I am organizing a tour of my big art piece ERi which is to publicize opposing hate crimes.

Several groups support this tour including the Greater Manchester Police, Mosscare Housing, Victim Support, TransForum Manchester, GIRES etc.  

However I want to do things that are FUN as well.  So I was wondering if an event can be set up in a Greater Manchester borough.  The Greater Manchester Police was the first police force to recognize that people from alternative subcultures can receive hate crimes.

So I was thinking about what if we could organize having bands, stalls, parties and so on in a borough some weekend.  This would be like the Feel Good festival in Rochdale or the Whitby Goth Weekend.  Perhaps a festival could include giving support against hate crimes...

To give support for ALL groups who can be victimized by hate crimes as well as support for those who HAVE received hate crimes.

Thoughts?

See the similarity?

I was going to continue writing about the experiences I had a few years ago and how they related to businesses now but....

The present Middle East crisis is affecting us all.

And it's confusing.  The conflicts between Israel and Palestine are never ending and full of controversial influences upon the rest of the world.

Years ago the BBC talked about the 'separation barrier' dividing the West Bank from Israel:

• The BBC uses the terms barrier, separation barrier or West Bank barrier as acceptable generic descriptions to avoid the political connotations of "security fence" (preferred by the Israeli government) or "apartheid wall" (preferred by the Palestinians).

The Palestinian Gaza Strip has significant social difficulties.  It's over-crowded and has limited abilities to create housing. Plus it's been blockaded by the Egyptians and Israelis.  Hardly a major threat to the Israelis but then they have concerns about the Palestinian Hamas administration and their alleged terrorist actions.

It could be relatively straight forward if the Israelis and Palestinians worked together but... Amnesty International condemns Israel and a recent article reported:

• Israeli forces are killing Palestinian civilians in the West Bank — including children — with "callous disregard for human life," enjoying near impunity for likely war crimes, and should be immediately cut off from arms shipments by the international community, declares a damning report released by Amnesty International.

Now in the UK, things are getting unpleasant.  According to the Jerusalem Post:

• LONDON – Britain’s Jewish community has seen an almost unprecedented doubling of anti-Semitic incidents over the last few weeks, the Jewish Community Trust reported.

The Manchester Evening News has reported "Police make five arrests during city centre clash during Gaza protest" during a clash between Palestinian and Israeli groups.  Charlotte Cox from the newspaper wrote:

• While praising the police, the council’s city centre spokesman Pat Karney said "Everyone in Manchester is horrified by the death and destruction in Gaza and everyone would hope that both sides would respond to the UN in getting round the table,” he said.
• “But what has to end is the protests outside the shops on Market Street and the intimidation and bullying of shop workers and shoppers. In my opinion it does not advance the Palestinian cause one iota.”

He has a point.  A family member said to me, "If these protestors really want to change things over in Gaza they should go over there and protest."  Even then I don't think it'll change things.  Relatively peaceful protests are a luxury in the UK...

Now the UK Government is in disarray as well... The Guardian website reports:

• Sayeeda Warsi, the senior Foreign Office minister, has resigned from the government in protest at its policy on Gaza, describing it as “morally indefensible”.

Plus the deputy PM Nick Clegg contradicts the stance of David Cameron PM.  The BBC writes that these events are putting him under pressure.

Should this really affect us here though?  The events in the Middle East are terrible.  I'm not going to debate that.  The actions Israel has taken are certainly counter productive and will only exacerbate the situation as well as killing innocent people.  However, can we, in the UK, change that?  Are the
Palestinians and Israelis ever going to live peacefully?  Sadly, I doubt that.

In the UK though I praise the protestors for their concerns, however misguided some may be.  But perhaps we, in the UK, should be an example to the world and show that our different cultures and identities are our strengths.  Let us champion our Diversity and show how it can positively affect communities and businesses...

I've been asked several times, "You've experienced a lot of different things."  Most of the time these people have been quite admiring.

I know I've been lucky to have experienced so many different things.  Some say it's not being consistent.  But I've ALWAYS been consistent...

Others say, correctly, it's made me more adaptable.

And that is how companies need to be in these times.  Diversity isn't a catchword - it's essential if a company is going to be adaptable.

