“Do what is beyond your strength even should you fail sometimes.”

As the brilliant documentary “Older than the Ireland” so vividly illustrated, 100 years is not a long time.

It does, however, highlight how action taken today can significantly impact the Ireland of 2116.

I for one think we need to seriously adjust the trajectory.

Heartened and inspired by the leadership evidenced in the stories shared at Tangible Ireland’s Ambassador Summer School – 48 hours later I was faced with the critical need for a seismic shift in the expectations of the citizens of this island.

The state of Dublin is a disgrace.

We’ve invited the world to share in our commemoration, to witness our progress and experience our energy.

I joined an American tourist, spouse of a convention goer, who had no intimate knowledge of the Irish or Ireland. And I was deeply ashamed.

Navigating the streets, even outside the GPO is near impossible. Construction, broken pavements and crowds of pedestrians detoured around significant destinations, were confused, huddling over maps and tripping on obstacles.

Public transport is rerouted, the place looks dirty and disheveled.

It was a bit like being invited to a wedding when halfway down the aisle the bridal party decided that a change of hair, makeup and dresses was in order. And then they changed right there.

Let this serve as a call to action: We’re better than this!

Our emigrants have built cities all over the world. The children of this island have gone on to impact excellence in military, political, business and civic leadership all over the world. And we tolerate less than mediocrity here. I propose that we proclaim that:

The days of “whatever you say, say nothing” are over.
The days of “ah, sure they’ve got the run of themselves” are over.
The days of “sure, it’s grand, besides, you’ll never change it” are over.

Take action. Use digital media to bring examples of the unacceptable to light. Deficits in the delivery of public services, entitlement programs and long term planning can be brought to the attention of us all. Use the airwaves and Twitter-sphere to highlight failures and abuses of systems. Hold the names- just tell us what ought to be and is not. Use the hashtag #BetterThanThis. If #Shameful suits, use that too.

We’ll amplify each other’s frustrations, research and post the wisdom and experience of those who have overcome similar challenges and together we can bring the ideals of the founders to fruition in this our second century.

Alternatively, use and follow #PositiveIreland for the good news stories.

Let no one less than Charles Stewart Parnell inspire the call to action.

“We have never attempted to fix the ne plus ultra to the progress
of Ireland’s nationhood and we never shall.”

…or even relevant.

The links provided will offer a view into what system changes are succeeding elsewhere. The video below says it all.

Let’s get out of their way, stop lecturing and test less. Let’s motivate and challenge our young people to show us what they can do!

In Ireland, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland we accept the unacceptable, which looks like:

• stressed students overwhelmed by testing
• under-utilized teacher talent constrained by rigid curricula & curriculum overload
• curricula and methods at odds with the needs of 21st century workplaces
• sectarian schools doing little to advance the active citizenship and future leadership required to thrive in an increasingly diverse Ireland
• inadequate access to neighborhood schools, particularly in the Republic of Ireland where lack of a baptismal certificate is an obstacle to entrance into a state supported school

What needs to change?

Noted education expert Sir Ken Robinson has written and spoken extensively on the subject. Changing Education Paradigms is an excellent summary of the issues at hand.

In Ireland, I invite you to follow the work of ChangED a new think tank focused on challenging us all to drive reforms in education across the island.

You can follow their work on Twitter @IRLChangED and watch for their position papers to be published this fall. The papers will address:

• Mental Health in Education
• School Admissions
• Technology in Education

You can help:

Follow the good news stories, and when a school or a group distinguishes itself, please bring it everyone’s attention. People fear change and nothing alleviates that fear like the success stories.

Like this one:

In Dublin at Donabate Portrane Educate Together, they’re Teaching Empathy, Leadership & Confidence. It is one of 12 Changemaker schools designated by Ashoka Ireland, an international network of social entrepreneurs.

It is when we demand this kind of innovation in education at every school in all levels that it will happen. Empower teachers, principals and parents by getting involved.
Educate yourself!

There is a wealth of information out there about innovative programs from around the world.

• Ireland’s Tech leaders are saying that we must remove obstacles to innovation and creativity.
•  A Harvard University study asked: What common characteristic or trait is seen in successful individuals? Why aren’t we teaching this – at home and in school? Apparently it’s self control and it can be taught.
• This playlist of TED Talks reflects the discussions that are taking place worldwide.

