I must admit I got caught out recently when I thought I was doing the right thing by this young tradesman. I needed some landscaping to be completed at the front of my property and it just so happened that at the same time I was considering my options, a young man (around 25 years) happened to drop by with a business card offering to quote me on the job. He had been doing some work in the area and noticed that I had been preparing my front yard for a major facelift. He seemed knowledgeable about his craft (landscaping and concreting) and was personable enough in a rough ‘tradie’ kind of way. Once I had seen his handiwork on some previous jobs, I felt comfortable he could complete the work to an acceptable level, so I decided to give him the opportunity. So far so good…

Given I did not know him personally, I wanted to make sure that I would receive fair value for money so we came to an arrangement that I would pay directly for any of the material needed (machinery hire; sand and soil supply; concrete delivery etc.), and he would charge me at a daily ‘labour-only’ rate for him and his mate which would allow me to keep within the budget I had set aside for the project. He told me in advance what the daily rate for the two of them would be and it seemed reasonable enough so the project commenced with me confident that I had covered all the bases and that we were both on the same page with our mutual expectations.

The first couple of days I needed to be off site in meetings so I didn’t get much opportunity to observe what my contractor and his mate were doing. Each day there was evidence of progress in the right direction albeit slower than I expected, so I assumed that things were on track and I paid him as I had agreed to do at the end of the first two days of work. By day four I was beginning to get concerned that the project did not seem to be progressing as fast as I had hoped but I put that concern down to me not being knowledgeable in the ways of landscaping. Whenever I raised my concerns with my young friend, he assured me that things were progressing well and his super confidence seemed to allay my fears enough for me to question myself and my expectations rather than him and his abilities. By now I felt we were two days behind where we needed to be if I was to keep within my budget, so I decided to remain around for the next day to observe first-hand the work that was being done for me by our landscaper and his helper.

At the end of day five, the penny had dropped for me.

Here’s what I witnessed. The general theme of ‘a days work’ by my young landscaper….

Arrive around 8.30-8.45 am. Take the next half hour preparing site works (i.e. unpack the ‘ute’ while chatting about the night before with his mate). Set tasks for the mate to complete while answering mobile phone calls for another half an hour. Do some work for about an hour before taking a break. Complete the morning break and work for another hour before leaving the site together at around 11.30 am to have lunch. Come back an hour later, and work until around 2.30 pm when it was time to clean up. Leave at around 3.00 pm (sometimes earlier I later discovered) to go and quote on other jobs.

As you (and I) will discover from this scenario, a day of work for two tradesmen consisted of probably only five to five and a half hours of actual work. The rest was made up of late arrival, long meal breaks and early finishes interrupted constantly by mobile phone calls and a lot of watching by the tradie’s mate while the tradie did the skilled work.

That evening I quizzed my young contractor what a ‘fair days work for a fair days pay’ meant to him, and much to my surprise he answered that if he is on site for four hours or less it is charged out at a half day rate, but anything over four hours was a full day regardless of how much time was spent on site working. When I mentioned that it seemed like I was actually paying for a full day for two of them for only 1.5 hours more that his half day rate he shrugged his shoulders and said ‘this was what we agreed on.’

And he was right!

In my eagerness to engage him and cover what I assumed was all the bases, I left out one very important aspect of our communication. At a daily ‘labour-only’ rate – what constituted a days work? I wonder if you have you ever been caught out like this as I was.

And here is the valuable lesson I learned from this recent episode. When giving freedom to people without framework built around that freedom, what you are actually doing is giving them licence not freedom. This is because freedom and autonomy without proper framework takes away accountability, and without accountability freedom for the individual is a fairly hollow experience for all concerned.

This recent experience of mine translates directly across to the workplace, especially with our fast changing workforce where we are attempting to create cultures filled with the young Gen Y whizz-kids of the future whom we want to attract and retain. In our rush to engage with them and their self belief that anything is possible for them (instilled into them via parents; schools and the media), we need to be very careful that we do not give them licence without framework in the name of self determination and autonomy. It is a fine line between the two but it can be a slippery slope if we are not more careful as their employers.

I guess you may be wondering what was the final outcome for my landscaping project? Instead of it being an enjoyable win-win experience for both of us, once my trust had been broken I believe it developed into a lose-lose experience instead. My project took double the expected amount of time to be completed and henceforth my budget blew out significantly, and the extra work that I had agreed my eager landscaper could do once the main project was completed was given to someone else to complete under tighter and more specific guidelines as a result. So my young landscaping friend got less work in the end and I paid more than expected.

