I was in the Burlington today having a cup of coffee, and two former colleagues walked in. I was deep in typing mode on the laptop and they did not see me.
They sat at the next table and started their meeting.
When I was running my technology company I got these two guys involved in a multimillion euro opportunity with a global player. While I was in hospital, I asked another colleague to watch the project to make sure all was well. My friend was told that the project was dead. This news which came to me in hospital was another nail in the coffin but I got over that.
But when I heard these two guys talking about their project - THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT MY PROJECT !!!! I could only laugh that they had to wait until I was in hospital to steal it from me.
I walked over to say hello to them and I had to pinch myself from laughing in their faces. As soon as they saw me they nearly sh1t themselves - they turned over their notes and were stunned into silence.
I had a chat with them about life and happiness and when I left the Burlington Hotel - I laughed myself all the way to my next meeting. I am so happy to have such an attitude now - and while I have paid a high price - in retrospect, it is a price that I am willing to pay and luckily - I had enough to pay for it.
Friends in business my ass :)
Paul
Friday 23 March 2007
Tuesday 20 March 2007
Intellectual Property and Burnout
I also met Liam Birkett this morning. Liam is a world renowned speaker on intellectual property, sales development, trademarks and marketing.
Together, over coffee, we started developing a two day seminar on turning ideas into cash using trademarks, patents and intellectual property. It was an exciting coffee date :)
Liam has been doing this for over 40 years and he is the most knowledgeable guy there is in this space in the Northern Hemisphere. He has been called on by the EU and the Chinese Government no less to help them with turning ideas into revenue.
It is an exciting time for the alchemism foundation and with the people who have been presented to us by the universe, I just feel the power and beauty of what the world has to offer is ours for the receiving.
Sometimes I think entrepreneurs burn out because they cant get their ideas on to paper, cant get them patented or trademarked and cant get their energy converted into dollars and euros.
I know that this programme that we are developing will help.
I also hope Liam will write a book that will be published by the alchemism foundation media department and I hope to meet our new editor in chief this week - this is an exciting time for us all in the foundation
Louis Armstrong was right - Such a wonderful world.....
Paul
Together, over coffee, we started developing a two day seminar on turning ideas into cash using trademarks, patents and intellectual property. It was an exciting coffee date :)
Liam has been doing this for over 40 years and he is the most knowledgeable guy there is in this space in the Northern Hemisphere. He has been called on by the EU and the Chinese Government no less to help them with turning ideas into revenue.
It is an exciting time for the alchemism foundation and with the people who have been presented to us by the universe, I just feel the power and beauty of what the world has to offer is ours for the receiving.
Sometimes I think entrepreneurs burn out because they cant get their ideas on to paper, cant get them patented or trademarked and cant get their energy converted into dollars and euros.
I know that this programme that we are developing will help.
I also hope Liam will write a book that will be published by the alchemism foundation media department and I hope to meet our new editor in chief this week - this is an exciting time for us all in the foundation
Louis Armstrong was right - Such a wonderful world.....
Paul
Cleopatra Women
I had a call today with Connie Scottky, CEO of SFINX in Holland today - a wonderful company concerning itself with the empowerment of women who have lost their femininity in the testosterone injected business world and together we came up with a fabulous concept for the alchemism foundation and SFINX to work on together.
We called it CLEOPATRA WOMEN and we are looking for senior business leaders and business owners who are women and who would be interested in doing some research with us to see what the connection is between burnout and femininity.
The energy on the call was amazing and I just know in my heart and soul that it will be a wonderful collaboration.
We are seeking powerful women to talk to us about the issues, problems, highs and lows of being a woman in business or being a female business owner in today's fast paced business world.
We are trying to see if you have had to bury your femininity and have had to become more male in your approach to business.
Connie and I both postulate that if this is the case, this is a loss for the business world, the business success, the male members of the team and for the woman herself.
We are determined to find out what is going on in this space and to provide some programs to help women access their feminine selves and to bring this to the boardroom - where we both just know that it will help rather than hinder the bottom line.
The alchemism foundation is also interested in the possibility that this supression may be a contributing factor in female burnout.
Email me on alchemismfoundation@eircom.net if you wish to help us do the initial research
Paul
We called it CLEOPATRA WOMEN and we are looking for senior business leaders and business owners who are women and who would be interested in doing some research with us to see what the connection is between burnout and femininity.
The energy on the call was amazing and I just know in my heart and soul that it will be a wonderful collaboration.