That's true of all organizations.  Including universities - although many don't know how.  I've been reading about how there's been so little university studies about the power of present social media.  A bit behind changes...

It's why my PhD was so hard for some academics to get their heads around.  One senior lecturer said to me, "You've got a lot of internet references in your bibliography."  Of course I did.  I'd be a c**p researcher if I didn't...

Anyhoo... getting ahead of my writing.

Now where was I last time? 

Oh, yeah, I'd left the chemical company I worked for.  I'd been very ill - I got diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  Strange illness MS.  Some get it and get more ill and more ill until they're virtually completely paralyzed while others get one attack (like not being able to walk) recover and never get ill again.  Many people are somewhere in between.

It was a scary time for me but... it taught me about disability from personal experiences.  That has made me more aware of other disabled people.

Same with my hearing.  I don't hear very well so I closely look at lot at a person's face and body language when I talk with them.  To read someone's body language so deeply.  A girlfriend told me that's quite an unusual but useful skill.  I suppose that's why I'm a respected interviewer.  Plus I do like people as well!

Again the advantages of diversity.

Well, it took me some time to get back into gear after I left the chemical company until I went to a course at a local college.  But just before I went on that course there was something that affected so many people around the world.

31st August 1997.  Princess Diana died.  I actually remember it in the early hours.  I heard it on the radio.  At that point no one knew that she'd been fatally injured.

The international grief.  Not long after that the conspiracy theories rose about her death.

I remember even people like Eddie Izzard mentioned her death during his tour around that time.  He said,

Diana died, Diana died, and...                             
Everyone's gone quiet, what's going on?                             
No, I'm not doing big laugh death jokes.                             
I don't do those because it's not a big funny area for me.                             
But she did die and we were thrown by it.                             
Some people were big fans 
and were having a lot of grief time.                             
I was not a big fan. I didn't dislike her.                             
…
Front page for the last four months … and that was so in your face that you had to be thrown. 
It happened one night and you woke up and went, "What? Weird."                             
…
and so there was a mother who died,                             
there was a lot of sympathy  towards the kids,
…
That was understandable.                             
And my dad said something to me -                             
"My mum died when I was six and my brother was eight.                             
"No one gave a shit."

We should never forget that tragedy can affect anyone.  Businesses need to account for that in their staff but also that people need things to help them during their negative experiences.  Some businesses can help in that.  Like in my work opposing hate crimes...

So...

This local college I went to... You'll notice that I do tend to go off at angles...  I can relate some of my experiences to a lot of other issues - people or businesses...

I did a BTEC in Performing Arts.  Now some people might think that was a step down after being a QC Manager etc but it was all about experiencing something different.  Plus, I learnt over the years that egos mean nothing (although some people might disagree with that...).

So I learnt about all sorts of different people.  Backgrounds.  Religions.  Meeting women who'd experienced domestic violence.  People with mental disabilities and various dyslexic problems. 

And I played a big role in a pantomime touring to various schools.  :-) 

Plus I met one guy on the course who, when I first saw him, stood there with his head almost shaved and long scars visible on his scalp.  Yeah, he looked dangerous.

You know what? 

I was wrong. 

His scars?  From a childhood accident - hit by TWO cars in ONE incident when he was 12.  In reality he's a gentle guy.  And years later we're still good friends.  Completely different lives but we just get on.

I think that must have been one of those incidents that we could say I was showing unconscious bias against him because of my bad judgements. 

Once again we get the idea that Diversity enthusiasm in a business can counter the harmful effects of conscious and unconscious bias... 

So it came to the end of my Chemistry degree...

So where to go?  What to do?

Many of us feel that several times throughout our lives.

I had a wonderful holiday with my girlfriend at the time.  We went to France.  Went to castles, museums and to the Pompideu art gallery.  There we saw modern art pieces.

A urinal hanging from the ceiling by a cord.

A coat hanger nailed to the floor.

A sign that gave the title of an art piece.  It said 'Ready Made' and...

There was nothing by it.

I started to understand.  I started to smile.  I started to enjoy.

