Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

Several years ago, I invited Gopalkrishna Gandhi to address 500 principals from across the country at the National Progressive Schools Annual Conference. He started by saying, You are a teacher and are obliged by your own sense of self-esteem and not of others. You have to keep your smiles within an ambit of permissibility, your laughter in a decimal count, your tears in a milligram drop of admissibility, for you must not seem too common, too regular, too weak.

This is not easy! A father may frown or berate, a mother might shield or forgive, but you are meant to be different, for you are a teacher. How do you scold without causing hurt, how do you instruct without seeming to be preaching, assist without seeming to patronise? How can you join in a celebration without feeling loss of form, lament without appearing to compromise your stoicism? And yet, you try to do so, for you are a teacher, he said.

This made me think that the life of a teacher is a challenge complex and unbelievably demanding. We are supposed to be enlightened and look dispassionately at our own personal vision and mastery before the shared vision process begins. How do we translate ethical dilemmas in a world where awareness is incomplete?

The greatest teachers, whether the Buddha, Christ, Rama-Krishna, Aurobindo, Yogananda or Nanak, never taught in classrooms. They had no blackboards, maps or charts. They used no subject outlines, kept no records, gave no grades. Their students were often poor and their methods were the same for all who came to hear and learn. They opened eyes, ears and hearts with faith, truth and love. They won no honours for their wisdom or expertise, and yet, these quiet teachers changed the lives of millions because they were inclusive and their minds were laboratories of compassion, empathy and reflective thinking. They were stoic and equanimous.

As teachers, we are meant to inculcate a love for community but not become sectarian; a love of reason but not become parochial; a love of country but not become jingoistic.

Teachers often feel they are not in power and yet in a position of great responsibility. The world is changing so rapidly and the context that our schools confront is so dynamic that we, as educators, must embrace change and make adjustments or potentially lose the franchise for preparing the next generation.

Today more than ever, we need to challenge prevailing standardised education policies and practices in favour of more individualised holistic approaches that prepare children to live productively in a rapidly changing world. We need to implement processes which foster student autonomy and leadership, encourage inventive learners with skills, understand and channelise the creative spirit, maximise liberty to make meaningful decisions and develop global partnerships.

With globalisation, a dilution of boundaries has taken place, creating both interdependence and insecurity. In fenceless societies, all of us, strong and weak, majority and minority, rich and poor, feel equally threatened by the other.

In order to avoid distances between communities and people, we as teachers need to emphasise partnerships and alliances that will help move from self-centred existence to coexistence, from confrontation to interaction and from alienation to collaboration. To achieve meaningful education, we must enable our children to live together in mutual empowerment.

We have to give greater attention to the happiness and health of our children. If we do not empower our youth with strength from within, they will find other ways of expressing their concerns.

We take decisions every day, which may have tremendous moral implications for the students in our care. Teaching, after all, is not just a set of technical skills for imparting knowledge to students. It involves caring for children and being responsible for their development in a complex society.

We must make time to look inward to become aware of the realities that we take for granted, the ways we create knowledge and make meaning in our lives, and the aspirations and expectations that govern what we choose from life. We must also look outward, explore new ideas and different ways of thinking and interacting, connect to multiple processes and relationships outside ourselves, and clarify our shared vision with our students.

A shared vision is a very powerful idea that connects a collective learning consciousness. The time for us as teachers is now. Now is the time to make real the promise of good education. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunities to all our children, weak or strong, rich or poor, disabled or abled. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of inertia and shake off the work-from-home culture by building a foundation for our children through robust offline teaching, learning practices and values.

As I stand in the hallways of learning, I ask myself: Do I always adhere to ideals? Do I not need someone to see my own realities? Do I walk, talk, comfort, teach like one who is a fully evolved human being, the perfect specimen who has absolutely no cares? I have to continue to ask these questions, and reflect on these conundrums. In spite of it all, I have to continue to envision, engender and enact a new culture of learning that addresses, supports and develops the core existential aspects of a human life: The sense of being, becoming and belonging and the sacrosanct celebration of life, because I am a teacher.

This column first appeared in the print edition on September 6, 2021 under the title Teaching a new world. The writer is chairperson and executive director, Education, Innovations and Training, DLF Foundation schools and scholarships programmes

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The world is changing rapidly and teachers must meet its challenges - The Indian Express

The Menil Collection will bring the work of one of modern arts most consistently provocative figures to Houston when it debuts Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s on Sept. 10.

Highlighting her shooting paintings artworks upon which she trained a .22 caliber firearm and enormous Nana sculptures, the exhibition positions Saint Phalle as a key figure in mid-century Modernism through the display of artworks from both the Menils permanent collection as well as dozens lent from Europe and never previously on view in the United States.

The Menils presentation challenges viewers to dig beneath the surface of Saint Phalles work.

Niki de Saint Phalle's Pirodactyl over New York, 1962.

For instance, it would be easy to assume her groundbreaking shooting paintings were produced as a personal response to the childhood sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Saint Phalles artwork was many things, but it was never easy.

When Saint Phalle aimed a rifle at white plaster surfaces concealing embedded bags of pigment or cans of paint which exploded spectacularly upon the impact of the bullets she wasnt merely taking aim at her father, she was taking aim at patriarchal societies. Societies defined by violence. A centuries-long history of Western art purposefully excluding the contributions of women.

Saint Phalle wanted to make a painting bleed not only for herself, but for women everywhere.

It would also be easy to assume the self-taught artist born to an aristocratic family in France and raised in New York City, a woman who modeled for Vogue magazine in addition to producing her continuously rebellious artwork, was an outsider, a fringe character operating in isolation from contemporary art world trends and conversations.

Niki de Saint Phalle'sGrand Tir Sance de la Galerie J, 1961. Comprised of paint, plaster, wire mesh, string and plastic on chipboard.

That assumption would be wrong as well.

Saint Phalle worked closely with modern art titans Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Her work was every bit as meaningful and engaged with that period as theirs.

