out for instance how the heck the NHS works in the UK if you don’t happen to work inside it. Actually even if you do work inside the NHS it is difficult to work out how it works!

My entire argument is that things do not have to be as complex as we make them.

Two things to illustrate my point.

Firstly I love story telling – it is perhaps the most under used skill of any manager or leader. It is such an effective method of communicating. We learn the skill from our Parents and Grandparents if we are lucky. We can carry on the tradition by telling stories to our own children and Grandchildren. So the brilliant news is you don’t need to go to business school to learn this skill. And yet mangers and business schools are already polluting story telling with unnecessarily complicated language by calling it

‘The use of narrative’

It is not 'the use of narrative' - for crying out loud IT IS STORY TELLING!

Secondly how many of you know anyone who goes to sleep at night hoping, praying and dreaming that their work will be more complex tomorrow?

I rest my case on Simplicity

True, Good, or Useful ...

Socrates (469 - 399 BC)

Annie and I are indebted to our Christian missionary friends David and Alisan currently working in Namibia for this gem of wisdom. It is for all of us involved in the world of business, leadership and management ... indeed life in general ....

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC) Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said

"Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really"

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor Good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed.

This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

'Integrity' - Get some FREE advice for business leaders from Nicky Gumbel

We visited Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London to hear another fascinating talk by Nicky Gumbel. This time the subject was integrity.

Nicky’s words of wisdom are well worth listening to. You can download yesterday’s talk at this link

If you want 40 minutes of free advice that you would pay a fortune for from a management consultant please have a listen.

I’ve always argued that integrity and humility are two of the greatest qualities of a leader. In yesterday's talk Nicky gave numerous examples of what integrity actually means in practical terms if you are a manager or leader in business.

One story that sticks in my head is about 'Gibbo' who shared an office with his boss Gordon Selfridge owner of the world famous store Selfridges.

The phone rang and the Gibbo answered. The caller wanted to speak to Gordon Selfridge. Gibbo asked the caller to hold on and told Gordon who was calling. Gordon said ‘Tell him I’m not here'

Gibbo handed the phone to Gordon and said ‘You tell him you are not here’

Gordon was furious and Gibbo said to his boss ‘I refused because if I can lie FOR you I can lie TO you and I will NEVER lie to you’

From that moment Gibbo was taken into the confidence of the boss and considered a trusted source. That is integrity.

Question - how many of us would have done the same as Gibbo?

I admit to not acting in that way at times in my career.

Dan Ward and the Boomer Sisters!

I received an e-mail today from my friend Dan Ward in the US. Dan is a prolific writer and this is what Dan says:

I just wanted to let you all know the third book in the Boomer Sisters series (The Boomer Sisters In The City) is now finished and ready for sale, just in time for Christmas! You can find a preview of the entire book at www.lulu.com/RoguePress

I hope you will visit Dan's site to see the full range of his writing.Dan also has an excellent Blog - click here

Patients Stories

I do a number of talks nowadays to health professionals about greater patient involvement and improving communication between patients and professionals in the NHS.

I often use this fictitious story to illustrate some of the problems.

Joe Bloggs goes into his local hospital for routine surgery and a couple of days after his operation there is a phone call to the ward in which Joe is a patient.

The caller asks ‘Can I ask how Joe Bloggs is doing please?'

The nurse in charge of the Ward replies – ‘Oh Joe is doing fine. His surgery was successful; he is recuperating very well and we are expecting the Surgeon to allow Joe to be discharged home today. Can I ask who calling please?’

The caller replies ‘Thanks for that information, this is Joe Bloggs. No bugger tells me anything around here.’

Of course that is an exaggeration … isn’t it?

I would love to hear stories from Simplicity readers about the good and bad experiences of communncation in healthcare settings whether in hospital or General Practice.

Real stories (anonymous of course) are always great subject matter in my work

Thank you in anticipation.

Carers - the invisible army

I am honoured to be part of a small team of facilitators currently running a series of 9 consultation events in various regions of England asking carers to have their say and their input to the revised national carer’s strategy.

The 'New Deal for Carers Strategy' will be published in early 2008 by the Department of Health.

Today I met another 10 fantastic carers as part of that process.

I have worked closely with carers for over 20 years and I sometimes rather arrogantly start to think I know a fair bit about the subject of carers. Then I am pulled up short and reminded with yet another amazing story from carers themselves how little I actually know about what it is really like to be a carer.

Today two people in my group told me they have been caring for their spouse for a total of 15 years between them and neither of them has ever had help from the services that are meant to help them such as social services and the NHS.

For instance neither have ever received respite care – indeed one of the two did not even know what the expression ‘respite care’ actually meant.