I will close with a summary statement of the goals of ChangED and suggest that it be a goal every citizen embraces.

ChangED aims to ensure that education in Ireland has equality of opportunity, excellence in teaching and learning, accountability, sustainability, a global outlook, wellbeing, resilience and an appreciation of the richness of different cultures and languages as its hallmarks.

So said Julia Cameron in her introduction to The Right to Write.

We should write because it is human nature to write. Writing claims our world. It makes us directly and specifically our own. We should write because humans are spiritual beings and writing is a powerful form of prayer and mediation, connecting us both to our own insights and to a higher and deeper level of inner guidance as well.

Cameron’s best know tome is The Artist’s Way and it is regularly referenced in lists on the best books on writing. “Show up at the page” is the message – both in pursuit of your art and in the discipline of the “morning pages“. She uses the habit of three long hand pages of writing every morning on awakening as a means to clear the mind of distractions and anxieties, freeing up space for creativity to flourish.

She concludes her introduction to the Right to Write with:

It is my hope that this book will help to heal writers who are broken, initiate writers who are afraid, and entice writers who are standing at the river’s edge waiting to put a toe in.

I have a fantasy. It’s the pearly gates. St. Peter has out his questionnaire, he asks me the Big Question, “What did you do that we should let you in?”

“I convinced people they should write,” I tell him. The great gates swing open.

I share her fantasy.

For over a dozen years now I have facilitated groups exploring both The Artist’s Way and her three subsequent books on writing – The Right to Write (1998), The Sound of Paper (2004), the latest Write For Life (2023).

The lastest is the third in her series of 6 week/6 chapter explorations of The Artist’s Way.

It’s may be subtitled “A Toolkit for Writers” but what comes through is the generosity of spirit and goodwill in sharing her methods and process.

It does read like her “love letter to writing”.

If you’d like support in showing up at the page, get in touch!

Email, Book a Discovery Call, or join Empowering-Change in The Artist’s Way

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste” 

So goes the very powerful fundraising campaign launched by United Negro College Fund in 1972. It’s one of the most enduring tag-lines Madison Avenue has brought the world. It endures because the sentiment is universal.

Dust off the cobwebs, turn off the talking heads and find out what real people working on the front lines of social, political and educational change, are up to.

The season of “Summer Schools” is underway. It’s a glorious opportunity to surround yourself with the intellectually curious, to have your thinking challenged and be infused with a dose of positivity.

We are sadly lacking mature leadership on the island of Ireland and it has never been more important for all of us to develop ourselves into an active and engaged citizenry.

The McGill, Merriman & xChange Summer Schools are now behind us. There is ample coverage of all available and still time to consider The Thomas D’Arcy McGee Summer School in Carlingford  which will address “D’Arcy McGee, 1916 and Revolutionary Republicanism” and Tangible Ireland’s Ambassador Summer School which covers “Business & Civic Leadership”.

Don’t do it for yourself, do it for your children and grandchildren. Education doesn’t end with “qualifications“, it’s a life-long process. Model it!

Why? Frederick Douglas sums it up perfectly: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”

*(per the 2014 post – and an excellent incentive to mark your calendars for the 2017 events…)  The McGill Summer School will stream its programming on “Reforming and Rebuilding our State”. And there’s still time to plan an outing to Glenties. Audio highlights of the xChange Summer School about “Changing Conversations” are available. Still ahead are the Merriman Summer School where “Emotional Life in Ireland” will be explored; The Thomas D’Arcy McGee Summer School in Carlingford  will address “The Famine in Ulster”; Tangible Ireland’s Ambassador Summer School covers “Business & Civic Leadership” and there are many more.

“Do as I say, not as I do!” …or not!

When Tangible Ireland began in 2009, we were experiencing a lot of that kind of leadership in Ireland.

Founder, Raymond Sexton believed that an emphasis on the positive was required.

• What was going well?
• Who were the people driving the success stories?
• Did anyone else believe we were better than our bottom line?

He began to examine what drove excellence in leadership both at home and abroad.

