Honk! Honk!

I have just finished watching a great DVD.

Now I know what you are thinking. But I can assure you that this DVD was perfectly honest, legal and decent. And no it was not ‘Mama Mia’ though having seen this film and having listened to Pierce Brosnan’s attempts to warble his way through some of Benny and Bjorn’s finest songsmithing, I realise that there might yet be hopes for me to make it as a singer. If you don’t think I can make it as a writer then, as Al Jolson, and Ronnie Reagan, said, ‘you ain’t heard nothing yet’.

No, this DVD was about geese and I want this week to share my learnings from geese with you. And believe me they are relevant. My very good friend, Virgil, has written about bees in his wonderful book, ‘The Georgics’, and what he did for bees I am now going to do for geese.

You may know that I am a keen proponent of business lessons from nature. I have learnt much from Dales men and women over the years. And if you rise early and listen to ‘Farming Today’ you will learn many lessons from rural folk that might be applied to you and your business. Indeed one day I will share with you my cow theory of marketing, a lesson I learnt in the dales of Yorkshire.

Anyway I am convinced that there are better and more informative MBA lessons in the fields, waters and skies around us than at Harvard, INSEAD or the University of West Acton (I am sure there must be a university there, there is everywhere else these days). I prefer to look around me and seek inspiration in the world of nature. And it’s free. As is reading my words of wit, wisdom and enlightenment.

But for now the cows of Yorkshire can wait. Back to geese and my DVD. I am sure that given the level of insight and understanding you have, as demonstrated by the fact that you read me each week, that you will know all this already and be applying these thoughts day in, day out. However it does no harm to be reminded from time to time.

Did you know that when each goose flaps its wings it creates an uplift for the goose following behind and so by flying in a V formation the whole flock increases its range by 71%? It is no accident that when you see geese in the night sky they are always giving us the Churchill salute. And so, like geese, if we work together, if we learn to trust the efforts of those around us, if we put aside petty politics and point scoring to share a common destination, we can help our teams and each other get to where we want to want to go and achieve what we want to achieve more easily and with less effort

And I am sure you will already know that when a goose falls out of formation and starts to fly alone, it suddenly feels resistance and everything becomes a lot more effort. When this happens the lone goose will quickly get back into the formation. If we have as much sense we will stay in formation with those heading our way and accept their help and support to get there and everything will become so much easier.

And even when a goose has to drop out of formation because it is sick or can’t keep up, two geese will drop out of the formation and follow it down to help and protect it. Do we do this? Do we take the time to stand by and to help and support those who are struggling or finding things hard and difficult? If we learn from geese we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong and we will find ways to help and support each other until they are strong enough to re-join the formation.

But even leaders tire and need support and help but when a lead goose tires it drops back into formation and another goose will take over. By applying the intelligence of geese to our world we would realise that it is better and more effective for us all to share the hard tasks around our teams. But we can only do this if we learn to respect and protect each other’s abilities and capabilities and the contribution we can all make to the team.

Now I thought when I see geese flying overhead that their honking was random and without purpose and was being done to annoy us and to keep us awake. But no, my new understanding of the psychology of these winged MBA lessons reveal that when you hear their honking it is being done by the geese flying in formation to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. In business we don’t do enough honking to encourage those around us. I am sure that if we were to learn the art of encouragement through quality honking individual empowerment and group productivity would become much greater. When was the last time you spoke words of encouragement to someone in your team? When was the last time you honked?

So all together now…honk, honk, honk.

And now for this week’s ‘Is it me?’ piece. Have you seen the new ad campaign, ‘change for life’? This is the latest attempt by the nanny state to preach and sermonise to us. This time they are trying to get us to eat healthily and exercise. All over town I come across their moralising and sermonising ads. Now the funny thing is that every ad for this campaign is cheek by jowl, quite literally juxtapositioned, with an ad for a KFC bargain bucket or a Whopper or some other demonised nourishment. Is it me?

You would have thought that if they were going to preach righteous eating and lifestyles at us someone somewhere in the bowels of the Government’s propaganda department might have bought their media a bit more sensibly. If anyone spots one of these ads next to something a bit healthier, like an ad for carrots or prune juice, please do let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

By the way, in response to your feedback, you can never accuse me of not keeping the customer experience under continuous improvement, I have made it easier for you to post comment, questions and criticism on my ramblings. Well at least I think I have. So now you have no excuse for not sharing your thoughts with me.

Have a great week. Et este fortunatus.