The Bad Things I've Done

There are times in life when all else fails, and a little desperation starts to creep in. A door creaks open to an impostor carrying a syndrome... he's handing it over silently like a black-cloaked pizza delivery guy for you to accept meekly or kick out the door, depending on your mood, circumstance, and hunger for a bit more reassurance.

Today I was looking forward to a webinar called Good With Money. I'm not, you see. Not that I don't have any, but I worry about perpetuation, self-motivation and reputation. People tell me it's the climate - in more ways than one I believe them. But I've done some bad things in my time and that's why you're here... you want to know What.

In 2006 Corus Steel accidentally handed me a mug to prove that my programme had won over a written-off division to win them 1,000 LTI-Free Days when Lost-Time Injuries had been a regular occurrence. The accident was that I just happened to walk in to see how the guys were doing on the very day that those mugs were delivered and the surprised plant manager pointed at the box, saying I ought to have one.

With just a week left to go of the programme, three years earlier Corus's GM had barred me from site, because I'd spoken up about a certain matter on TV and a national newspaper interviewed me after the broadcast. The journalist, prejudiced in the opposite direction, wrote a damning 2-page spread on my commensurate misdemeanours in the typically libellous fashion of tabloid slander. Too much of a temptation for a man who didn't like me and too much for the project to handle, I ended up incommunicado.

It cost my confidence and circumstances many years out of commission.

They say 'feel the fear and do it anyway;' I'm full of fear that all this is going to turn away some good people who might otherwise be tempted to communicate with me. That is, if they haven't already looked at WorldLine's Google review status and found 3.7 to be - well - unpalatable if not inedible.

In 2023 I commissioned a data provider to expand my reach beyond immediate zones. They made such expensive errors that I asked for a partial refund - they refused. I got into dialogue with the CEO and eventually took them to court. His subsequent review shot bolts at this stage in WorldLine's phoenix - my reply irrelevant as nobody bothers to read them.

These incidents may be 20 years apart but they took their toll on my toolkit and dealt knocks to my life that opened the door to the dark pizzaman. The webinar promised to help me align my psychological, spiritual and financial 'nervous system' so that abundance would flow free from self-imposed restrictions. Who wouldn't want that, huh?

The presenter started off with tech problems. Eventually she began to speak in dulcet tones about what people want and Chat notifications started to buzz wildly, flashing like fireflies on the lower bar.

Should there be alarm bells somewhere...?

Comments relentlessly lit up the box, praising and genuflecting until eventually a few not-so-supportive ones crept in... "money's not that important to me," and "very hyped" were enough to stop the Chat line from firing for a moment and when it resumed, she was asking people not to be tempted to go off into side-chats, stay with the programme - and suggested we turn the notifications off altogether 'if it was getting too much'.

Alarm bell rings in the distance.

"Stay with it," says my inner voice. "Could be good for you."

A few moments later she asks everyone to choose an Emoji to represent their Abundant Self, showing examples of emojis and urging us to post ours on the Chat line, fervently whipping up enthusiasm for the Emoji Posting Ceremony that 'tells us how committed we are to the journey'.

Alarm bells clang deafeningly and I log out.

Quite possibly, bots gather information to sell on to other money-oriented companies so that Miss Abundant Self can profit in her sleep. Every click of the mouse gives a bit more intel and increases the value of the innocent Engaged as Trojan horses gallop across the sunset. The only salvation from satirical anti-heroes is belief in the power of truly purposeful engagement and the fortitude of a lone ranger crossing a world soiled by greed, corruption and an unhealthy amount of brown, sticky stardust.

We are on our own. Unless, that is, we stick together where there's resonance and accept that failings are human, successes miraculous. Some are born lucky, some make their own; some care where it comes from, some have hearts of stone. The spirit of engagement is whirring above those plains right now while people are dying for change - real, positive change that makes a difference to their lives and brings them purpose, energy and joy.

I want Engagement to take centre stage in British industry, because from experience I know it's the only solution to what's faced now and the old ways aren't going to bring new options to life. What matters to me is that Industry hauls itself out of the Revolution into a treatment of people that befits the current era. People count. Profit is a by-product of counting people in. It really is that simple, but those shark-infested waters want blood.

Be careful with money. It's not going to take us where no-one has gone before, no matter what they say about X marking spots. There are kings and wizards out there who know there's magic in their place of work that needs colouring to life in real time.