After returning from a backpacking tour of Asia, in 1990, Canadian Bruce Poon Tip founded Gap Adventures (renamed G Adventures in 2012) with nothing more than two personal credit cards and a burning desire to create an authentic, sustainable travel experience like nothing the world had ever seen before. By offering adventure-craving travelers an alternative to the resorts, cruises and motor-coach tours they were accustomed to, he not only changed the way people looked at their holiday time, but changed the face of travel forever. What started off as a one-man show has since grown to become the world’s largest adventure travel company with over 1350 employees.

But it doesn’t just begin and end with unique travel experiences. G Adventures is itself a social enterprise, creating positive social change. They sell tours to countries all over the world that utilize local services, contribute to local economies, and provide employment opportunities and training in under-served regions of the globe that rely heavily on tourism as their only economic import. They even give grants for seed funding along with training to get new travel initiatives up and running in some cases.

The entire G Adventures enterprise was founded on the concept of sustainability and established travel practices that show due consideration for natural surroundings and local cultures. By limiting the average travel group size to around twelve people, and by using local transportation and staying in small, locally owned hotels and guesthouses, G Adventure travelers are able to minimize their footprint in foreign communities and gain maximum exposure to the local culture.

Poon Tip’s organisation supplies these locally operated businesses with ongoing tourism and the people at G Adventures are very passionate about the difference they and their clients make to the communities they serve. In return, their globetrotting tourists get engaged and motivated CEOs (the company calls all their Tour Guides, CEOs or ‘Chief Experience Officers’) and can witness first-hand the real difference that their presence and their tourism makes to these local communities. The families and the communities within G Adventures’ travel network benefit in so many ways from the extra income. It creates a ripple effect within the local economy connecting small businesses, cooperatives and even rural families directly to its supply chain, thus enabling more tourism dollars to stay in the local community.

G Adventures’ business model varies greatly to that of all-inclusive resorts or other tour operators. In a staggering statistic from the UNEP (United National Environmental Program), on average out of every $100 spent by a traveler in a developing community in an all-inclusive resort, only $5 actually benefits the local community. Bruce believes that travel can be the greatest form of wealth distribution on the planet if it’s done correctly. and it doesn’t rely on donations or handouts – it just relies on travelers making smart choices about how and who they travel with.

This is a business that cares, with a founder who is a revolutionary thinker and a great leader.

Planeterra Foundation

Established in 2003 by G Adventures as a way to give back through travel, The Planeterra Foundation is a legally constituted non‐profit organization that supports social and environmental solutions in destinations around the world via its global network of travelers. Planeterra works to ensure that communities are benefiting from the opportunity that tourism has to bring. Working directly with G Adventures to minimize the impact on the world’s great destinations and to promote sustainable solutions and economic growth for communities worldwide, Planeterra manages over 50 current and funded projects in threatened and developing regions all over the world. 

Together, G Adventures and Planeterra have partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in a multi-million dollar initiative that will promote sustainable, community-based tourism in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru. This is the first time that IDB have partnered with a private organisation, and this highlights the great work that together G Adventures and Planeterra can achieve. The on-the-ground component of this joint venture (hiring, training etc.) is managed by Planeterra, who develop tourism projects, services and small businesses in these communities that have not historically benefited from the travel industry. Planeterra brings the knowledge and expertise in developing sustainable projects, while G Adventures provides a ready-made market for the product.

“Tourism is one of the largest industries on the planet. Vital to the livelihood of eighty-five per cent of developing nations, it creates employment opportunities, battles poverty and strengthens economies,” says the Executive Director of Planeterra. “Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on developing community-based tourism worldwide with little benefit to the hosting communities. The tourism industry has not traditionally been involved in international development activities. Where it has, it was only engaged at the very end, yielding high failure rates and unsuccessful projects. In order for community-based tourism development to be sustainable and effective, the private sector, specifically tour operators that possess the market power, must be engaged at the beginning and throughout the entire process.”