Here is an excellent link to a blog written by a young and eager Gen Y achiever Kejia Zhu, an employee of Facebook. He’s a 29 year old guy who was born in China, grew up in the UK and now lives in America. Kejia wrote a blog this week which received a lot of attention worldwide because it speaks to the heart of the overblown expectations of the Gen Y generation and their search for instant success before they reach thirty. In his blog Kejia talks with a fair degree of insight about the value of patience and the wisdom that comes with age and years of experience in a world bludgeoned by stories of overnight fame and success.

When I read what Keija says about his 92 yo grandfather’s achievements and his own new-found insight into the meaning of success, it gives me heart that there is a place in this world for every generation if we are prepared to step back and honour the unique perspective that people of each each decade of learning and discovery brings to the table.

http://kzhu.net/does-life-end-at-35.html

Drop me an email to brian@precisionprofiling.com.au if you would like to discuss further how to create the environment that attracts and retains the young leaders of the future for 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.

Photo Credit – ‘Grandpa stealing wifi for his beloved iPad’  – Keija (@Kzhu)

Dr Sam Prince is a Scottish born, Australian medical Doctor with Sri Lankan heritage running a chain of Mexican restaurants. He’s an aid worker and founder of ‘One Disease at a Time’ which is currently on a mission to eradicate scabies from our indigenous communities. 

This incredible man started working in a Mexican restaurant while studying at medical school. He saw a gap in the market and started his own Mexican restaurant at the age of 21 whilst studying fulltime. He graduated medical school from Monash University and built up a chain of 17 restaurants, 170 staff and a turnover of $13.7m in between working full time as a doctor.  He is so passionate about helping others less fortunate than himself that he set up a program to help end hunger called ‘Plate 4 Plate’ where he partnered with a company called ‘Stop Hunger Now’ to make sure the money went to the right places.  Every burrito or salad purchased at Zambrero’s buys a meal for someone in a developing country.

This is what Dr Prince has to say about his philosophy:-

“We are not greedy and when you eat with us, neither are you. Every burrito or bowl you purchase, we pay it forward by helping provide a plate of food to someone less fortunate.  How?

Zambrero has been working with ‘Stop Hunger Now’ to help provide high protein, high vitamin meals that help strengthen people suffering malnutrition.

Every month, we add up all the burritos and bowls we have served at Zambrero and deliver the resources to provide meals to our distribution partner, ‘Stop Hunger Now,’ who provides the logistics to distribute the food relief to the areas most in need.

‘Plate 4 Plate’ is funded through the profits of Zambrero, which means we’re never going to ask you for money. All you have to do is enjoy any delicious meal from our fresh, healthy menu and we’ll donate a meal in return—a definite win-win!’

The program aims to feed ten million people each year.

Clearly, just feeding the world is not enough for Sam Prince. Off the back of the success of his rapidly-expanding group, Sam has also created the Emagine Foundation in 2007. They have built and equipped fifteen IT learning centres in rural Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Far North Queensland to date, ensuring that children in these areas are not prevented from accessing the education required to better their lives simply by virtue of their geographical location and socioeconomic circumstances. There are plans for one hundred centres across Asia Pacific by the end of 2014.

In 2009 Prince appointed his first CEO, Stuart Cook, to run the Mexican food chain. He’d met the then 23-year-old Cook on a bus on the way to the Taj Mahal. Prince was in India to pick up an award from the Junior Chamber International as one of the ten ‘Outstanding Young People of the World in 2008,’ in recognition of the aid work he’d done in South-East Asia and the public education campaigns he’d run in Sri Lanka to reduce the number of deaths from snake bites and dengue fever.

The Zambrero chain now has more than thirty restaurants and there are plans to build it globally to over one hundred restaurants in the next two years. Stuart has continued the great work started by Sam. In 2010 funding from Zambrero has allowed Sam to launch a multi-million dollar project, his not-for-profit organisation ‘One Disease at a Time,’ where he is also tackling a health issue closer to home:- the eradication of scabies, a disease prevalent in indigenous communities, where our indigenous children suffer from this disease at epidemic proportions.

Sam Prince intends to advance education and eradicate disease through ‘One Disease at a Time’ across the globe, starting with a three year ‘Healthy Skin Program’ in East Arnhem Land, and to demonstrate a best-practice model of partnering with (not working on) indigenous communities to create sustainable change.

