A bit more than just the birds and the bees

Life has had a bit of a buzz to it over the past week. I went to the CIPD’s inaugural Festival of Work and had a wonderful time connecting with friends and contacts, putting faces to names and learning about new products and services. I particularly enjoyed hearing Garry Kasparov's thoughts on technology (below shows him speaking beside a picture of his beating  a number of computers simultaneously in 1985 - he famously lost to Deep Blue in 1997 - a moment he now sees as a triumph for humans, rather than his personal loss. He is confident that we have a great future ahead of us thanks to AI and technology.)

I also had the good fortune to attend a splendid garden party at Marlborough House (great fun, despite the rain). We were raising money for Bees For Development - a charity that helps disadvantaged people, living in some of the world’s poorest regions, to lift themselves out of extreme poverty through becoming beekeepers.  There was a fascinating display of traditional hives, these ones are from Africa: a bamboo hive from Uganda and a split cane one from Ethiopia - these would usually be plastered on the outside with a mixture of soil and cow dung and given a grass roof to protect from the rain). 

We were joined by some true Queen Bees of UK society, including Martha Kearney (a patron of the charity), Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall 

and Mary Berry (who was sporting a wonderful jacket covered in embroidered bees). 

Bees have been quite a focus for me.

Last weekend I gave a tour of my beehive to some neighbours, a delightful couple with their equally delightful teenage sons – they had won the viewing as a prize in a local charity auction. The bees behaved beautifully (and they have made some amazing wax constructions inside the hive where there was a gap in the brood box, which made the inspection even more interesting for my guests). 

I enjoyed explaining some of the weird facts about bees – did you know that:

• the queen can select what sex egg she lays, but that her choice is based on the shape of the cell that the workers bees have made for her;
• pollen is multi-coloured and so is honey (it all depends on the plant from which it originates);
• a worker bee will usually live for up to 6 weeks but a queen can live for up to 5 years (it is believed that a bee lives for circa 500 miles of flight – an over-wintering bee, which flies less, can live for a number of months);
• humans have been using bee products (wax and honey) for over 9,000 years;
• honey is almost the only food that doesn’t go off and remains in an edible state (so ignore those “best before” labels) – jars of honey have been discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs and their contents were found to be still edible;
• the average bee will make a 12^th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime; and
• the male bees (drones) have big eyes, furry backs and no stings (they also do very little to help with the work of the hive but get fed and cared for and are left to do their own thing until its time to buzz off and have sex).

We laughed about the number of similarities between bees and humans. All in all, my guests and I had a good time. However, this is not a post about bees or even their resemblance to people. It is what happened afterwards that made me think…

Drawing of a bee by Dame Judi Dench
one of a number of postcards auctioned at the Bee Garden Party

Late this afternoon, there was a knock on our door – the family had returned with two boxes of eggs as a thank-you gift, as they said that they had had such a good time. How wonderful! The eggs had been laid by their hens (London is more rural than many people think) and there were different types in each box – dinky little Bantam ones and a larger collection, coloured a delicate shade of blue, laid by Araucana hens. It was the eggs that have got my brain whirring and made me decide to blog.

Are chickens eggs any different if they have blue, white or brown shells? Are some better for you than others? Why do yolks vary in colour from deep orange to a pale yellow?

So this is, indirectly, becoming a post about diversity.

What makes you feel you are different? Is there a difference or are appearances deceptive and superficial? Why do we reject and fear people who are different to us? What can we do to overcome stereotypes? Why are some people “hen-pecked”, whilst others like to be dominant and “rule the roost”?

Perhaps we should start with the hens…

The claim that Brown eggs are better for you than white ones is a myth. All hens’ eggs have the potential to be the same in taste and nutritional value, regardless of the colour of their shell. The colour of egg that a hen lays is dictated by the colour of its ear lobe (yes, hens have earlobes – it is a small feather-free area just below the bird’s ear). Hens with white lobes lay white eggs, those with red or brown skinned lobes lay brown eggs.

