Transformation isn’t something you sell, it’s a reason for being.

This is Loud&Clear today, Australia Day 2017. It’s a public holiday but pretty much all of us are at work today to support #changethedate. We’re part of a movement that is calling for a new date to be chosen for Australia Day; one that reflects a desire to truly reconcile with our indigenous people, rather than celebrate in spite of them.

Over the past few weeks it’s been wonderful hearing my colleagues explain, in their own words, why we’re doing this. For most people, once they understand what Jan 26 means to Indigenous Australians, it becomes obvious that the date can and must change.

In 1967, about 91% of Australian’s voted to grant voting rights to Indigenous Australians. It’s a tragic milestone ( Why did it take so fucking long?!) but I’ve long been fascinated by the 9% who voted ‘No’. It’s horrifying to think that almost a tenth of the country actively voted to classify Aboriginals as fauna rather than people. It seems so obviously immoral and unfair, and I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the idea of 500,000 Australians thinking like this.

I’ve had a small insight into this though in the comments and emails I’ve received from a noisy group of people who hate what we’re doing. As one might expect, all but one have been middle-aged white men. The counter-argument to #changethedate pretty much boils down to this: “Loud&Clear are bleeding leftist hearts who hate Australia and want to destroy a great tradition by pandering to a small group of whingers who need to grow up and move on.”

It’s hard to constructively debate anything on the internet, but here’s the fascinating thing. Many of the white middle-aged men who are so virulently opposed to #changethedate are also on LinkedIn hawking their expertise at “transformation”. “Transformation” is one of those buzz words that consultants (read WMMs) have gravitated towards in the past 24 months, and it’s amazing to see these guys simultaneously waxing lyrical about the innovation blindness of brands like Kodak without also recognising that they’re on the wrong side of history when it comes to #changethedate.

In any case, I’m glad to be surrounded by colleagues who don’t see transformation as a product to sell, but a reason to exist. Loud&Clear is here to make things — to make things better, and be a small part of making things right. Change is easy when it’s in your DNA, and I’ve never been prouder to work at Loud&Clear.