“Sam Prince does the work of one hundred men, improving the lives of thousands through his innovative medical, business and aid projects,” stated GQ in naming him the 2011 Man of Chivalry in its annual Men of the Year list.

From the wise old age of 28, Prince admits to being fairly naïve when he first headed to Asia as a 21-year-old. He’d made a bit of money in business and wanted to give something back. He chose South-East Asia as the initial focus of his aid work because he’d seen the value that a free education had given his own parents who came from humble beginnings in Sri Lanka.

He learnt three significant lessons.

Lesson Number One:  Before you do any kind of aid work be sure that you have a clear understanding of what you believe is a basic human right vs what you believe is a basic human responsibility. There’s a clear line between the two, he says.  “As doctors we take the Hippocratic Oath of ‘First do no Harm’. If you actually don’t understand where that line is you can end up harming people by taking power away from them when you start doing things that you think are basic human responsibilities,” says Prince.

Lesson Number Two: When he thinks back to working in emergency departments in hospitals, Sam recalls the look of sheer desperation in the eyes of people wheeled into the emergency departments after suffering a medical emergency, such as a heart attack. He saw the same look in the eyes of the people he was helping. “It’s the eyes of people who are truly desperate for your help, money, time, effort, education or healthcare,” says Prince. “For me to sleep at night and to be able to look into the mirror and know that I’ve done things ethically every step of the way, I knew I could have no agenda. No political or financial or religious agenda. It is a value that we don’t ever cross.”

Lesson Number Three: You have to run an aid organisation with the same rigour as you would a business. “I thought that just because people were in need and needed a hand up that they were all good people,” he says. “The reality is that’s not the truth. People are good and bad, just like there are good and bad people in every other demographic.”

The idea behind ‘One Disease at a Time’ was sparked by a conversation with one of his mentors, Frank Bowden. The professor of medicine at the Australian National University Medical School had eradicated the sexually transmitted disease Donovanosis out of Australia permanently in four years at a cost of $4 million and ten staff. “That’s not a lot of money, time or resources and I thought ‘wow, that’s something I can do as a doctor, aid worker and entrepreneur’,” says Prince.  Professor Bowden now sits on the board of ‘One Disease at a Time.’

Professor Bowden says, “I am constitutionally suspicious of medical entrepreneurs who, in my experience, can put the pursuit of financial gain before the desire to care for their patients. The exact opposite applies to Sam. The son of one of my friends had been looked after by Sam in our emergency department one Saturday afternoon. My friend described the appearance of Sam amid the controlled chaos of the hospital as something like a magician waving his wand to create a bubble of peace and calm around his son. This is a special and rare talent.”

Through his work supported by funding from Zambrero, Sam intends to achieve his dream of providing the infrastructure and opportunity for disadvantaged young people across the globe to empower themselves through good health and a quality education. Sam’s success in business derives from an unusual ability to visualise practical solutions to seemingly vast problems, and to drive these through implementation through a calculated approach and by force of willpower and inspiring others to believe in his vision.

Samantha Cran, Chief Executive Officer of ‘One Disease at a Time,’ first met Prince at a business/networking event. She recalls being taken aback by his ability to translate his core values into actions and felt she had to be part of the movement. She started as a volunteer before becoming the CEO.

“Sam is the ultimate definition of an entrepreneur,” says Cran. “Whether it’s in business or healthcare, for each industry he is the visionary who can see a gap in the market before others do and then diligently backs himself in to fill it. He also has the tenacity to push through any barriers – it is this ‘will’ that people recognise early and are truly inspired by it.”

Prince puts the willingness of others to get involved down to him wearing his dreams on his sleeves.

“By virtue of claiming it and saying, ‘I want to do this’, and being open about it, this activates the people around you,” says Prince.

Dr Prince is also a sought-after speaker on both a local and international stage. His achievements have been recognised through a number of awards including the 2012 ACT Young Australian of the Year; the Junior Chambers International ‘Outstanding Young Person of the World;’ the 2008 National My Business Awards ‘Best Young Gun in Business;’ and the 2008 Canberra Business Council Excellence Award. In 2011 he received the Weary Dunlop Fellowship.

It seems that Dr Sam Prince is taking the Hippocratic oath of ‘First do no Harm’ to a whole new level of thinking…. meaning ‘First do no Harm and then do Massive Good.’

You can also read more about what Sam Prince and other business entrepreneurs like him are doing with regard to making money and making a difference on the website of Leaders of Distinction which along with Precision Profiling is showcasing the new breed of entrepreneurs arriving on the scene today.

