The Earth went bankrupt.

Article and Cover Story by Manuela Andaloro for FocusOn November 2019.

Deniers of global warming argue that our planet has always been cooling down and warming up. Based on what we know today from science, this is presumably true. But the big difference with the past is that cooling and heating took place over thousands of years; not within a handful. Until recent times, the Earth had never had to deal with billions of consumers and polluters who have had no issues at all with that, at least for a long time. The greenhouse effect, abnormal temperatures and desertification are not just some ideologies. Denying them when the first hint of winter comes is like claiming – as a scientist told Trump – that world hunger does not exist because you just had a Big Mac.

Scientific status quo and socio-economic SCENARIOS.

All most recent scientific research and the reports issued by the United Nations on the basis on the analysis and revision of thousands of studies, agree that the average temperature of the Earth is increasing at an alarming rate, with ever more evident repercussions: from more intense and extreme weather conditions, such as storms and hurricanes, to abnormal heat waves (this summer, in Europe, there were three of them), ice melting at the Poles and on mountain ranges, the rising of sea levels. 

Based on the collected data and the time cycles, the entire scientific community agrees that human activities have contributed significantly to global warming. The production of carbon dioxide, deriving from industrial activities and large consumption of fossil fuels, has increased the greenhouse effect beyond the natural rate, preventing the Earth from dispersing part of the heat accumulated by solar radiation. Without a conspicuous reduction in carbon dioxide, scientists say, it will be impossible to reduce the increase in global average temperature.

A recent report by Goldman Sachs on the impact of climate change on cities around the world leaves no room for doubt or soft solutions.  (Source: Markets Insider)

The international scenario

An extraordinary meeting on climate change summoned by the United Nations was held on Monday, 23 September in New York but, for many, the meeting did not yield great results neither did it lead to serious promises by the most industrialised countries to reduce polluting emissions.

 A lot of talking, many clichés, good intentions but few effective strategies.

 No promises from China, no statements from the United States, or India, essentially confirming three of the most polluting countries in the world are indifferent to the most important topic of the century.

It seems that the countries with sovereign leaders and parties with a strong populist ideology do not consider the climatic emergency worthy of note.

 A negative outcome then?

 Maybe not. The delegates who participate in these institutional meetings mainly belong, by culture and age, to the generation that caused the problem in the first place, the generation of economic growth at all costs. The same generation that in many cases perceives this issue as annoying, as evidenced by their actions – though not their words. But the future, of our society and our planet, belongs much less to today's 50- or 60-year olds, and much more to today's 15- to 40-year olds.

A more aware generation is rising, younger in age and culture, embracing very different principles. A generation that, to a large extent, cannot access (yet) institutional meetings and political or governmental decision rooms but which has found a way to make its voice heard.

On Friday, 27 September, over 4 million people of all ages from around the world (8 million according to other estimates) have peacefully taken to the streets to make their voices heard, to join a climate strike launched in different countries to ask rulers to take actions and a serious commitment to address the climate change.

The summit held on 23 September may perhaps have failed, but it succeeded in changing the perspective on climate change on the international scene. World leaders have noted that such an event would not have happened without the pressure of so many young people.

Earth Overshoot Day

For those with young children, summer holidays are usually a moment to look for a common wavelength, spend more time together and find ways to deal with everyday highs and lows together. Basically, a time to search for common ground between different generations. For as long as they can remember, my 6- and 4-year-old children have always found rubbish on the beach (be they well-maintained beaches or free beaches, unfortunately, no one is immune to the serial polluter, uneducated and ill-mannered) and plastic in the sea. For as long as they can remember, I have invariably read a newspaper every day, trying to translate it into a language they can understand, commenting on the daily news, using common sense to filter what can be understood and processed by their minds in such an important phase of their lives.

In this context, during the last summer holidays, I found myself trying to explain to them what the "Earth Overshoot Day" is – which, this year, took place on 29 July. A whopping 5 months before the end of the year.

 If planet Earth were a company, the Earth Overshoot Day would be the day it would go bankrupt. It is not just a metaphor to explain what over-exploitation is. It is the reality of scientific facts.

Non-governmental organisation Global Footprint Network calculates the Earth Overshoot Day precisely, rigorously and scientifically, and it does it every year. The Overshoot Day is the date on which humanity's resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year.

What about vegetarianism?

Aware of the link between human nutrition and the climate crisis, an increasing portion of the world population has recently decided to turn vegetarian.

But is vegetarianism really more eco-friendly? The simple answer is yes because the environmental impact of the animal food industry is currently catastrophic and is destined to grow. 

According to statistics, meat production levels are set to increase from 309 million tons in 2013 to 465 million in 2050, when the world population will have exceeded 9 billion inhabitants. Over the last 50 years, we have witnessed an impressive increase in consumption, which has grown fivefold compared to the past. Consequently, there has been an increase in the number of animal breeding, a deterioration in meat quality and, in general, in the livestock industry.

Our food choices dramatically affect the planet: according to a UN research report, meat farming is responsible for 18 per cent of gas emissions and 37 per cent of methane ones.

