Covert surveillance

Simple things do make a difference.  Repairing minor damage on the New York subway had a profound effect on passengers' mental state and in turn the collective behavioural norms.  Whilst it's less cool to focus on the mundane day-to-day that esoterica, it often has more impact.

And so I discovered recently that my behaviour as a visitor to a local primary school had been monitored with a simple tally chart.

What a lovely tool to promote please and thank-you's. The winning class gets rewarded every Friday and the slate is wiped for a fresh start the following Monday.

I'm pretty sure I was the only visitor that sitting, but still pleased to see the notch beside the category.

I was reminded about a time back in 2009 when I was preparing a keynote at a conference and held the door open to let the delegates out of the conference hall.  Of the 80 or so grown-ups only one said thank you.  I can't imagine children being so rude.  As we know it's all about modelling and being congruent; otherwise it's all just words.

Thank you for reading this post and the other ramblings.