So how come shes a relative unknown outside scholarly art circles and their household names?

Thats one of the reasons why she was shooting at those paintings.

Saint Phalle (1930-2002) represents an essential missing piece to the puzzle of modern art. The universal themes of her work ingrained cultures of violence, the tyranny of patriarchy, female empowerment produced more than 60 years ago, address todays culture and gender wars with an insight so prescient as to prove almost spooky.

Its the reason were doing this show and its the reason we felt like its so urgent, and so exciting, to be able to present this work to the public now, exhibition co-curator and Menil Collection Senior Curator Michelle White said of the show.

Madame, or Green Nana with Black Bag, by Niki de Saint Phalle.

The presentation is the first to explore this early, transformative, incredibly radical, proto-feminist in Whites words 10-year period in Saint Phalles career. It was during this period she embarked on two significant series: the shooting paintings and the powerful "Nanas," lively sculptures of the female form.

The shooting series came first.

How can paintings produced from the vagaries of chance inherent from being shot by a gun be considered art?

Saint Phalle always knew where she was shooting in order to lodge that bullet in that bag of pigment that would explode perfectly, White said. She very much knew what she was doing, and as a result, while much of the process is due to chance, it is an incredibly choreographed set of actions that would transpire to create the work and you can certainly see that when you are standing in front of many of the examples we have on view.

Roughly 20 shooting paintings are on display in the show, including one shot at by Johns.

Niki de Saint Phalle's Bathing Beauty, 1967.

Saint Phalle produced her shooting paintings for just a couple of years, her Nanas French slang for girls she would stay with most of the rest of her career.

When she first made these women who were curvaceous and joyous and athletic and strong and bold, she talked about creating a matriarchal society, she talked about creating a scale where these women would look down at the male viewer, dominate the space, White explains.

John and Dominique de Menil were early champions of Saint Phalle, acquiring a small group of works from her first show in New York. They are among the few owners of Saint Phalles art among American collectors.

Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s will remain on view at the Menil, where admission is always free, through Jan. 10, 2022.

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'Make a Painting Bleed' with Niki de Saint Phalle at the Menil Collection - Chron

If anything comes out of this, I want it to be a lesson to everybody that family violence happens to everybody no matter how nice your house is, no matter how intelligent you are, it happens to anyone and everyone.

These simple words and the grief-stricken image of Rosie Batty speaking to media outside her home the morning after her 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father at cricket training are etched into the memories of many Australians. While some realised at the time that these words and the woman who spoke them were remarkable, few could have foreseen that they would signal the beginning of an extraordinary period of social and political transformation across Australia.

Domestic and family violence (DFV) is widespread and results in significant personal, government, and business costs. In Australia, intimate partner violence is the highest health risk factor (greater than smoking, alcohol, and obesity) for women in their reproductive years (18-44 years).

Yet, until Lukes tragic death in 2014, the subsequent outpouring of community grief, and the commencement of Rosies advocacy, DFV was an issue that was rarely publicly discussed. It was a private issue, kept behind closed doors. Something then Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Ken Lay, described as Australias filthy little secret.

As Figure 1 indicates, an increase in website searches for the term domestic violence peaked in 2015 when Rosie was named Australian of the Year and began a period of extensive and relentless advocacy. DFV became an issue of public, media, and political concern. And it became an issue that people demanded could and should be addressed and prevented.

Research undertaken as part of my PhD at Monash University, and published in Violence Against Women, examines the role Rosie played in helping bring about this period of remarkable change and considers other socio-political factors that provided the conditions for change.

Together with my Monash University co-authors, Professor Jacqui True, Associate Professor Asher Flynn, and Abby Wild, I sought to understand what it was about Rosie and what it was about that moment in history that made this transformation possible. Ultimately, we wanted to know how we might maintain this sort of momentum and bring about real, lasting improvements in policies and services to support victim-survivors of DFV.

Our research consisted of an in-depth interview with Rosie and interviews with eight policy actors. Interview data were supplemented by analyses of media and government reports and other documents. We found that Rosie possesses personal characteristics and capabilities, which in many ways made her the ideal victim and policy entrepreneur/change agent. Her ability to understand others and to put herself in their shoes was particularly notable, as was her driving ambition to ensure that no one else would go through the same sort of tragedy she had.

One of the most important themes to emerge from the interviews was the importance of Rosies outsider status and the fact she was not from the DFV sector or government. We found that in responding to wicked policy problems like DFV, it is increasingly common for individual actors who are very often outside government to be the ones bringing about reform. Rosies outsider status, together with the power and urgency of her lived experience, enabled her to overcome institutional divisions and ideological differences to build networks encompassing the expertise and institutional know-how required to achieve substantial change.

We also found that Rosies advocacy began at a time when a window of opportunity had opened up in Victoria, following the election of the Andrews Labor Government, which had made an election commitment to hold a Royal Commission into family violence. Several interviews also provided a clear sense that the Andrews Government saw DFV as the issue that would offer the opportunity to break down silos and undertake the business of government differently. Rosie provided the community support and momentum for this change.

The foundations established by decades of work done by the feminist movement and organisations, such as the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), also emerged as an illuminating theme in our research. For example, VicHealths Preventing violence before it occurs framework was identified as key in explaining the gendered drivers of violence against women and identifying actions to address those determinants. This groundwork provided a framework for understanding DFV. It meant that within pockets of the State Government and the DFV and public health sectors, there was a workforce ready to make the most of the opportunities Rosie and the new government presented.

However, our study also found risks and limitations associated with engaging victim-survivors in reform efforts. In looking at the history of the victims rights movement, we discovered that victim-survivors have invariably been used to promote political agendas in a way that rarely helps them. Our research confirmed that gendered power imbalances, stereotypes, and social norms, particularly regarding ideal victims, mean many victim-survivors can feel pressure to be compliant and avoid upsetting powerful interests. We also found the assumption, made by some policy actors, that Rosies experience would open the door for other, more diverse victim-survivors was wrong.