Even if we leave aside for a moment the animal rights aspect (a recent video by the non-profit association CIWF Italia exposes the main problems of intensive farming, with a specific focus to animal suffering: the video ends with the slogan "truth sells less") it is undeniable that by decreasing the consumption of meat and paying more attention to quality it will be possible to change the course towards more ethical and sustainable consumption, both in terms of environmental impact as well as human and animal welfare. 

Manuela Andaloro for FocusOn’s Cover Story, November 2019

Humans. Made of plastic.

Credits: Justin Hofman https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/1733880309978851/

Every single piece of plastic EVER made still exists today. Most of us recycle plastic, but the percentage of plastic that can be recycled is tiny compared to the amount we produce and dispose of.

Think about it.

I never really did properly and somehow, like many of us, I have been looking the other way.

Until I have come to realize in the past few years that there is literally nowhere else to look because everywhere I look there is plastic, in copious amounts. 

Lost bear among Garbageland. Canada.

Tons of plastic items pass our hands daily, plastic ziplock bags, snack boxes, hair brushes, tooth brushes, straws, plastic cups and dishes at Starbucks and similar, pens, personal hygiene products, lotions, combs and brushes, packaging, toys, gym equipment, shoes (hello flip flops and crocs). Not to even talk about the computer and car industries.

The other day I was unwrapping a cheap Ikea photo frame. Not only the cost is so low that it I had to wonder how much are the people fabricating these really making, but I had to count as unwrapping it meant pealing off 4 layers of plastic. Plastic wrapper, plastic covers on both sides of the (now plastic) glass.

When we moved house last year the packing and unpacking was brutal in every sense. Not least because of the amount of plastic, bags, wrapping papers that us as well as the moving company used. It made me sick and I now wonder whether we had a choice. 

It is everywhere in unimaginable amounts. It is unstoppable, it goes unseen. It is killing us. 

Accordingly to green peace, Coca-Cola increased its production of plastic bottles by a billion last year. Seriously? In 2016? Read more here. 

What the hell are we doing? Let us all stop and think one moment. 

WWF campain.

What are we doing to this planet? What are our children inheriting? What have we done to their planet? How come useless plastic is not banned? What are the costs of this in the long run? I get very well why governments are not trying harder, the weight of the oil lobbies putting their foot down et all, but can it really be that us, "everyday people", cannot do anything about it? 

Funny/not funny. Viral social media video picturing reality. Watch here.

Will we google what happens next once our whole planet will be clogged with plastic along with our bodies? 

Because, yes, that is the scariest part of all. We are eating it. It is in us. Pollution and poisoning know no border and know no classes. First or third world, wealthy or poor, well educated or an-alphabet, city or country side residents, we are all in it together and exposed to the same danger caused by the idiocy that has made us look the other way all along. 

In general, most of us are aware that it is better to choose reusable products over disposable. We know that some materials never decompose. We might even know that the average individual on the planet produces between 500 and 700 kg of garbage annually. But what do we really know about plastic?

“In the next hour, Americans will use and throw away approximately 2,500,000 million plastic bottles. Of those 2.5 million bottles, every one will still exist a thousand years from now.” – Intent Blog

“Plastic is forever. Petroleum-based plastics like PET do not decompose in the same manner that organic material does. Unlike wood, grass and food scraps, these plastics are unrecognizable to the organisms that normally break organic matter down and thus do not biodegrade. Instead, these plastics will often undergo a process called photo degradation, which is essentially sunlight breaking the plastic into tons of tiny pieces over time. Even still, landfill plastic is not afforded much sunlight and thus does not get much opportunity to photodegrade.

Plastic floating in the ocean has a much greater exposure to sunlight and it just so happens that plastic is particularly good at making its way to the ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for instance, is a floating mass of plastic three times the size of Germany. It is the largest garbage site in the world, located just off the coast of California, with plastic pieces outnumbering sea life six to one. In the ocean, the plastic can be exposed to enough sunlight to photodegrade in as little as a year. However, while photo degradation dissolves the trash from the larger perspective, the resulting tiny plastic particles are actually toxic chemicals such as BPA and PS oligomer that then make their way into the stomachs of sea and air animals, onto the shorelines, and into direct contact with humans. Roughly one million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.

Biodegradable plastic is an option, but one that is slowly gaining traction. The following infographic is a sobering account of the effect that our plastic consumption is having on the earth and includes 10 simple ways that can help decreasing our plastic footprint today, to help minimize the harmful impact on tomorrow." (Source) 

M.

ps. Please print (on recycled paper) and hang in your kitchen. 

Family Treasures.

I am one of those lucky people who have had the blessing of enjoying their grandparents well into their thirties, and hopefully until later on still. 

Having grandparents around has formed many of my opinions and stances in life, has given me a different take on history, sacrifices, resilience and family relationships. Their wisdom, beliefs, sometimes a bit outdated but so real, their hard work, their memories.

Their hands. Hands that used to make their own food, wine, olive oil, tomato sauce, made their own clothes, built and repaired everything, from watches to cars to their own houses. Hands that to this day help my own children picking cherry tomatoes from their plants. Stories of home births, friendships, respect, family bonds, lands, money, passions, shootings, war cutting through their own memories.