Some of the Planeterra projects include…

• A Women’s Weaving co-op in Peru. This is an incredible project that taught local women ancient weaving techniques as well as natural fabric dye processes. As a result of this project, local women now have employment where there was previously zero employment of women and it has reconnected a community with the importance of their own history. Today all G Adventures travel groups visiting the Sacred Valley in Peru have a chance to see and purchase high quality textiles produced by these weavers, all sold at fair trade prices.
• New Hope Cambodia – a Vocational Training Restaurant in Cambodia, which provides marginalized people in that community with hospitality skills to help them obtain new dignified job opportunities.
• Hope Africa – a day school for HIV/AIDS orphaned children in South Africa.
• A foundation in Honduras to help women start their own businesses.
• A community school in Ecuador.
• A drop-in centre for street children in Cuczo, Peru.
• An NGO in Costa Rica for environmental and wildlife conservation projects.

Once Planeterra has made its positive impact, G Adventures then provides consistent market access through its travelers as a sustainable source of income for these local communities. Its travelers bring long term success to these projects long after Planeterra’s initial investment has gone, so it is a business model that measures the social return on investment as a priority rather than just the company’s profits, but in the same breadth ensures that it remains financially viable over the longer term. A perfect example of ‘making a difference’ without sacrificing financial sustainability.

G Adventures funds Planeterra by covering all administrative costs, so one hundred per cent of donor funds go directly towards supporting each project. G Adventures also contributes $30,000 per year in matching funds made through individual donations online. Whether a traveler takes a trip with G Adventures, volunteers at one of Planeterra’s projects, or invests in their projects worldwide – he or she is helping to make Planeterra’s work possible.

Planeterra’s mission is to support sustainable solutions in the places travelers love to visit and it does this through G Adventures – building projects into tours.

Global Recognition

The work of G Adventures and Bruce Poon Tip has not gone unnoticed. G Adventures and Bruce Poon Tip have been consistently recognized for leadership and outstanding business practices. G Adventures is among the Top 100 Employers and 50 Best Managed Companies in its country. Bruce has won Canada’s Entrepreneur of the Year and has been honoured as one of Canada’s 100 Leaders of Tomorrow.

In recognition of G Adventures’ dedication to ethical business practices’ and responsible travel, Bruce received the Ethics In Action Award. He has also received the Global Traders Award for his groundbreaking ideas in exporting services. In January of 2002 Bruce was invited to speak at the United Nations launch of the Year Of Eco Tourism in New York and in 2006 he spoke about the commitment to responsible tourism at the World Trade Organization’s ‘Ethics in Tourism’ Conference and at the World Tourism Conference.

Just recently Bruce was asked by the World Bank and UNESCO to represent a team to visit the Peoples Republic of China to speak on sustainable development.

Here are just some of Bruce’s tips for business leaders…
• Look beyond the triple bottom line and understand how to make a real difference.
• Sometimes big business can be alienated by the difference the smaller brands can make – allow them to understand the difference they also make by bringing a deeper sense of purpose and passion into their corporations. Bruce calls this ‘The Quintuple Bottom Line’ – People; Planet; Profit; Passion and Purpose.
•Bruce runs G Adventures using a happiness business model, where happiness drives performance, allowing G Adventures to maintain a global company culture that delivers on a very aggressive brand promise that differentiates itself based on a purpose-driven business model.
• Engage your customers beyond the product with every sale. Make them aware of the difference they make and help them to feel that difference every time they engage with your business.
• Engage with all people who touch your brand beyond the product.
• A company’s core values are more than just a sign on the office wall. Your employees need to live and breathe the company’s core values each and every day, and those core values must guide all decision making in the company.

The guiding principle behind everything that G Adventures does is quite simple… They’re about running their business in a way that respects people and the planet. A perfect example of ROI+I – Return on Investment and Integrity.

For more information contact me at brian@precisionprofiling.com.au.

Until then… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less. Have a great week – Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Through ‘Motivational Fingerprinting’ we uncover what you do, how you do it and why you do it, and most importantly, the hidden patterns that lead to your success, and that of your team.

And where there is an Information Resource Centre where books are borrowed and returned on an ‘honour’ system; where there are no bells or buzzers because the students are responsible for their own time keeping; and where appreciative enquiry, team teaching and collaborative study in an open learning environment is the order of the day. If you remember those old school days between 15 and 18 years of age when you sat in dreary classrooms while the teacher stood at the front and filled you full of information that you had to commit to memory and regurgitate at appropriate times, then it’s time to consider a new form of student utopia.

