Leaving behind the corporation
Doing good things and making things better
I’ve been lucky enough to see inspirational people talk in the past, usually with my colleagues as part of a corporate presentation day. Business leaders, sporting icons, adventurers. Often in an airless hotel room, usually with no natural light and a warm sleep inducing effect after a large lunch. I honestly can say, I believe the effect on me has been minimal to date, despite the calibre of the speakers themselves. Nothing pushed me from the corporate path that I was on.
During these past few days however I have mostly been wrapped in my overcoat, woolly hat covering my receding hair, sitting on hard wooden chairs for hours at a time in a cold tent listening to people talk; with a bunch of strangers that I would normally never meet. Sounds weird I know, but it was some of the the most inspiring days of my life. These are the Dolectures and this is my story.
I’ve had a corporate career to date. I followed a smooth well-furrowed path of good results at school -> university -> graduate recruitment and moved up the career ladder in the telecoms industry.
The recent (albeit flawed) BBC survey considered me ‘elite’. I’m 35 years old. I have 2 cars, a nice house, a lovely wife and 2 young children. This is what I was taught to believe was ‘right’.
I take 2 or 3 holidays a year, I can hold conversations with people about the architecture in San Francisco, the stifling humidity of Singapore and the details of the Virgin Atlantic upgrade system. I could tell you why Atlanta airport is horrible for international flights, I could tell you about the appalling smells generated on the Paris Metro in summer and what it’s like to hike through Yosemite park in the depths of winter. In my world I have learnt to get comfortable with phrases like ‘cycle of service workshops’, ‘customer experience’ and ‘cultural transformation’.
I can do all these things but I cannot look my 4 year old son in the eye and tell him I’m proud of my work in the corporate world. I have not made a difference. I have not done what’s right .
I’ve negotiated multi-million pound contracts on behalf of rich shareholders who’s sole aim is to extract more money from their customers. I did this well, very well, but I’m not proud of it. I have helped come up with ways to entice people to buy more things, to spend more money on stuff they don’t need. I’m not proud of it. I’ve learnt how to funnel information to people who need it in order to get what the boss wants and make my life a little easier. I’m not proud of it.
In 12 years of the corporation I’ve picked up some experience along the way. We talk of ‘project deliverables’, ‘measurement plans’ and ’360 degree feedback loops’. It’s empty and meaningless and it robs people of their creativity, their objectivity and (if you let it) after 40 years of toil, spits you out, spent and bitter. This I have seen all too often.
I’m not all bad of course. I buy green electricity, grow my own veg, use environmentally friendly cleaning products, recycle everything we can, but it’s not enough.
In February I decided to make a change. I decided to plough the hard path, to leave the well-furrowed path that leads into the pit of bitterness and take myself and others in a new direction. This new path has a name.
It’s called the path of ‘Do what’s right and make things better’ and it’s really simple.
The Dolectures has the power to put any openminded person onto that path. This is the path that everyone should be on and if you are there already, it gives you rocket boosters. From February I already had one foot on it, but after my 4 days in Wales at the DoLectures both feet are on and striding forward with purpose.
The Dolectures is not a conference, is it an unconference? Not really, it’s one enormous Jedi mind trick of positivity.
Things that I see at corporate conferences:
Boring (and often bored) presenters
Stuffy atmospheres
People with hidden agendas playing with hierarchy
Corporate gamesmanship
Bitter and cynical colleagues who talk ill and do poor
The corporation is the world
Some things that I noticed at the Dolectures
Infections, stunning positivity
Creativity in abundance
Inclusiveness not divisiveness
Wild ideas permeated with the will to create Awesome things
Approachable people, lacking in personal agenda
The corporation has no relevance
During my life in the corporation, I was never asked (nor did I ask) ‘How can you help make the world better?’, ‘Does your work have intrinsic value?’, ‘Are we doing the right thing, even when it’s really hard?’ The questions were more ‘When will the deal close?’, ‘When will the invoice get paid?’, ‘What’s the margin on this product?’.
These are important parts of running a successful business, but they all too often become the thing, and the inhabitants of the corporation lose sight of the ‘why’.
A business needs to make profit, profit is the reward for the work and effort of ‘Doing what’s right and making things better’. If you do what’s right and do it well and bring people with you, rewards will come.
During the long weekend of excellent food, cold nights and fresh air 5 excellent projects were started up, built around sound motivations of doing what’s right. All 5 projects will have influence on making the world a better place.
They provide mentoring for people starting their own business or a place to work to help the local economy thrive. It could be engaging children with their environment through growing food and playing games or sharing long earned and developed skills with the next generation of garden shed inventors. In themselves, these are small steps toward a better brighter future but they light the path as a beacon lights the night sky for others to follow.
From today on, all the work I do will be pointed at the same path. This is the promise I make to myself and to my family.