The stories of my great grandma, grandmother of my mother, who woke up every morning at 5am and walked up and down hills, whose long grey hair were tied up in a perfect bun every morning, whose piercing blue eyes had seen and lived through so much. Those same blue eyes that a hundred and thirteen years later came back in my second son. Her husband had fought in the first and second world war, twice came back, last time deaf, his hearing lost to the deafening noise of flying airplanes. I had the luxury to hold her hands until I was twenty one. I have very clear memories of hot summer visits to her house, I used to open the door, call her name while running up the stairs, then sit with her, or help her make bread, her bed, water her plants. She always had money for her grandchildren, so we could buy ice cream, more like fifty ice creams truth be told. Jumping around her when she went to pick up her own salad in her field and let me go with her, the simple acts can be the greatest source of happiness for children. Her rabbits, feeding them with her gave me one of the happiest memories I still nurse. She was so calm and still, I loved being around her. Her name was Venera, that too I loved.

The downside of having great grandparents is of course seeing them going. The last summer she was with us I sat there with her holding her tired hands, she was 98, still independent and doing well, she was afraid she told me, she knew she had to go. 

I have never been able to see them and enjoy them as much as I would have wanted due to distances, I remember crying loud as a child at the end of every summer when the time came to say goodbye. We did everything possible to see them often and they came to visit often, but to me, it never felt enough. 

Clear memories of my grandfather on my father`s side come back too. He had so many stories of his youth, so much passion for his family and was so keen for us all cousins, children of his six children, to play together and stay together, keep in touch through life, he built something close to a family residence in order for us to be able to see each other as often as possible, mostly in the summer, gave houses to all his six children, land to all and gifted his family with land too out of fraternity and generosity. He raised his children with his wife with the strongest love and fraternity bonds that to this day I have ever witnessed in siblings. I remember my grandma's happiness and how she laughed when she put my baby brother in my old father's walker, it was an ancient model with no seat and my brother's chubby wobbly legs scrambled. He was not happy, she picked him up, laughed more, conforted him. I watched her being happy. I used to walk with her in her backyard, we picked berries, she showed me plants. I remember her smile and her insuline syringes. Sadly I was six when she went, too soon. The legacy behind however lives on. The four brothers and one sister of my father would do anything for each other. Their parents gave always the highest importance to family bonds. Grandpa was so in love with his wife, until well after she was gone, over ten years later, he spoke about how beautiful she was and how much he loved her. It was an early lesson of what I wished for in my own relationship. He had deep respect for his friends and his closest friend, the Count of his town, until the last year he lived he insisted on visiting the only daughter of his long gone friend, who by then was in her late 60ies and had no children, living mostly in London and returning to the family lands only once a year. He was there to visit her as he had promised his friend, her father, he would be there for her. 

At five years old I remember insisting on cutting a biscuit with a knife, for some reason I got away with trying and ended up slicing my finger. I remember to this day the warm touch of my grandma who held my bandaged finger till I fell asleep. Mums have no time for that, as a mum now, I know that well. But grandparents do. They infuse that patience and calm and love in children that no one else can match. The patience and care of my grandpa taking me to his lands to pick nuts and figs as a child, my little tantrums and their smiles. The little hand-made baskets I was given, the simple soothing things they would do for their grandchildren.

I feel sad in a way that due to the fact that many of us are having children later in life a whole generation will somehow miss out on being a young grandparent and the next generation will miss out on the invaluable treasure grandparents can be. Yes, we live longer, but no one is getting younger.

All of the above was possible thanks to the fact that my grandma married her ten years older husband at seventeen and had a baby, my mum, almost immediately, my own mother had me at twenty-five, and then off I went and only sat at thirty-two years old, seven months pregnant, in a birth class of first time mums where I was the youngest woman. 

The downside of my invaluable memories with my grandparents is seeing them aging and having had to say good bye once I had got to know them well. Seeing them dealing with the brutally miserable aging process. Losing their strength, losing some of their memories. A part of you goes, at the same time they live in you, but they are no longer there and every time the memory comes back, it stings.

Over the past few years I have done what I could to bridge distances. I have two grandparents left, and I treasure them. I have been flying my grandma over to visit us twice a year, visited whenever I could, face-timed, with my brother we massaged their tired shoulders, played cards, sat with them, asked them of their past. To bridge distances and my own guilt for not being closer this year I bought massage devices and sent massage therapists. Spent sleepless nights going through pictures of the past 90 years, together with my mother, to prepare the album of his entire life for my grandpa's 90th birthday. Fearing I would not make it as his health started to deteriorate 5 weeks before his big birthday. Some of his memories are gone. I was holding his hand on Easter Monday, relieved that despite the last few tough weeks he is doing better. His mind still works and memories are there but some are faltering. He recognises me, but asked me where do I live now. "Ah, I have a granddaughter who lived in England and now lives in Switzerland, works for a big company, my wife knows everything about her". Grandpa who is she I ask? Is it me you are talking about? "Ohhh yes of course it is you!". Somehow the memory doesn't overlap with the person at all times. Our minds are incredible places. Class 1927, he was the first boy in his town to complete higher education, helped me with mathematics homework during my long summer holidays, had a precise engineering job, could calculate faster than anyone I knew. Now memories are unclear. I pray he will recover most of his health but time is ticking and I cherish my own memories, grateful of the gems I have been given, wishing for my children and for the next generation to learn the same love and respect for our family treasures, for our past, for History.

