You may think that headline makes no sense. Why would I not want to pursue a life of financial prosperity?

To put this statement into context I would recommend you read my About Me page. On this page you will learn all about my origins in life and how they taught me some valuable principles that have made me who I am today.

However in this article I want to dig deeper and tell you exactly why I never want to reap the financial rewards. You may argue that I am going against basic human nature and that deep down I really want a life of luxury.

Well, I may be a human being who is hard wired to think in that way. But when I see the endless excess in this world, I start to wonder who exactly is looking out for others who are less fortunate.

The idea of money to me right now is that it is there to provide you with the basic needs in life such as food, water and a roof over your head.

I won’t lie and tell you I am completely against spending money on yourself, in fact as you are about to learn I had a bad experience of excess spending myself which caused me to change my ways.

I would never encourage anyone to spend beyond their means. You must always know that you have plenty of money to pay your bills and save for a rainy day before thinking about spending money on yourself.

Because Money Doesn’t Buy You Happiness

Although I may now proudly state that I don’t want to seek the financial rewards from any future success, it took a two year period of excess for me to realise how important it was to reject financial prosperity.

Back in 2007 I launched my first business. After about a year it started generating money. This was my first successful business and I was so excited.

To clarify I must add that this business wasn’t generating a ton of money and certainly wouldn’t have been enough to live on. But the money represented so much potential opportunity to me at the time.

To celebrate my success I would use the money to buy things I could never afford before such as a trip to America (airfare, hotel and travel expenses) and new computers and laptops (I am a big tech geek!)

It was all going so well and I was really enjoying the success. But every once in a while I felt incredibly guilty for spending money on myself.

In fact at times I would donate big chunks of my income to charity just to feel better about myself. It was at that point I realised things had to change.

It wasn’t because I cared about my status and what others thought of me, but it was really all to do with how I viewed my own actions. And to be honest looking back at it now I am incredibly disappointed in myself for my excess.

As Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero once said  ”Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.”

That statement is true. We shouldn’t be lured by the thrill of excessive luxury, we should moderate and be thankful for what we have.

I didn’t need to spend that money as I did. I could have saved the money for the future, but I didn’t. Perhaps it was because I was young and the influence of money took over my logic.

But I don’t want to use age as an excuse because we must take responsibility for our actions no matter how old or young we are.

Everyone Has To Benefit From My Potential Success

For me the most important aspect of earning money is that you can spend it however you please. Therefore in my view, every penny I earn (beyond my basic living requirements)  must translate into economic support for the wider community interests.

I can’t directly say how this would manifest into something long-term, but I do believe that in order to set the example I must create as much wealth for others in society as possible.

I am not a singular being. I live amongst other human beings. Some are wealthy, some are not.

But that doesn’t mean those who live below the poverty line should be any less fortunate to those who earn a lot more. So my view is that a large portion of potential wealth should be transferred to all I can help.

The only problem that our society faces in encouraging more business owners to share the wealth is that we feel entitled to celebrate our success through personal spending.

However, that selfish mentality won’t be as prevalent for Gen Y’ers. We are more altruistic then Gen X’ers are.

So that was an introduction to why I am less focused on personal wealth and more involved with trying to share the wealth with society.

If you could, would you share more  of your personal wealth with society? If so, why? If not, why not?

Image Source: Flickr, Flickr

With 15,000 empty homes in Leeds and 27,000 people on the Leeds council waiting list for a home, you would think there would be a more proactive effort to solve this problem.

Enter Social Business Brokers. They ran an event yesterday called “Call To Action: Empty Homes” in Beeston which aimed to bring together people from all areas of Leeds to discuss the ways to reduce the number of empty homes.

To put this issue into context for you, I want to highlight a great quote from Rob Greenland (one of the Social Business Brokers founders) from a recent article in the Yorkshire Post. He said:

“People don’t like seeing properties going to waste and they don’t like living near rows of boarded up houses – we think it’s time things changed. We know there are lots of great initiatives across Leeds and we know people care about this issue.”

The national housing crisis as some have called it has been on the political agenda for some time. However it has not always had the same amount of press as it has recently.

