Gefachella 2018: Community Development through Heads, Hearts and Hands
Back in February 2018, I was lucky enough to attend a presentation from Cormac Russell, one of the people driving ABCD, Asset Based Community Development, in Europe. Working out of Chicago, Cormac and the team are pioneers of community driven change and it’s is all about building from the ground up, with individuals being empowered to use their assets* to bring about changes and build communities. It’s using what people have*, not what they don’t have.
*by ‘have’ and ‘assets’, within ABCD, Cormac means individual’s gifts of head, hearts and hands.
This presentation, arranged by Positively Isle of Man, was beyond inspiring, and has subsequently been a catalyst for change on a few projects I’m involved with, looking at strategic roll outs of community based ventures.
It almost felt like the spirit of community driven change was in the air when I was invited to Gefachella a few weeks later.
Gefachella = like Coachella, but more Gef The Mongoose and less Beyonce.
I was truly grateful to be invited by Kate Hegarty, Jamie Lewis and the team at Gef the Mongoose/Peggy +Lewis (thanks chaps) to head to the very first Gefachella event on the Isle of Man— “for founders, by founders”.
The superstars behind Gefachella aimed to bring together the founder community on the Isle of Man. Off the back of planting and growing their own start ups, they knew first hand how hard it can be to start starting-up. Coming from the ethos of “collaboration not competition” they knew they could help people find their mojo, spark some life back in to existing businesses, or inspire others to start flying solo by sharing experiences of entrepreneur-life hustle and providing top tips on some key questions you may have as a founder.
Sponsored by Isle of Man Enterprises, Bridge and Isle of Government’s Department for Enterprise the afternoon held discussions/presentations led by entrepreneurs and seasoned pros in the world of business. There were sessions entitled:
- An idiots guide to funding.
- Fail fast, learn and move on.
- Stop. Collaborate. And listen.
In case you couldn’t make it, or were mercilessly tied in to the 9–5 looking out of the window wishing you were there, below are my top takeaways.
Stop. Collaborate. And Listen
One way to Stop…is with a pop up bar from Foraging Vintners, welcoming you on arrival with a complimentary Bloody Mary. Nice touch Team Peggy+Lewis. The rest of the afternoon was a cocktail of inspiration, starting with the team sharing the meteoric growth story of Gef The Mongoose. The whole team shared their phenomenal success, seeing doubling in growth every month since inception and smashing their initial year’s targets in just six months.
One ingredient in the secret sauce to their success, they believe, is having a collaborative attitude. Since they launched Gef The Mongoose, they’ve joined forces with lots of other start ups on the island to share their stories and help them grow along with their very own media startup. This culminated in the announcement of creative and performance marketing agency Peggy & Mills joining forces with events specialist lewislewis, forming new entity Peggy + Lewis. Gef The Mongoose reports:
The merger, fuses Peggy & Mills’ industry-leading expertise in creative performance marketing with additional capabilities in innovative and unique event management.
Collaboration is a sure strategy for growth, be that the global M&A of AOL and TimeWarner, local merger of Peggy + Lewis or even the right amount of Tabasco in your Bloody Mary. Whatever the deal, it’s the right team work that makes the dream work.
Now That the Party is Jumping
Who’s at your party? After Gefachella identified that our communities would be better when we ‘collaborate’, how do we find the right partners? It’s an important one, and there was lots of emphasis on trying different things to find your tribe.
(aside: It all got a little bit emotional for me on this point, and I may have shed a happy tear or two. It made me very grateful for how amazing the tribe of people I have around me. I really am the sum parts of all these wonderful and inspirational people. We have some fun times and also have some exciting things in the pipeline for the future of our little communities. Thanks to all those wonderful energies for everything they bring to my life. :ends)
Pulling in the right team/community and being a part of that is vital. Changemakers of the future don’t work alone; sometimes we hold the beacon and other times we pass it to our neighbour. As I’m positive Cormac would advocate, people coming together is how things get done:
The good life is filled with opportunities to exchange our gifts, but as Dan Duncan notes, community is about running the marathon of life to the rules of a relay race.
Carol Glover, entrepreneur and speaker from BestSelfYou, did a Ted style talk, with passion and gusto. She delivered clarity on her ethos and seasoned her delivery with well referenced points about many things entprenurial, including ‘finding a tribe’.
She talked about the “First Follower”, clip below, it’s an amazing video that puts in to context the importance the second person to join the tribe. Saying the second to join a movement is as important as the first person, as is the rest of the group. Like the Robin to Batman, the Woz to Jobs, or the Packard to Hewlett.
… and finished with an inspired quote of her own:
“When you show up as the best version of yourself, waving your freaky flag, ready to learn, your tribe of raving fans finds you.”
…which nicely ties in to my next takeaway, authenticity.
Quick to the Point, to the Point No Faking
Authenticity was the word on the block. It could be following your hearts desire, or finding your authentic voice, it’s about being you 100% you. As Carol mentions in the quote above— show up as the best version of yourself. Celebrate your quirks, your idiosyncrasies. And as one of ‘my tribe’ once said to me when I was particularly nervous about presenting a recent event, “Shelley, remember Bjork made a whole career out of saying weird sh*t.”
We need to be ourselves, bring our personal assets to the table, with our head, hands and hearts. Remembering to be brave! Not everyone is going to like it. we’re not always everyone’s ‘cup of chai’. In fact if everyone likes you all the time, then it’s impossible to actually be being you all the time.
Simon Sinek was mentioned a few times over the course of the afternoon, and he sums up why authenticity is important in his article here. He says being authentic builds trust, and we need this trait to survive — which is why it’s so important.
“Believe it or not, authenticity is actually a simple concept. It means that the things we say and the things we do are things we ACTUALLY believe.” Simon Sinek.
It’s the pioneers, the entrepreneurs, the inventors, the adventurers, who authentically step out in to brave new worlds, looking to ‘fail fast’ and learn quickly. Work out the assets you have to bring to your business, your family or your community. What do you believe in, authentically? Once you know what these are, you can focus on doing more of those things. (And then, watch your tribe fall in to place if it hasn’t already.)
The whole event gave me some serious inspiration to kick start some of my own projects. I connected with some new people and supported my tribe in my own authentic way. Learning during the day and sampling some divine cocktails after dark.
There were some real assets — as Cormac would say, “heads, hearts and hands” — bringing a community of founders together, in an old supermarket, in a small town, just outside the capital of the Isle of Man. It succeeded in being an informative and original event celebrating the development of Isle of Man entrepreneurship, innovation and excellence in true Gef The Mongoose/ Peggy + Lewis style — it was “weird enough to make it work”.
I was a guest at the Gefachella event as they pre-launched Newfield’s 30 under 30, of which I have the honour of being on the judging panel. These awards are to celebrate the amazing people doing amazing things… and being under 30 years old. There are loads of catagories, if you would like to enter or nominate click the link below:
Word on the Street is that there are more Isle of Man Gefachella events coming up over the next months, with the next in line being the first Gefachella Sunday Social, hosted by the Insta-star ‘Baby Toddler Foods’, so you’ve not totally missed out if you couldn’t be there!