The perspective was that of an engineer and project manager experienced in helping multinationals invest and build facilities in Ireland, a homecomer returned from a decade in Australia, and a closet historian.

Who the Irish are in Ireland and who we become when we go abroad is a fascinating study.*

And the many Tangible ambassadors, partners and guests have joined him in studying it – up close and personally, across the island of Ireland and worldwide.

There have been over sixty Tangible seminars in global cities – Dublin, London, New York and Sydney; regional capitals – Belfast, Limerick & Galway; and in the urban & rural villages that lie at the heart of Irish life and values – Howth, Kilmallock and Crossmaglen.

There’s a common denominator in all these communities. We honor our original associations, whether counties, communities, schools, or team affiliations, we pay it forward and take care of our own. We are industries, joyous, playful and determined.

Here’s what we do:

Imagine the simplicity of a “3 pinned plug” and the energy it channels. It’s the way each Tangible Seminar is designed. We showcase and model the best business and civic leadership in a region by:

• focusing on the maverick and entrepreneurial “live wires” – the local leaders driving change
• highlighting and sharing connections to the startup, trade & inward investment support offered in the Republic and in Northern Ireland
• recognising our citizens at home, abroad and in transition, uniting them in their efforts to prosper both here and across the Diaspora

Here’s what we’ve learned:

• at home and abroad our values never change
• our Diaspora represents our greatest asset; vast supplies of human capital available for spending and investment
• our citizens never cease to be our citizens

Here’s what we believe:

• Personal, business and trade relationships empower us individually & collectively, in our new lands and across Ireland.
• Our citizens never cease to be entitled to be heard.
• At home, abroad or in transition, we owe each other a duty of care, including responsible stewardship of this island, economically, environmentally and politically.

This drive for excellence in leadership and best practices reflects our duty of care to the next generation by making this island fit to come home to, or to never be forced to leave.

We are survivors.

Who we are and who we become, whether we stay here or go abroad needs to reflect our best hope for the future of our Irish or Northern Irish children and grandchildren in the Americas, the EU, the UK, Oz or elsewhere.

To join us in San Francisco on Thursday, 21. July  or at the annual Ambassador Summer School here in Ireland follow the links to register.

For a great summary of why Tangible travels the globe in search of “live wires” – here it is:

*…who we become when we go abroad as described by one of our own:

I’m pleased to be leading the team running #BizCampAND this Friday, 11. September.

The theme of the day is “What it Takes”, and we’re delighted to have 21 speakers confirmed.

We’re highlighting the possibilities we can imagine, practical skills we can acquire and how best to poise ourselves for peak performance.

Possibilities

Seven successful local entrepreneurs will share their journeys. The businesses they’ve built are in artisan foods, purpose built software, a home for creatives and a retail + online sales enterprise to support job creation & training.

Two have developed consultancies which are a direct outgrowth of their “day jobs”. Still driving those businesses they also serve to educate and inspire others in their industries.

Ranging in age from their twenties to fifties, most are doing jobs none imagined when they left school – and that is a key message BizCamp wants to deliver: Ordinary folks ‘like us’ can accomplish what once seemed like extraordinary things – by simply doing what they love with passion and extraordinarily well.

Practicalities

Entrepreneurs are made, not born! Thankfully we live in an era where programs exist to support our learning curves. You’ll meet seven professionals ready to illustrate what it is that we don’t know we don’t know.

There will be practical training and advice on sales, marketing, tendering and finance. There’ll be nothing dry or didactic about it. Four of the 6 experts are entrepreneurs themselves. They’ve started businesses, struggled with the same things you do and have come out the other side.

There will be two bankers ready to take the intimidation out of approaching banks for traditional finance, as well as offering their insights into alternatives.

Performance

The dream is one thing – getting in shape to sustain and drive it is quite another. Our speakers will explore “design thinking”, goal setting, and putting down our digital devices to achieve balance in our lives.

They will cover the “relationship building” that characterises 21st century sales and identifying the “priority tasks” that keep us focused.

We’ll also hear about “extraordinarily ordinary people doing ordinarily extraordinary things” – which is, in fact, our experience of most “Bizcampers”.