It is incredible that in 2007 we have so many 'hidden carers' who are just 'doing the job' from a sense of love, duty and obligation and they are not asking for help because they do not know they are legally entitled to it.

The Government is getting care on the cheap through carers goodwill and the more we can promote the needs of carers the better.

Irate mother punishes 61-year-old son

One of the funniest stories from Nicky Gumbel last Sunday was about how we all need to 'grow up' spiritually. He related this wonderful story from Italy. You can see the original story by clicking here

An irate mother took the house keys and allowance away from her 61-year-old son because he did not come home when he was supposed to and did not tell her where he was going when he went out.

According to the La Sicilia daily, the 81-year-old mother even went to the police in her home town of Caltagirone to ask them to convince her “hard-headed” son to “behave correctly with his mamma”.

The son replied that it was his mother who behaved badly and added that “my weekly allowance isn’t enough… and she doesn’t even cook well”.

After locking her son out of their home, the mother told police that “my son doesn’t respect me, he never tells me where he goes at night and comes home at all hours”.

“I was forced to punish him by taking away his keys and locking him out after he yet again came home late at night. He always complains about my cooking and this just couldn’t go on,” she added.

According to the son, “it’s not my fault. She always treats me badly. I’m unemployed and the allowance she gives me isn’t enough. And her cooking is really awful!”.

A policeman was able to convince the mother and son to reconcile and they returned home together, where the son was given back his keys and allowance.

Wonderful - thank you Nicky!

Leadership Lessons - More NHS memories ...

'The problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished’ - George Bernard Shaw.

When I was about 18 I spent some terrific time going round various departments in the hospital I worked at to learn the ropes so that as an aspiring manager I might have an appreciation of what it is really like to be doing the work at the front line. Quite forward thinking in 1970 when I think about it, so let’s immediately dispel the myth that all the best ideas were invented in the last 7 days.

One of my placements was with the female (yes they were all women) telephonists at the hospital. This was a fascinating place. These folks knew everything. I was impressed. Every call - and there were hundreds - that came through was processed efficiently and the women always seemed to know just what to do. It was like watching an orchestra conductor to see them use those old fashioned plugs. Never once in the time I spent observing them and learning did I see any of the staff ‘lose it’ or get flustered. They always seemed in control and take it from me the volume of calls at peak periods was phenomenal.

At non-peak times such as early evening the women had time to tell me of some of their stories and of course I was very eager to learn. One story sticks in my mind.

It was in the early hours of the morning on a cold winter evening when there was a knock on the entrance door to the hospital which was adjacent to the switchboard. The telephonist on duty opened the door to be greeted by a confused looking elderly lady. She was invited into the switchboard office and as this was an unusual occurrence the telephonist was keen to find out what the problem was. The old lady explained that she had been to the accident and emergency department a few days previously after a fall which had resulted in a nasty laceration. She explained to the telephonist how she had been given a tetanus injection by the doctor and she had been asked to return for a booster injection in five years time. The telephonist listened intently wondering what the problem could possibly be.

The old lady became increasingly emotional and upset as she went on … I have ‘paraphrased’ but the message is authentic.

‘The doctor told me to come back in five years time for another injection. I have been doing some research and I have just found out that in five years time the anniversary of my injection will be a Saturday and your accident and emergency department is closed at the weekends. I got worried about it and couldn’t sleep which explains why I am here. I need to make sure I got the right date. Can you check for me please?’

When I tell this story many people say it has an ‘Ahhhh’ value which of course it does. The story is an accurate reconstruction of something that has stuck with me for over 30 years. The story illustrates how important checking out comprehension is. The patient had taken the instruction literally. She acted ‘correctly’ and yet all of us would say – ‘well of course anyone would know that the 5 year request did not mean an exact requirement.’ But I do not share that view. I am often accused of being pedantic about checking out whether my listener has understood what I am asking. Life has taught me this and I make no apology. So often in my career I have said something that has been heard by my listener as something else. This is not complicated – take time to check out comprehension.

Leadership Lesson - Never, ever assume – become a pain in the backside - check out comprehension of your listener

All pennies have the same value

If you are anything like me you have to work really hard about not being judgmental.

I have heard many stories in my life about this subject. I’m sure you have too. I’d love to hear them.

My favourite is the story of the tramp who stumbled into Church on Sunday morning in his filthy, smelly clothes and proceeded to make his way to the front stumbling along and mumbling incoherently passing the immaculately dressed members of the congregation.

They shuffled uncomfortably in their seats as the tramp made his way towards the pulpit. No one was quite sure what to do and so no one did anything. The tramp seemed oblivious as he looked down at the congregation from the pulpit still mumbling.

They waited in an embarrassed and uncomfortable silence wondering what might happen next.

