Some times it is good to be a little strange..

Yesterday evening I was witness to what I suspect must be a uniquely English piece of lunacy.  Two or three times a year a sand bank known as Bramble Bank appears above the waters of the Solent.  Some time in the 50’s, one sailing club challenged one of its rivals to a a cricket match on the sand there.  Now, every year the two teams assemble in full cricket whites and slog it out.  In typically English style, they take in turns to ‘win’ this encounter.  Their Canute-like struggle against the elements is watched by an armada of small craft, sipping something cold and fizzy.  Last night, in beautiful sunshine we went out to participate in this madness.  Yesterday there was far less sand visible than in the video and it was an even dafter spectacle.

The thing is, it is so easy to conform, and new answers sometimes demand a radical, many would say “stupid” departure from tried and tested wisdom.  Group think is the enemy of change and allowing people to express their individuality is a good way to get the best and most out them.  Google famously allocated 20% of their engineers time to ‘independent projects’ (though I believe they may have change this policy recently.) Sometimes, in the midst of what sounds daft, is a new direction that is worth exploring…

In the words of Noel Coward:-

 

 

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun,
The Japanese don´t care to, the Chinese wouldn´t dare to,
Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one
But Englishmen detest-a siesta.
In the Philippines they have lovely screens to protect you from the glare.
In the Malay States, there are hats like plates which the Britishers won’t wear.
At twelve noon the natives swoon and no further work is done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, August 23rd, 2013 at 07:56 and is filed under Business Change, General, Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.