Business Lounging

Dear Reader,

You can now find me at www.appetiteforchange.net where you will be able to read articles, news and stories, in english and french, about how change is happening in organisations.

Cher lecteur,

Vous pouvez désormais me retrouver sur www.appetiteforchange.net  

Kind regards, bien à vous,

Christophe Lastennet

Given the increasing tensions and violence building up to the Nigerian elections, the disastrous outcome doesn't come as a surprise. This country seems to be slowly sinking into chaos. The outgoing president, Obasanjo, failed last year to have the constitution modified to allow him to run for a third consecutive mandate (the so-called third-term dispute). He did however manage to get his successor elected and his party to control 27 of Nigeria's 36 states, in what foreign observers called "deeply flawed elections".

Read more on http://www.ft.com/indepth/nigeriaelections  

Part of what drives me as a consultant is the opportunity to work in hugely different contexts, sometimes in unexpected and exciting places. This was precisely the case on an assignment for a major oil company in Nigeria:  my first true encounter with Africa and it turned out to be an amazing and memorable experience, in both positive and negative terms.

Here's a simple recipe for long-term chaos in a country: start with a good dosis of colonization to turn the culture upside down. Add the discovery of major oil fields. Split the country in 2 parts: one muslim and the other christian. Add a few dictatorships and a massive dosis of corruption at all levels. Stir a few decades, you get Nigeria. Still, I have to say I was quite amazed by the freedom of the press, frequently criticising heavily the government and more specifically the president Obasanjo.

Paradise, Nigeria can be when you look at these endless beautiful beaches. Hell, it certainly is, just a few miles away in the streets of Lagos. Paradise, it can be for the families of oil executives living in the luxurious and ultra protected compounds enjoying all the facilities offered. But hell it is for those who aspire more than living in a golden prison. Some say it is too dangerous out there, others that once the initial fears overcome it is really not that bad as long as you obey a few basic security rules. Learning what you can and can not do is precisely the problem when before you arrive, you're being told that it's absolutely forbidden (or at least highly unrecommended) to go anywhere else the office or the hotel without armed guards.

Hearing this sort of advice doesn't exactly put you in a friendly open minded mode on arrival. A shame because the country could use more from its visitors than constant fear. Colours, smiles, music, energy, art, handycraft, laid-back rhythm, fantastic food and all sorts of surprises and unexpected events (good or bad) is what I remember from this unique place.    

CRM specialist, customer delight manager, HSE focal point, recruitment 2 recruitment consultant, statistical modeler, electro-mechanical technician, WCCP analyst, forecast analyst, Mining engineer, Ruby developer, Airframe technician, Senior Unix administrator, Wing unit deployment monitor, gameroom technician, computer vision research scientist, claims adjuster, data specialist II, Landscape supervisor, floral team member, crop scout, Phlebotomist, dock supervisor, benefits specialist, encoding operator, proofreader, flash animator, coke services coordinator, performance assurance specialist, tubing tester...

Let's face it, despite Europe's current sentiment of anti-americanism (or rather anti-bushism), we have always looked up and admired some of the great citizens this country has been able to produce.

Al Gore, who had represented Europe's hopes against Georges W., is on the way to become one of these great figures, as The man who will play the main role in switching people's environmental concern and involvement from the state of general awareness to a concrete action mode. His "inconvenient truth" is the ultimate best practice in installing a sens of urgency of change in the minds of people. 

See, Feel, Change is John Kotter's change leadership motto. It means that giving figures, forecasts is not enough. As a change leader, you have to be able to make your change targets really feel, not only in their minds but in their guts, the need for change. Go and see Al Gore's movie and this is likely to be the process you will go through. The videos and the photos that you had seen before but not with the whole story behind, undeniable facts, telling charts, science made simple yet credible, the powerful and meaningful story in which you are the main character, all pulling you away from your old behaviour into a new attitude, hopefully for the good of the planet.