Because here in Melbourne, Victoria, we have a new style of teaching which goes to the core of what ‘education’ should be all about. If you consider that the word education originates from the Latin root ‘educare’ which means ‘to lead or draw out,’ not ‘to push in’ as most of our educational models of earlier times seem to reflect, you may begin to gain an inkling of what our newest secondary educative model for students from Years 9-12 is aspiring to achieve.

This is no experimental laboratory of learning. It happens to be one of our newest and most ground-breaking educational institutions, in the form of Nossal High School, built and opened as recently as 2010 by our Victorian Government as one of only four unique Selective Entry Schools in the state. Student competition to gain entry to this open learning environment is fierce (likewise the teaching staff), and the high achieving, socially aware and community minded alumni that Nossal is producing is testament to an environment where discussion and debate across a wide range of subjects with a wide range of peers is the norm. Nossal’s truly unique environment gives students the freedom to utilise ‘break out spaces’ around the school during class times, to independently study or meet with teachers for advice and support.

When you walk through the school, you will marvel at the open plan teaching spaces; the light, bright and airy feel to the whole physical environment; the internet cafe style study areas; the whiteboard tabletops for group project brainstorming; the many informal lounge areas for ‘chilling out;’ the casual teachers’ offices furnished with comfortable lounges for students wishing to have ‘one-on-ones’ with their selected teacher; the adaptable physical spaces that convert in a few minutes from auditorium to smaller, more intimate ensemble areas; the breakfast, tea and coffee facilities conveniently located around the common areas for students to avail themselves; and the extremely well equipped specialist teaching facilities.

Whether it be physical education, music, english, the sciences, maths, cooking, drama, languages, humanities or other elective subjects, the student-centric, learning-rich physical facilities are state of the art. The school even has a wonderfully equipped IT resource department that is solely there for students and teachers to leave their computers or other IT paraphernalia for hardware repair or software de-bugging or system set-up as the case may be.

But what is most striking when you explore the community is the quiet confidence of the students actively engaged with teachers and each other in an open learning environment or walking purposefully to their next study elective, ubiquitous iPad in hand, in a respectful atmosphere of collegial enquiry and discovery. When you stop and ask any student at random, what they do for fun outside of ‘classroom’ time, you will invariably hear the answer that ‘the whole experience of learning is fun here’, so the lines are very blurred between what constitutes schoolwork vs free time at Nossal High School.

In the pursuit of individual excellence via an environment that allows students to grow step by step to reach their full potential, not only do students learn from their teachers but also the teachers learn from their students. In the words of Nossal High School’s organisational ethos, “We believe that teachers and students are forces that exist for each other and therefore promote and encourage an environment where both staff and students are treated equally with respect and understanding.”

The school’s curriculum is based on Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner’s principles of the ‘Five Minds for the Future,’ (Gardner, 2008) and it achieves this through exceptional learning, outstanding teachers, gifted and talented students and an innovative and dynamic adult learning environment. This is a philosophy that future leaders will need to develop certain cognitive abilities, which Gardner defines as the ‘five minds:-’ the disciplined mind; the synthesizing mind; the creative mind; the respectful mind; and the ethical mind. As Nossal High School’s website states, each domain is explored under this framework, so that students gain a high level of analytical thinking in a way that doesn’t limit their learning.

The Disciplined Mind – Individuals will need to be an expert in one area – they will need to develop depth and breadth in specific disciplines.
The Synthesising Mind – Individuals will need to be able to gather together information from disparate sources, find links, transfer and communicate this knowledge.
The Creative Mind - Individuals will be rewarded for being creative – that is the ability to construct a box and think outside of it, and approach problems in unique ways.
The Respectful Mind – The world of today and tomorrow is becoming increasingly diverse. Accordingly it is imperative to respect differences and similarities and promote tolerance and understanding, hence the significance of Physical, Personal and Social learning.
The Ethical Mind - Individuals need to be able to act ethically – that is to think beyond their own self interest and to do what is right under the circumstances.