The tramp took off his coat and hat, removed his untidy, scruffy looking false beard and proceeded to deliver the sermon. The audience quickly realised this was the Minister and so they immediately relaxed. What a wonderful way to make a point.

Was the tramp welcomed as warmly as the Minister? … We all know that's a 'no brainer.'

Although I genuinely hope I am getting better as I get older I sometimes still make wrong assumptions about someone based primarily on their appearance.

I'm working on it but I admit I sometimes still do it!

How about you?

I think it is a very unusual person who can honestly look in the mirror and say they have never been judgmental about someone based on perception; the appearance of the person; maybe even just the reputation that goes before them; their race; their skin colour; their religion; their sexual preference; their lifestyle; the list goes on .....

It was delightful therefore to be reminded by Nicky Gumbel of the wonderful words of GK Chesterton who said;

‘People are equal in the same way pennies are equal. Some are bright, others are smooth, others are sharp and fresh. But all pennies are equal in value.’ G K Chesterton

Next time I feel myself making assumptions I will do well to remember the words of GK Chesterton.

Listen to Patients Stories

I always said I learned more from patients and their carers than I ever did from bosses in my NHS career.

I am happy to say that learning from patients continues in my new work situation.

Two wonderful and touching examples in the last two days reminded me of this.

On Thursday I spoke to a young man in his thirties (I will call him 'Tom')

We were sharing our mutual love of football. Turned out he was a West Ham fan. I digress…

Tom told me how he had suffered intermittent shooting pains down his leg for a couple of years and had been told it was sciatica. He was on prescribed tablets to reduce inflammation and it seemed to work as he found that whilst taking the tablets the pain eased. When he stopped taking the tablets the pain returned. He played football and when his playing season ended a few weeks ago he decided he didn’t really want to spend the rest of his life on tablets. Tom decided to ask his doctor if there was anything that could be done. His doctor arranged for him to have a scan and it was discovered he had a rare cancer of the spine that needed surgery. Tom was rushed in as an emergency – had major surgery that lasted almost 7 hours - and here he was, back at work less than five weeks after his surgery. Tom told me he hopes to play football again and his doctor has said that should be possible.

Lesson – Respect the health professionals but also look after your own health as well. Always ask questions and don’t necessarily accept the initial diagnosis.

Then on Friday I had another powerful lesson.

I was facilitating a really interesting discussion with a group of 10 members of the public about healthy lifestyles and we were debating the controversial topic of smoking.

There were 3 smokers among the 10 people around my table. Those 3 people were understandably vocal about how everyone has the right to choose whether they smoke or not. And of course most of us agree with individual choice.

One of the other 7 people quietly made a very profound statement that affected us all. He is a man in his 70’s (for the sake of this story I will call him Bill)

Bill said he had given up smoking 40 years ago and we were all shocked when he calmly said, ‘But it was too late. I have cancer.’

Once we had recovered from this shock - and I had allowed the necessary respectful silence having heard Bill’s emotional statement - I decided to ask Bill a question.

I said ‘Bill, thank you for sharing that with us, what advice would you give to anyone who is a smoker?’

Bill replied with just one word ‘Stop’

That is all he said.

Bill's eyes moistened but he held his emotions in. It was enough for us all to know that here was a very strong man who now regrets the damage he had done in his earlier life. He was not looking for sympathy.

40 years ago smoking was not only acceptable – it was positively encouraged through glamorous advertisements.

Lesson - I pray the 3 people who smoked really thought hard about Bill’s experience and his one word of advice.

Real life stories from patients are just wonderful. There simply is no better way to learn about healthcare.

The job description of every Chief Executive in the NHS should contain a REQUIREMENT to listen to patient’s stories. This should be compulsory and regular – a minimum of three personal stories every week.

Two more books from Dan Ward

Two more new books written by my prolific US author friend Dan Ward are now published and available for sale from LULU.

First The Desert at this link http://stores.lulu.com/sillyhat

Second The Simplicity Cycle at this link http://stores.lulu.com/roguepress

I hope readers of Simplicity Blog will spread the word about these two easy to read books.

Dan is a talented writer who incorporates the lighter side of life and humour together with profound messages in the same book.

The Desert

One of the best things that has happened to me since I left the corporate world of healthcare and became independent is that I have made many 'virtual friends' all over the world.

One such person from the United States is Dan Ward with whom I regularly exchange thoughts on all matters!

Dan and I share a passion for simplicity.

He has written a number of short books in the last couple of years.

Dan recently sent me the manuscript of his latest book The Desert which is a great read. I read it on a train journey so in an afternoon you can sit and read this little masterpiece while enjoying a glass (or two) of wine sitting in the sun in the garden.

I hope Simplicity readers will take a look and maybe consider buying it - you will not be disappointed and I’m sure you will enjoy Dan’s engaging writing style.

