Mark the Coach

It now seems almost a month that Ross and Brand’s “shocking” Andrew Sachs-related phone mischief has been dominating the BBC news, though I’m sure it’s only a few days. They certainly caused a stir. Are we being prudish and reactionary if we don’t laugh at Russell Brand?

No. What shocks me about Russell Brand in particular is just how unshocking he is. He watches himself so hard – always keeping a weather eye out for getting a reaction. It’s cool to be revolutionary – it pisses people off. Something gets destroyed, something gets created. It makes things change. That doesn’t mean that if you piss people off you’re being revolutionary. Without the substance, it’s just getting up somebody’s nose like a schoolkid trying to get your attention.

So don’t worry about causing a stir in others – cause a stir in yourself. That’s when you really get to do something great.

We certainly live in interesting times. As stock markets and banks lurch from crash to crash, pundits alternate between blaming banks, politicians, regulators, City traders and anyone else whose scalp is conveniently poking above the parapet. What’s clear is that under the rosy surface of apparently stable growth, problems have been lurking. It’s in the way of these things that they don’t get seen most of the time; but when they do, all hell breaks loose. That’s when we do crisis management.

So it is with all of us, managing our own lives. Most of the time things are fine. It’s only now and then that we experience difficulty with confidence, relationships, decisions or whatever it might be. So it can be easy to think of them as something that’s not generally relevant or important.

But they’re there alright, waiting for things to come to a head. They’re always there, probably having much more of an impact behind the scenes than you realise, but they’re elusive. And that’s how those “crisis points” can be a real opportunity. When you’re confronted by these things is when they’re most accessible. So that’s the time to take a hold and make the change you want.

Just like the markets need to do right now. Now’s the time to see what’s not working for them and correct it, while it’s all out there to see.