Even the naming of the school was chosen with much thought invested into the process.

Sir Gustav Nossal is an internationally renowned scientist and a significant figure in Australia’s medical and scientific community. He was Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (1965-1996), Professor of Medical Biology at the University of Melbourne and President of the Australian Academy of Science.

Gus Nossal has received numerous awards and recognitions throughout his career. He was knighted in 1977 for his ground-breaking work in immunology and made a companion of the Order of Australia in 1989. He was awarded the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in 1990 and in 1996 he won the highly prized Koch Gold Medal for major advances in biomedical science. He has been identified as one of Australia’s national living treasures.

He has been listed in annual Australia Day Honours four times, including as Companion of the Order of Australia in 1989, ‘For services to medicine, to science and to the community,’ and a Centenary Medal Winner, ‘For distinguished service to the study of antibody formation and immunological tolerance’ in 2000, when he was also named Australian of the Year.

It is fitting therefore, that the school is named after Sir Gustav Nossal, such a prominent and inspirational figure who believes in state education and has brought true benefit to the world. He continues to be an active champion of the school and its work, and at the beginning of each year he is an enthusiastic attendee at the opening assembly to present badges to the newest intake of Year 9 students.

The school’s Information Resource Centre, as the educational hub of the school, holds an extensive range of print as well as digital resources to complement the curriculum being delivered at Nossal. The IRC also holds an extensive fiction collection, general non-fiction books as well as audio visual resources and equipment.  The programmes being delivered by the IRC are wide and varied. Complementing the guest speakers and performers who visit the school throughout the year, the Information Resource Centre also runs a range of interesting and exciting programs and competitions for the all-round development of the students.

Given that we live in a cyber-connected world, Nossal High School aims to empower students to become ethical ‘cybercitizens,’ who approach the use of IT and e-learning in a systematic, disciplined and respectful manner. They are encouraged to challenge data and synthesize their findings. As the schools says, ‘A Nossal Cybercitizen knowingly adopts cyber ethical approaches when digitally interacting at local, national, regional and global levels. The overall philosophy is to use e-Learning and ICT to develop responsible, ethical student learning pathways in Virtual Learning Environments, the intranet and the World Wide Web. The digital pathways are to be used to develop logical thinking, problem solving, collaborative techniques, ability to synthesise and creativity in our students.’

Through the use of IT, underpinned by Cyber ethics, the school is challenging the students to become knowledgeable about the nature of information, comfortable with new technology and, able to recognise its relevance and potential. Cyber ethics is defined as the values, beliefs and behaviours needed to ensure safe, responsible and respectful use of digital technology.

This is the future of education that I envisage for our children if we are to create a world that is going to be sustainable for generations to come and where the focus is not purely on growth for growth sake and the insatiable consumption and global inequity that comes from such a single-minded approach to the modern economic reality.

It is fortunate that pockets of our world are now inhabited by educational institutions like Nossal High School. It is my fervent wish that this and others like it will be the model of educational best practice that public and private schools alike will aspire to become, because students that graduate from these secondary schools and on to tertiary study are the leaders we will be looking to in the future. Maybe one day, instead of a handful of secondary schools like Nossal, we will see centres of learning of this ilk spread throughout our communities. I hope so.

What are your thoughts on the future of education? I’d love to read them.

Drop me an email to brian@precisionprofiling.com.au if you would like to discuss further how to select the right people for your roles and how to leverage that knowledge for the benefit of them and your organisation.

Until then… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less. Have a great week – Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Through ‘Motivational Fingerprinting’ we uncover what you do, how you do it and why you do it, and most importantly, the hidden patterns that lead to your success, and that of your team.

This weekend our papers were filled with the story about a 13 yo girl yelling a racist slur at one of our footy champions playing in the stadium in front of her and many thousands of fans. The champion took offense, pointed out the transgressor to security and she was evicted from the ground in front of her shocked and embarrassed parent. There are many ways to view this episode and many points of view depending on what particular attitude you happen to have on the subject of racial slurs. I don’t intend to add my commentary to the rights and wrongs of what was said and done but what I would like to do is share an important lesson we learn from this incident about perceptions and the ‘framing’ we place around situations at work.