Many people erroneously believe that brown eggs are more nutritious and/or taste better than white ones. It is true that they usually cost more, but this is primarily due to the fact that the hens that lay them are larger and hence require more food, so their eggs are more expensive to produce. White eggs, due to the smaller size of the birds, are more cost efficient for commercial egg farmers to produce than brown (or indeed blue or green), which is why they are more common in the shops. It is the hens’ diet and the environment where they live that makes the difference as far as nutrition is concerned; for example, hens that roam outdoors produce eggs with 3 to 4 times the vitamin D content of their indoor-reared, restricted counterparts that have no access to direct sunlight. The environment for the hen is important for the quality of the egg, as is the condition of the bird: stressed chickens and older, tired hens or those that are hen-pecked and hence last to get near food lay eggs with thinner shells.

"Dead Hen" by Elizabeth Frink, 1957

I see similarities between egg-laying hens and humans in the workplace (which is not to say that people are battery hens) – like the birds, most workers have little immediate control over their environment (even changing the temperature and air conditioning can prove problematical). I am convinced that every individual has the potential to produce great results – regardless of colour, race, background or size. Like chickens, people deliver better outcomes when they are in a place that they find stress-free, supportive and conducive towards their giving of their best. We each need a situation that suits our physical well-being, with daylight, fresh air, an appropriate ambient temperature for us not to be in discomfort, and adequate space, a workplace where we can perform well without feeling under undue pressure or fearing harassment or bullying from those around us. If you want to know more about how to create a fantastic workplace, I urge you to read Neil Usher’s excellent book: The Elemental Workplace.

Hens with their Young, by Edgar Hunt 1905

Hens, like humans, are not always kind to each other – there’s a reason why we use the phrase “hen-pecked”. It is true that hens have a pecking order with some dominant and others having to play a more submissive role in their community. The term ‘pecking order’ for hens was first coined in 1921 by Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe to describe the hierarchy of flock dynamics and it came into popular usage in the 1930s. A flock in the wild is as strong as its weakest member. There is a dominance hierarchy in many societies and it is closely linked to the survival of the fittest – it serves a useful purpose in that it prevents the need for constant fighting - it ensures that the most dominant in a group can have access to limited resources ahead of the others and thereby maintain health and strength. Hens will peck and drive away an ill or injured member of their flock (a survival trait that has remained as a behaviour amongst domesticated fowl). It is important not to introduce fewer than 2 hens at a time to an existing flock (and even then they need to be kept apart and integrated gently over a period of weeks), unless you wish to risk a bird being literally pecked to death. 

Introducing hens

Humans are unlikely to kill a new colleague; we are not hens – we are rational beings and can control our baser urges. However, we are often unfriendly and unwilling to allow a new employee to socialise with an existing group of friends. It can feel very lonely and isolating joining a new team. Try not to be bird-brained and foul (see what I did there); a little kindness towards others can make a big difference to a new colleague – you never know, you also might make a new friend.

We, like hens, need to be well cared for. It is true that an employer has a duty of care towards the workers. However, we also owe it to ourselves to be careful ourselves. There are things each of us can do to help keep ourselves physically and mentally, including, but not limited to:

• exercising,
• eating a balanced diet,
• sleeping for long enough on a regular basis to enable our bodies and minds to recharge,
• drinking sufficient water to meet our bodies’ needs,
• giving ourselves time in an environment that helps with our personal well-being (this could be in a gym, an art gallery, a field or forest or by the sea or near water)

These all help us to remain healthy and productive. Do you make the effort to be kind to yourself?

And finally – time to answer that long-asked question – “What came first, the chicken or the egg?”  The answer is the egg: hard-shelled eggs were laid by reptiles long before chickens came into existence.

We can learn a lot from the birds and the bees.