The problem is that the government view the solution to this problem as building more houses at a faster rate. Grant Schapps, housing minister for the coalition government calls it the “self-build boom”.

The question is, how do they ensure that we build at a sustainable rate? Plus, who will be funding this rapid “self-build boom”?

In my opinion the answer clearly lies with solving the “empty homes crisis” first before the “national housing crisis”.

If we let government encourage houses to be built quickly, we face the challenge of finding the available space in some cities to accomodate the new builds.

In London,  some are considering whether we should be building on green belt land. This will set a dangerous precedent for other cities such as Leeds. Before we know it, we could be without any open spaces.

So this is yet another reason we need to focus on enabling Leeds City Council to use the existing empty housing network in Leeds.

So what exactly is stopping us using the existing empty homes?

Here are just two important reasons to consider on why we face a challenge in getting access to empty homes and housing people on the council waiting list.

Private Ownership: According to research conducted by EmptyHomes.com most homes are privately owned. The study cites that these are often “rented homes that have fallen into disrepair.. In many cases the owner lacks the funds or the skills to repair and manage the property.”

Political Issues: A news story back in April 2012 by “The Independent” highlights the current issues facing the political side of this issue. Newham Council in East London was accused by Gill Brown, chief executive of Brighter Futures of ‘socially cleansing’ areas of London by attempting to move poorer residents as far north as Stoke-On-Trent.

In my opinion we cannot let councils become socially selective. Furthermore, we cannot allow councils to have the freedom to rehome people as far away from their original location. That’s morally incorrect.

If you want to learn more about the empty homes situation in Leeds, I would urge you to visit the Leeds Empties website to learn more about this vitally important issue.

Image Source: Flickr

This is the same question I asked myself a few weeks back when I noticed an opportunity to talk at an event called BettaKultcha. They have events all around West Yorkshire where speakers can speak on any topic they want as long as they kept to the limitations I specified at the beginning of this article.

I will be speaking at this event on the topic of empowering young people to want to start making a difference. It will be a controversial talk, but with a very important message.

I will update this article when the video has been published. To give you an idea of how the event works, I have embedded a talk below by Emma Sutton titled  ”Find Your Inner Song”:

In the meantime, here are the details for anyone interested in attending BettaKultcha Leeds where I will be talking.

Date: Thursday 31st May 2012

Location: The Brudenell Social Club, Hyde Park, Leeds (Google Map below)

View Larger Map

Time: 7pm to 10pm

For more details click here to learn more.

Everyone wants to make a social impact in the world. But does that impact always have to be big?

I was recently reading an article on Frank Sonnenberg’s website (Thanks Shama Kabani for the recommendation) which asked the question “Are Role Models Becoming Extinct?”

Now initially I was very interested in reading this article because it was a topic I have often thought about.  Let’s face it, the role models that our parents are influenced by are very different to the ones we are now influenced by.

We may say that a celebrity is our role model because we think they have a fantastic work ethic, or that a spiritual leader is our role model because they have a brilliant value system.

But at the core of great community leadership is an individual who understands the importance of acting small but thinking big.

Let me explain how this relates to community development.

Because You Can Make An Impact Right Now!

One of my personal highlights reading Frank’s article was when he lists how we can become role models. He listed some great points such as that we must walk the talk, that we must believe in ourselves and that nobody is perfect.

All of these points are so important to remember. However the best point in the list was that “you don’t have to be a celebrity or a superstar to be a role model.”

In the fast paced and ever changing world we live in,  it can be easy to forget that anyone can make a difference to the world now.

This is why I believe community leaders need to act small, but think big.  Every contribution the organisation makes in society, no matter how small or how big makes the world of difference to someone.

Community leaders mustn’t be threatened by larger and more established organisations. There is no such thing as “too few resources” to achieve a community goal.

In today’s society, businesses and philanthropic organisations are having too be more nimble and agile.

And that’s OK. As long as they take positive strides towards the community development goals, that is all that matters. It’s not all about how big those strides are.

As Dean Acheson once said “Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.” Community organisations should use that compelling quote as the motivation to contribute because it really puts things into perspective.

Because Communities Cannot Afford To Waste Time

In order to help community projects succeed, we need to think less about planning and more about action. It is no longer a case of making do with what you have done.

