Damn Good - Day 21

Friday 21st December 2018 

21 Shillings make a Guinea - although no longer circulated (it ceased being minted in 1814),
the term guinea survives as a unit of account in some fields, including horse racing, Oxbridge May
Ball tickets and the sale of rams to mean an amount of one pound and one shilling (21 shillings)
which is £1.05. It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally worth one pound sterling,
equal to twenty shillings, but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea
to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially
fixed at twenty-one shillings.

I am not going to be back in the office until after Christmas - it has been so full-on over the past few days and weeks that that feels really weird. We had a great party last night. Today I am driving to Somerset to take my mother to hospital. All being well, she and I are looking forward to going out to dinner tonight with friends and some other members of the family. It will be wonderful to spend some quality time with loved ones. The older I get the more I appreciate the importance of love and relationships. Is there someone or some people you can see or renew contact with at this festive time? My mother is sliding into severe dementia; I am so glad that we made and cherished our moments together over the years, as you can never get that time back.

Today's post is reflective and open. It is by Sara Duxbury, whose post last year caused a lot of positive and active discussion about mental health, friendship and the workplace.  Sara is an amazing lady, full of energy and ideas; she works as a business psychologist and is Head of Commercial at Carter Corson. After studying Psychology, Sara commenced her career in Retail and held operational roles before moving into Learning and Development and through that into HR. She has been an award winning HR Director with particular expertise in Professional Services. Sara has an excellent reputation as a thought-leader and is an active and engaging member of the social media community; you can connect with her on Twitter (her handle is @SaraJDux).

All the illustrations and music in this post were selected by Sara herself.

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#MyStory – the sequel

If last year’s blog was about putting myself out there, this year is about how I lost myself out there.

When I wrote my Advent Blog this time last year (http://kategl.blogspot.com/2018/01/mystory-day-37.html)  the response I received was completely unprecedented. I was incredibly humbled by words of respect, admiration, love and the “we knew you were mad, and we love you anyway”. I was in fact quite speechless (which for those who know me, you will know the world must have been considerably quieter for a moment!). The whole experience at the time, felt like the ultimate high five!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmDzqWqTXa8

Martin Luke Brown - Opalite

When I reflect on the year that has passed since, I can see that there have been unexpected consequences, which have caused me heartache

Having a public support network meant that what I used to keep private, I now get support from my work colleagues and my friends – I have help. I bet you’re thinking how can this be a bad thing Sara? But all my coping strategies involved up until then… me. To now have people caring and wanting to share the burden was and is strangely difficult. I find it hard not to withdraw.

My self-confidence took a serious battering – I felt afraid and doubted myself. I still do on an hourly/daily basis. By being so honest to myself, I think I have made myself vulnerable and my imposter syndrome just LOVES that. I’m still learning how to channel that negative drain into positive energy.

My worst fear did come true – some people did and do judge me. Some do view my behaviour without understanding where it might be coming from. I think if they could spend some time inside my head, they might be kinder?

I’m overdoing it – my off-switch has completely left the building. You know you need to look at your wellbeing when you are conducting a three-week sleep study on yourself to determine if you are getting enough sleep! Maybe I think I need to prove myself more? (see previous two points)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dmQ3QWpy1Q

Linkin Park & Kiiara – Heavy

I remember disagreeing with quite a few people last year who described me as brave. I feel more like this year I have needed to be brave, and I think I will need to continue to be brave to begin/carry on making good choices in this brave new Dux world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwPa71UZRaQ

The Wombats – Lemon to a Knife Fight

I can only do my best and I think I need to learn that my best is good enough. Hope is seeing photos of me like the below (thank you Kelly Swingler!) where I see captured, just for a moment, a glimpse of that girl who still gets so much joy from a wonky life (especially if it involves tacos!).

So, if you are someone who doesn’t struggle with your mental health, use your powers for good.

To quote this awesome girl I know: “My biggest hope is that by sharing my story, you who are sitting there battling on both sides, or you managing someone with mental health struggles. Look at me and see you CAN be the best version of you, be DAMN good at what you do, and be a bit bat-shit crazy” Here’s to hope…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_5WHnQd9pY

Curtis Walsh – Full Recovery

Take or break

We’ve just had a Bank Holiday long weekend in the UK and hence I had time on Monday morning to have a lengthy chat with Tian Sern Oon – one of the winners of this year’s Queen’s Young Leaders award. After a very difficult childhood, Tian Sern has founded a business in Singapore to help support people suffering from poor mental health and to raise awareness of the issues related to mental well-being and the benefits of diversity, with a view to reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. 