Despite the prioritisation of victim-survivors voices, there are still many less ideal, more representative voices that are not being heard. Initiatives engaging victim-survivors in the development of public policy must address these power imbalances. Ensuring the empowerment and autonomy of victim-survivors is critical.

The public component of the Commonwealth Governments National Summit on Womens Safety is commencing today, and is described as the cornerstone of consultation activities to inform the development of the successor plan to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. Sadly, none of the sessions currently on the program focus on victim-survivor advocates. An Australia-wide collective of domestic, family and sexual violence abuse and violence victim-survivors and survivor advocates has written to relevant Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers, including Senator the Hon Anne Ruston Minister for Womens Safety (Cth), to voice their dismay with this oversight.

It is critical that the next National Plan is informed and driven by the lived experiences of victim-survivors, and by those who have been failed by the very systems which were meant to support them, such as the Family Court.

Engagement with victim-survivors must also be ongoing. It should be built into each initiative under the National Plan. Governments must also be careful to prioritise voices that are often marginalised, and to ensure the autonomy and independence of those voices.

Writer Ursula K. le Guin said, When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains. Rosie spoke her truth that morning in February 2014, and she has continued to speak her truth throughout her advocacy. Speaking truth to power shines a light on system failures and can bring about positive change. We just need those in power to be brave enough to listen.

Continued here:

The Batty effect: the criticality of victim-survivors in informing DFV policy - Women's Agenda

About two years ago, I made a promise to myself that for reasons of self-preservation, I would no longer put my feelings online. During the pits of the self-reflection that 2020 brought, I altered that promise. As a writer who inserts my life into my work, I earned the title of disability-rights activist, but the lines between life and work became blurred. After many months of work with a good therapist, I realised that I had to establish a boundary and stop writing about myself. To explain why, I need to break that rule.

Uploading a photo to Instagram in late July, I pondered a caption. The photo was of 10 prosthetic legs that have served me for the last 17 years. Its monumental because my 10th leg marks the age that I will be an amputee for as many years as I wasnt. Seventeen years with a right foot, 17 without.

I considered a spiel that detailed a great sadness that was overcome in my journey to acceptance. Instead, I wrote: 10 legs that cover 17 years. They live in a bag at the back of my wardrobe. Had I gone any heavier, I would have given in to the social-media nuance of rehashing trauma as a commodity.

Online culture is flooded with trauma thats posted under the guise of protest and shared with our direct communities. Social media has turned activism into an accessible thing, which is particularly beneficial for disabled people, and it means that marginalised voices can be amplified without ever needing a byline in a national newspaper, which is a remarkable thing.

We can learn about whats going on in Palestine or about Black Lives Matter marches happening in America from our living rooms, and we can then spread thatinformation so that more people can protest, raise awareness or donate money. The hierarchy of power is removed but it can also throw people into the deep end if their online audience grows or, more worryingly, they become dependent on external validation.

I wrote about myself constantly because I want people to understand the needs of wheelchair users and amputees. I want access and equal rights for disabled people to become a priority for others. But after years of attempting that, I discovered that I had to speak in superlatives. I had to share the surgical and societal scars if I wanted anyone to take notice, and I had to scream to be heard.

I see this trait in other writers and anyone with an Instagram account, especially people who are of colour, disabled, working class, LGBTQ+, or plus size. God help your vocal nodules if you tick the box for all of the above.

I have discussed my personal life in 10-minute segments on almost every radio chat show in Ireland and I have featured on panels that want to cover every inch of diversity in a 30-minute slot. I placed myself at the frontlines of my Twitter and Instagram accounts, ready for war at all times. I wrote and spoke as if I had the answers but, looking back, I know that I was trying to find a way to like myself, using other peoples ignorance as fuel when I was near running on empty.

Id be lying if I said I didnt become addicted to the attention I got when a piece became successful or a tweet went viral, but they were merely a distraction from the bigger issues at work.

As a disabled woman with a modified body, I have always looked to the body-positive movement a movement that was initially amplified by fat Black women and later gentrified by white beauty standards for inspiration, but its one that I abused. Looking back on old articles I wrote for womens online magazines, an industry where commodified trauma runs rife, I preceded any message of self-love by outlining the hatred that I believe society held for me. I used grotesque language to describe my body while casually using the terminology of trauma to bolster my point.

I know now that I was living in a fog of confusion, because how can I love my body freely if I have to constantly remind myself of the hatred real or imaginary that other people have for it?

While capitalism is usually at the root of many self-love proclamations, it transforms our self-worth into artillery when its something that should exist regardless of how others feel about us. Grand statements of love are fine for eye-catching Instagram captions, but you still have to like the person you are when youre eating breakfast, washing your hair or sitting in traffic. To dolly-up RuPauls Drag Race catchphrase: If you dont like yourself, how in the hell you gonna love yourself?

I became dependent on my pain for income. If your life becomes tangible content, your sadness and anger morph into part of your identity, giving you little room to grow or move on. It might feel cathartic to write a 600-word piece on everything from body hang-ups to love troubles or grief, but we can only process whats going on with the guidance of a trained professional. But ongoing therapy isnt always affordable for a freelance writer or activist, so the act of writing it out is the only outlet we have.

There should be more of a duty of care from media owners to contributors providing personal content especially with the risk of trolling but time and resources are not a luxury that many people working in media have. The final full stop on a written piece does not mean peace of mind has been achieved.

Ireland has seen the trend of sharing trauma within the annex of activism escalate in recent years. Over a year after the murder of George Floyd and the whole world marched to say that Black Lives Matter, a huge number of Black Irish activists continue to share their experiences of racism, at the risk of receiving more, so that its foundations could be deconstructed.

Personal stories were a huge factor in winning the Yes vote for 2015s Marriage Equality referendum and 2018s overdue referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment. So many campaigners turned the limelight on their own lives so that voters could put faces to the statistics and enter the polling stations with greater empathy. While the wins are celebrated accordingly, the losses are personal, and a deep exhaustion permeates as activists move through the world with clenched jaws and hunched-up shoulders.

