The following is from Nuts and Bolts
I have no pithy comments or clever observations except to say that I agree.
Your Voice Really Matters
July 18th, 2007 by Chief Nut
Let’s start with a quote from Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Now consider how most people (and, I mean the VAST majority) go through their daily grind with blinders on. Not just physical blinders – seen in people’s general unwillingness to help each other – but also psychological blinders … where people seem to just not care about their fellow man and the impact they, as individuals, might have on the world.
Now consider a post by blog evangelist Robert Scoble where he talks about the services being offered by PodTech.net and the future of what we call “television”. He tips his hand about how he views this emerging technology, NOT by talking in acronyms or techie-ese, but by pointing out that these technologies can make a difference in how we view the world. He describes a new divide. Not a divide between the “haves” and “have nots” but between people who are aware of what’s going on in the world and those others wearing blinders.
If you’re finding that you’ve got blinders on, please take them off for just a moment to see the world around you. In fact, it’s possible to keep them off permanently in your business life and affiliate your marketing efforts with a worthy social cause. Heed Margaret Mead’s advice and the world can truly be changed.
This advice has been brought to you by the liberal streak in what is normally a pretty middle-of-the-road kind of guy. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
Go Ahead, Socialize ...
Showing posts with label awareness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label awareness. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Action is Clear
Friday, January 5th, 2007
This will appear as a ‘bit o’ rant’ regarding the lack of courage being demonstrated by municpal authorities in Calgary.
On January 1, 2007 Calgary finally became a smoke free city (well almost). No smoking in public places including restaraunts and bars and patios (to be defined). An exemption until January 1 2008 was given to Bingo Halls, Casinos, and bars that had installed separate ventalated rooms. Jan 1 comes and goes and a few bar owners are openly contraveening the bylaw and publically suggesting that there is nothing that can/will be done by enforcement officers. Now there has been a lot of nonsense around this issue with lobby groups coralling councillors and aldermen speaking out on the issue. The media has used secret cameras to show bars where smoking is continuing and suggesting that there has been a impact on business for both the complying bars and offending saloons. One bar owner is suggesting that more than 1/2 his revenue comes from VLTs so he should be treated like a casino. If that happened, he would need to share 50% of his revenue with a charity.
The action is clear - before this becomes a laughing stock again, officers need to clamp done as hard and fast as possible on offenders. Whether you agree with the bylaw, we can’t allow flagrant abuse of our rules. Warn them , fine them, close them down!
This will appear as a ‘bit o’ rant’ regarding the lack of courage being demonstrated by municpal authorities in Calgary.
On January 1, 2007 Calgary finally became a smoke free city (well almost). No smoking in public places including restaraunts and bars and patios (to be defined). An exemption until January 1 2008 was given to Bingo Halls, Casinos, and bars that had installed separate ventalated rooms. Jan 1 comes and goes and a few bar owners are openly contraveening the bylaw and publically suggesting that there is nothing that can/will be done by enforcement officers. Now there has been a lot of nonsense around this issue with lobby groups coralling councillors and aldermen speaking out on the issue. The media has used secret cameras to show bars where smoking is continuing and suggesting that there has been a impact on business for both the complying bars and offending saloons. One bar owner is suggesting that more than 1/2 his revenue comes from VLTs so he should be treated like a casino. If that happened, he would need to share 50% of his revenue with a charity.
The action is clear - before this becomes a laughing stock again, officers need to clamp done as hard and fast as possible on offenders. Whether you agree with the bylaw, we can’t allow flagrant abuse of our rules. Warn them , fine them, close them down!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Immediate, Relevant, and Concrete
Thursday, August 17th, 2006
Each opportunity to make a difference that we discover should be given the IRC test. Is the action immediate? You are ready to do something and putting off the action will not benefit you or those people that are impacted by the issue or problem. If an action meets the immediate criteria, it will also immediately cause ripples. Not all actions are going to make the same ripple and while we can never be sure how the ripples will grow, we can anticipate what the results might be.
The second criteria is relevance. We can get caught up doing things that are not relevant to the issue or a solution. In order to be relevant, the action needs to have significant bearing on or connection to the act. Don’t be fooled into doing ‘busy work’ just for the sake of doing something. Ask questions about the effect of your actions. “What difference does this acton make?”