He does not want anyone to suffer as he did (he grew up with a schizophrenic mother and succumbed to depression himself after his father lost his retail job during the global economic downturn). As you can imagine, he is a brave and inspirational young man.

There must be something in the air, across the world in general, as one of the other young people whom I am mentoring for the programme, Hauwa Ojeifo, is also trying to tackle the stigma of mental health in her country and region – she is based in Nigeria and she and I had a call early on Monday evening before I went to a meeting with fellow governors of my local NHS Foundation Trust (where the topic of mental health was also raised). It is humbling seeing what both of these amazing young award winners are doing to make the world a better place for fellow sufferer, those around them and the wider community. I am sure that I will be providing further updates on here about them and their progress over the next few months.

Mental Health Awareness Week occurs in May in the UK.  It therefore seems apt for me to write a piece about health and well being, and, given that I have just enjoyed a Bank Holiday break, I am going to focus on the value of taking some time off. A few years ago, when I worked for a large global organisation headquartered in the U.S.A., I first became aware of the difference in the approach to work absences and holidays around the globe – on paper my American colleagues had many fewer days’ vacation than those of us based in Britain, Australia or indeed in most countries. It should be noted that there is no statutory right to paid vacation in the U.S.A., nor is there a requirement on a private company to provide paid Public Holidays, although the majority of employers do. However, unlike the rest of us, the American based employees had a specified number of days to take as sick days each year and this was included within their contracts. It seemed odd to me to require people to take time off “ill” (even when they were not) – as that is how colleagues treated it – it was seen as a right to a few days off with no questions asked and, if all their days had not been utilised, there was a rush to do so before the end of each year.

Acknowledging that sickness is an issue at work is not a modern concept. In 1500 BC at least some of the workers who built tombs for the Egyptian pharaohs received paid sick leave and state supported health care. 

In the Bible, in chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus, it is suggested that a seven-day period of isolation should occur for individuals infected with a skin condition. In Victorian times all policemen in England and Wales were offered free medical care, sick leave and sick pay (provided that they became unfit for service in the execution of duty) and, as from 1839, the Metropolitan Police provided pensions to officers with more than 15 years’ service who, after a medical examination, were deemed to be no longer fit for police service. It is interesting that just this week Uber has announced that it will give its European drivers access to medical cover and compensation for work-related injuries – it may be cynical of me to note that Uber’s appeal hearing in September, which will determine whether it can operate in the UK, will pivot on whether the company has become a conscientious business (it’s licence was withdrawn on grounds of “public safety and security implications”). Uber needs to demonstrate that is has changed its ways and is fit to operate – back in 2016 it denied workers’ rights to holidays, but this decision was overruled. Uber may have been short-sighted in more ways than one – but it is not alone. Many other organisations still fail to appreciate the value that having a holiday or period of rest from work can have on a worker.

The word “holiday” comes from “holy day” and from medieval times onwards they were days on which everyone, regardless of background, could rest. Once the industrial revolution had occurred, it became common for factories to have a week’s closure, during which period machinery was repaired. This holiday (known as the Wakes Week in northern England) was a time when typically a different town closed every week over the period from June to September and this became the start of what many of us now think of as having a holiday. An agreement for twelve days’ annual leave was introduced in 1907 and this increased to fifteen in 1915. Workers would scrimp and save to escape from their place of work, often going to the seaside. Holidays were traditionally unpaid – this made life very hard for low paid workers. In the UK paid holiday rights were finally introduced via the Holidays With Pay Act 1938, following a 20-year campaign for paid leisure time.

It has been proved that taking a break boosts productivity – in mid 1920s Henry Ford reduced his workers’ hours from six days to five and 48-hour weeks to 40 – and, as he anticipated, this boosted productivity. However, recent research shows that many workers today are not using their holiday entitlement. In the British Airways commissioned research it was discovered that in 2017 one third of British workers did not use their full holiday entitlement (relinquishing on average 4 days of paid leave). We have quite a significant problem in the global workforce now, namely “presenteeism” (where individuals come to work but, usually because of mental of physical health issues, they are unproductive despite being physically in the workplace). I see a close link between presenteeism and mental health (and in particular stress). It used to be said that the reason people suffered from stress was because their body kept repeatedly releasing hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin in response to a perceived threat – the “Fight or Flight” response – but this definition has now been adapted to include the aspect of “Freeze” where an individual is incapable of doing anything. This is an observed aspect of presenteeism.