We can learn so much from the experiences of others and it is vital that people learn how to express themselves. However, when we share trauma without a learning curve, a trigger warning may be issued to the reader; but what about the writer? Theres an adrenaline thrill that comes when you spill your guts online to strangers, but the reality is that the author is possibly alone with no one there to mind them. Thats the other side of online activism: for all of the fight that goes with it, the aftercare can be forgotten.

When you use your body as a weapon in print, protest or on Instagram, mental and physical fatigue is bound to take hold. When every day feels like a battle, you can forget to simply exist. To live without considering the hatred of others is a breathtaking and extremely privileged form of liberty, but the way in which we talk about our bodies matters. Even if the end goal is equality or empowerment, its important to draw a line between whats yours and whats yours to give away. In the age of documenting everything, thats an incredibly difficult thing to do.

When I uploaded the photo of my 10 legs, I chose a caption without any armour because Ive fought those battles long and hard enough. Instead, I presented a snapshot of everyday acceptance because there was no need for me to give anything else away.

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'I became dependent on my pain for income' Writer and activist Louise Bruton on escaping the trauma trap - Independent.ie

Eight major banks of India have joined the account aggregator framework that has been put together under supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to enable the easy and safe sharing of information between customers and banks so as to facilitate more efficient delivery of banking and financial services. Heres all you need to know about account aggregators, which are said to be ready to to hit the fintech industry like a tornado" and potentially transform how people engage with the world of finance.

While seeking a loan, or applying for an insurance policy, a customer usually has to submit reams of documents, a lot of them pertaining to their financial affairs. To gather such documents either involves multiple trips to the bank or financial advisers or, in the age of internet banking, logging in to ones online banking portal. Even so, it remains a cumbersome process. But no more. An account aggregator can now give you the power to share data easily between different financial service providers, by consolidating all your data in one place and providing a single digital framework to share it in real-time".

According to the DigiSahamati Foundation, a not-for-profit collective of the account aggregator ecosystem", the account aggregator system is a safe, consent-based framework giving you control over your data and quicker access to financial services". That means, it said, no more running around collecting documents to open accounts, file for taxes, get loans or access other financial products".

An account aggregator represents a new category of non-banking financial company (NBFC) that has been cleared by the RBI to manage consent for financial data sharing".

An account aggregator consolidates financial information of a customer held with different financial entities, spread across financial sector regulators adopting different IT systems and interfaces," RBI says, adding that its role is retrieving or collecting information of its customer pertaining to such financial assets, as may be specified by the bank from time to time".

To simplify, an account aggregator is a portal or app through which a customer can regulate her consent for the sharing of her financial information. The account aggregator network has three main pillars financial information provider (FIP), financial information user (FIU) and tech service provider, which is to say, the account aggregator itself.

FIPs are organisations like banks, mutual funds, pension funds, etc. that are a source of personal or business data that FIUs can access. FIUs, then, are organisations like lending agencies, NBFCs, etc., who may require access to financial data. Thus, the same organisations can become FIPs and FIUs as well. The data they require is to be accessed via account aggregators, which collaborate with FIUs and FIPs to deliver AA products and services" like SME Scorecards, Early Warning monitors, Digital Lending & Onboarding, Product Design of apps and more".

DigiSahmati said that the account aggregator framework was created through an inter-regulatory decision by RBI, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) through Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC)".

RBI will be issuing licences for account aggregators and there can be several such players, or apps, to cater to different users". Individuals and enterprises can both use account aggregators with the network being seen to have

special utility in terms of enabling small businesses to access loans.

The category to which an account aggregator belongs is known as Data Access Fiduciary (DAF), the creation of which has been facilitated by the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture, or DEPA. DEPA seeks to empower every Indian with control over their data" by creating frameworks and standards for the sharing of data.

With a view to unleashing the full potential of digital mechanisms in financial services, DEPA has been devised to serve as the final layer of India Stack, a series of digital public goods designed to enable private market innovators to introduce improved digital services for India across a range of sectors". The other layers of India Stack include Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface, DigiLocker, and eSign.

DigiSahmati says that these DAFs are data blind and will not see user data themselves; rather they will serve as a conduit for encrypted data flows".

In the initial stages, account aggregators will provide only asset-based data like bank accounts, deposits, mutual funds, insurance policies, pension funds, etc. The account aggregator app or desktop portal will have access to your account details, but such information will be shared in a decrypted form and RBI says that there shall be adequate safeguards built in its IT systems to ensure that it is protected against unauthorised access, alteration, destruction, disclosure or dissemination of records and data". Further, the data will not reside with the account aggregator.

One would have to downlowad a mobile phone or desktop app to be able to use an account aggregator service. After downloading such an app an user would need to on-board their bank details via the bank FIP which she can thereafter share with an FIU. This AA app shows the user all the consents given, revoked consents and a log of all data requests made by the FIU."

Four account aggregator apps that have received operational licences from RBI: Finvu, OneMoney, CAMS Finserv, and NESL, while in-principle nods have been given to PhonePe, Perfios, and Yodlee.

Now, eight banks SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Federal Bank have joined the network as FIPs and FIUs.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here

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EXPLAINED: How Account Aggregators Will Transform Process Of Getting Loans, Sharing Bank Data - News18

A picture of the difficulties faced by many CMOs was painted by Gartners team in the opening keynote to the analyst firms Marketing Symposium in September.

The first remarks were bleak: Marketing was losing its seat at the most important table at a time when companies are telling Gartner they are eager to accelerate digital plans.

Marketing budgets are facing steep cuts, steeper than any in the past decade. Were going to have to do more with less, said Gartner VP research, Mike McGuire. Gartners graph showed marketing budgets as percentage of total revenue dropping from 12.1 per cent in 2016 to 6.4 per cent today and trending down.

