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I made my first appearance on this planet 57 years ago today.
I received this great birthday picture sent electronically through Facebook by my daughter Nadine that was drawn by my 4 year old Grandson Sebastian. This is Sebastian’s drawing of Grandad Gay taking our two dogs Rusty and Bertie for a walk.
Kids are so kind and thoughtful aren’t they? - Sebastian kindly remembered to make sure he showed traces of hair on both sides of my head.
Not sure whether its urban myth or not but I loved this story and I'm indebted to Bob Walker for sharing it on Tom Peters Blog today. I have heard this before but had completely forgotten about it.
Thanks a lot Bob - Simplicity truly has elegance!
"During the Space Race, NASA decided they needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, a pen was successfully developed and even enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back on Earth. It allegedly cost US$241 million. Faced with the same problem, Russian astronauts used a pencil." - Bob Walker
If ever we needed evidence of the new world of instant communication then the tragic death of Michael Jackson yesterday is a perfect example of the use of the new technology to meet our demand, our unquenchable thirst for instant news.
Last night I was watching Sky News on TV at around 8.45 pm when it was announced Michael Jackson had been taken to hospital with a suspected cardiac arrest.
Within two hours Sky reported the very sad news that Michael had died.
I understand both Facebook and Twitter became overloaded; texts by the million were sent back and forth around the world; and there has been wall to wall TV coverage since.
I got to thinking about my 80 year old Mum who was a teenager during World War Two (1939-45). Mum had very little information (make that zero information) in ‘real time’ or ‘live’ about one of the most important periods in the history of the world and in particular Britain and Europe.
Now just 65 short years later (a blink of the eye in historical terms) we have all the information we need (and more) at our fingertips; on demand; and in front of our eyes.
A genuine question …
Have we really made the most effective use of the technology we have seen developed since my Mum was a teenager to build a better, more peaceful and less unequal planet ….or have we used it primarily for news and entertainment value?
Throughout my 40 year involvement in healthcare I’ve spent much of my time with front line employees. Recently I’ve spent more time than usual with receptionists when running training workshops on various topics. Spending time with them is a great reminder to me just how important these people are in the patient experience.
It also reminds me how important the tasks we might call ‘trivial’ are in the grand scheme of things in any walk of life.
Basic tasks are not trivial at all - they are fundamental to an overall purpose.
Any house built on weak foundations is not a safe house. This ‘trivial’ work has to be done and it is often not glamorous. It nevertheless makes the final product what it is.
When I work with a group of receptionists I always say to them:
“Promise me one thing. If you take NOTHING else from this training session please tell me you will never say ‘I’m JUST a receptionist.’ You are a customer service professional. That is the reality.”
In every aspect of my life I see these basic but crucial building blocks in just the same way. We rightly celebrate watching something that gives us a real buzz, due to its sheer beauty; or because it touches some emotional buttons within us. But I believe the final ‘product’ or ‘performance’ we witness is usually the accumulation of lots of little pieces that seen in isolation are minor. This usually requires the input of many people quietly doing effective if unglamorous work.
Interestingly, the best leaders I’ve known; worked for; or interviewed have a humility you can ‘feel’ in their presence. They all say they truly value people at the front line doing the less glamorous stuff and they mean it. The least effective leaders prefer to talk about themselves first.
So it’s another opportunity for me to say thank you and to congratulate all those millions of people who do daily, that work which may be considered by some to be ‘menial.’ I say with the utmost confidence the world is a richer place thanks to the millions of foot-soldiers doing basic work quietly and seeking no spotlight.