Humans need rest, and in particular we need sleep – 15 hours’ sleep deprivation impacts responses as much as swiftly downing 2 pints of beer. Sleep is vital – admittedly we all have slightly different sleeping patterns and needs, but for most adults fewer than eight hours over a protracted period is harmful (if you sleep fewer than 6 or more than 11 hours on a consistent basis you should perhaps seek medical advice, as both are probably causes for concern). However, if you are a parent, don’t apply this rule to your children. There is medical evidence that proves that as teenagers our sleep patterns change – making adolescents naturally more nocturnal than adults, with their melatonin being released as late as 1.00am as opposed to the more conventional time of 10.00pm, and their being in need of a lie-in as a result. Melatonin helps us feel sleepy. One of the reasons why many of us have trouble sleeping is due to our use of gadgets such as smartphones and screens late at night. Many tech devices emit blue light and this inhibits our natural production of melatonin. So, if you want to help yourself sleep better read a traditional rather than an e-book before bed.

If you are at work and struggling either through feeling drowsy or because of the pressure you find yourself under, it is unlikely that you can escape for a nap or enjoy an unplanned holiday, however, there is no reason why you cannot take care of yourself. Get up and have a wander – it’s good for you and you will perform better afterwards. Going for a walk in a place where there are plants and trees is proven to be more restorative than having an urban ramble. Earlier this week, I took a member of my team for a walk during our one-to-one, rather than sitting and just talking in a room. We went to the Postman’s Park – a relatively unknown site in the City of London.  It is a surprisingly moving venue due to an unusual memorial erected by the painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts in honour of Heroic Self Sacrifice. 

It was built in honour of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The memorial commemorates normal citizens who courageously gave their lives to save others. I love the fact their acts will now not be forgotten.  I also find visiting the memorial strangely therapeutic - it reminds me that my life is easy in comparison to so many others and that there are things that I, un-heroic as I am, can do to take better care of myself. You owe it to yourself and those you care about you to take care. Don’t be ashamed of wanting to take a break. Better having a break than becoming broken.

Photo by Bing Wright

All Dark Matters Have a Bad Reputation (But They Shouldn’t) - Day 34

Day 34 (Wednesday 3rd January 2018)

34% uplift in premium spirits sales occurs over the festive period compared to
other times of the year. A study by cloud-based software provider Epos Now,
studied sales data between 11.30pm on New Year's Eve 2017 and 12.30am on New Year's
Day and, according to a poll of 800 pubs around the UK, during this hour prosecco accounted
for 18% of total wet sales while Champagne contributed to 17% - these two drinks
accounted for 35% of the pubs' total revenue during this time. In England hospital
admissions due to alcohol-abuse peak around the end-of-year holiday season.
Normally about 15% of ER admissions are alcohol-related, according to the NHS,
but at weekends and holiday times, that figure can shoot up to 70%.

One of the things I love about the Advent Blogs series is that is is a global phenomenon and today's post proves just that. The 34th blog is by Maya Drøschler. Maya is based in Copenhagen in Denmark. She joined the Advent Blog series as a writer in 2016 and wrote a poem last year, to describe the highs and lows of her first year in business - she had decided to follow her dreams and become an entrepreneur. I am pleased to report that her business seems to be going from strength to strength. She specialises in what she calls "The Point of HR" - that intersection between HR and communications and can advise on HR, systems and process design. She is also a respected public speaker and blogger. She writes a good and informative blog - in Danish - HR forretning (which translates as HR Business) as well as posting articles on LinkedIn. She has a background in HR (and has worked in Retail, Engineering and Medical Technical Equipment and Analysis). You can find her on Twitter (her handle is @MayaDroeschler).

I have huge admiration for Maya, not least because English is not her first language and yet she insists on writing in English for the Advent Blogs series because that is best for the majority of readers.

All of the pictures used in the post have been provided by Maya herself.

We are still within the 12 Days of Christmas and hence her sentiments and wishes expressed at the end of the piece are sound.

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To a large extent, language is built upon semantic opposites, but the relationship between two opposing terms like, say, black and white, is rarely neutral. Rather, the two terms are subtly ranked, because the relationship is characterized and determined by the act of human value attribution.

We prefer The One to The Other; we prefer Humans to Non-humans; we prefer Civilization to Barbarism; and we prefer Growth to Stagnation. 

The word dawn is often associated with a new beginning, transparency and a clear mind, whereas the word darkness is associated with a weathered mind and all things hidden and forbidden.