It’s time to accelerate these ideas in a sustainable way. It’s time for us all to think less about the money and more about the people in the community.

As I wrote in the previous section, organisations both non and for profit need to be more agile to thrive.  So community leaders need to be focused more on how to deliver the best quality community service at the lowest cost.

Communities cannot afford to wait. The UK government hasn’t exactly made life any easier for the local communities around the UK, so community organisations really need to step up and deliver a remarkable service to them through their community work.

But what do you think? Are community organisations delivering an effective service? Could they be making better use of the few resources they have?

The author of the article, Tom Riordan is the current chief executive of Leeds City Council. I found it very interesting to learn he believed that Leeds was due for a little more national recognition.

Leeds is now ranked in the top 25 business friendly cities in Europe and has a business school ranked in the top 75 European business schools, according to the FT Rankings in 2011.

There is no doubt Leeds already enjoys a lot of recognition from the national business community. So what is different about the cultural side of the city?

So how do we create national recognition for the Leeds cultural industry? Furthermore, how do we make it engaging for young people and future generations.

I am basing the following ideas on my perception of culture and the arts (as a young person). These ideas could apply to any city in the UK, because arts remains totally unapproachable to young people.

I will be using the internet and social media as my main examples of how to generate national interest. As a young Gen-Yer, I can only relate to this type of  peer to peer communication.

By the way, there is an organisation based in Leeds called West Yorkshire Theatre Network, which is helping to break down the boundaries between young people and the arts. I recommend you check it out.

It All Starts With An Engaging Conversation…

I cannot believe that in this modern age I would need to spell this out, but to me artistic institutions and cultural events fail to engage with young people. They rarely engage on the level which would make you want to learn more.

And this doesn’t just come down to personal preference on whether you like art or not. I believe that if art schools, theatres and galleries were to create an engaging conversation with their younger audience, it would make a big difference.

The more artistic projects we have in Leeds where the organisation is communicating with young people through social networks, brilliant video content and exciting smartphone applications the better chance we have of getting national recognition.

There are plenty of examples of artists who have made use of the internet to engage young people. My favourite example is “The Creators Project” which created an digital art exhibit from Instagram photos tagged with the keyword “#creators”.

The most exciting part about “The Creators Project” was that it engaged people on Instagram to become part of the show. The Twitter reach was estimated to be in the millions.

Imagine if the Leeds Gallery was able to replicate that type of exposure? It would certainly receive national interest.

It Continues With Long-Term Engagement…

The internet has now opened up a world of possibility to directly engage with a target audience. We no longer have to consume content we don’t like, we now have the freedom to go and discover content through Flickr, Instagram and our Facebook photos.

However to sustain any type of national interest in the culture that Leeds has to offer, art galleries and theatres need to continually engage over the long term with their target audience.

If cultural organisations in Leeds want an example of great long term engagement with the audience, they need look no further then West Yorkshire Playhouse’s Twitter feed. 

They share company updates and directly engage with customers, all in one Twitter feed. It makes it very relevant to the younger generation who can now easily ask questions directly to West Yorkshire Playhouse through a online network they already use regularly.

Long-Term Engagement Is Part Of An Ongoing Cycle..

If we are really serious about bringing more national interest to the great artistic and theatrical projects in Leeds, we need to focus not only on the long term engagement but also on the engagement cycle.

New people will be introduced to the work of a Leeds based art gallery or theatre all the time. It is the role of the organisation to ensure that new people are engaged in the same way existing customers or followers on the social network are.

But what do you think? Is the culture in Leeds fairly represented at the national level, or should we be doing more? Give us any examples of great ideas you have discovered which have helped address this problem.

Zappos.com may be an unfamiliar business name to you. However its CEO Tony Hsieh can teach you a valuable community development lesson.

As a brief introduction for those unfamilar with Zappos.com, it is an online shoes and clothing retailer, founded in 1999 that soon became incredibly well known for its incredible customer service standards thanks to Tony Hsieh’s leadership. 

What Is The Community Development Project About?

The project is called “The Downtown Project”. This idea has $350 million (about £220 million) of Tony Hsieh’s own money invested into it.