Culture shock comes close to describing my experience as a second generation Irish-American in Ireland.

I was frequently told that I needed to learn how to “act Irish”. Apparently this calls for a combination of politeness, passivity, not being direct, self-deprecation, an avoidance of self-promotion, and a tendency toward begrudgery.

Any attempt to fall back on my US-cultivated cultural norms around self promotion, assertiveness and confidence, earned me the label “cheeky,” or “bold,” or “troublesome.”

Personally and professionally, conformity seemed counterproductive at the height of the financial crisis. The negative impact on people’s mental and physical health and well being was palpable. Passivity, while the acceptable default response, seemed a significant part of the problem.

I came to believe that reflecting my contrary perspective, while “bold”, could help others appreciate that:

• A reluctance to self promote, a propensity to begrudge and a tendency to shame success, do not serve us well when competing in a 21^st century global economy.
• We can catalyse their own personal and communal change.
• We can take a chance on ourselves.

It’s the message I deliver in coaching and training individuals and small businesses in my private practice and to a wider audience via Neo Ireland.

To that end, Neo Ireland*:

• supports events that serve as an inspirational and educational outreach to SMEs and microbusinesses by providing them with business development support and exposure to wider networks
  • BizCampNI
  • Newry Creates
  • Women that Work

• supports “Newry Hackers”  by making space available to volunteers who mentor young people to develop their IT skills.
• echoes the positive stories and challenges the negativity we experience.
• discourages passivity and inspires a confidence that things can be better.
• encourages people to demand excellence in leadership across the public, private and third sectors.
• works to model tolerance, patience and the possibility of agreeing to disagree.

We invite you to join the discussions at any time via Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin.

*Closed in 2015, Empowering Change continues Neo Ireland’s outreach.

Peripheral to two capitals that benefit from significant foreign direct investment, policies favouring support of 21st century technologies plus agencies committed to expanding markets, the NI/ROI border region is uniquely placed to focus on just three of these six key pillars.

Human Capital, Supports and Culture

Our task is to develop these to ensure we can fully participate. In an age of a mobile and freelance workforce, geographically peripherality does not preclude our being pivotal to both markets

A skilled workforce is educated, confident, flexible and resilient. Peer to peer educational and networking opportunities serve to showcase local entrepreneurial success stories, highlight opportunities and encourage our somewhat risk averse population to follow their lead.

At the core, programs like BizCamps, Newry Creates, Women that Work among others, address the roots of our collective difficulty with ambition & self-promotion.

We signpost resources designed to provide mentorship among peers, encouraging participants to “pay it forward” volunteering with outreach efforts like CoderDoJo and Drone Academy to inspire and support skill building among young people as well as the unemployed.

Where opportunities may not yet exist we support people seeking to create them.

Learn more…

Many of you post these images regularly – from the safety of your American homes. Please rethink them.

I used to live there – now Ireland is my home. It has been since November 2008.

It is not always safe here on the border. Our world is different than yours.

I live and work between Dublin and Belfast. I am privileged to carry both US & Irish Passports.

The UK government honors my Irish Citizenship conferring upon me every right of her citizens. I was welcomed when I established my business in County Down. I have been as free to live in Northern Ireland as the Republic.

We are 32 counties of residents on the island of Ireland. 17% of us were born elsewhere.

Our average life span is 80 years; longer than yours. We all have a vote. We could even vote to unite Ireland. Take a long view – it will likely happen. The island has been populated for over 12 thousand years. The British have been here only 850.

Governments in the 21st century amount to “taxing authorities”. We don’t raise armies to protect these borders, we live in the EU. Our borders are collectively protected.

Things are better in the Republic for Protestants and in the North for Catholics* than for African Americans across much of the US – So I’d argue your civil rights movement needs your attention more than ours.

Consider this:

•  In NI we don’t pay our own way – the UK government (and every British taxpayer) subsidises 70 p of every £1 floating through our economy.
• In the Republic we have mortgaged our grandchildren’s futures to bail out the excessive spending of the “boom”.