Darkness and dawn are not rigorous opposites, though, but rather two different phases in a repetitive cycle:

But even though darkness and dawn are not opposites in themselves each of them belong to a pair, which are:

Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad wrote the novel Heart of Darkness more than a century ago. In the novel, the sailor and narrator Marlow goes on a trip to find a guy named Kurtz, who is a successful ivory dealer in the colonized African country, Congo. When Marlow finally arrives at Kurtz’ camp deep inside the Congolese jungle, Marlow quickly realizes that the man, who is supposed to represent Western civilization and enlightenment, is quite the opposite; Kurtz is a disturbed person who has established his own brutal regime inside the jungle, where he acts as a demigod and exploits the natives.  
     

Later, it turns out that Kurtz suffers from jungle fever (today we call it malaria), and the last words Kurtz says before he dies are the famous: The Horror. The Horror. As readers, we don’t know if Kurtz is hallucinating, meeting his own personal angel of death or reflecting on his former misdeeds, but we do know that he, who should be the glorious exponent of dawn, is in fact much closer to darkness.

Everything is not always what it seems, like darkness turns into dawn and dawn turns into day, day turns into dusk. What counts as evolution, enlightenment and progress might in fact be an expression of human regression.

But no one seems to notice, before it is too late. 

Darkness Has a Bad Reputation

Darkness has a bad reputation, but this is a misconception, because darkness is not frightening, depressing and uncivilized at all times.

On the contrary, darkness can be comforting, it can hide your flaws and it can protect you from expectations, demands, obligations and responsibilities, when you need it the most.

Likewise, dawn is not necessarily positive; dawn is not always a new beginning, life starting all over again, the sun rising above the horizon to spread its light and warmth, but can be the very moment when you stand naked, exposed and visible to the decisions you must make and the hard work you must do, before the sun sets again. 

Repetition and Rest

Darkness and dawn are both part of a repetitive cycle. For thousands of years, dawn has meant the beginning of a new work day and darkness has meant the end of the work day, the moment when you could finally rest.

The children are a sleep, the soil is at rest, and everything is quiet.
The world has turned quiet. 

Modern work life has a lot of dawn and very little darkness, modern work life is one big, bright, busy endeavor, where everything is illuminated and everything is at stake.

You cannot hide, you cannot rest. Your brain is in constant overload mode and everything is up to you.

The Cycle

Although all natural ecosystems are built upon repetition and incremental improvement, humans of today tend to idealise radical innovation. It’s much cooler to be disruptive than it is to be repetitive, and you are undoubtedly a more fascinating and smart person if you are an inventor rather than a maintainer.

Lately, humans have invented algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, and those innovations promise us that we can get rid of all the tedious, boring stuff we had to do in the past, like weeding the soil.

In fact, we can get rid of repetition itself and only do new, exciting, creative things every day for the rest of our lives.

But this is a fantasy, because we need darkness as much as we need dawn, we need the repetitiousness of the cycle.

Too Much Daylight

I live in Denmark and this time of year we only experience seven hours of daylight each day.

When farming was the main industry, people slept on average two hours more each night than people do today, and even up to fifty years ago eight to nine hours of sleep a night was the norm. It’s not that we don’t need to sleep anymore, it’s just that we don’t have time to sleep.

Because dawn is always near.  

In a knowledge economy, it doesn’t matter what time of year or what time of day it is. We have liberated ourselves from the limitations of the cycle, we have liberated ourselves into the borderless work life.

We have established a regime of extreme enlightenment and civilization, where everything is transparent, elucidated and always fresh and new, and that’s great, but sometimes I wonder, if Kurtz and people like him are the true architects of modern work life. As I observe people giving up on their health, their families and their personal values to serve an endless series of dawns, I can almost hear Kurtz whisper:

The horror. The horror.

Christmas

These days, a lot of people experience heavy workloads, tight deadlines, unhealthy work environments, bad leadership practices, irrational decisions processes, even more irrational chains of command, unsuccessful projects, strategies badly executed and barriers to cooperation at work.
           

To me, these conditions are all symptoms of too much dawn and too little darkness, of too little time to absorb, reflect and make plans that extend to more than the next hour, next dawn.

I hope that you spend the Christmas holidays cherishing the darkness (if you live in the North), and I hope that you will allow yourself to experience the sensation of not being bombarded with sensory impressions and dubious assignments around the clock.

If you have time to rest, to think and to contemplate, you may realize that every idealized term, like dawn and busy and transparency, carry their opposites by their chest.

Dawn? I’m not ready for it, let me go back to sleep, please.
Busy? Always, but I really can’t say what I am busy with.
Transparency? This is a secret, but I don’t want to know everything about everyone.

Only Christmas has no opposite term, Christmas is always Christmas.     

Merry Christmas.

(and a Happy New Year!)