Ukrainian painted egg

Pearl - Day 32 (New Year's Day)

Day 32 (Monday 1st January, New Year's Day 2018)

32 years ago, on 1st January 1986, Spain and Portugal joined the European Community.
The UK had joined on 1st January 1973. Portugal operates an hour behind Spain
and hence this region is one of the easiest locations where you can celebrate the start of the
New Year twice - commence by partying in Badajoz’s Plaza Espana (a pretty gem of a town in Spain),
before grabbing a taxi for the 20 minute drive, 9 mile journey, to the charming town
of Elvas in Portugal (shown in the above picture) to greet the New Year in all over again.

Happy New Year! I wish you a wonderful 2018 full of love, good health, happy times and meaningful moments to treasure. I look forward to sharing bits of it with you.

I can think of no better way of starting the New Year than by reading a post from Neil Usher. I first got to know Neil when he was the Workplace Director at Sky - he was one of the truly innovative property and facilities experts who understood the impact that the workplace has on work, the people within it and the wider environment. Neil took the brave step to become a freelance specialist just over six months ago, which has also enabled him to find the time to write a book due to be published in March. If you wish to know more about Neil's thoughts on work and workplace design, you can find him on Twitter (his handle is @workessence) or better still, read his blog: workessence.

To me, the Advent Blog series would be diminished if there was no creative piece from Neil within it - he is an exceptionally talented writer. It has been a long standing tradition in northern hemisphere cultures to tell stories to brighten dark winter days and I see Neil's tales as a perpetuation of this custom. To maintain the flow, there are no punctuating illustrations. 

**********************

Pearl was afraid of the dark.

At least that’s what she told her parents.

They gently questioned and wove a scaffold of fine thread into her curiosity to help her through the nights that could seem interminably long. At this time of year, the excitement added another dimension: keeping her awake, when she wanted to slip past the darkness, unaware and relieved.

Her magenta-washed room was dotted with pins of light – those that stayed on, those that sensed when they needed to be on. Until one evening when the entire neighbourhood was softly sunk into pitch, unannounced. Pearl was deeply submerged in sleep at the time the clocks stopped, but something stirred on the seabed and she began the long ascent to the surface.

When she awoke, her eyes flickered, there was no difference. She blinked, rubbed her eyes and opened them like saucers. It was as though she were staring into the back of her eyelids. She could feel her skin warming, her forehead moistening. This was not right. Her pathway was gone. She was lost in a space where she was safest.

But as she strained to make sense of the slowly returning familiar shapes before her, the darkness about her began to collect itself, the air moved in ever-tightening elliptical coils around her, gathering like candyfloss. Pearl was rooted upright, as a human form appeared at the end of her bed, resting its hands on its knees and tilting its head to one side. It had a familiarity, it seemed to be everyone she knew, everyone she had ever known. A soft ochre light appeared around the shape.

Pearl could not speak, nor scream, yet something about her new companion exuded calm. It was not how she expected to feel.

“Hello Pearl. Don’t be afraid. Easy for me to say, I know but I would rather like to explain myself, if you don’t mind’ it said, in a quilted whisper, a warmth in its voice. ‘I’m the darkness all about you.”

Pearl was unsure, but calm.

“Do you always sit at the end of my bed when I’m sleeping?”

“Oh, no. I’m here for everyone. But I look after you every night, I’m all around you, looking out for you, helping you sleep. When you worry about me, I’m sad. But there is nothing I can do. I know you’re looking forward to seeing my friend, Dawn, and would rather I left.”

“She’s real too? Is she really your friend?”

“She’s my only friend, but we pass by one another slowly, wishing we could be together our hands slip through one another’s. We are the only ones who understand each other. But we never can be.”

There was a moment of stillness, as they both considered the impossibility.

“I’m not scared of Dawn” Pearl reassured herself.

“Ah but there are many who love the darkness of the night and fear the Dawn. A new day for them is terrifying. It means facing things or others they would rather avoid. It can mean making decisions they would rather not face. Sometimes it’s simply the heaviness in their own heart.”