To set the scene here are some known facts about the incident. The footballer was genuinely hurt by the comment and although what was said wasn’t filled with vicious or vulgar obscenities, the words used were perceived to be derogatory based on his race and heritage and therefore unacceptable. The footballer felt hurt because it triggered a reminder in him of all of the racial vilification and bullying he had received as a boy at school and growing up in his teenage years both on and off the football park. The fact that he is a champion footballer who has won the game’s highest individual and team honours over the years is irrelevant because when he gave a media conference after the game he was speaking for all players on the field and people in society who still face the taunts and barbs of those ignorant few who take delight in attacking one’s race, religion, gender, sexual preference or some other perceived ‘difference’ which have no bearing on a person’s character or ability.

I applaud his decision to draw a line in the sand and speak up. And in his own words, we discover that what upset him most was the fact that the person shouting out the racist slur was only 13 years old, and therefore potentially a product of her own environment and not aware of the damage she might be causing. He was dignified in the aftermath by saying that he hoped she would not be vilified for her own ignorant comments but educated on the damage that a thoughtless or vindictive comment can cause for those against who it’s aimed. In doing that, he raised the bar further in the debate on racial vilification. More on that later.

From the young girl’s point of view, we discover that she intended no genuine disrespect and that what she said was a ‘spur of the moment’ thing that blew up out of her frustration that her footy team was getting soundly beaten and the object of her denigration was one of the chief architects in her team’s demise. Upon further investigation we discover that she was totally unaware that what she was saying had racial overtones to it. She was embarrassed and extremely apologetic and subsequently rang the footballer to apologize in person, which he graciously accepted.

Taking the matter further, immediately after the game the governing body (the Australian Football League) and the CEO of the opposing team both spoke out strongly about this behaviour being totally unacceptable either by players or fans under any context, but both stopped short of wanting to reprimand or punish the young transgressor any further, in agreement with the wishes of the vilified footballer.

So, all in all, what could have turned from an unacceptable incident into an ugly witch-hunt by the respective sport authority has ended well in my opinion. There is a strong message that racial slurs do not have a place in our modern society and it gave the opportunity for the sport to educate and inform young people on how they handle the issue of racial vilification… which is to neither sweep it under the carpet, but nor to turn the molehill into a mountain of abuse for the young, uneducated transgressor.

It is indeed a pity that in its eagerness to chase this story, the media has placed the young girl and her mother fairly and squarely in the public eye – something that a young, naive and impressionable girl of 13 should not be subjected to.

So what do we learn about this unfortunate episode that we can apply to the workplace?

I believe the answer is in the concept of ‘framing.’  It is timely that I talk about it today, because just last week my young son Sam came home with a project from school where he had to take three photographs of everyday objects from different vantage points (above, eye level and below, for instance), and then describe in his project how he had ‘framed up’ the photos he took and the different perspectives it gave to the objects being photographed depending on how he framed them.

Framing is a useful concept in our use of language, because it has such a huge impact on perceptions and understanding and motivation of ourselves and others. At the most impactful level, it can help to prevent serious conflict through a process of ‘chunking up’ to another logical level of thinking.

Here’s what I mean by that. If you are talking to me about car tyres, I can remain talking with you on that level or I can shift our focus to the next logical level in that subject matter which is cars. We can remain stuck at that level of conversation, or you might lift our thinking up another cog into talking about road transportation (cars, motorbikes, buses and trucks). We can even go further by talking at a level of all transportation on land, sea and air. Another example would be lifting the logical levels of discussion topic from banana to fruit to food to sustenance (food and water).

What we effectively do here is lift our thinking and talking to another level and at the next level there is a greater opportunity to gain agreement due to the bigger picture being considered. This is excellent for when people are in conflict over a particular issue, because by lifting their level of focus to the next logical level we are helping them to get above the problem and look down on the competing issues as differing but complementary parts of a much bigger whole or game. It is also very useful to apply this process of thinking and communicating when people at work are bogged down in the detail and can’t seem to get out of the mire of their confusion. Conversely when people are too vague and ‘fluffy’ about a subject we can go in the opposite direction and ‘chunk down’ to the component parts of the issue.