What are your thoughts on the work and success of Dr Sam Prince? I’d love to hear them.

Drop me an email to brian@precisionprofiling.com.au if you would like to discuss further how to create the environment that attracts and retains the young leaders of the future for 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.

Atlassian is an Australian software company that lives, works and plays by its noble cause and values. The people at Atlassian exist not only to provide quality software to corporate Australia and the rest of the world but also to help companies share information, be more collaborative and help people all over the world to live better, more purposeful lives with deeper and richer relationships. They are certainly on track to doing just that.

I would like to thank my colleague Anita Kropacsy of Leaders of Distinction who shared this wonderful story with me about Atlassian, a young and vibrant company that deserves highlighting for all of the right reasons. Together, in our work, Anita and I seek to showcase forward thinking organisations that add a huge dose of social awareness and action as a key part of their business model. We call it R.O.I. + I. (Return on Investment and Integrity). Not only are they great employers and successful businesses, but also their social consciousness is front and centre of their strategy, not an ‘add on.’ They and many other youthful companies like them are the new breed of business leaders of this new millennium who bring with them a wider global view than just the fortunes of their own company. Here’s their story.

Since 2010 Atlassian has donated more than $2.5 million to help women in developing countries to gain access to education through donating 100% of all income from a software tool that supports start-up businesses and not-for-profits (which they give licences to use the software for a mere $10). Talk about a win-win-win-win.  They have been heard to say that they try to aim for a ‘win’ to the power of six!

They have one of the most innovative teams around, and that doesn’t happen by accident.  Everything in their business exudes absolute transparency. Regardless of whether it is practical or impractical, all information both internal and external is made public.  They are not afraid of being honest with themselves; with their staff; with their customers and with the community at large.

It’s not just the transparency that helps to create an atmosphere of innovation and productivity though – they have structures and systems and they invest heavily into believing in their team’s ability to be creative.

Every quarter they have what they call ‘Shipit’ days, where everyone in the company is invited to come up with an idea and work on whatever they want to work on as long as it fits within Atlassian’s business scope. They back this up even further and offer the staff 20% time where anyone who wins backing from the team from their ‘Shipit’ presentation can spend 20% of their work week (and pick whomever they want on their team) to turn their idea into reality.  This has also helped them to develop some fantastic project management and collaboration software.  They have also just run their first ‘Shipit’ day for their customers who might have some great ideas on how to improve their products and services.  That’s smart!

Atlassian builds its business with heart and with balance.  While the company works incredibly hard at producing outstanding software that improves the lives of the people using it (making their life easier and less stressful/more free and transparent), each person within the 600 strong team situated over three continents volunteers five days per year to their favourite charity, supported by Atlassian. The company also runs programmes such as ‘matching donation month’ where it matches the donations that staff put into their charities out of their own pockets. Atlassian is always looking for ways that it can give back to the wider community in which it operates.

The leaders support their stakeholders in any way that they can – including engaging them in major company decisions; putting their large orders in to their suppliers where ever possible in the suppliers quiet periods; generally considering absolutely anyone whose life could be impacted in any way by their company with absolute compassion; and with everyone’s best interest at heart.

It’s not all just hard (yet fun and engaging) work at Atlassian either.  They have computer games, music, pool tables, Wii carts… they are even supplied with tricycles with which to ride around the office, fully equipped with a stubby cooler on the front and a basket on the back ready for 4pm Friday drinks.

The architecture at the Atlassian building hasn’t happened by accident either.  It is light, bright, spacious… all of the things that have been scientifically proven to enhance creative activity in the brain.  They are on to everything here.

Atlassian is one of the fastest growing companies in Australia and has been acknowledged as being amongst the top ten best employers in Australia for the last three years running. Its founders are recognised by the BRW young rich list as being the two wealthiest individuals in Australia under the age of 40. In a recent interview, they were asked what is it that makes their company so successful. Their answer was that they have meaningful core values, they work hard to get the right people on board and they implement world best practices and business systems that support their core values and innovation (and they have also happen to have attracted the attention of industry greats such as Gary Hamel and Dan Pink).

Atlassian are a key driver in a new business concept called ‘Conscious Capitalism.’ Chances are we are going to hear a whole lot more about this in our world over the next few years, as more and more business leaders discover that there are more fulfilling ways to achieve business success where profitability, sustainability and ‘making a difference’ go hand in hand.

What are your thoughts on ‘Conscious Capitalism’? I’d love to read them.