We are seeking powerful women to talk to us about the issues, problems, highs and lows of being a woman in business or being a female business owner in today's fast paced business world.
We are trying to see if you have had to bury your femininity and have had to become more male in your approach to business.
Connie and I both postulate that if this is the case, this is a loss for the business world, the business success, the male members of the team and for the woman herself.
We are determined to find out what is going on in this space and to provide some programs to help women access their feminine selves and to bring this to the boardroom - where we both just know that it will help rather than hinder the bottom line.
The alchemism foundation is also interested in the possibility that this supression may be a contributing factor in female burnout.
Email me on alchemismfoundation@eircom.net if you wish to help us do the initial research
Paul
Thursday 15 March 2007
Work Research Centre
Richard Wynne from the work research centre is an amazing guy - he has been researching stress in the workplace for over 20 years and one of his latest publications is a three year - 2000 person study in six european countries. The project is called the stress impact survey and it is the best piece of research work done on stress in the workplace EVER !!
What is astounding is that the best in Europe at getting sick people back to work are the Dutch with a good 63% return to work rate.
Ireland, sadly, lags way behind with less than half that number.
As Richard says "In Ireland, we starve our people back to work" - not good not good.
Another damning statistic from Richard - for people who are 12 months on disability, they have a less than a 1% chance of getting back into the workplace.
This is not a Dickens Novel my friends - this is Ireland in the noughties - pretty sad - all that money and shared among so few people.
The Alchemism Foundation will start to develop disability management programs which will work to increase this rate of helping people back to work
What is astounding is that the best in Europe at getting sick people back to work are the Dutch with a good 63% return to work rate.
Ireland, sadly, lags way behind with less than half that number.
As Richard says "In Ireland, we starve our people back to work" - not good not good.
Another damning statistic from Richard - for people who are 12 months on disability, they have a less than a 1% chance of getting back into the workplace.
This is not a Dickens Novel my friends - this is Ireland in the noughties - pretty sad - all that money and shared among so few people.
The Alchemism Foundation will start to develop disability management programs which will work to increase this rate of helping people back to work
Sunday 11 March 2007
EQ, Coaching and Burnout
Its taken me a long time to figure this one out, and it has been bullied out of me by so many individuals and institutions over so many years - but it is ALL about people. The RIGHT people that is. I have come across two amazing individuals over the last few weeks who, with the vision of the alchemism foundation will truly change the way we treat people who are in need of healing.
Maureen Hewitt is a coach trainer, an NLP master, trained in EQi and is the best trainer I have ever come across. Her energy, enthusiasm and genuine goodness is infectious and her dreams and ambitions are made in heaven.
John Broderick is a psychologist who is developing some of the most exciting enhancements to Bar On(tm) emotional intelligence on the planet and he brings with him a wealth of goodness and experience to make things on this earth better than they currently are.
When you add people like this to the mix of the faculty of the alchemism foundation and add that to its vital and supportive patrons, the mix is sure to be positive, explosive, dedicated, and filled with the right values, the right meaning and always the right intention - to help people who are less fortunate than ourselves.
I have such a feeling about this collaboration that I felt it necessary to blog it so that I can look back in a few years and remember that the tipping point for the alchemism foundation was down to these two people and myself combining our hearts and minds to make this a better world.
The book by Jim Collins "good to great" speaks about the lessons that great companies in the USA have learned that they used to make them truly great and the first one is to know what your passion is - in this context, Maureen, John and I share the same passion. And Collins goes on to say "get the right people on the bus - get the wrong people off the bus and then decide where the bus is going".
That is precisely what we now intend to do - and this bus journey will be so enjoyable that it seems hardly fair to have so much peace, joy and energy in the collaboration.
But in my heart of hearts I know that the universe was made for us to be happy and it is our birth right to sense this peace. Sadly, we are all responsible for our own sadness, but that means we are responsible for our own happiness too and in this light - I am the happiest man on earth.
Paul MOONEY
Founder
The Alchemism Foundation
Maureen Hewitt is a coach trainer, an NLP master, trained in EQi and is the best trainer I have ever come across. Her energy, enthusiasm and genuine goodness is infectious and her dreams and ambitions are made in heaven.
John Broderick is a psychologist who is developing some of the most exciting enhancements to Bar On(tm) emotional intelligence on the planet and he brings with him a wealth of goodness and experience to make things on this earth better than they currently are.