Try this:

• Ask a patient on a gurney at an A&E (ER) in the Republic if they’d cross the border for better medical care?
• Ask a dole recipient on either side of the border if their Northern/Southern neighbours have a better deal. Then ask either government if they could afford the burden of more mouths to feed and care for?
• Ask a US or other foreign corporations in the Republic employing thousands and contributing millions to the economy if they’d have come to the 6 counties given the higher corporation tax?
• Then ask those corporations located across Northern Ireland if they would have gone to the Republic without the heavy subsidies the UK government offers for R&D, training and facilities.

STOP the madness, please. There is not a strong enough political class anywhere on the island of Ireland to effectively govern a single county, no less the 32.

• Leave us to our learning curves – let us do what it takes to survive. Consign your leftover venom & bile to history.
• Your rhetoric inflames your compatriots here to build bombs, kill innocents and wreck our recovering economies.
• You foment this hate from safe living rooms amid ample resources and opportunities.

This is Ireland in the 21st century, our young people united in sport, the Queen at Croke Park and with the Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland touring the now restored Crumlin Gaol. Having both spent time there during the Troubles, they used the occasion to thank her for her hospitality.(Both served time)

I’m sorry our ancestors emigrated to America under duress. I’m sorry you are emotionally stuck in the pain of their loss. I’m sorry you have not made peace with Ireland’s political reality in 2015.

These images are not icons of nationalism. They are hate speech. That you would encourage violence to be visited upon yet another generation is despicable.

If you passionately believe in a “united Ireland” then come. Move here, work for a political solution, work to bring out the vote and work for an economically sustainable Ireland.

In the meanwhile – do not overtly or inadvertently encourage violence. Do not encourage or support dissident activity. And do not undermine the Police Service or either government.

Here’s why:

The Wikipedia entry for the activities of just one dissident group in the 6 years between my arrival & November 2014 is over 2500 words. 

The heinous acts committed by “other” dissidents encouraged by the rhetoric of  26+6= 1 over the same 6 years, are not even included.

Let me introduce you to Northern Ireland men Ronan Kerr, Omagh, David Black, Cookstown and Stephen Carroll, Banbridge. All are dead. All killed at the hands of madmen (and women) in service of this rhetoric.

Mark Quinsey, Birmingham and Patrick Azimkar, London were young sappers stationed here in 2009 and due to ship out to Afghanistan the next day.

More than likely their families had not yet begun to pray for their safe deliverance from extremist terrorists.

Life here is far from perfect – but since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement things have and continue to be improved. Many like me work tirelessly to see that this continues.

Learn from the best among us!

Take Maeve Aine Kerr, the mother of murdered Catholic police officer Ronan Kerr. Pictured here, she has born this tragedy with dignity and grace collecting his University Degree at the commencement he didn’t live to see – and still urging more Catholics to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

In November 2014, 12 “dissidents” (read terrorists) were arrested in Newry and more weapons were seized in Dublin.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness’ whose life is regularly threatened – was threatened with an RPG in February 2015. How many innocents would likely die in the fallout of a rocket propelled grenade? How many RPGs might the dissidents possess?

Nothing changes here until we, our emigrants and the descendants of generations of our emigrants begin to care more about our collective, living children than we or they, hate the enemies of our ancestors.

The centenary of the Easter Rising next year will be enough of a flashpoint. In the meanwhile, please respect our need to build bridges and not intimidate our neighbors.

I will return to America at least three times between now and that centenary. I will likely visit New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Florida, Chicago and San Francisco. I am happy  to continue this conversation in person. Get in touch. Email eve@eveearley.com or contact me via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

* See graph p 25 of linked article.

What is a “Career Check-Up”?

Careers are like relationships – the more you value them, the less you take them for granted.

Whether you are in your “dream job” or working at something that covers expenses, pay attention!

Ask yourself:

• Are you putting your best foot forward every day?
   If not, what would that look like?
• If you interviewed for your job tomorrow…
   Would you get it?
• Have the job requirements or responsibilities changed since you assume it?
  Does your supervisor/manager know?
• Are your accomplishments, awards and new qualifications acknowledged?
  Have you brought them to the attention of your supervisor/manager?

Not sure of the answers? Get in touch!

We can help you focus on what’s next.

Skeptical? Book a preliminary appointment. The 1/2 hr consultation is free.