The third and possibly most important criteria for choosing everyday action that the action needs to be concrete. While it is important to raise your awareness of an issue, attending an information session does not constitute concrete action. After your awareness has been raised the next step becomes action.
For example, everyday in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom children attend school without adequate nutrition. In these three countries, with so much wealth and government commitments to eliminate child hunger, this is unimaginable. It is also a huge issue that no one individual, organization, or government can tackle alone. So what can you do? It seems apparent that the solution to child hunger is to feed the children nutritious meals. Still a huge problem and a huge task. Let’s take a smaller bite. Are there children attending schools in your community that are not receiving a nutritious breakfast or lunch? Ask the school principal, teachers, or other parents. Are there existing programs working towards providing nutrition to these children? Are they effectively meeting the current need? If not, what can you do?
Some suggestions are to rally other parents and interested people to start a in-school nutrition program for children in need, drop off a case of tetra pack juice or a bag of apples at the school for distribution, or send an extra lunch to school with your child a couple of times each week. These actions are only suggestions and I encourage you to imagine local community-based solutions that are appropriate for your situation. Obviously each of these actions are going to require a different level of commitment. Let’s put them to the IRC test.
Start nutrition program
Will take time to plan and implement but once running the impact will be fast. Immediate 2/3 ( 1 low, 2 medium, 3 high).
Once the program is running it will have a significant bearing on the issue of child hinger in this school. Relevant 3/3
Kids are hungry and the program feeds kids. Concrete 3/3
Total 8/9
Deliver supplies or send extra lunch ( will likely have same score)
Either can happen today and have an impact today Immediate 3/3.
Both will mitigate hunger temporarily so action is relevant 3/3.
Supply of needed food mitigates child hunger 3/3.
Total 9/9
These are only suggested actions. Check your neighbourhood and talk to others about the issue. Persistent unimaginable issues require as yet unimagined solutions. Are you ready to imagine?
Each opportunity to make a difference that we discover should be given the IRC test. Is the action immediate? You are ready to do something and putting off the action will not benefit you or those people that are impacted by the issue or problem. If an action meets the immediate criteria, it will also immediately cause ripples. Not all actions are going to make the same ripple and while we can never be sure how the ripples will grow, we can anticipate what the results might be.
The second criteria is relevance. We can get caught up doing things that are not relevant to the issue or a solution. In order to be relevant, the action needs to have significant bearing on or connection to the act. Don’t be fooled into doing ‘busy work’ just for the sake of doing something. Ask questions about the effect of your actions. “What difference does this acton make?”
The third and possibly most important criteria for choosing everyday action that the action needs to be concrete. While it is important to raise your awareness of an issue, attending an information session does not constitute concrete action. After your awareness has been raised the next step becomes action.
For example, everyday in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom children attend school without adequate nutrition. In these three countries, with so much wealth and government commitments to eliminate child hunger, this is unimaginable. It is also a huge issue that no one individual, organization, or government can tackle alone. So what can you do? It seems apparent that the solution to child hunger is to feed the children nutritious meals. Still a huge problem and a huge task. Let’s take a smaller bite. Are there children attending schools in your community that are not receiving a nutritious breakfast or lunch? Ask the school principal, teachers, or other parents. Are there existing programs working towards providing nutrition to these children? Are they effectively meeting the current need? If not, what can you do?
Some suggestions are to rally other parents and interested people to start a in-school nutrition program for children in need, drop off a case of tetra pack juice or a bag of apples at the school for distribution, or send an extra lunch to school with your child a couple of times each week. These actions are only suggestions and I encourage you to imagine local community-based solutions that are appropriate for your situation. Obviously each of these actions are going to require a different level of commitment. Let’s put them to the IRC test.
Start nutrition program
Will take time to plan and implement but once running the impact will be fast. Immediate 2/3 ( 1 low, 2 medium, 3 high).
Once the program is running it will have a significant bearing on the issue of child hinger in this school. Relevant 3/3
Kids are hungry and the program feeds kids. Concrete 3/3
Total 8/9
Deliver supplies or send extra lunch ( will likely have same score)
Either can happen today and have an impact today Immediate 3/3.
Both will mitigate hunger temporarily so action is relevant 3/3.
Supply of needed food mitigates child hunger 3/3.
Total 9/9
These are only suggested actions. Check your neighbourhood and talk to others about the issue. Persistent unimaginable issues require as yet unimagined solutions. Are you ready to imagine?
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