M. 

On and Off the (Hedonic) Treadmill

I love May. It is normally a warm month in this part of the world, and in all the countries I have lived so far, Italy, UK, Switzerland, normally comes with a few bank holidays.

That long weekend and bank holiday Mondays that we are all looking forward to. Normally these long weekends follow a wonderfully sunny week and are kicked off by majestic storms, or even better, snowstorms. Last week we were playing in the garden in a T-shirt, come the weekend and we are looking for our snowsuits once again in the back of the wardrobe.

 I bet though, if most of us were to be asked what each bank holiday represents and why we celebrate, probably only a small percentage of us would be able to answer. Personally I had to look up on Google one too many bank holidays and celebrations this year and started wondering what it is and why do we forget? 

It is in our nature, we tend to take for granted a lot of what our grandparents and ancestors fought and died for. We do it as populations, and we do it as individuals in everyday life.

Every time we buy a new gadget, we experience something new or reach a goal, after the early euphoric moments we often quickly go back to a state of almost bored indifference or at best to a relatively stable level of happiness.   

This attitude has a scientific name: hedonic adaptation, or hedonic treadmill.

 Normally a yet more expensive gadget, a more intense adrenaline rush or a new goal achieved are never the solution that leads to a magic state of happiness. The risk is to be stuck on said treadmill.

Over two thousand years ago, stoicism followers, thought they had found an answer. The likes of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, used to apply a very efficient technic against hedonic adaptation.

Negative visualizations.

We have long known that "gratefulness" plays a big role for our happiness, the success of the "5 Minutes Journal" books and App leverages exactly this dynamic. But while books and applications these days ask you to list or focus on the positives of our lives, stoics went a tad farther and daily imagined their lives without the people, the objects, the job, the little luxuries they most treasured.

Without going that far and becoming stressed or obsessed, I find the above a theory worth remembering.

“The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the supposed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness. […] During the late ’90s, the concept was modified […] to refer to the hedonic treadmill theory which compares the pursuit of happiness to a person on a treadmill, who has to keep working just to stay in the same place”.

If more things/more money does not equal happiness, though, we should start challenging the paradigm: owning more things/earning more money is not necessarily positive.

A paradigm is, by definition, something you don’t challenge: a good example is the idea that more is good for you (on a larger perspective, the idea that an economy should tend to growth – but how sustainable is that?). In order to have more, you have to spend more. To spend more, you have to earn more money. Our purpose in life, though, should be happiness and balance.

I am "guilty" of running on that treadmill like everyone else, but find that being aware of where I stand daily is a big help to guide my day and my choices. When I am running too fast and realize that, contrary to the name of this website and for how much I try, I do not always own the way I live, I slow down and try to look at the bigger picture, at the kilometres run and those ahead.

When in doubt, stop and challenge yourself and the status quo.

Google asked a large sample of people whether they liked driving. All of them said they did, and went on to try Google`s new self-driving cars. 97% of those who had said they loved driving said they actually liked more being driven.

So are we really doing what we like, and liking what we are doing or we just like the idea of it all but would probably happily do differently?

“I’ll just say this, you’ll feel like Neo from the Matrix. Once you swallow the red pill of simplicity and see the hedonic treadmill at work, you’ll never want to go back.” (Eric LaForest / Elevated Simplicity).

“Morpheus: […] Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Neo: The Matrix.
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
Neo: Yes.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind”.

…Which will it be then? Red pill or blue pill?

Happy Monday! ;-)

 M.

Pressure and productivity

I am constantly amazed when I go into meetings and am the only person taking notes, and then converting these into actions on to-do lists. It’s how I get things done. If you don’t write things down, you will have forgotten them before you leave the room. We could never have achieved a tenth of what we’ve achieved without systematic lists and actions. R.Branson

These days on most days, I have two recurring words in mind to describe how I feel. Happy. Exhausted. Some evenings once the kids are in bed, the priority items on to do lists are ticked off, the house looks decent and everything is ready for the next day, we sit there and wonder how on earth were we able to achieve and get so much done in one day. Normally this feeling lasts 3 minutes, because some memory, normally from the working day, will hit and we will immediately think “Gosh I have so much work to do!”

 Only now, some memories of my childhood come back. I recall my mother in the evenings after work while my brother and I were still running around or demanding something, often saying “It never ends, days should have 48 hours”. I hear you now, mum, I do. Even with house help and childcare, even with our families often sharing the load, days are loaded and at the end of the day we are left with zero energy.

At the same time, we have never had more enthusiasm for all the projects we are running, at work and in our private life, energy to play like kids with our children, interest for more, better and new things. And, we realize every day, we have never in our life been more productive. If in the past I needed a week to recover from a nasty flu, in the past three years, since becoming a parent, I have had to learn to recover in no time and normally while looking after a demanding little person. We have learnt to cope with little sleep which means we have learnt to make a 10 minutes break a real battery charger.