That task is even more challenging thanks to harder-to-engage consumers, according to Gartner senior director, research and advisory, Carlos Guerrero.

People are confused and fatigued. Social disruptions are making it harder than ever to protect brands, not just from the outside but from the inside, too, he said.

Yet the way out of these troubles relies on existing marketing expertise, not a bigger budget. Gartner advised CMOs to step back and rethink the marketing and social landscape and to use their superpower - the ability to establish vital connections - to assert their role as chief stewards of vital connections that will foster resilience and speed growth.

Marketers need to re-establish and fortify relationships with employees, business partners and of course customers. Because these connections will make or break success, said Gartner VP analyst, research and advisory, Dorian Cundick.

The first connection to work on is between an organisation and its employees. Marketers, Cundick said, have been neglecting their colleagues, spending all their time and energy on customers when an organisations vitality is grounded in its own people.

Employees have always been a potent source of brand advocacy and neglecting them is a missed opportunity. On the other hand, disaffected employees can be an explosive threat to an organisation. Cundick pointed to Gartner research showing 36 per cent of employees have spoken out against their employers in the past year as pandemic, uncertainty, recession, political polarisation and natural disasters have rained down.

We know leaders are on the alert because theyve given it a line item: 30 per cent of crisis communications budgets are earmarked for employee activism, Cundick continued. The degree to which we cultivate those employee connections can determine whether we should be investing our resources in nurturing a thriving brand or are staving off threats from within.

Weve been holding the line on simmering brushfires of extreme fatigue and surging social activism. But one gust of ill-wind can turn them into a fully-fledged wildfire that ravages a brand.

Read more: How HR and marketing collaboration is creating a customer-centric culture at Hoyts

Mercer CMO: Why people marketing and employees are your brands biggest untapped asset

Organisational changes averaging almost 40 each year add to a sense of employees being overwhelmed by things beyond their control. This compounds the ripple-effects of world events, Gartner said.

To alleviate problems caused by change fatigue and increase the likelihood that employee activism will manifest as support instead of sabotage, businesses and marketers need to build employee capability. The Gartner team said organisations usually do a good job getting employee commitment to change by sharing rationale and encouraging team players.

Thats good for T-shirts but under-delivers on what we care about most helping our people do a great job, said Cundick.

Yet its building teams capabilities that triples the lift on performance. To ameliorate the disorientation caused by multiple changes, Cundick advised organisations to get very specific about how change affects an employees role and responsibilities and ensure they have access to tools and information needed to do their jobs.

Confidence is even more important, according to Cundick. Thats another opportunity for HR, communications and marketing to help teams acquire and master new skills to learn from colleagues, as well as access psychological and emotional support to be their best.

When we do this well, it makes for engaged employees who are less likely to suffer the kind of fatigue-fuelled stress that can hinder productivity or inspire backlash against their organisation, Cundick said.

Gartner research shows employees are watching organisations and are ready to act, even if action bites the hand that feeds them.

Before applying for a job, more than two in five people check if a company supports causes they care about. More than half are willing to boycott a firm that doesnt do social good. More than one third are willing to advocate against a company that exploits public sentiment as well as to personally boycott it.

On the other hand, if meaningful connections can be made between employees and their organisation, a strong connection raises the likelihood of employee advocacy from 9 per cent to 46 per cent.

Employees are feeling overwhelmed by big things that are hard to fix it's making them volatile in a way weve not seen before. Instead, we should harness that energy for mutual benefit, said Cundick. If we can offer something of value to employees here, we can forge the kind of connections that directly feed and sustain the business. Seizing this moment of social impact can make connection stronger.

Marketers control over corporate image and content enables their influence here. Gartner suggested one way to create strong connections is by using an organisations resources to meaningfully tackle big things individual employees cant.

CMOs, or what Gartner likes to call chief connection officers, can help organisations offer employees valuable empowerment. This entails marketers shifting their emphasis from trumpeting their brands authentic commitment to the world to organising personal fulfilment, enabling audiences including employees to be part of the good being done together and tell their own stories of making the world a little better.

McGuire illustrated the point with Operation Possible at Trane Technologies, a firm which brands itself as a climate and sustainability leader. Through Operation Possible, Trane invites employees to share big economic social or environmental challenges it calls absurdities that really should be solved or stopped. Employees are asked to submit absurdities and/or solutions that draw on Tranes operational expertise.

One absurdity was food waste. Following employee suggestions, Trane is considering using its technologies to dry fruit and veg to extend viability and slash waste.

But not all connections can be forged by CMOs alone. According to one Gartner survey, 90 per cent of board directors agreed Covid increased the need for cross-functional collaborations.

Gartners view is marketers are ideally positioned to organise such collaborations because they are the voice of the customer, have the digital expertise to gather and interpret data and can see how work done across the organisation contributes to customer experience or detracts from it.

However, cross-functional collaboration is hard work for marketers: More than one third have said its their most challenging activity. Gartner reminded the audience collaborations dont cost money and advised building valuable connections over service-level and transactional relationships marketers have often had in the past.

Investing in marketing expertise and efficiencies makes us better marketers but hasnt built better connections. Were focused on showcasing our value and contributions to the bottom line but thats an inherently one-sided relationship. We need to shift our focus from us as marketers to us and our partners, said McGuire.

He gave the example of a healthcare company whose marketing team consults and gathers information from colleagues across the business, then identifies opportunities. They applied marketing knowledge such as the optimal balance between volume and margin, and which tactics would best change customer behaviours.

This consultative process created a new insight into the incremental value of customer actions to overall business, McGuire said.

Marketing leaders know how customer behaviour should be leveraged to improve sales. This approach elevated marketing from being a fulfilment engine for business partner requests to being an organisational maestro. The VP marketing of this company has seen a significant difference in the types of conversations throughout the business, particularly with product and finance.

