This week’s Career Moves is a bit interwebby, so I’ve posted it over on Digital Marketing Success instead of here.
It’s the first in a series of articles I’m doing for the Evening Echo on using the internet for market research when setting up/growing a small business.
Up in Dublin for a meeting last summer I found myself wandering near the canal when a scene on the bench opposite caught my eye.
I think this tourist was trying to photograph a map of Ireland, for some bizarre reason. The unintentional (or at least subconscious) similarity of his pose and that of the sculpture alongside him made for an interesting snap.
It’s a “grab” shot… like a lot of my photographs (I tend to have kids swinging off one arm while wielding the camera one-handed, hoping fervently for high enough shutter-speeds to compensate for the inevitable camera-shake) – and is perhaps technically challenged – but the curious juxtaposition rescues it.
Here are a couple of shots taken in Sydney last time I was there – one of the Opera House, the other of the Harbour Bridge at night.
I like the pattern of the tiles in this shot. I contemplated having just the pattern in the composition, without the sliver of sky, but found that eliminating the sweeping curves of the dome detracted from the overall image. It rendered the iconic suddenly unrecognisable.
SHB by night… ‘nuf said! Have used this image for clients on wedding invitations… works very well!
Are we mad? We must be mad!
Less than a year after our last road trip to the continent, which regular readers will remember ended in disaster (crumpled car, officious French police, hospital, an early flight home and protracted wrangling with insurance companies), we’re about to do it again. We’re going to France… and we’re taking the car!
After last year’s debacle we were all set to spend a wonderful summer at home in West Cork: celebrate the fact that that we live in an area lots of people choose for their holidays. But events have conspired against us. My sister-in-law is getting married… in France, and so we’re ferry bound once more.
The ferry is absolutely the best option with the kids. Flying was always difficult, but it’s an absolute nonsense these days… particularly with the low-fares airlines, which are all as bad as each other. Stealth charges and phantom taxes levied on a per passenger basis, minuscule baggage allowances (which attract more charges), unallocated seating and the unholy scrum that ensues at the gate, lacklustre on board service and arrival at an airport miles away from your destination are all bad enough at the best of times… but when you’re travelling with children, my advice is forget it.
The ferry, on the other hand, is a veritable joy. For a start you can pack what you like – and with a roof-box fitted to the car there’s plenty of space for everything you might need. That means you pack too much… but that’s okay, because nobody’s nit-picking over the weight of your luggage. There’s also no problem with legroom… there’s plenty of freedom for the kids to run around and play, and loads of activities and amenities to make the voyage a pleasant experience for all the family. The best thing about travelling by ferry is that the journey becomes as much a part of the holiday as the destination.
The girls are as excited about the spending a night on the boat as they are about the trip itself. Ordinary things like having your own cabin, sleeping in bunks, and having a shower are transformed into a great adventure by virtue of the fact that they’re aboard ship. Then of course there are meal times – eating in the on-board restaurants as the ship pitches, rolls and yaws is a novel experience, and they love going “outside” on deck, watching the sea birds and looking for dolphins.
It’s not all plain sailing though… there are downsides to travelling by sea. First there’s the weather. Calm seas are great, but rough crossings can be difficult. A bit of movement is fine… it just adds to the excitement, but seasick children (and parents for that matter) doesn’t get the holiday off to an auspicious start.
Then there’s the fact that you end up on the north coast of France, which can mean a long drive on the wrong side of unfamiliar roads before you reach your ultimate destination. But then again, you are in your own car, the children have lots of familiar things to keep them occupied, and regular stops along the way can turn a tedious road-trip into an enjoyable part of the holiday.
There’s so much to like about France outside the big cities… especially the connection they have with food. Stopping en-route to eat in small rural restaurants is affordable, enjoyable and the quality is generally outstanding. The kids are really looking forward to the holiday… and so am I, despite a little trepidation in the wake of last year’s experience.