“I can’t imagine being scared of the daylight. But I know people who are sad all of the time. That must be what’s happening. They never say so.”

“It’s rare that people do. It’s easy to say you are afraid of the dark, but it’s hard to admit you are afraid of the light.”

“But what if you and Dawn could be together? Then no-one would need to be afraid.”

“We are different, Dawn and I, and there is nothing we can do about it. We cannot change ourselves, like you can. And we’ve had much longer to try. But we are both here for everyone.”

“If you’re here for me, why am I scared of you?”

“Things that worry you feel bigger in the darkness, much bigger than you. You can’t do anything about them, you have to wait. It can seem like there is only you in the world, that you are the only one awake. So, people think of darkness as bad, and light as good. But there cannot be one without the other.”

Pearl looked puzzled.

“So, Dawn wouldn’t be here without you, and you wouldn’t be here without Dawn. Yet you can’t be together?”

“Exactly. We give each other meaning. You have to have us both.”

“So – you make it possible for me to love the Dawn?”

“Yes indeed. You just need to think of us both, looking out for you, but never able to do so together. We would want nothing more, but we can never do so. So, it helps us to deal with that, if we know you care for us both equally.’

“I will - err, I do. “

“Now, I have to go back to the way I appear to everyone, but I can only do that when I know you’re not scared of me. It’s been a white night for many while I’ve been here with you, and I can’t have them being anxious, can I?”

Pearl nodded and settled.

With that the form dissolved, unfurling into an undulating dream.

Pearl awoke to fractal shards splayed through her blinds. It was much later than usual. She hadn’t noticed the breaking of day, as she often did.

It was New Year’s Day. Pearl was happy. Something had changed.

Raising a Glass to Workers and the Workplace

We live in a troubled world – appalling acts of violence relentlessly haunt the headlines and it is hard not to wonder whether 24/7 media coverage encourages copycat behaviour, adding to the problem. Recent atrocities include:

• o   A video of a frightened boy in Syria and another, shared on social media, showing the desperate plight of some of the Nigerian school girls abducted in April 2014 by the Islamist group Boko Haram;
• o   Bombs concealed in plant pots, which maimed and killed in tourist areas in Thailand;
• o   Dozens of lawyers slaughtered in a suicide attack at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan;
• o   Stabbings and machete assaults in Belgium, the UK and Japan;
• o   Mass deaths and appalling experiences in Syria;
• o   Violence in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Turkey;
• o   Political killings in South Africa;
• o   The murder of an elderly priest at the altar of his church in France; and
• o   84 slaughtered in the most horrific manner in Nice on Bastille Day, with a further 121 severely injured, 18 of whom are still in intensive care.

I was in France with my family at the time of the Nice attack, although not in Nice itself. Journalists approached us for comments. I don’t wish to dwell on the horror and reasons as to why anyone would decide to massacre so many – the driver in Nice knowingly slaughtered happy people, of all ages, races and religions, out celebrating La Fête Nationale Française. They were looking forward to watching the firework display on the seafront – I remain aghast aghast that a lorry should become a weapon of choice – my son treasured little lorries, they were his favourite toys when a child, always carrying at least one around in his pocket; until last month lorries held for me an innocent charm.

Despite the ghastly news in the press, we had a brilliant family holiday in France and I would like to write a gentle post that touches on the French and their traditional way of life. As many of you know, France is a delightful country.

For our holiday we drove down the west coast, including stopping off at some of the most famous fine wine producing regions of the world – Bordeaux and the Loire. We had a wonderful time – glorious sunshine, excellent food, some superb family outings and memories, beautiful views, and a glass or two of very fine wine. France is famous for its food and drink; both take time and effort to prepare. So, in respect to the French, in this post I’ve decided to share some thoughts on the similarities between running a business and caring for its people, and the traditions of viniculture.