A grand piano covered in grey foam.  A rusty drum with twisted piping wrapped around it with a hair dryer on the top of it.  And a foot pedal.  That invited.  I trod on it.  The hair dryer switched on and the whole thing shook!

Oh what fun!

Another room.  There I saw a big dark blue panel on the wall at the back of the room.  I walked over to it and read the title.

'Dark Blue Panel'.

That's it.  I couldn't stop laughing.  I was laughing so hard.

Then a serious looking security guard came over. 

Oh.  Ah. 

He pointed to me to follow him.  Oh... I thought... I'm in trouble.  But he didn't escort me to the exit.  Oh... I'm going to get disciplined or something...

He led me to the entrance of another room and pointed me to enter it.  I slowly followed his directions... but I was in another art gallery room.  With another dark blue panel!  I turned to the guard but he had gone! 

I started laughing so much I had to sit down.

Thing is.  I had given the artists making those pieces the greatest compliment.  They had triggered a powerful emotional response from me.  Their art had made me remember them.  And that I'll always be grateful for.

I went down to Amboise and went to the inspirational Leonardo da Vinci museum.  Wow.  What a multi-talented man he was.  Very inspirational.

During that time I applied for positions within finance but it wasn't helped by a recession that meant many recruitment doors were closed.  So I did a Diploma from the Institute of Personnel Management.

I learnt how to ethically manage and had a placement with a company.

This company's Personnel Officer was going on holiday so they needed someone to fill her place.

So I did.

I found that lessons in managing people are different from actually managing but I enjoyed that difference 

and so did the staff at the company.  I learnt how to inspire and be considerate in ways they didn't expect.  When I was due to leave they gave me a best wishes card and all of them signed it with well wishes.

During that course I met Liz.  Thus began a link that transcended the limited definitions of friendship, relationship and family. 

She heard me sing and trained me to sing better... (Some of my music is on
http://www.metalbox3000.co.uk/corium-hide-music.html )

After the Diploma I got the job working at an industrial chemical company.  

The evenings were different.  Singing for various bands around Manchester.  The first one I was in got invited to perform at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.  But the leader of the band broke the band up first.  "It wasn't playing the kind of music I wanted." he claimed.  But Ronnie Scott's!!!  THE jazz club! 

I have so many stories about what went on with the other bands but that's a big blog entry in itself...

It was personally a confusing time on several levels.  I poured my thoughts into the poetry I wrote.

When I read them now I realized just how angry I was.  How confused I was...

And when I was writing poetry in hospital...

I was partly paralyzed on my right side in '95.  The year my grandma died and the owner of the company I worked for took away the budget for a lab I was designing for Quality Control - I was the QC manager and I wanted proper testings for the products being made. 

In the hospital I received drips and two nurses took me outside to learn walking again.

How frightened I was.  My writing during that time was... quite dark.

During that time this company I was working at I had some important decisions that needed to be made and I took them. After all I was the QC Manager.  And I was trained as the company's Quality Auditor.

But I got told off by (of all people) the Managing Director for not consulting him during a couple of decisions. I said, "A decision needed to be made at that point. You weren't available nor was anyone else. So I made that judgement."

I did that twice and, on the second time a product that we supplied was faulty. I got questioned again. I said, the test results I was given said the product was OK. If it wasn't OK then the ways the products were tested needed to be reconsidered. But they didn't dare do anything. They didn't blame me - they knew I was right.  So they didn't do anything...

After I left that company only then did they recognise some of the things I did were significant.  I had designed a self-checking QC computer program while there.  During that time I ended up retraining staff who had been to computer programming classes funded by the company...

I was also in the early stages of designing a more advanced program when I decided to leave.

After I left I met one of the directors who told me they had been looking at my computer and noticed I was designing this more advanced program.  He asked me could I complete it?

"Yeah." I said, "For a commission."  He chuckled. 

What do you think happened?

Funny how we remember things.

My first recollection is from before I could walk.  I was in a walker (a four wheeled frame with fabric in the middle for the baby to stand/sit upright in.  Then they could move themselves around with their hanging feet).  