Drop me an email to brian@precisionprofiling.com.au if you would like to discuss further how to create the environment that attracts and retains the young leaders of the future for 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.

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.

There’s a new word to describe a wonderful movement that started here in Melbourne just five years ago which has been taking our country by storm. Idealisation – The Realisation of an Ideal through an Idea whose time has come. The cause that I speak of is Thankyou Water – until recently a little known social enterprise which is destined to have a global impact on the provision of safe water to those communities for whom safe drinking water, staple food and basic hygiene is a non-existent commodity. I know that the catch-phrase ‘Social Entrepreneurism’ has been bandied about to explain this new breed of thinking where ‘making a difference’ in the world goes well beyond just plain charity, but I believe that this new description of mine, “Idealisation,”  better describes the essence of what this amazing young team of social entrepreneurs is all about. Here’s a short history of their incredible journey so far…

Co-Founders Jarryd, Dan and Justine

To quote directly from their own material… “In 2008, Thankyou Water was started by a group of five university students, led by 19 year old Dan Flynn. He felt the urgency to help people in developing countries in South East Asia and Africa who don’t have access to safe water. What Dan discovered is that each year Australians spend $600 million on bottled water and yet, over 743 million people a year don’t have access to safe drinking water, resulting in the death of 2 million people (mainly children) and a day-to-day struggle to survive for those still alive. Thankyou Water exists to bring real change into the developing world…

…Thankyou Water’s mission is to provide average Australians with a chance to help those in need, by a simple process of purchasing a bottle of Thankyou Water. For every bottle of Thankyou Water purchased, at least one months worth of safe water is provided to someone in need somewhere in the developing world.”

The way that Thankyou Water has its impact is not by means of charitable donations from you the public, but by competing as a social enterprise in the bottled water market to make as much profit as possible for the sole purpose of funding water projects in some of the worst affected areas of the world. The projects that 100% of Thankyou Water’s profits help to fund are all set up and managed by established NGO partners such as Oxfam; World Vision; Australian Red Cross and the like. These organisations have a proven track record in this area and Thankyou Water selects and audits them in the field on a project-by-project basis. In this way ‘TW’ can provide oversight for the allocation of their funds where they have the most direct impact, utilising the resources and expertise of those universally respected NGOs which have a long history of success in the field.

Thankyou Water have now extended that range to museli-based foodstuffs and a body-care range, and have specifically linked the two new product categories directly to emergency and long term food aid and hygiene education just as they did by linking bottled water sales to safe water projects. Already their efforts have changed the lives of 50,000 souls, but they are aiming for millions. I believe they’ll achieve that goal and by their example they will open the eyes of tomorrow’s entrepreneurs to what is now truly possible in our global village.

What makes Thankyou Water’s approach so unique is that they have developed an on-line method by which retail buyers of their water, food and body-care products will be able to track the positive impact their individual purchase is having via a specially created application called ‘Track Your Impact’. This is achieved  via the unique product code allocated to each item which can be tracked right through to the specific project in a specific location in the world, with GPS coordinates and photographs provided – all within fingertip touch on their smart phone app. Now that’s what I call marrying ‘high touch’ relationships with ‘high tech’ innovation.

The old model of supporting a far-flung community through charitable donations every month via the donor’s personal attachment to an individual child’s life story has just been upgraded to tracking on-line a single retail purchase to a specific impact on the ground in a specific corner of the developing world. Being a World Vision sponsor myself, I freely acknowledge that there is plenty of room for both forms of charitable and social entrepreneurial assistance in our society, but my profound belief is that Thankyou Water’s approach is heralding a new form of ‘idealisation’ that could well be the way of the future. What has brought this about is the vision of a handful of concerned and savvy Gen Y positive activists who intrinsically understand the value and the reach of Social Media combined with the technological ‘smarts’ of  today, and the courage and persistence to believe in their cause regardless of the insurmountable odds weighed against them in the start-up years.

I firmly believe that this masterful utilisation of Social Media combined with cutting edge web design and social media architecture has encapsulated the essence of today’s Gen Y approach to ‘changing the world’.

As a result of their ingenious Social Media campaign executed with military timing and a huge dose of irreverent and fun-filled ‘chutzpah,’ their world-changing bottled water and other staple items are now available for sale Australia-wide through 7-Eleven; Coles and Woolworths. It doesn’t get much bigger than that folks, and it’s all been achieved within five short years from the seed of an idea carried along on a wing and a prayer. Thankyou Water isn’t just an inspired vision any more, or even a sustainable social enterprise. It is developing into a full-blown movement with a just cause… and its followers are growing by the hour.