As Tony Hsieh told  Jesse Draper on “The Valley Girl Show”, “We decided, rather then just build a campus like Nike or Google or Apple do, we would help revitalise the ecosystem and the local community in downtown Vegas.”

The project will invest the money into different projects such as new residential developments, arts and music festivals and work closely with affiliated non profits.

So think about this for a moment. The founder of a massive US corporation is giving £220 million (or so) of his personal wealth to redevelop the local community of a city you would consider very unequal in wealth distribution.

Aren’t They Just In It For The Money?

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com

I already hear some of you asking the obvious question. Isn’t Zappos just in it for the money?

Well, according to Hsieh the idea of the project is “not to turn it into a company town.. but to accelerate the city (development)”

Therefore, based on that language, it is pretty clear Zappos isn’t in it for the money. There is certainly a business angle to it don’t get me wrong.

But when you consider the community they are working in and how much development is needed, it has to be about much more then chasing the profit motive. It is an act of kindness.

Corporations who want to see the financial return from this type of project wouldn’t even bother.

What Can You Learn From This Community Development Project?

There are several important lessons to learn from this community project:

1. Don’t chase the profit motive: A company must never look at a community development project as a way to make more revenue for themselves.
2. Don’t follow the big trends: Before you learnt about “The Downtown Project”, would you believe a company would spend time developing a community which needs so much work? The lesson here is that you shouldn’t follow the big trends in community development.
3. Donate Sufficient Money And Resources To Development: If you want to undertake a community project like “The Downtown Project” but instead focus on your local community, make sure you commit the right level of financial support.
4. Work closely with other non profits and NGOs: Collaboration with relevant charities and non profit organisations in these types of community projects can make all the difference to its success. If you decide to go alone, you will fail.

Can you list any similar organisations or initiatives which are like “The Downtown Project”?
Click here to learn more about interesting community development projects in Leeds.  

Royal Bank Of Scotland do it, British Gas do it and many other British firms do it.  What exactly are they “doing”? They are employing corporate lobbyists whose sole purpose is to influence UK government policy.

This isn’t new. It has been commonplace in politics for years, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. Furthermore it is certainly not “a core part of the democratic process” as Daily Telegraph writer Damien Reece implies. 

To summarise the BBC news story which caused me to write this article:

• A recent undercover Sunday Times investigation found that Peter Cruddas, the now former Conservative treasurer was offering the chance for businesses to have a private dinner with UK Prime Minister David Cameron for £250,000.
• The Conservative Party initially rejected the idea that this ever happened. And then suddenly, within hours of the initial denial, a list of people who attended private dinners with Cameron was published. 

That’s the story so far.

Corporate Lobbying Shouldn’t Be Allowed, Period.

To me the simple idea that a wealthy business can buy their way into political favour, and influence political policy is shocking. It cuts down the very democratic system this country has operated under.

I am sure no doubt that some Conservative voters feel disgusted that the party they voted in would be involved in this. But they aren’t the only UK political party indulging lobbyists.

Some members of the Labour Party were also caught red handed in 2010, offering help in return for cash from a lobbying firm, as part of a sting operation for the Channel 4 series “Dispatches”.

The Liberal Democrats have spoken out about it in the past two years. 

But then again, David Milliband from the Labour Party was on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday agreeing with the Lib Dems point of view.  Of course it will boost his political capital to distance himself from this mess.

The fact that the cash for influence in the political ecosystem has been created and the fact that politicians have continued to accept it as part of the “democratic system” is pure lunacy.

It Breaks Trust Between Politicians And The Public

To those hard working men and women who live in the constituencies whether they be red (Labour), blue (Conservatives) or yellow (Liberal Democrats), they will now start to wonder whether their democratically elected politicians could be involved in something similar with another lobbying firm.

And one thing we don’t need in politics now is a lack of trust. The public are already sceptical after a skewed Budget appeared to favour the rich with tax breaks. So this certainly won’t help matters.

Furthermore the Conservative’s message “we are all in this together” slips further away as this news story unfolds.

We as a population don’t believe the politicians mean what they say anymore. Every political campaign and election season has always been about hype, that hasn’t changed.