Collaboration that goes beyond simple co-branding to include marketing, product designers and influencers can also create a unique product. McGuire illustrated his point on external partnerships with Sony Playstations many collaborations, including one with Nike and NBA star, Paul George. This resulted in multiple co-branded shoes inspired by Playstations aesthetics.

More unusual is Sonys partnership with Mercedes Benz to release Dreams and Mercedes, a platform that inspires gamers to imagine a vision of the future.

This isnt an approach thats only available to big brands, McGuire said. Despite shrinking budgets, marketers can move to a two-way flow of information with internal partners and find like-minded external partners to create an ecosystem of brands that can grow and become stronger together.

We know building these vital connections requires a fundamental shift in mindset from What can I achieve? to What can we achieve together?. The shift to we is also relevant to your customers.

As for customers, Gartners data shows brand loyalty and affinity in a long decline. Guerrero asked whether gathering data has seen marketers focus too much on who and what, losing sight of why a customer chooses to connect or disconnect with a brand.

Customers expect that you know their names, shopping habits and to get them right but it doesnt create a real, organic connection. To do that you need to use the data to find meaningful motivators that help you build strong connections with customers, he said.

A big part of doing this right is listening. Although youve heard that before, marketers continue to focus on delivering a message rather than engaging in a dialogue. Delivering a message is one-way, whereas dialogue involves both parties listening to each other. That can build meaningful interaction, but it also has potential to build more robust brands.

In a recent Gartner survey of CMO priorities, 95 per cent said their brands should take a position on issues their customer cares about. Doing so means more than building messages about pride month or social media posts about equality, said Guerrero.

It means using your understanding of the whole customer and your influence in the enterprise to ensure that meaningful action is taken, he said.

Follow CMO on Twitter:@CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn:CMO ANZ,follow our regular updatesvia CMO Australia's Linkedin company page, or join us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia.

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Gartner: CMOs need to step up their company connection efforts - CMO

Mr Abhilash Gupta and Mrs Indu Gupta. Pic: Nick Linnett

Leicester residents have celebrated 30 years working with a local housing association.

Around 710 residents live in co-operative housing managed by the Bede Island Road-based PA Housing. They work together to meet the community's affordable and sustainable housing needs.

The homes in the co-ops, 119 at Ross Walk and 117 at Maynard, are jointly owned by residents, meaning that each individual has a vote on decisions that affect their homes and neighbourhoods.

Kishor Jadavji, Chair of Ross Walk co-op, said: "Ross Walk Housing Cooperative has shared a fantastic relationship with PA Housing over 30 years.

"The staff are very professional and hardworking. PA Housing provides a great service and continuously seek ways of maintaining high standards for our tenant members."

The co-ops were set up over 40 years ago to prevent housing demolition and responded to the needs of Asian communities leaving East Africa to settle in the East Midlands.

Thirty years ago, PA Housing took over the management of buildings and services at the co-ops in Maynard Road and Ross Walk.

Mr Abhilash Gupta is a resident of the Ross Walk co-op, who has lived in his home for 39 years.

He said: "They say, 'necessity is the mother of invention', and that is what you see in the formation of these co-ops and the management.

When PA took over as managing agent, Maynard Co-operative Housing Association struggled financially, its housing stock was in poor condition, and committee meetings were not well attended.

Alam Navsa became Chair of the co-op in 1995, and, working with PA, the provider has improved.

Imtiaz Vohra, Co-ops Service Manager at PA Housing, said: "The co-ops are important to PA Housing because they are an alternative way of living that is personal and tailored to the communities.

"The history of these particular co-ops sees BME communities seeking safe spaces and finding empowerment to lead their own living arrangements, which chimes with the values of our organisation and colleagues."

"You can tell in the way people take care of the neighbourhood, and everybody wants to move in here now!"

Mrs Fatima Dakri said: "PA Housing makes the co-op's annual general meeting an event everyone wants to attend - there is real transparency in where the money that goes into the co-op is spent.

"It is something you do not get when you live in a council flat as we did before then it is just a house."

Over the last three decades, PA Housing has worked with the co-ops on financial management, home repairs and community safety.

The housing association said it continues to adapt its work with the co-ops and hopes to return to face-to-face events soon, starting with a celebration for its 30th anniversary.

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Leicester residents celebrate 30-year anniversary with local housing association - In Your Area

In a time when social media platforms like TikTok have made it shockingly easy for content to go viral (search for the "Watermelon Sugar" Hi! pet trend, you'll thank me later), Helen Hoang's The Heart Principle answers the question: What happens when the fame you never wanted is keeping you from actually having a career you love?

When Anna Sun, a professional violinist, goes viral on YouTube for a performance, it changes her life forever ... but not for the reasons she anticipates. Not only does she get musician's block, it's clear her family and her boyfriend Julian don't understand so she decides to go to therapy. When Julian decides he wants an open relationship before he agrees to settle down, Anna, who is tired of pleasing everyone but herself, goes on a dating app and meets our leading man Quan Diep who readers may recognize from Hoang's previous books. "Stop masking. Stop people pleasing. Revenge on Julian. Learn who I am. Self empowerment," Anna says at one point, reminding herself to go through with the plan.

What was supposed to be a no-strings-attached one-night stand, however, turns into a tangled tapestry of heady makeout sessions, watching animal documentaries together, and divulging the kinds of secrets that border on couple territory, which have both characters reconsidering their decision to use sex as a BandAid for their inner turmoil. For one, Anna has intimacy issues and has never had a one-night stand before. And Quan, who recently recovered from a serious illness, has his own body image insecurities. But together, they understand each other in a way no one else has tried or cared enough to and thus, a new kind of intimacy blooms between them, in true Hoang fashion.

If The Kiss Quotient teaches intimacy and The Bride Test nurtures it, then The Heart Principle pushes its characters not to be ashamed by it. It's only when Anna and Quan stop putting pressures on themselves that they can truly let go in every sense. I would've loved to see Quan and Anna step outside their bubble and interact in more social settings together, but it feels just as good to see them learn about each other without external influences (although her family certainly tries).