Here is their website -  www.thankyou.co . I urge you to check it out and spend more than just a few minutes trawling through their well crafted material and on-line creative genius. Once you have engaged with their site, I swear you will be hooked, and in the words of internet wunderkind Seth Godin, you’ll become another member of their ‘tribe.’

Needless to say, all of their YouTube Videos, of which there are many, are personable, informative and entertaining with high quality production values.

Here is just a brief taste of one of them. Do yourself a favour and click on it now… to follow their journey thus far.

This is the future today. As business owners and senior corporate executives, I want to ask you if Thankyou Water’s example has impacted on you as it did me? They once dreamed the impossible dream, but their dream is now a reality.

So what about your dreams?  What difference can you make in the world with all of the resources you have at your disposal?

They had none to begin with and still have very little to speak of today. But they are punching thousands of kilos above their weight.  I challenge you to do the same.  And if you feel you can’t, at least get on board and spread the word. I want my children and future grandchildren to inherit a world that I am proud to be associated with, and this is the type of example I want my children to be inspired by. What about you?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, and your feedback on how you can help me spread the word. Drop me an email to brian@precisionprofiling.com.au if you would like to discuss further the amazing power of bringing this concept of “idealisation” to our workplaces, inspired by heart-centred leadership.

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.

…”Generation Y. You’ve heard that they don’t watch TV, and you’ve probably been told that they don’t read that much, and you certainly can’t tell Gen Y what is cool. So how do you reach these 71 million “Millennials” that spend over 200 billion dollars annually and will soon replace the baby boomer generation as the largest percentage of the workforce? The answer is simple… you stop marketing to them.

First, let’s look at who they are. As a Baby Boomer, I can tell you that this generation are our own invention. We raised Gen Y to believe that they can do anything and be anything. We made their lives easy enough that they now believe they deserve to live first and work second. So the first thing we have to do is stop being annoyed at our own creation and embrace the brilliance of this Gen Y community.

This is the most optimistic generation to ever walk the face of the planet. They absolutely believe that miracles are possible. They refuse to work in a job that does not bring them a sense of joy. They care about the earth and servicing their community. In Gen Y, we have created the possibility for everything that we wanted for the world. So we must stop whining about them being entitled and embrace the power of this generation. Once we do that, we can then begin to take a closer look at who they are, what makes them tick, and what they want from our businesses.

How do companies that have been successful at marketing to Gen Y speak to this demographic? To answer that, first we have to understand the four areas Gen Y considers before purchasing a product or service.

1. Cheap cost
2. Good quality
3. Fast service
4. An “experience”

When Apple created the 99-cent download that took eight seconds to transact, they hit the nail on the head with Gen Y. Music is an experience, the quality is stellar, the cost is low, and the purchase happens instantly. What did Apple do right?  They spoke directly to Gen Y and asked the question, “What do you want?”

Living in an age where information is everywhere and where everyone can reach them, the Gen Y community is very selective about who they listen to. Just look at their social media accounts, and you’ll recognize that they get their information from one another, not from us, and certainly not from the media.  And the information they get from each other is not in emails, which most of them don’t even touch anymore. They text one another. They IM. They watch each other on YouTube. And sometimes they do all three at the same time. Most importantly, Gen Y does not care about what you have to say unless you have been endorsed by their friends. They care about what their community says, and they take each other and their network’s recommendations very seriously.

So taking that into account, how do you reach them? Understand that Gen Y is an “experience” culture. They do not want to be told what to like or what to do. They want to experience the world for themselves with their friends and then pass their own judgment.

There is one more major element to consider, and that is how to earn their respect when you are talking with Gen Y:- Authenticity. They don’t waste time on people or companies that are not being real with them.  This generation has seen it all, from televised wars to 9-11 to the hanging of Hussein. They know real when they see it, and it takes them all of three seconds to pass that judgment.

So what does all this mean? It means that you cannot directly market to them until you buy into them, until you value their perspective on life. So while other experts are out there giving you “tricks” to market to Gen Y, stop marketing to them and start listening to them. Hang out with them. Experience life with them. Respect them. If you do, their outlook on life will change you. When you do that, you’ll find your audience within this generation. Then talking “with” them, not “at” them will sell your business….”

This article was written by executive coach and Generation Y expert, Bea Fields. Fields is co-author of Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders. http://MillennialLeaders.com.

Until next time… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less. – Cheers Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Revealing the hidden secrets about yourself that even you didn’t know.