Wine brings to light the hidden secrets of the soul, gives being to our hopes, bids the coward flight, drives dull care away, and teaches new means for the accomplishment of our wishes. ~ Horace

So, this is the first half of a two part series on things that we in non-oenological businesses can learn from the making of fine wine:

Firstly - You need the right environment in order to thrive - the soil in which a vine grows is important. Some grape types like limestone (for example Chardonnay or Malbec); others prefer clay (such as Gewürztraminer and Merlot) - the circle of blue, compact clay around Petrus, on the north east corner of the Pomerol plateau in Bordeaux, results in the most extraordinary rich and concentrated fine red wine; certain varieties grow better in chalk (Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc); or gravel (Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz). 

Old Cabernet Sauvignon vines in gravel

The soil provides minerals that influence the taste - wines produced from grapes grown in clay have less acidity than those from vines grown on sandstone; silica can add a flinty taste to a wine – an example being the much praised Sancerre. 

Sancerre soil

People are like vines, depending on who they are, they thrive better in certain environments as opposed to others and it helps to understand this – some individuals require a degree of disorder to be productive, research shows that mess often helps people be more creative, other may benefit from calm and isolation - an introvert, who needs time to contemplate their world, seldom enjoys being constantly trapped in the midst of a raucous crowd demanding his or her involvement and participation. However, some types of people need vibrant debate and input to help them form ideas - it is hard to collaborate in isolation. There are those who prefer structure, while others work better when given freedom to form their own rules and approaches to producing results. People appreciate being acknowledged and to be motivated, they, they usually need something more inspiring than money. For a person to over-achieve they need to appreciate what is expected of them and to be given the opportunity to shine. Feedback, done well, helps people, teams and organisations to thrive. If you are a manager and leader, you need to understand your people. You have a duty to provide an environment in which they can succeed and be their best selves. Likewise, if you are an individual, perhaps one who is job-hunting, try to comprehend the work environment in which you thrive, as well as the types of people you prefer interacting with to achieve results, as both of these factors will prove important if you want to be content and flourish in your role.

Odd though it may sound, it makes sense not to have things too easy - rich, damp soil does not produce the finest wines, as the grapes grown in lush conditions become plump but are usually tasteless – a harsher, stony environment, often set on a hillside, one which forces the vine to develop deep roots through which to gather a wider variety of nutrients, usually results in a finer wine. 

It was interesting when visiting Remy Martin in Cognac – we were shown a comparison of the soil strata for the fine champagne and champagne areas – the fine champagne had less topsoil. The terroir (as the soil around a vineyard is known) is best when it is apparently inhospitable – often dry and stony. It is notable that a good wine is often produced from a vine that has been deprived of water early in the season, as this encourages the production of grapes rather than leaves. People are the same – often when individuals are asked to describe roles where they have been successful and achieved their best work they describe situations where they have had to overcome obstacles and challenges. In our knowledge-based work environments, research shows that people enjoy roles that demand a degree of effort on their part and where their actions can be seen to produce results, rather than being expected to undertake easy but repetitive tasks that soon lead to boredom. This has proven to be a challenge in the Legal profession where certain client requirements are very similar and can be commoditised. Bright young lawyers become demoralised when asked repeatedly to undertake the same or very similar tasks – there is a place for robots to undertake some of the more mundane aspects of legal drafting. People benefit from a sense of achievement – as spotted by Murray when he defined his system of needs in his Explorations in Personality in 1938.

A good outcome can seldom be produced in isolation – It takes 10 bunches of grapes (on average) to make a bottle of wine. Although a single vine can provide enough grapes to produce the juice required to fill a 75cl bottle (that is 600 to 800 individual grapes, depending on size), it takes more than a single plant to fill a barrel (a barrel contains 300 bottles) or to establish a vineyard. 