It's a little on the nose to say that Hoang's new romance is sex-positive, but it's important to show how she neutralizes the social pressures around physical intimacy. When Anna says no to a sexual act, she thinks that it "might be the hardest thing I've ever done. But I did it. Part of me is still queasy from how unnatural it felt. Another part of me, however, is drunk with power."

The social pressures go beyond intimacy too. When Anna learns that she may be autistic, Quan is the one who's there for her, while her sister dismisses it as a plea for attention. And after a personal tragedy sends Anna home to a family that loves her but struggles to understand her, Quan is the one who becomes her safe haven and helps her through an autistic burnout. But when her family has other plans for her, which don't include Quan, she needs to figure out how to follow her heart and speak up for herself.

It's an emotional journey, but a fulfilling one to watch Anna and Quan not only reconcile with the limits of their bodies and health but wield enough power to stand up for themselves.

Perhaps one of the hardest parts of reading this book is the visceral reaction to seeing other people mistreat Anna and Quan because of their differences. We want to protect them while we collectively bemoan their loss of agency. So much of the story manifests the act of grieving. There is the literal grieving of a family member, but there's also the mourning over loss of self and identity Quan for the life he had before his illness and Anna for the person she could've been, had she gotten proper support earlier in life.

But like the final stage of grief, acceptance isn't too far off for these characters. It's an emotional journey, but a fulfilling one to watch Anna and Quan not only reconcile with the limits of their bodies and health but wield enough power to stand up for themselves. In fact, it's evident that while Anna's autism is a turning point for her, it's not meant to define her or the story; if anything, it's just the missing puzzle piece that lets her fully love herself without a nagging sense of uncertainty. "No one should need a diagnosis in order to be compassionate to themselves ... Maybe for now, just this once, I can experiment with a different kind of love. Something kinder."

Having read all three of Helen Hoang's books, I can confidently say she's a consummate wordsmith of soulful romances, with soft, honest-to-goodness love stories paired with euphoric steaminess. The Heart Principle wears its heart on its sleeve. While it's thematically heavier than her previous books, Hoang's writing breathes with the kind of kinetic power and acceptance that feel freeing because she lets her characters fully realize themselves even when those around them can't.

Kamrun Nesa is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Bustle, PopSugar, and HelloGiggles.

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Review: 'The Heart Principle,' By Helen Hoang - NPR

Professor Dr. Kasia Jagodzinska is a busy professional. An academic, she teaches at universities in France, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland. She is also a trainer with the Schranner Negotiation Institute, where she works with negotiators from almost every industry. On top of that, she also acts as a senior advisor to the United Nations on multi-stakeholder negotiations. And, if all that were not enough, shes also an author!

Her book, Negotiation Booster, aims to combine the tactics traditionally taught about negotiation with self-empowerment. It got its start when Jagodzinska was in the early days of her career. Having started her first job in Paris, she got a call from her native Poland asking her to lecture. Unwilling to quit a job she had just started, she began her life of working in both business and academia, with lots of travelling when she could research.

I was always travelling and doing a lot of research on the plane, Jagodzinska says. And I came across research that said that for female negotiators, tactical preparation and training is not enough for them to negotiate to their full potential. The research intrigued her, not least because she was a woman starting out in business. And she began to wonder if the reason, that women needed additional empowerment, actually applied to everyone.

an adult woman shows strength

The need for empowerment is universal

As Jagodzinska explored the issue in her career she began to realise that there was not, in fact, a gender difference and that the need for self-empowerment was universal.

When she started working with high-level business professionals, she would discover that, in the safe and relaxed training environment, everyone has the same insecurities. She describes how, after an exercise, the mask comes off, they say look, Im not convinced about my opening, Im hesitant, I dont believe I can win this. Jagodzinska identified that although they were teaching lots of different strategies and tactics, they were not doing anything to give people the resources to manage their emotions, so they had the confidence needed as a foundation for the tactics.

Negotiation Booster

Jagodzinskas book aims to provide some of what her training offers, giving readers not just information of negotiation strategy or tactics, but also a broader, human, understanding that can underpin what people do, taking some of the stress out of negotiation. Each chapter will, deliberately, refer to both negotiation and non-negotiation resources.

People will often refer to a life of death negotiation, but if you read Edith Egers The Choice you will quickly redefine what a life-or-death negotiation is, she says. It is a common human trait to overstate the importance of negotiations, and even experienced negotiators do this. The danger is that by adding unnecessary emotional stress, the negotiators is undermining their own effectiveness.

Perhaps underneath it all is the fact that all negotiation is personal, even if the parties arent representing themselves. Whether they are negotiating on behalf of a corporation or a nation state, at the end much will come down to the personal relationships that exist around the table.

It isnt just about emotional intelligence, Jagodzinska says. Its also understanding. We are emotional beings, and you have to acknowledge that. You cannot skip managing your emotions and rely on using the negotiation strategies and tactics that are out there.

Having trained thousands of people over the years, Jagodzinska has learned to recognise that everyone can have that moment of hesitation when they start a negotiation, and everyone can have moments of imposter syndrome. Recognising that universality, and acknowledging it as a common, human trait a shared experience is not only empowering but can help create a mutual respect that benefits negotiations.

Confidence is the key

For Jagodzinska, confidence is the most important thing. Indeed, it comes full circle to the research she was reading on a plane early in her career. While its important to recognise that everyone has moments of doubt, its more important to have the self-belief that you can overcome that doubt.

Visualising success can be enormously helpful. Its a useful practice just to play out how negotiations might go, so you are prepared for different eventualities. But its also incredibly useful to spend some of the time just thinking about how success might look, and how you can make it happen, so you start negotiations with those possibilities in your mind.

I think its the biggest takeaway from my book, says Jagodzinska, is that it starts with whats in your mind. The biggest failure can start there, but the biggest success starts there as well.

Check out Jagodzinskas full episode here.