There are pros and cons about life under pressure for sure, but one big advantage is productivity.

I have learnt, and many like me who are living the same adventure on the same lane, to maximize every minute of my day. I have long moved away from “Outlook slots”, not every meeting needs to take one hour or activity needs to last multiple of 15 minutes. At work I often set up meetings of 45 minutes if I can choose. I use any 10-15 minutes commute to listen to podcasts about topics I want to hear about. I have a list of people, TED talks, blogs, sites and online papers that I run through every day and plan for the week what to read or listen to.

Over Easter while in Germany my mother-in-law asked how I have been doing and how I am coping with the current pace and load, given I seem “relaxed” (perhaps she meant “aged”...?? I said I think am actually fairly relaxed indeed…and thinking back I probably can give three reasons for that, the children are a daily exercise for improving patience and prioritizing, I have now for 4 years practiced regularly shiatsu and meditation (and I cannot recommend both enough) and last year I had a big reality check when one of my closest childhood friends suddenly died of cancer at 35, leaving her husband and 18 months old behind.  Of course I also have days when I would like to climb the Himalaya or any hill nearby and just sit there in peace and silence…

While I plan, have multiple to do lists, use pockets of time to check items off or to relax. I also block hours, half days or days sometimes where I block the world out and exist only for family, or for myself, trying to keep it flexible when possible as I have learnt the hard way that viruses from nursery school have not yet heard of my to do lists…

About to do lists.

“Writer Kevin Kruse recently claimed that to-do lists are a ‘waste of time’. He suggested that they make people more stressed, and only 41 per cent of items on to-do lists are completed.

The crucial part of a to-do list is in the name – you need to actually DO the things on your list. The act of writing your tasks and thoughts down is useful in and of itself, as it helps to organise your thoughts and give you focus. However, if you then ignore your own advice and don’t follow up, the lists will lose most of their power. Quite often you will only do 50 per cent of things on to-do lists because, on reflection, only 50 per cent are worth doing. But by putting things on lists it will help clarify what’s worth doing and what’s worth dropping.” Read more about to do lists in this post. 

What is your experience for a balanced life? When have you been at your most productive? What has helped to make you a better person and to live well with yourself?

M.

Second to none

I had been living in Switzerland for about a week when I first heard the gut-wrenching term “secondo”.  Technically it refers to the children of the immigrants who moved to Switzerland in the 50ies and 60ies, who even if born here are not Swiss but “secondos”, ie, second generation immigrants.

Unlike in the US and in many countries in Europe, no “foreigner” who is born here is Swiss, they will be able to apply for passport and citizenship once they are 18, just like any foreigner who moves here later in life and can apply for citizenship after 12 years.  That means you have people in their 50ies who have lived here their whole life, native speakers, people who have nowhere else to call home, who actually are not Swiss citizens nor passport holders.  Some do have a passport. Many don`t and many refuse to get one because they disagree with the system. I have seen this only too often.

In practice, this term implies somehow “second best”. As if we are sitting in the center of the world here. So we have the “Swiss-Swiss” and the non Swiss, secondos, immigrants, expats & co.

Last time I had heard of a similar two-class society it was in secondary school on my history book when a certain movement born in Germany in the 30ies started to refer to a part of the “original” population as “Aryan race”. We know how far that concept went.

An episode of last week is a clear example of the status quo. We are planning the refurbishment of our house and have been talking to a few builders. One in particular, who introduces himself as a “secondo”, Italian origin - although when talking to him I have to suppress the urge to correct him - is worth mentioning.  At the end of the meeting for some reason we mention that one of my cousins is a great architect. She lives and works in Italy, is a university professor, has a master degree and various post university degrees, works for beautiful projects around the globe. His reaction: “oh, I have been looking for a secretary; you can tell her if she is interested.”

So perhaps I am wrong but is he thinking that because she is A- Italian (happily) living and having a very successful career in Italy as an architect and B – a woman, she would be interested in a job as the secretary of a builder in Switzerland (who with all due respect has never seen a university classroom)? Never mind that she is the actual expert. Incredible how some secondos bring wrong concepts forward.

Probably no need to comment further on this one.

There are hundreds of studies that show how key is for companies to have a diverse workforce, not just in terms of nationality, religion and the likes, but also in terms of diversity of thought, experience and mindset. Indicators point to clear economic benefits and better environment for companies that score high on the diversity front.

If this is true for companies, I am fairly sure it applies to societies and families too.

Let us do ourselves a favour and drop this daunting and nerve-wrecking “secondo” term.

I will tell my children that the fact that they live and breathe three cultures and are native speakers in three languages is a big asset, not a liability. They are Europeans, they are world citizens, they have an international family and background, they were born here because they come from educated parents who could have lived anywhere in the world and chose to live here mostly for logistics reasons after having travelled the world and lived in different countries. I will tell my kids to think hard before ever judging people based on the place of birth and on stereotypes.