I was near the front door of my parents house watching my dad making a frame across the front of the driveway.  I didn't know what he was making but, now, looking back, I recognise it as a fence made from with raw wood planks around the edge with chicken wire in the middle.  Now I don't know if it was the same memory but I can recall moving around using that walker and then one of the wheels went into the flower bed.  I started to topple over towards a rose bush and...

That's all I can remember.

Sums up a lot of businesses in a metaphorical way.

But I learnt from it and I still am alive - I think.  But I'm not afraid to explore.  To succeed in business we have to take risks sometimes.

There are lots of other childhood memories.  Some are obviously connected to some major event (one like getting my finger trapped in car door when I was about four - I needed stitches for that one!) but others I can't for any reason see why I should recall them.

Some I think are funny in strange ways.

At a primary school when I was about four I was pushed off a climbing frame and broke my leg.  I had a cast up to my knee.

When I went back to school a girl said to me, "Ha ha you've got a fat leg!"

I looked at her and replied, "Well at least I don't have a fat body."

I'm sure you have similar silly memories.

I remember designing imaginary album covers for fictional bands. 

I can recall the exams my parents put me through when I was about 11 for, I think, four different grammar schools.  One was so stressful it had me in tears - that was the one I ended up going to...

Manchester Grammar School.

During my teens I can remember how confused I was.  I went to the Central Library after school to read books on psychology.

I remember how I questioned how we all acted.  I look around now and I think how we still play roles.  We're still shaped by unconscious prejudices.

Do businesses learn from the mistakes of the past or do we do what so many Governments around the world keep doing?

If we do not remember the mistakes of the past we are doomed to repeat them.

The Americans keep making the same military errors it seems...

Drawing:

I can recall drawing my first portrait (of myself using a mirror - I still have it!) and that started me drawing more portraits of photographs of women in various magazines.

My parents wanted me to go to a university.  When I had an unconditional offer  (I was in whatever my 'A' level results were) to go to York University that was the place I wanted to go to.

Because I had fond memories of York when my parents took me to visit there as a child. 

You see?  We have powerful memories.

I also wanted to change my first name.  I did that on my first day at that university.  It was years before I had it made legally official.

But that's another story.

I was hard working during my first year.  Studying Chemistry with Industrial Economics.

I also had my first serious girlfriend.

From the second year I became famous apparently as the guy who went from being studious to being a bit of a ... rogue I suppose you'd call it.

Skiving out of lectures.  Playing pool at 3 in the morning.  Getting stoned... Photocopying other people's lecture notes... gatecrashing parties. 

My closest friend at that time was also a bit of a rogue.  He and I stole stupid things like benches.  Climbed on university walkways and the buildings' roofs. Stealing library books (got returned after the exams).  Breaking into people's rooms - not to steal but to climb out of their window and gatecrash a big party...

Some 15 years later I went back to the university to look around.  I went into the Chemistry block.  The security guard there immediately recognised me and went directly to the class photo and point out me and my friend.

THE SECURITY GUARD REMEMBERED US AFTER 15 YEARS????!!!!

I should say we're both very very upstanding members of society!  My friend is now a senior accountant and I'm now a doctor campaigning against hate crimes.

Anyhoo...

At York University I also made a large painting (for the first time!) and it was from a photograph of an amazing guitarist called Daniel Ash (from Bauhaus).  I painted it on my work desk (well, I wasn't using it for work).

Amazing how life can change.  And it changed so much after I left that university.

Businesses need training....

To thrive in the present economy, business change is essential.

Redundancies shouldn't be the first ways of saving costs - they should be the LAST ways of saving.

I saw a recent brilliant and inspiring training session where several psychological issues regarding employees were talked about.

Many companies, certainly in the US, are at 'breaking point'.  Many previous training schemes are wasted because of 'disengagement' - not interested in improvements - in change.  Past opinions and prejudices are held.

Familiar?

Senior staff in companies should be QUESTIONING.

"IF PEOPLE FEEL THEY ARE NOT BEING LISTENED TO THEY WILL DISENGAGE."

But too many senior staff in companies don't understand that and wonder why staff morale goes down and down and...

There are media reports, like on Radio 4 (30th May), stressing about the rise in inequality in the UK...