So let’s go back to the issue of the racial vilification example above and see the various ‘frames’ that could have been applied to the same content.

Level 1: The racial slur is given and the people who witness the event all laugh it off as being humorous at the expense of a champion footballer. If he takes personal offense it may help to ‘put him off his game’ so in the eyes of the opposing team’s fans, this is acceptable behaviour and this is how it would be framed as a result…. (To the footballer), “Get over it pal and don’t be so sensitive. It’s a tough world out there and there are bigger things to worry about, especially given your status and your own comfortable circumstances.” (As we know, this frame was prevalent on the football field a generation ago. Times have since changed for the better.)

Level 2: The racial slur is given and the reaction that it triggers in the champion footballer is one of hurt and indignation. The transgressor is roundly criticised in turn by the footballer, the authorities and the media as being ignorant and unfeeling and he or she is publicly humiliated and officially reprimanded or punished in some way. The transgressor has now joined the ranks of the victimised along with the champion footballer, and this is how the event might be framed… “The footballer is rightly hurt for this racial slur and the ‘lowlife’ that did it deserves all of our contempt and disgust.”  (Unfortunately the media continues to propagate that frame by continuing to shine their spotlight on the girl in question, rather than the issue. It is a pity that they have not followed the wise advice of the football code authority and the vilified footballer.)

Level 3: The racial slur is given and the reaction that is triggered is what we witnessed this weekend. The champion footballer is genuinely hurt; the transgressor is genuinely surprised and embarrassed at the effect her comments caused; and it is an opportunity for the football code to send a clear message to players and fans alike that this is unacceptable behaviour. Furthermore it now presents the opportunity to educate this young person and her peers about the emotional harm that can be caused by such thoughtless and inappropriate comments, and this is how it might be framed as a result… “What the transgressor said was unacceptable under any circumstances, and we have an opportunity here to publicly acknowledge the hurt that it caused and then to rise above the incident and teach all people of her age and older about showing respect for their fellow human beings and their abilities regardless of their perceived differences to us.”

There we have it. Three different frames of the same incident, each of which lead to a different meaning depending on the frame or the ‘reframe’ we give the incident. Hopefully some day in the not too distant future, the only frame that will be needed around such incidents will be ‘no frame’ because racial, religious, gender and sexual preference vilification will have been stamped out.

Where in your workplace have you been presented with the opportunity to ‘reframe’ an event or situation and so change the meaning that is drawn for all of those involved?

If you have any examples I’d love to hear about them from you. Just email me c/- brian@precisionprofiling.com.au and share your example with me.

Until next time, let’s seek to understand more and judge less.  – Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Through ‘Motivational Fingerprinting’ we help you and your staff to uncover why you do what you do and most importantly, which patterns can lead to your success, and which ones might be holding you back.

First question… “Will your industry even exist in twenty years?” If so, “How dramatic will the changes be that you look back on?”  I guess you may not be doing the same things, so if that is the case, “What do you think you will be doing?” (That is, assuming you are still fit and well and actively engaged both physically and mentally due to amazing advances in medical science and your own healthy lifestyle. In fact you are probably looking more youthful than you do today due to advancements in gene therapy.)

Twenty years ago, when AT&T last made their predictions about the amazing advancements in technology they foresaw, they showed clips of people continents apart talking to each other via video phones on their computers whilst sitting on the beachfront; medical diagnosis via remote digital sensors; airline tickets, theatre tickets and other such events being booked and retrieved by phone and many other things that I thought were amazing back then, but are now a predictable part of our daily life. So what are your predictions? Because if you are too bogged down in the day-to-day tasks and one year plans pertaining to your industry to ever consider such alternative scenarios, chances are you won’t be prepared for the day your job disappears or your business is no longer relevant or sustainable.

Do you remember the very first Indiana Jones movie (“Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”)? If you do, then you may also remember that scene where Indy was in a middle eastern marketplace facing this scary bunch of black-robed and masked ninja-type warriors all brandishing and swirling scimitars that you just knew he had no chance of defeating. So what did Indiana do in response? That’s right, he pulled out a gun and shot them. At that particular place and time the world’s best group of ruthless swordsmen were no match for one lone stranger carrying a gun. In other words… there’s no point being the best player in a game no longer being played. In times of rapid change like we are witnessing today, being better is often no longer the key… but being different may well be the new edge.