I will tell them to travel the world, to live abroad, to ask and challenge the status quo, to ask why, always. To fear, if anything, ignorance, to fight prejudice and dangerous stereotypes.   

I will tell my kids to check out people's brains, not nationalities, places of birth or skin colour. 

M.

Don't expect to see a change if you don't make one

Increasingly we have seen media coverage on initiatives celebrating the strength of women, the resilience of mothers, the importance of time off for fathers and the importance of a healthy life balance to better perform, and to achieve an "integrated" work life equation. 

At last! We have come a long way from the previous generation, from the previous decade and actually, from 18 months ago, come to think of it. 2015 has been a very important year for topics related to diversity, gender equality and health versus productivity.

In 2015 HBR's ranking of CEOs has for the first time considered how companies score not only on the hard numbers, but also on "soft" facts (ESG performance) "In the past, our ranking was based exclusively on hard stock market numbers. We looked at total shareholder return, as well as the change in each company’s market capitalization. We liked the fact that the ranking was based solidly on data and not on reputation or anecdote. Yet it also felt incomplete, because it failed to account for the many aspects of leadership that go beyond mere market performance. And so this year we’ve tweaked things. We’ve added to the mix a measurement of each company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance."

We have seen many financial institutions jumping into the growing trend of socially responsible investing and best of all State Street launching a diversity gender balanced fund , which will track an index comprising companies that do a great job at advancing women through gender diversity on their boards of directors and in management in general. We have seen extensive research that shows that companies with gender-diverse leadership tend to outperform long-term companies that don’t so I am surprised these funds are only starting to emerge.

Bloomberg has set up a new team of journalists and analysts covering the topic diversity.

The ex Norway Prime Minister was interviewed and asked about the reasons behind the success of her country (beyond the obvious oil related wealth) as in the 80s Norway was nowhere close to where it is now, its economy weak and common people barely able to afford decent living. "Success comes from the fact that you see fathers pushing strollers at 3 pm on a working day" she said. "What has changed in these 30 years are family politics and work culture. Retaining talented women in the workforce, giving family benefits and allowing fathers to be fathers and workers without stigma. Shorter working days and flexible working, which results into creative and flexible thinking".

There is McKinsey research on how and why "Women matter" and the latest Mercer report "When women thrive businesses thrive" being presented at the WEF last week and discussed by the CEOs of Cisco, eBay, Marriot and the president of UBS Wealth Management, Jürg Zeltner: "One other thing we all found common ground on was retaining talented women. They leave the workforce after you’ve invested and trained them as many find that workplaces are not family-friendly. Our challenge is to keep them and make the workplace flexible and supportive of their needs and priorities."

So there is all the progress being made just cited above, the daily strong commitment of many of us to raise awareness on the challenges women face and to bring positive change in the world. All of it is still probably only a drop in the ocean but change is happening out there.

Out there.

Then there is me, and I know that like me many other women and working mothers at times have a similar behaviour.

Rewind of two weeks, Monday 11 January, 6am. My husband and I are getting ready for work, kids still – thankfully – asleep. My phone rings. Terror (not quite, but close...). Our current Monday babysitter's little child is sick so she won't be able to come today. And it is of course no problem, it happens. However, a well known feeling that I merrily refer to as "the cold –spine" starts taking over. We quickly and frantically go through our blackberries, our plan in these cases is to take half day off each to look after whichever child is at home, aim is to cancel the half day which would result in the lower damage for the rest of the week. We decide that I stay at home in the morning with our 9 months old baby, dialling in for a couple of meetings, and my husband stays at home in the afternoon, also dialling in when he needs. I let my boss know, who very nicely and empathically confirms it is no problem at all (she has been there too). I tell my colleagues and team. On we go with the plan. At 11 am my baby is happily playing on his mat babbling away while I dial in for an internal meeting. I dial in and immediately go on mute. I barely comment and step in only quickly for fear that someone might hear my baby gurgling cheerfully in the background. Why did I do that? Even if anyone heard the baby chuckle, so what? They all knew where I was and why. I am not that junior or young any more or shy or lacking self confidence. So why did I try and hide the fact that as a working mum this too can be part of my life and it is really no big deal, in fact, hat off really for pushing through and balancing it all??!

Fast-forward to 4pm. The above nearly forgotten and not even yet properly processed. I have now been in the office for a couple of hours and my husband at home for 2 hours and taken as well a (video) call. I call him asking how the afternoon is going. "Oh great actually! Baby M. was sitting on my lap during my call, they loved him and he behaved really well."

No need to comment, I think these two episodes speak for themselves. Perhaps I will add that I am proud of how my husband handled the situation and a little less proud of how I did not stand up to my ideals.

So here is my lesson learnt and a better version of myself has come out of it.

Change, real change, starts from us and from how we expect the world to view us. We all have a lot more responsibility and impact on driving change than we often think.

M.

Editing Life. Less Means Luxury.

History. As a student I always wondered why during history classes we were focusing so much on dates and battles and who won what piece of land, and less, or zero, on the effect all those terrible events had on people and their habits. What effects did the Second World War have on our grandparents' lifestyle and life choices?