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Use These Self-Empowerment Tips To Thrive In Your Negotiations - Forbes

Often when one thinks about legacy, its understood to be a gift or bequest thats handed down, endowed, or conveyed, from one person to another, after theyve passed. However, legacy is more about sharing the things that were learned not earned and instilling values as opposed to material wealth. Influence and inspiration are also a part of a persons legacy, and that can be put into play while still one is still alive.

September 4, 1981 brought about a new legacy, one that would ultimately impact the entertainment industry and permeate popular culture for years to come. On that summer morning, BeyoncGiselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas. Since then, she has created a legacy that is unparalleled. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destinys Child one of the highest-selling girl groups of all time, along with a lucrative acting career, appearing in films such asAustin Powers in Goldmember,The Pink Panther,Dreamgirls,Cadillac RecordsandThe Lion King.

It wasnt until 2003 that her music career and life truly blossomed. In June of that year, Beyoncreleased her debut solo studio album,Dangerously in Love. In the years that followed, the Texas native rose to icon status, becoming one of the most respected figures in the world. Embarking on a solo career allowed Beyonc to grow both personally and professionally, and it gave her the opportunity to create a legacy outside of Destinys Child.

Since her last solo project, Beyonc has released a compilation album with her husband entitledEverything is Love. She also createdHomecoming, a documentary and concert film focused on her 2018 Coachella performances, and voiced Nala in the remake ofThe Lion King. This led to the curation of the films soundtrackThe Lion King: The Gift, as well as the visual albumBlack is King.

Her numerous accolades and achievements in almost every field of human endeavor show why Beyonc is revered by so many people. Her legacy thus far is undeniable, and she has accomplished more in her 40 years on this earth that most have done in a lifetime. In celebration of Beyoncs 40thbirthday, we look back at her solo albums and the impact theyve left on the music industry, as well as their parallels to the entertainers own life.

Dangerously in Love (June 20, 2003)

In what was a mixture of ballads and uptempo songs,Dangerously in Lovealso incorporated elements of traditional R&B, hip-hop and soul music. It was the first time Beyonc would record an album outside of Destinys Child, and her solo debut was praised by critics and fans alike for its artistic creativity and chart-topping singles. The album received numerous accolades, also earning Beyoncfive Grammy Awards at the 46thAnnual Grammy Awards on February 8, 2004.

During the fall of 2002, 03 Bonnie & Clyde was released. It heightened speculation that Beyoncand rapper Jay Z were in a relationship. Many of the songs onDangerously in Lovewere personal, which also led the public to believe that they were inspired by her newfound union. At a time when Beyonc was coming into her own as a woman, she was also finding her voice as an artist. As a part of Destinys Child, that type of growth may not have been possible, for her focus was more on the group as a whole, rather than her as an individual.

BDay (September 4, 2006)

Released on her 25thbirthday, Beyoncs second studio album was recorded at a very important time in the singers life. She createdBDaywhile filmingDreamgirls, an adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name. Her involvement with the film also influenced the sound and lyrical content of her second album. With a musical style drawn from 1970s funk, live instrumentation, along with her normal usage of urban contemporary elements,BDaywas considered a leap in creativity for Beyonc.

Debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200,BDaysold over 541,000 in its first week of sales. That, and theDreamgirlsrelease in December of 2006 marked Beyoncs official recognition as a bonafide superstar.

I Am Sasha Fierce (November 12, 2008)

Beyoncs third album,I Am Sasha Fiercewas originally formatted as a double album. Each disc was a representation of her two artistic personas.I Amcontained slow and mid tempo R&B ballads,while Sasha Fierce her on-stage alter ego had uptempo songs that blended more pop elements. AlthoughI Am Sasha Fiercewas not as popular with critics as her previous two albums, it garnered a record setting six awards at the 52ndAnnual Grammy Awards.

In what was a perfect example of art imitating life, the albums second single, Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) told the story of Beyoncs personal life at the time. In April of that year, Beyonc and Jay Z wed in a secret ceremony, after years of dating. I Am Sasha Fiercebecame the culmination of Beyoncs work as a musician, and a testimony of the new chapter she was beginning in her life.

4 (June 24, 2011)

After a hiatus from the music and film industry, Beyonc released her fourth album, aptly titled4, in 2011. During this time away, she was inspired to create an album focused on traditional R&B that emphasized female empowerment and self-reflection.

2011 was a year of ups and downs for Knowles. After personal issues and severing professional ties with her father and manager, she shifted her music to more mature and intimate content. The multiple television performances and festival appearances served only as a footnote to the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. When concluding her epic performance, she announced to the world her pregnancy, sending shockwaves around the world.

Beyonc (December 13, 2013)

Beyoncs eponymous fifth release was developed as a visual album, and also marked a crescendo in the singers creativity. In what was a surprise release, its songs were accompanied by short films that represented the intimate subject material showcased within the album. As her career progressed, Beyonc became more open to giving the public a glimpse into her famously private life.

She also directed and produced the television film,Life Is But a Dream, which was a collection of footage and photographs from previous years. This autobiographical release documented her marriage, her miscarriage, the birth of her first child Blue Ivy in 2012, and her aforementioned professional split from her father. Her openness to her personal life led to a new level of expression in her music.

Lemonade (April 23, 2016)

Lemonade the most acclaimed album of Beyoncs career, built upon her increasing transparency she highlighted throughout her previous release. Accompanied by an hour-long film on HBO, this album encompassed a variety of musical genres, and themes of infidelity, trauma, feminism and culture as it pertains to African-Americans. Placed at number 32 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Lemonade was an artistic high point for Beyonc, but the albums construction was not without its tribulations.

Beyoncs sixth album was heavily influenced by her personal life, and her emotional journey in the aftermath of her husbands infidelity. It was also a special project due to her exploration of the economic and social structure of America, and the history of people of color the good as well as the bad. Lemonade was an open book into the mind of Beyonc Knowles, and in it contained her best body of work to date.

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The Legacy Of Beyonc - Essence