When you add people like this to the mix of the faculty of the alchemism foundation and add that to its vital and supportive patrons, the mix is sure to be positive, explosive, dedicated, and filled with the right values, the right meaning and always the right intention - to help people who are less fortunate than ourselves.
I have such a feeling about this collaboration that I felt it necessary to blog it so that I can look back in a few years and remember that the tipping point for the alchemism foundation was down to these two people and myself combining our hearts and minds to make this a better world.
The book by Jim Collins "good to great" speaks about the lessons that great companies in the USA have learned that they used to make them truly great and the first one is to know what your passion is - in this context, Maureen, John and I share the same passion. And Collins goes on to say "get the right people on the bus - get the wrong people off the bus and then decide where the bus is going".
That is precisely what we now intend to do - and this bus journey will be so enjoyable that it seems hardly fair to have so much peace, joy and energy in the collaboration.
But in my heart of hearts I know that the universe was made for us to be happy and it is our birth right to sense this peace. Sadly, we are all responsible for our own sadness, but that means we are responsible for our own happiness too and in this light - I am the happiest man on earth.
Paul MOONEY
Founder
The Alchemism Foundation
Saturday 3 March 2007
Depression and Food - and a vox pop of burnout prevention in Irish companies
I went to a very professional seminar today from the ICIM about depression and food. There is a clear link between processed food and how our brains process this food into poorer and poorer nutrients which help to create mental disorders. We are what we eat - that means we think what we eat as well !!
I then went to the FAS jobs fair and did a short survey of all the companies there. I asked them all did their company provide stress management, burnout prevention or suicide prevention measures in their place of work.
7% of those asked said they were "thinking about a policy in the area of suicide prfevention"
One company reported TWO attempted suicides in their employee base since Christmas
All the others said that there was nothing in place
50% of the large companies said they had an EAP (employee assistance programme)
That means 50% DID NOT !!
One company who said they had nothing and that was the way they wanted it ! - This company employes over 13,000 people in Ireland. WOW !!
I then went to the FAS jobs fair and did a short survey of all the companies there. I asked them all did their company provide stress management, burnout prevention or suicide prevention measures in their place of work.
7% of those asked said they were "thinking about a policy in the area of suicide prfevention"
One company reported TWO attempted suicides in their employee base since Christmas
All the others said that there was nothing in place
50% of the large companies said they had an EAP (employee assistance programme)
That means 50% DID NOT !!
One company who said they had nothing and that was the way they wanted it ! - This company employes over 13,000 people in Ireland. WOW !!
Friday 2 March 2007
The politics of suicidology
I was at a "rally" on suicide on Wednesday at a very historical venue - the round room in the mansion house in Dublin where the Irish Constitution was born. Although the Lord Mayor said the men who drafted such an august document would be proud to see us there - by the time the rally finished - I was not so sure.
The rally finished off with six politicians speaking about how the Irish government has responded to the epidemic of suicide in this country. The audience must not have been not impressed either as many people left early. During the debate, even the politicans left early and it was a sorry sight to see TD's with no power, debating a topic they had no influence in to an audience who were tired of hearing the same old rhetoric.
While the organisers advocated an alliance with an energising rally, the real party politics system took over and although politics is greek for people, there was not much empathy for the plight of the third sector to continue vital services which the government can not provide.
I know the debate is going on about hospital consultants at the moment where the government wish to appoint 1500 more consultants. I heard that the consultants dont agree with the number.
When I checked the basic salary of a hospital consultant - I found it to be €154,000 per annum.
Here is an idea: Appoint 1400 consultants and give 100 voluntary organisations the €154,000 per annum that would be saved.
This is only a personal opinion - and I would love to start a thread.
All comments welcome
Paul
The rally finished off with six politicians speaking about how the Irish government has responded to the epidemic of suicide in this country. The audience must not have been not impressed either as many people left early. During the debate, even the politicans left early and it was a sorry sight to see TD's with no power, debating a topic they had no influence in to an audience who were tired of hearing the same old rhetoric.
While the organisers advocated an alliance with an energising rally, the real party politics system took over and although politics is greek for people, there was not much empathy for the plight of the third sector to continue vital services which the government can not provide.
I know the debate is going on about hospital consultants at the moment where the government wish to appoint 1500 more consultants. I heard that the consultants dont agree with the number.
When I checked the basic salary of a hospital consultant - I found it to be €154,000 per annum.
Here is an idea: Appoint 1400 consultants and give 100 voluntary organisations the €154,000 per annum that would be saved.
This is only a personal opinion - and I would love to start a thread.
All comments welcome
Paul
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