What are people likely to do after a decade of poverty and deprivation? What will they be keen to run after once the economy starts growing again and while the difficult memories of the past are still vivid in their minds? Buy. Stock up. Splurge. Own things. Just for the sake of being able to do it in most cases. We have probably all had someone in the family that after any world tragedy suggests to go raid the local supermarket, just in case the shops run out of food?

Is it a coincidence that post second world war, in a time where - my grandparents tell me – unlike today, white bread was for the wealthy and brown bread for the poor, where people struggled to have decent meals, we had curvy women as icons of beauty? Sophia Loren came right out of that time. She represented the new rich, embodying redemption from years of hunger. Fast forward 50 years, as a teenager I remember only too well wondering why on earth anorexic, bony ladies a là Kate Moss were considered beauty icons. Because we had and could afford anything and had access to great amounts of food, so we iconized what we could not have easily. Add a decade and the advent of the internet as main distributor of quick knowledge (Dr. Google anyone?) and we all are experts when it comes to healthy eating and healthy icons. The Romans had it right all along with their "mens sana in corpore sano" a two thousand-year-old statement. Are we now in a much happier and balanced place and able to edit our own life because of the Internet? Somehow I guess we are.

One of the factors that fueled the prosperity of the Fifties was the increase in consumer spending. The US first and shortly after Europe, enjoyed a standard of living that had never been seen before. In a decade many women across Europe went from hand-washing in rivers to owning a washing machine and being able to hire domestic help.

Spending patterns changed overnight. The adults of the Fifties had grown up in conditions of economic deprivation, first due to the general poverty following World War I and then due to the rationing of consumer goods of World War II. During WWII, much of Europe`s productive capacity shifted to armaments. Everything from sugar to gasoline to tires to nylon stockings was rationed. When consumer goods became available again, people wanted to spend.

How many times have I heard my own grandmother saying that the reason why she has been for so long a devoted boutique client since the day the first one opened in her neighbourhood is due to the fact that while growing up there was no such a thing as buying new clothes: post WWII going to the tailor for new clothes was a yearly much awaited occasion. Her wardrobe is three times mine now and I am probably being conservative. Her generation has witnessed the shift from a production society, focused on meeting basic needs, to a consumption society, which emphasizes customers' wants.  

We are now experiencing the next logical – and opposite - step, what has the manic consumerism of the past 50 years led to? Books like All You Need is Less (Madeleine Somerville) or The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: a simple, effective way to banish clutter forever (Marie Kondo) have been best-sellers from the first day they hit Amazon, or the local bookshop if you are the classical type.

How much money do we spend on storage space? In Milan renting a couple of square meters for storage costs nearly two thousand euros a year, the monthly salary of a high school teacher. These storage buildings, picturesquely called La Casa delle Cose (The house of things) in Italy,  are popping up everywhere, leveraging on the attachment that we have for our "stuff" and the difficulty we have to get rid of it, to let go of our "possessions".

Since having kids we have often had family visiting. My very personal challenge is not so much getting rid of our own clutter, that I gladly do and a red carpet awaits me at our local second-hand shop every time I go to donate bags of "stuff", but in pushing back on daily presents for the kids, on the amount of clothes and various items that everyone visiting our house seems to be forgetting here. Either because they are flying back somewhere and cannot take liquids back or because they bought so much during their visit that their previous belongings do not fit anymone in their suitcase(s) ("is that OK if I pick it up when I come back in 12 months?") or because they think it is easier to leave entire suitcases of clothes and assorted items in the various places they visit. Especially in my house and in that irresistible one wardrobe I try to leave half empty for guests.

One way or the other, we are all slowly realizing that our own possessions are quickly taking over our life and costing us money, time, space – mental and physical. I now consider luxury and status symbol a half empty wardrobe. Do we own our possessions or do they own us? How do we get back on track and afford opposite luxuries than our post-war grandparents?

Watch this funny TedTalk on the topic "Less Stuff More Happiness".

M.

Resolutions, goals and codewords

That time of the year again. Everywhere I look I see articles, posts, links about New Year's resolutions. Shame that they punctually don't work and nobody remembers by February. 

Over the years, like many, I have come to realize that New Year's resolutions not only don't work, but provide us with a sense of guilt that we could happily do without. I am not suggesting we let our goals drift away, rather the contrary. Just "having" a goal isn’t enough. We need a plan and a system.

Have a look at this extract from this blog, does anything here sound familiar?

"SAVING ON POINTLESS EXPENDITURES: This is why you see people constantly trying to cut back on lattes or other pointless savings goals…and when it fails, they resolve to “try harder” next time. Codewords: “I did all the right things…and look how it turned out.”
WORKING OUT INCORRECTLY: This is also why you see people who’ve been working out for years but don’t really show any visible changes. It’s scary for them to to admit that perhaps they’ve been working out wrong for years — and that while it makes them feel “good,” they are not getting the results they want. Codewords: “I’m not the kind of person who can lose that kind of weight” or “Lift weights? I’m a girl. I don’t want to get huge!”
SENDING OUT 100+ RESUMES: We have people who send out 100 resumes, then complain about the economy. They never understand that there’s an entire game being played around them, and top performers are snatching the best jobs away before average candidates ever see them. Codewords: “The Baby Boomers and immigrants stole my jobs…I guess I just need to send out another 50 resumes and wait and see.”