 To Help Change Culture and To Stop Staff From Being Disengaged:

In this training session we were told that 90% of human thoughts are imagination...  To change company culture we must change many past memories (prejudices) to grasp imagination.

We need to picture the unconscious mind...

[ Now, as a side issue here, think about my art piece 'ERi'. Just think about it.]

Many industries don't want imaginations.  They want compliance...

I remember a Mark Steel episode where he was criticizing teaching methods in schools.  On a classroom door you could see he'd posted,

"IMAGINATION WILL BE CONFISCATED "

As children, many of us are repeatedly taught to be compliant.

The trainer, in this workshop suggested a change in outlook - "Let's not call it 'creativity' - let's call it 'thinking'."

So if you suggest some idea but someone says, "Yes, but..."

NO!

Instead say, "Yes, AND..."

Don't think of ways things can't be done but ways they can be made even better...

Imagineering:

This trainer expressed this term.  She got a volunteer to show how things could be... how things should be...

"I can't do this skill."

Don't answer,  "What can I do to help you?"

Instead, ask, "What would it be like if you could do this skill?"

And then ask, "What would you need to learn this skill?"

Making them - FORCING THEM TO - think for themselves - to see new ways...

I wondered about this in my training work for the police.  And my work with colleagues also in training.

Assumptions:

[You still thinking about my 'ERi' art piece?]

People get angry about assumptions.

I always remember reading a quote from the comic strip Peanuts:

"In all of mankind's history, there has never been more damage done than by people who 'thought they were doing the right thing'" - rather than doing what they KNOW is the right thing.

With assumptions always guard against sympathy with customers instead of actually empathizing with them...

If a customer asks for something you can't supply don't say, "Unfortunately..."

Instead say things like, "What we can do..."

Plus give them a choice.

The trainer talked about 'clean language' skills not negative language.  Effectively asking (completely) open questions - which is how I conduct interviews during my research work.

It's often good to have breaks and have fun...

The trainer also talked about the physiological and psychological benefits of stretching in a 'victorious' way:

She also told about the positive effects of countering sadness by looking up.  it's hard to be depressed when doing positive body language!

The trainer also gave training about enhancing a person's peripheral vision.  It's a skill she says that can be rediscovered.

Blame Culture:

"It's not my fault.  They did it."

The trainer stressed there has to be COLLABORATION for an inventive, productive culture.

Plus she stressed that there has to be trust.

And a willingness to fail trying in order to learn the best ways instead of being afraid to try anything.

The trainer expressed that BALANCE is needed in company culture.

Resist using negative words that only harm motivation and damage productivity.

In company conscious and unconscious bias will harm the flexibility of that organization.  Most people will be able to embrace positive changes.  Those that cannot alter may have to go elsewhere rather than harm the positive changes...

These changes can be shown in company language...

"Due to expansion..."
"We have to work..."
"To support you..."

Phrases to be more upbeat.

With the support of organizations, such as TransForum Manchester and Mosscare Housing, the art piece 'ERi' (see below) will be touring around Manchester and photographed with various people.  It will highlight environmental support and resistance to hate crimes.

Support us...

Collaborate with us...

Embrace positive, innovative change...

My PhD finished last year... but then it had to be finalized. (My God, that was a long winded process.)

Now to waiting for the graduation.

And gathering information for my media organization ('Life Cycle Media').

My CD/DVD art work is innovative.  I've had a dozen different art exhibitions.  The Arts Council define me as an 'emerging artist'. 

My art pieces 'Holly Sparkles' ('2010', '2012' and '10') are seen as iconic.

Any of these CD/DVD art pieces:

• Are noticeable due to the constantly changing colors in them -
  

         "The eyes are hungrier than the ears".

• Support environmentalism because they re-use 'waste' digital products.
• Show ever-changing rainbow colors - signs for Diversity awareness.
• Involve artists from various discriminated identities.
• Give inspirations for children and adults.
• Enable sight impaired people to enjoy them by tracing their hands over the 3D shapes.

Being environmentally and ethically aware is essential in this business world.

I've just read an email entitled "Our climate can't wait".  It's from the campaigning group Avaaz.