As we have often heard before, the only way to predict the future is to create it. If you wait for someone else to do it for you without giving it even a moment’s thought for yourself, then you are potentially waiting for that Mac truck to hit you between the eyes some time in the not-too-distant future, and you being that ‘deer in the headlights’ as it bears down upon you.

Here’s the value and beauty of imagining how your industry might look in twenty years. Any thought you give to what you can predict in your wildest imaginings twenty years from now, will mean that you are at least more prepared than the next person in your industry for the next five to ten years ahead. And by having one wary eye on that potentially fantastical future and its amazing developments, you may not only be more prepared than the next person, but better still you may even be one of those who either rides the change or drives the change.

There is a principle at play here that is based on the science of our brains and the unconscious triggers we give to it. It is called the Reticular Activating System (or R.A.S. as we know it). The premise being… ‘that which you focus on you get.’ For example, have you ever bought a brand new car, one which you had been waiting a long time to be the proud owner of, and the moment you took it for its first drive on the roads, everywhere you looked you saw the same make and model? (Of course they had always been on the roads previously but until you purchased and drove your new car, your brain and its reticular memory never had good reason to trigger or ‘activate’ them into your awareness). Or do you remember those first few months of new parenthood? Isn’t it funny how everywhere you looked following the birth of your new baby, it seemed as if your world was surrounded by mothers and/or fathers with babies?

Or have you ever lost your keys in your home and then ran around saying… “I can’t find my keys… I can’t find my keys,” and you were right. You couldn’t find your keys (or unconsciously wouldn’t) until you stopped saying you couldn’t find them, and took a big breath and then concentrated your mind on recalling the last place you visually remember laying them down.

So do yourself a favour right now. Project yourself and your industry right out there to the land of possibility twenty years from now, and conjure up some of your wildest imaginings and record them and save them in your computer. Do this exercise based on the foundational knowledge you have of your industry but without the boundaries of current practices, processes and protocols. And then get ready for the wild ride that’s ahead of you in the years to come. As a result, you may not be as blindsided as those around you, if you have already visualised riding on that bus. What’s more, you may even find yourself as one of the bus drivers of your future.

In light of this exercise, here’s a small prediction of my own for the world of deep level profiling that I inhabit. Having observed prototypes of what’s just around the corner courtesy of Google, in the form of glasses we will be wearing that can compute and talk to us in real time as we walk down the street (in the same manner that mobile phones and other handheld devices currently link us in real time to our exact whereabouts via GPS, our ability to text our friends, locate a restaurant, search the internet, check the weather or the current traffic flows in our city etc etc.)… my prediction is that every time we meet up with an acquaintance whom is wearing the same type of device as us, both sets of glasses will transmit and receive to each other the four or five key driving patterns of thinking that each person brings to their model of the world so that the levels of rapport and understanding gained the moment we open our mouths to chat with each other, will be instantly enhanced.

For example, if Joe with whom I am catching up for lunch, is more inclined to be someone who likes to reflect and think before launching into action; is mainly externally referenced in his decision making; thinks in detail rather than big picture and prefers an environment where he can work or talk undisturbed… then having received those ‘filters’ of Joe once my glasses have tuned into his transmission, upon greeting him I would recommend that he takes time to consider my suggestion of a restaurant that I and mutual friends have raved about while we are walking along the street chatting. I may also happen to mention that it has a very comprehensive menu filled with detailed descriptions of every dish that is available and is one of those places where there are quiet corners where patrons can catch up with their work without interruption if that is what they desire. I would certainly not ask Joe to make his suggestion without input from me or recommendation from our mutual friends, nor would I ask him to enter the first restaurant we happen upon, especially if it is one filled with noise and hubbub and people coming and going, and with basic menus of a few dishes that only have the barest of descriptions.