It’s the fact that during a global financial crisis, the politicians from all parties appeared to have well and truly lost touch with reality.  I feel that sometimes I am watching another world when I am watching a parliamentary debate.

As with the Labour Party fiasco in 2010, it’s clear that not all high level ministers in the current government are involved in this. It could be interesting to see if anything develops in the coming week or two.

I think the one thing that bothers me most about this situation is that David Cameron, once a firm supporter of abolishing excessive corporate lobbying, is now so care free about the donors who he says “he had known for “many years”.”

To summarise, my opinion on this matter is this.

It is not under any circumstances acceptable for a company or corporation to influence national policy making through donations.

It must be removed from UK politics now!

Photo Source: Flickr

Editor’s Note: I will be talking at BettaKultcha Leeds on May 31st 2012. Click here for more details.

Every other day I read a new article or listen to a new opinion about women in our society.

These articles always ask the same questions such as do women have enough power in the workplace or are they given enough opportunity to lead an equal personal life and professional life?

I wrote an article the other day about Sheryl Sandberg (Chief Operating Officer of Facebook) and her thoughts on women in society which got a very positive response from you guys.

So we know the demand and interest in the topic is there.

But what we need to stop doing now is constantly reflecting on what could be done to help women and actually get out there and do something about it.

Firstly,  please don’t assume that I  am dismissing the rights of women. This won’t be one long rant about how “women always complain”.

I wholeheartedly support the rights of women and therefore don’t see their opinions out there as complaints. I just want to ensure we are getting on with doing something about it.

Because A Watched Pot Never Boils….

The proverb “A Watched Pot Never Boils”, first used in Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1848 book “Mary Barton” symbolises the situation with women in our culture and society perfectly.

For many the constant need to reaffirm their belief that women deserve an equal right in society only hinders the progress we could be making.

We have made significant progress in the past few decades for women’s rights. Notable historical women’s right activists in Britain such as Emmeline Pankhurst and Harriet Taylor have helped make that change possible.

Emmeline Pankhurst once said that:

“Justice and judgment lie often a world apart.”

In the 19th century when Pankhurst and Taylor were actively campaigning for women’s rights, the view of British society was that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote in political elections.

Contrast that to today’s modern society where women in developed countries are given the opportunity to vote and you realise just how limiting life must have been in the 19th century.

The fact that Emmeline Pankhurst declared that “justice and judgement lie often a world apart” really signifies the struggle the activist’s faced.

But it’s the activist mentality which helped deliver equal rights for women in the political voting process. We need to see a similar, modern movement taking place in Britain.

If we continue to talk rather than act, we are not really following through with what we say we believe about supporting women in becoming empowered.

Because It Is Now Or Never…

It’s time to stop being a passive activist. It’s true that passive activism or “slacktivism” is so easy to do and then to believe that by sharing a website link on Facebook somehow makes a difference in the real world.

It doesn’t.

If you really believe that women deserve an equal place in society as I do then take action and make things happen.

You could do things such as:

• Join local business groups which support women in business, learn from them and then write about your experiences in the group.
• Create a Change.org petition and campaign for the rights of women in your community.
• Be the change you want to see in the world. ( Gandhi is someone we can learn a lot from!)

I think that last remark in that list is so powerful. I use it as my inspiration every single day.

So what exactly are you going to do to make the difference?

Photo Source of Boiling Kettle: Flickr

Photo Source Of Figures: Flickr

Click here to return from this article on women in society to our Community Development Page

The online campaign is called BinItWinIt (I vote that to be a terrible name, but anyway…)

The idea of this campaign is that entrants to the competition need to continually maintain the order between recycling and household bins, which are subject to checks from Leeds City Council monitors.

At the end of the contest, five are selected at random for Leeds Festival tickets. Now all in all, it’s a positive idea.

Incentive schemes for recycling have already being considered under the former Labour government. The goal of their scheme was to “charge or reward people according to the waste thrown out”.

Their plan failed. The primary reason, local councils showed no interest.

So therefore if local councils rejected that proposal, how will BinitWinit be any more effective?

In The Short Term, Results Will Be Achieved..

If we encourage young people to think about this problem for a short period in exchange for a free ticket to Leeds Festival of course they will do  the work to be in with a chance to win the ticket.