I was reading an article a week or two back about the perpetual problem of overcrowding in primary schools. Our esteemed Teoseach, Brian Cowan’s, use of the F word in the Dail had spawned the “witty” headline “F is for Failure”, above an article that went on to explore in some detail how six years ago the government had vowed to tackle overcrowding in schools during its term of office.
Apparently the commitment was to reduce primary school class sizes to a manageable 20 pupils, in line with international best practice. The reporter who penned the article seemed surprised, shocked, and even a little indignant that the government had broken its promise and shown a healthy disrespect for international convention. Which kind of makes me wonder how long they’ve been a political correspondent… but that’s another issue.
The fact that the government don’t seem to take the issue of primary school overcrowding seriously is typical, and spectacularly short sighted. It’s an unfortunate fact that young children – the foundation on which the future of this country will be built – are rarely afforded the priority they deserve when it comes to the allocation of limited governmental resources.
Let’s face it, when you’re confronted with a derailed health system, spiraling crime and an economy showing signs of stalling, taking a broader view can be a bit tricky. But while the subject of class size is perhaps easily sidelined… to do so shows a remarkable lack of foresight on the part of the government. So, nothing new there then!
Primary education is one of the most critical steps in a child’s development. It’s when they learn to enjoy learning… or not! Neglect the crucial early stages in learning, and what you churn out of the other end of the system is an army of disengaged youth – which of course only exacerbates the economic and social problems that distract politicians from tackling the core issue.
I guess it’s the same old story. Your average government minister is primarily looking for quick fix solutions: things likely to bear fruit and make him or her look good before they face re-election. Successful educational policy, by its very nature, demands a much longer term view, and it takes a while before you see measurable results out of the other end.
And so instead ministers jump from one problem to the next, implementing short-term solutions that rarely endure to deliver long-term results. It’s knee jerk politics of the worst kind, and it seems to be on the menu in Dáil Éireann far too often.
While overcrowding crops up in the news with alarming regularity, it’s not a problem that’s distributed equally among all schools. For small rural schools the problem can be exactly the opposite: too few pupils can be as much of an issue as too many. The very same week I read the article lambasting the government’s record on overcrowding, we enrolled our youngest daughter in the local National School. Come September she will be the only child in her class. Yes, you read that right… the only child!
Great, you might think… no overcrowding problems there, and you’d be half right. The problem is that just last year the school reached the critical mass of pupils needed to qualify for a third teacher. As is common in small rural schools, multiple years are accommodated in the same classroom, sharing the same teacher. Getting the third teacher means that the number of pupils in the school are now distributed between three educators in three different classrooms, which means that class sizes are currently manageable. Now, with only one pupil starting school next year, they’ll probably lose the additional teacher… pushing class sizes up again.
In our topsy-turvy education system, it seems that even having less pupils isn’t a solution to the overcrowding problem. Something, somewhere, is terribly wrong.
It’s amazing how often small, seemingly innocuous words in the English language can be harbingers of much bigger things. Death, for example… there’s a small word with potentially huge implications.
Change is another one – small, unassuming, and for a lot of people utterly terrifying. We tend to be comfortable with constants – they’re safe and predictable; when things stay the same we feel secure, it’s the unknown that scares us… and venturing into the unknown is all part and parcel of change.
In today’s dynamic, high paced workplace, change is often the only real constant you’ll find. With the internet, connectivity, collaboration and interaction disrupting the accepted norms across a wide array of industries and sectors, nothing in business today seems to stay the same for very long.
The pace of change can be daunting. Sometimes it seems that no sooner have you acquired a new skill than it’s becoming obsolete. But I’ll let you into a little secret… this rapid pace of change is good for your career, as long as you’re ready to embrace it. With every change comes opportunity – to learn something new, do something different or develop in some way. If you’re willing to grab those opportunities with both hands, and you can adapt quickly to changing circumstances, then organisational change can be one of your biggest allies when it comes to career development.