Now although I have demonstrated this restaurant scenario with Joe in fairly broad terms to make my point, I think you can appreciate how useful this would be to you if just prior to meeting up with Joe, your glasses were to say to you… “Joe Black – Ph 0411 XXX XXX – Reflecting; External; Depth; Individual Environment.” Voila, now you know just how to communicate with Joe in language that speaks directly to some of his main driving unconscious patterns, and therefore you have the ability to develop a far deeper level of unconscious rapport the moment you greet each other.

If you think this scenario seems too way out there to ever be real, you need to know that ‘smart glasses’ will be the next big thing in less than a year, and the unconscious insights on Joe are already possible today through profiling. All it may take in the future is someone willing to design the apps and connect the dots.

And if I was to imagine what life may be like fifty years from now and not twenty, I wouldn’t even discount telepathy as a means to deeper level of understanding and trust. If only that were so today, I reckon the world would be a much kinder and more accepting place in which to live. But that’s what dreams are for.

I would love to receive your comments on what you predict you’ll see in your industry twenty years from now. Send them now to me care of brian@precisionprofiling.com.au as I will be interested to keep this dialogue going.

I think it’s high time for us all to imagine and create that future we want for ourselves and our loved ones, before it gets taken out of our control.

Until next time… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less.  Have a great week – Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick?  Through ‘Motivational Fingerprinting’ we uncover what you do, how you do it and why you do it, and most importantly, the hidden patterns that lead to your success, and that of your staff.

In this digital age when our email boxes are so full with information overload, I feel privileged that you have taken the time to relax for a few minutes and read further on profiling and the study of language patterns.

And that’s why I take the responsibility of interrupting your busy life very seriously.

I’ll let you into a little secret…

…until this March this year I didn’t even have a Website; I was never on Facebook; I didn’t have a Twitter account – I never ‘tweeted’; I wasn’t ‘Pinterested’; I watched You Tube but had never filmed and uploaded one of my own; I had an iPOD that I never listen to; I didn’t have an iPHONE or iPAD, and I thought Androids were something from Dr Who.

If you are probably wondering – is Brian the modern day Rip Van Winkle? – I can assure you that I have constantly kept myself informed; updated; always learning; and hopefully relevant. I just have listened and engaged in more direct ways. (I think it’s called old fashioned communication.) And I have read, and I have watched, and I have observed, and I have trusted my intuition and my soul… and most of all I have loved… everything about life with a passion, even sometimes when it has been uncomfortable for me to do so.

So now as well as this Website and my Facebook business ‘Fan’ page (www.facebook.com/PrecisionProfiling ) and a Twitter Account (@BrianJohnClark), I have finally joined the ranks of the Bloggers with this Precision Profiling Newsletter RSS feed titled “NEWS & VIEWS.”

I plan to share with you what I have learned about profiling in particular and the study of language patterns in general, and continue to learn in a way that I hope will inform you; will encourage you; will challenge your thinking; will make you laugh and sometimes cry; and sometimes maybe even inspire you… if that is possible.

Most of what I’ll be writing about will be based on my study and passion for precision profiling, which is all about understanding people better and judging them less….  but not always. Sometimes I will share something beautiful that has moved me that I hope will do the same for you.

I also have plenty of interesting observations I’d like to share with you about the language patterns used by leaders which ‘signpost’ how they think and why they act in certain ways, just as your own language does. How for example if you study the language of Australia’s deposed Kevin Rudd’s farewell speech it ‘gives away’ his preferred style of leadership. And how Dr Martin Luther King’s defining civil rights speech, “I have a Dream”, uses language patterns throughout that not only demonstrate that he is highly motivated to influence lasting change for his beloved people but also how he is motivated unconsciously to do that. And why personality profiling per se is flawed as an indicator of performance at work and why the study of precision profiling takes it to a whole new level. And so much more.

So now I hand it over to you. Please enjoy my first official Blog post following this welcome post.  It is entitled “Love – The Ultimate Influence Pattern.” Then watch this space for more to come in future days..

I sincerely hope you stay with me on the journey, because I value the time you have invested with me, and in particular I welcome your comments or feedback emailed directly to me at brian@precisionprofiling.com.

And if you discover you like what I’m sharing with you over time about precision profiling and my study of language patterns, please link it to others in your network so they too can enjoy what gems we discover together along the way.

Sincerely,

Brian