Increased complexity requires increased involvement - it takes 9 bottles of wine to create a bottle of eau de vie through distillation. Despite the trend in many Western economies to hark back towards craftsmanship and individuality, most of what we do today requires the involvement and collaboration of a number of people to achieve results. It was Adam Smith who described the division of labour in his Wealth of Nations – using the production of nails as his example – with the assignment of different aspects of the manufacturing process to various individuals to enhance efficiency.  This is still the way of business today - even in a knowledge-based economy labour is divided up, with individuals contributing ideas and collaborating to enable a desirable outcome. Artificial Intelligence and robots are becoming commonplace 

Automated production of glass

It is worth bearing in mind that 47% of current jobs are believed to be able to be automated. Knowledge based working that could be automated includes:

• Teaching - via on-line content and adaptive learning
• Accountancy - automated audit and tax calculations/assessment
• Radiology - for example cancer detection or pregnancy checks
• Pharmaceutical Research - cognitive creation of potential new drugs via artificial intelligence-based research
• Medicine - automated diagnosis (
• Surgery - some could be undertaken by robots, which would overcome certain human failings such as the shaking of a hand when making delicate incisions)
• Architecture - automated drafting and design
• Wealth Management - funds analysis and automated trading

Technological advancement does not always seem to reduce people’s workload – instead it often changes the nature of the tasks. This can also be seen in the work on a vineyard: much of the simple processes have been automated, with machines able to pick, sort and de-stalk grapes, 

Interior of a grape de-stemmer

but at the same time new skills are required of the people working at the vineyard, for example to ensure that health and safety requirements are met; that suitable blends are attained with a degree of reliability that will ensure future sales; rather than being produced for local consumption, most fine wines are now marketed and drunk globally – I was surprised to note that the official wine for this year’s Tour de France was produced in Chile (mind you, so were the French wine producers). Not also not sure about the pun for a name, but it does go to prove that, like the world of work, the world of wine is more global in outlook than ever before.

Be mindful of surroundings – Environment is important – wine gains depth and flavour through being stored in suitable barrels (for example Limoges oak that has been heat treated to add woody and subtle complexity) and in an even temperature cellar where the wine can develop without being disturbed. In 1943 the psychologist Maslow outlined his theory of people’s hierarchy of needs, in his paper A Theory of Human Motivation, he later expanded his list during the 1970’s to include cognitive and aesthetic needs. Vines, like humans, have basic requirements – water, sunlight, a suitable location in which to grow and nutrients to sustain them (just like us). However, so long as the fundamental requirements are met, the terroir (the place in which a vine develops) can play the most important role in the creation of a distinctive wine. Environmental factors that affect a crop’s qualities make a difference to the wine produced. For example, the ground in which a vine grows can aid ripening and hence flavour (chalk and sandstone, being white/pale, reflect sunlight upwards from the ground, so that grapes get a double dose of light and warmth (from above and below), this is useful in cooler terrains where, without the extra boost, the grapes would remain hard and astringent. 

Pale gravel in Bordeaux reflecting sunlight and warmth

For an ideal wine, the grower wants the grapes to reach phenolic maturity – that is when the skin, seeds and pulp all achieve ripeness. A ripe grape is sweeter, has less acidity/a higher pH, which softens the tannins and creates a smoother, silkier wine. People are the same – research shows a clear link between access to sunshine and daylight and enhancements in the quality of individuals’ work and health. It is believed that 47% of workplaces in Europe do not provide employees with access to direct daylight. Given that it is now proven that people perform best and are healthier in a location where they have appropriate lighting, good quality air, the ability to change the temperature and humidity, I suspect that it is only a matter of time before we see workers demanding these as a right and taking employers who fail to provide suitable workplaces to court for compensation.

I hope the above observations have inspired your thinking about the ways we work, the second part of the series will be published within the next few days. Perhaps, next time you raise a glass, it will make contemplate the ways of working and the workplaces we have created and see them through a different lens for, as was stated in the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám:

The wine-cup is the little silver well,
Where truth, if truth there be, doth dwell.