So yes, we want to change, but don’t know HOW to do it. So we do what’s easy, and what the media tells us to do: Make a New Year’s resolution!" 

For years I have failed to reach many of my annual "resolutions" until I realized a few things:

- I had to be clear on the motivation behind my goals.
- I had to get a clear buy-in from myself, work on my mindset and have a plan with deadlines (this book by Carol Dweck was revealing for me).
- I had to be realistic. Who knows me well knows I am a fan of diaries and to do lists. By the end of the day/week/month/year whatever is on them needs to be marked as "done". Or else it won't be on my list.
- I have to get some decent rest here and there or I will just not function well.
- I somehow got better at managing my time (more on this topic in January).

I have also learnt to let go, so rather than a list of things I will do more, I have now a yearly list of things that I am letting go.

- Donate more. Less clutter somehow makes me sharper. Clothes, toys, anything we don't really need goes to the Red Cross or equivalent (on-going hopes still here as every birthday party, every family reunion sets me back!)
- Control. I just can't have it over many things so I have learnt to let go of what I can't change, sometimes thinking karma helps…
- Perfectionism. There was a time where especially in my house I wanted things to be done my way. Then I read once a quote from Sheryl Sandberg "Done is better than perfect" and it immediately resonated with me. As long as it is done, it does not matter whether that shirt was not washed the way I would have wanted it (I am useless at that anyway), who cares if the baby was dressed with mismatched clothes or the playroom looks like we had an earthquake. 
- Too much reading. I love to read. I used to be able to read a huge number of books. Then kids came. I still make long lists of what I want to read, save articles, pile up books. I will have to let go. Read the excellence and just scan through half of what I have saved.
- Fears. I refuse to live in terror. Yes we got broken into a few years ago, yes I am scared of terrorism and ignorance and of many other things. But I won't change my life for fear of any of that. 
- Excuses have stopped. "Sorry, I can't" will have to do.

My hopeless open resolutions? 

- Getting better at social media (whatapps, emails, FB messenger, sms, emails, work emails, ….. some days I just lose track and forget to get back to friends and family!)
- Convincing myself that I do not really need daily sugary drinks from Starbucks…
- Getting my baby to sleep through the night!

One more thought. My company organized an interesting event with a "mindset trainer",  Caroline Ferguson, might be worth checking her profile and work here. 

Caroline Ferguson, trainer to high performers who want to stop sabotaging their potential and start living fully and deliberately. She equips her clients with proven mindset tools to overcome limiting beliefs, behaviours and emotions that are blocking them from being successful and happy. Before training as a Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist, Caroline worked as a Corporate Communications Consultant, specialising in business transformation. This has given her a deep understanding of the challenges facing business leaders, and the effects of change on people and culture.

Have a fantastic holiday season and start of 2016!

M.

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Inspiration: We Heart It

#workingparents

I have now been back to work for a month from my second maternity leave.  Well, I have never felt more energised and ready to do, work, be committed, pull pieces together, prioritize and be ready to throw enthusiasm into new and old projects, at home and at work.  

I now have one of those fitness trackers which tells me what my husband and I have known all along. We do not sleep enough, it is probably safe to say that we have not had in the past three years more than 3/4 straight hours of sleep.  And yet somehow we, as spouses, professionals and parents have never been more on top of our life. We have learnt to make friends with stress and exhaustion, find energy, make "miracles" happen, work full days then once home bath, feed the kids, play and put them to bed, maybe work some more or catch up with our private and social life, then carve a pumpkin (or a turnip for our first Räbeliechtli!). What is incredible is that like us, hundreds of colleagues and friends are running the same silent marathon.

Once again questions are asked. "Don't you work too much? Where do you find the time and the energy? Are your kids going to be OK with you not being there most of the day?" Typically these questions are asked to me (a "working mum").  

I will elaborate another time on the answers. What is clear to me is that as parents and as professionals, it is about having the choice, it is about doing in the best possible way whatever it is that we are good at, and it is about feeling satisfied with our lives.

A few weeks ago the genius #manwhohasitall hashtag hit a nerve with his (her?) twitter posts targeting the endless amount of advice given to working mothers "about "how to have it all" with 'all' meaning happy kid, successful careers, great hair, healthy diets, immaculate wardrobes, the perfect beach body, good girlfriends, a supportive husband and a pristine house. But what if we applied the same type of inane language we use when discussing women in the workplace to men?"

http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/if-we-gave-fathers-the-same-nonsensical-advice-we-give-working-mothers-700862.html

No wonder the pressure is on for many women. Over and over in all the diversity conversations, events, studies I have heard of, the topic "self-confidence in women" has been indicated as one key trait to perform and stay on top of their lives, careers, etc. At some point early in life, we build a reserve for a life of self-confidence. Families, social surroundings and corporate life have a deep effect on the amount left by the time a woman can thrive in business and private life. This 60 million youtube views video from Procter & Gamble goes straight to the point. Enjoy. #likeagirl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs

M.