However, the moment the contest is over they will go back to their original habits. Believe me, I am talking from a young person’s perspective.

I think this is especially true because they are targeting the student boroughs of Leeds such as Headingley and Hyde Park.

Most young people hate cleaning with a passion. So in my view, the general awareness built around this campaign isn’t going to make much of a long term impact to their habits.

If the city council really understood what motivates young people, they would have understood that prizes aren’t the way to help foster a long term change to recycling and waste bin management.

But In The Long Term, Recycling Habits Won’t Change….

Leeds City Council haven’t directly stated that they are aiming this campaign at young people.

However, it certainly appeals to the younger audience due to some of the prizes available, plus the areas of Leeds they are targeting.

But as I said in the previous section of this article, long term habits won’t change with the offer of prizes. Young people are growing increasingly skeptical about the benefits of recycling.

I know many of my friends and family aren’t active recyclers, because they just don’t believe there are any advantages to recycling.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the state of climate change or our limited resources on this planet. And you know that is where the environmental campaigners and government focus all their attention on.

It’s Not All About Climate Change And Resource Availability…

When actually the truth is we should be telling young people about all the amazing products being created with recycled materials. For instance, the Renault Clio (a popular student car) is made of 10% recycled plastics.

So if we frame it in a perspective young people can relate to, and actually see a benefit from we will generate much more long term focus on changing our recycling habits.

But What Do You Think?

Is BinitWinit a good idea or not? Would you change your recycling habits over the long term?

Click here to return from this article about BinItWinIt to our information page about community development.

If we had equal homes, would we have equal performance at work? This is a remark Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook made in a recent interview with “The Valley Girl Show”

It got me thinking.

Professionally, women are dealing with a “stalled revolution” (a term created by Sandberg). They are not reaching the top level of executive management and aren’t getting paid equally for doing the same job as a man.

At home women in the UK are actually spending less time with their children due to the demands of their professional life which may cause them to work longer hours or put career ahead of being at home.

However the problem is the demands of society, particularly in these tough economic times, aren’t making it easier for women to live a more balanced life.

So here are some things I think should be done to help women maintain balance in their life.

It All Starts With Support

Without a strong support network in place, a woman cannot be effective in her home and professional life.

This topic is especially important for single mothers who are now facing tougher restrictions on their benefits because of the government cuts.

As the UK charity Save The Children mentions in the BBC article “single mothers on low incomes would be forced to make ends meet by either working longer hours or by getting into debt.”

That’s simply not fair on single mothers to have to make that choice. For too long the UK government and society at large has let down women who are simply trying to offer a more prosperous future for their children.

So we need to be tougher on the politicians and tell them in no uncertain terms we don’t accept their exclusion of poor women and their supposed “campaign to help parents back into work”.

The more effective way of helping single mothers and young women is to improve the standards of our education. If the UK government wants more people back into the workforce, it needs to do a better job at educating those young women.

Right now, the lack of support in our welfare system is just prolonging the rate at which young women miss out on a more prosperous future.

We Need To Be More Accepting Of Women

Women in the workplace deserve to achieve their potential. There should be no “inside network” which you have to be a part of to reach the executive level.

Everyone should be looked at based on their skills, rather than their gender. If we can create a society where that happens, then we have a great chance to create a more equal workforce.

But perhaps you already knew that. However, in all the years women have fought for their rights in society things haven’t improved a great deal.

However I do believe we are working through the kinks of our problematic society. There are UK based organisations such as “The Next Women”  and “Every Woman” who are now empowering women to achieve their potential in business.

But we have to do everything in our power to keep this conversation alive. I know how tiring it can be to read about the lack of female entrepreneurs in business, believe me I am bored of reading these articles too.

On the other hand, if these writers spoke more about future personal development for a female and not all about inspirational female entrepreneurs, then I think we could have a more open and frank discussion about how to empower women to succeed.

But What Do You Think?

Can we have equal homes and equal performance at work? Are females empowered enough to develop their personal and professional goals?

Note: Be sure to watch more of the “Valley Girl Show”, Jesse Draper (host of the show) is a big fan of empowering young women to succeed.

Click here to return from this article about Sheryl Sandberg to our information page about community development.