As usual there are lessons to be learned from nature. Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, hit the nail on the head when he observed: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
His biological insight makes a seamless transition to the workplace… if there’s one thing that will help your career to flourish, then it’s your ability to embrace and adapt to change. Yes your suite of skills is important, your experience invaluable and your education indispensable – and I’m not trying to belittle any of those things – but all other things being equal your ability to adapt to the changing dynamics of the modern workplace is often the defining characteristic for career success.
Look at some of the most successful people in the world today – are they the brightest, the most talented, the best educated? Some, maybe… but many of them aren’t.
While wealth shouldn’t really be used as a measure of success, in this instance it serves to illustrate a point. A few weeks ago the Sunday Times published its annual Rich List. Flicking through the pages reveals a wide array of people from all walks of life. Some of them are undoubtedly bright, talented and well educated individuals – but that’s probably not what propelled them into the rich list. Pick a random selection and scratch the surface, and what you’ll find that they have in common is unwavering tenacity and self belief, coupled with an amazing capacity to embrace, adapt to and thrive on change.
Take a leaf out of their book, condition yourself to embrace change, step outside of your comfort zones regularly and explore the unknown. When the wind of change blows, and opportunity knocks, you’ll be there, ready and waiting.
Photo Credit: All change, by Elsie esq.
Here are a couple of other photographs illustrating how taking a different perspective can dramatically alter photographs of the same subject.
This Don Quixote sculpture stands outside a hotel in Toledo, Spain. It’s often photographed by tourists head-on… or with people standing next to it.
By moving in close, and silhouetting the head and spear against the sky and including the impressive building opposite the hotel it makes for what I think is a much more interesting image.
Heading out to sea from Reen Pier, Union Hall, West Cork, on Nic Slocum’s Whale Watch West Cork vessel in November 2007.
A Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus), second largest creature ever to have lived on earth, feeding off the West Cork coast. An aggregation of seabirds over a patch of water is one sign that cetaceans could be feeding in the area.
The birds on these trips are almost as entertaining as the whales….
On this trip we saw about eight or nine fin whales, a couple of minke whales and a large school of common dolphins. Humpbacks are also regular visitors to West Cork over the winter – you’ll find more info and photos on whalewatching in West Cork on this article on my main website, originally published in the UK magazine, The Countryman.
Whalewatching trips are also operated by Colin Barnes – also out of Reen Pier, Union Hall – you’ll find details at Whales Dolphins Ireland.
My wife is mad about Prince – and she’s been so supportive and understanding while I’ve been immersed in this Digital Marketing book project, that on the spur of the moment I decided to see if I could snag a couple of tickets for his upcoming concert in Croke Park.
Off I went to Google.ie to search for Prince Ireland. The first entry in the results page that was for Prince concert tickets was this one, from a crowd in the Netherlands called worldticketshop.com. All of the right bells and whistles were there… verified by Verisign, SSL secure server, etc. – but the cheapest tickets on offer were for €265, which seemed a bit on the steep side.
This was going to be more expensive than I’d anticipated… or was it?
I went to Ticketmaster.ie, which of course is where I should have gone in the first place, and bought two tickets for €66.50 each (and before I’m labelled a cheapskate let me just say that I looked for the the €89 category, but it had sold out, and the higher priced tickets seemed a bit on the extravagant side – so we’ll be a little way from the action, but hey, we’re there for the music, right?). Total cost for two tickets including Ticketmaster’s do f**k all fee handling fee (who are they trying to kid on an automated website with e-mail ticket delivery?) €145.70. Or about €120 cheaper than one ticket from Worldticketshop.com. Sorted.
What this really illustrates is that you need to be careful what you search for on Google, and shop around before you buy. Searching for Prince Ireland returned a few results for books from Amazon.com, followed by the rip-off worldticketshop.com site. Had I searched for Prince Tickets instead, two of the first three organic results returned would have been for Ticketmaster.ie.
So buyer beware – and remember that Google’s results are only as good as the queries you throw at it.
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