It mentions Ed Davey, a Liberal Democrat MP, who is the Secretary of State for Climate Change.  He's wanting a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. He's been campaigning for other nations make similar actions. Apparently he's opposing people in other UK government departments who doubt climate change.

But doubting is ever harder with so many facts about climate change:

• Fiona Harvey, from the Guardian website, wrote "Climate change 'making extreme rainfall in England more likely'". 
• Ton Bawden, from the Independent website, wrote "Tories’ scepticism about climate change melts after winter floods – in their constituencies". 
• Eric Rignot, from the Observer website, wrote about NASA investigations in his article called "Global warming: it's a point of no return in West Antarctica. What happens next?"

Yeah, what happens next? It's not just climate change we've got to think about in successful businesses.

I read on an email from 'SmartBrief on Leadership':

• Building an exceptional corporate culture is the only way to get a lasting edge over your rivals, says Brett Wilson, CEO of TubeMogul. "Culture and people are everything," he says. "Nothing else matters, and our ability to stay ahead is a function of having the best people and moving faster than our competitors."

And that means being ethical.  Being adaptable.  Having flexible leaders. 

It includes knowing the legal issues around the Equality Act (2010), Public Services (Social Value) Act and other areas. 

A Diverse workforce is a more adaptable and therefore a more profitable one.  As Wilson says a good culture is everything...

I've been writing about this in my PhD.  I know many companies still have problems around workforce diversity. Several universities have to be aware of these areas too ('REF2014').  Some still have a long way to go to catch up.  In my PhD, I've written about some negative impacts from that.

Yeah, I know about outcomes and impacts...

This includes problems in some emergency services groups.  I'm involved in training some services.

Matthew Jenkins in the Guardian website wrote about issues of transgender in the workplace.  He wrote "while employers are making "great strides" in terms of lesbian, gay and bisexual equality, they are lagging behind providing for transgender staff".

You know what?  So's the Government.  In many areas of Diversity.  But let's be ahead of the game before they catch up.  After all it's about "moving faster than our competitors".

Everything seems to change... just like the rain...

My Diverse work is prophetic...

but some people don't want to.

But that's how successful people and businesses thrive.

Change.

Look at the change in my work over the years.  Yes, there are constants - innovation with the determination to complete tasks.

I was intrigued by a discussion on the LinkedIn website questioning if art has lost connections with humanity.

I wrote that it depends.  There are public displays of local artists so that's a strong connection with humanity... or at least it would be if they were commercially desired...

And I think that is where problems are.  Some big art organisations showing recent art compositions can have very limited connections with humanity.  I've noticed over the last five years or so that, with one or two exceptions, a lot of commercially available art isn't actually pushing forward art but reflecting art styles that's already been created.

I've seen talented and different artwork that connects with humanity plus they're different and innovative.  I'm expanding my organisation, Life Cycle Media, to make just such artwork from various artists directly commercially available to businesses. 

This comes from my own experiences as an 'emerging' artist over the last few years seeing how innovative art created outside the art clique is ignored, which doesn't help innovations and connections with humanity at all.

This is also connected with my other passion in the business world - people.  Training and inspiring people to expand effectiveness.

Yes I do also find computing is so disconnecting from humanity... says he writing on his computer for an online blog... 

I've been very busy over the last few weeks.

I co-presented police training sessions.

I became a committee member of an organisation that gives transgender support.

I discussed interactions with businesses regarding the visual impacts and economic benefits of my artwork and other artists adept in varying styles that I know.

I checked the proof reading of some of my writing around research techniques.

Not surprisingly I also had a needed short holiday...

But I can never rest for too long. 

Below is another video I made from editing an old silent film and combining it with a song I co-wrote:

It's a distinctive video.  Originally made in black and white but then the film makers painted each frame to make it coloured.  The director also wanted to show his innovative skills in editing and special effects.  This film was to show the 'magic' of this new film making phenomenon. Remember this film was made around 1908.

There are odd issues around the casting but perhaps this merely derives from the facts that filming making was new and casting was limited in those days...

This is similar in how casting of staff around diversity awareness can be limited with deficient awareness of the commercial advantages of embracing diversities.

Will there be other things for me to discuss?

Of course - including a special announcement but more of that another time.