This what Dan says:

‘I just wanted to let you know that my latest book The Desert is finished. It is a happy little collection of stories and reflections about grace, difficulty, faith, joy and love. It offers an optimistic perspective of life, based on the reality of God's goodness. You can read more about it at by clicking here'

The Beatitudes

My good friend Troy Worman from the US published the Beatitudes on his excellent Blog Orbit Now at this link http://troyworman.com/wordpress/

It reminds me how much we can still draw from the greatest book ever written

How wonderful in the modern world we still see this as perhaps the greatest wisdom even though it was preached over 2000 years ago.

The message is as true in business as in our lives – please think about it whether you are or not a Christian.

The Beatitudes

1And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.
2Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Nicky Gumbel on William Wilberforce

Nicky Gumbel - Minister of Holy Trinity, Brompton, London

William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833) - died 3 days after Slavery was finally abolished in Parliament.

We arrived back home in Solihull tonight (Thursday) after a short break in Devon and Cornwall.

It was great to have a bit of a rest and to see friends and family in a lovely part of England. Shame the weather was typically English (much water from the heavens) apart from one day when the sun shone in Plymouth.

Last Sunday Annie and I visited Holy Trinity Brompton in London to hear a wonderful sermon from Nicky Gumbel.

Nicky told us that 2007 is the 200th anniversary of the abolition (1807) of Slave Trade which was largely achieved through the life long and tireless work of a great Briton - William Wilberforce.

Nicky opened his talk with a story that puts the importance of William Wilberforce into perspective. The Archbishop of Canterbury was asked who he felt was the greatest British person of the last one thousand years and the Archbishop replied without hesitating – William Wilberforce

Hearing Nicky talk about Wilberforce made me look up more information about Wilberforce and it seems he was indeed a great man who dedicated his life to abolition of slavery. It seems he could have been Prime Minister but Wilberforce refused to consider that because he wanted to continue the fight for the abolition of slavery.

We have much to thank Wilberforce for as we have moved from that barbaric practice to a modern life. It was therefore surprising to learn from Nicky that slavery is still very much a problem in the year 2007.

Thanks for feedback - Learning as I go!

Thanks - I have had some great feedback about my first Audio Blog yesterday and I have tried to take on board all of the constructive comments for this second trial.

This one is 4 minutes 21 seconds. Let me know your feedback.

MP3 File

Four books and more to come ....

Please excuse personal indulgence - just a quick advert for my four books



'The Nine Fruits of Leadership' - click here for details











'I wanna Tell you a Story' - click here for details










'Simplicity is the Key' - click here for details










'Three Amigos with One Message' - click here for details

You don’t need to shout

Another extract from 'I Wanna Tell You a Story'

‘None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves’ - C.H. Spurgeon, 1834 - 1892

One evening many years ago I was manager on call for my hospital and at around 7 pm the phone rang. It was the switchboard to tell me the fire alarm was going off. I drove to the hospital thinking that as usual this would be another false alarm.

I arrived and was met by a less common situation in that there was a genuine problem. One of the evening cleaners had unfortunately forgotten she had left a pot of water boiling on a hot plate and the water had boiled dry causing the pan to become extremely hot and eventually smoke had begun to emerge thus activating the smoke detectors and setting off the fire alarm. The local fire brigade complete with two engines blue lights flashing and sirens screaming had arrived on the scene to quickly confirm there was no serious damage and all was returning to calm. The poor cleaner was very upset that her oversight had caused such a commotion and I could not help feeling sorry for her. As calm was restored the catering manager who had been called out from home too arrived on the scene. She was a stern woman who, upon surveying the scene and hearing what had happened, proceeded to launch into what I can only describe as a tirade of abuse aimed at the cleaner. The manager accused her of gross inefficiency and stupidity for allowing this incident to happen. Let’s be honest this was not what the cleaner wanted to hear. She was already clearly upset and feeling guilty and then to have this telling off sent her over the edge and she burst into tears. Now we had a situation that was distressing for the few people gathered in the immediate area and caused much embarrassment. The
memory of that incident is still vivid in my head and it taught me many things about managing people.

When people have made a mistake the last thing they need to be reminded of in an aggressive way is that they have made that mistake and thereby made to feel like some immature cretin with no intelligence.

Of course there is clearly a time and a place for a ticking off when merited. As adults, and particularly as managers, with responsibility for managing people, we should surely understand and indeed have empathy with people who make genuine mistakes that do not amount to gross negligence.

I believe that when people have made a mistake they will invariably ‘punish’ themselves enough without the need for some arrogant and uncaring manager to rub salt in the wounds by balling them out in public.

Leadership Lesson

You don’t need to shout – people know when they have made a mistake.