“What the children of Panyee have to tell us about challenging orthodoxies”

Article

Didier Marlier

April 10, 2011

From Disruption to Engagement

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I am always proud when hearing one of my partners explaining to a client that his/her background is “atypical” for someone working in our industry… Ben Clayton-Jolly has spent years as an officer in the British Army in the Parachute Regiment… He now runs Inspiring Leadership[1], an organization which, on top of change consultancy also organizes amazing leadership journeys in quite unusual settings. We frequently work together and he sent me the clip here below.

It relates a true story: the one of a bunch of young children and adolescents from the island of Panyee (Ko Panyi) in Thailand. They had been strongly marked by the Football world cup of 1986 and were dreaming of founding a team in their village. The only problem is that their village is in the middle of water and mainly built on stilts: impossible to play football under such conditions.

But the dream became an obsession for the kids and driven by this “Deep Intent”, they built their pitch on water. If this wasn’t difficult enough, they had to face and endure the scepticism and mockery of the adults… But a “Deep Intent” is something that arms you against such “below the belt punches of life”… The kids kept on.

And one day… Watch the clip now as it is moving

I find remarkable that a Bank (TMB stand for Thai Military Bank) dug this story to illustrate its new 2011 brand campaign: “TMB: Make THE Difference”… A wonderful illustration of how a Superior Intent may help one challenging the self limiting orthodoxies and head for success…

Amsterdam twice this week, once to further challenge our own orthodoxies and further create disruptions in our industry with our friends of Executive Learning Partnership, another to resume work with a remarkable tax law firm there.

Have a great week all, unusually hot Sunday ahead here

Didier


[1] http://www.inspiringleadership.co.uk/

I am always proud when hearing one of my partners explaining to a client that his/her background is “atypical” for someone working in our industry… Ben Clayton-Jolly has spent years as an officer in the British Army in the Parachute Regiment… He now runs Inspiring Leadership[1], an organization which, on top of change consultancy also organizes amazing leadership journeys in quite unusual settings. We frequently work together and he sent me the clip here below.

It relates a true story: the one of a bunch of young children and adolescents from the island of Panyee (Ko Panyi) in Thailand. They had been strongly marked by the Football world cup of 1986 and were dreaming of founding a team in their village. The only problem is that their village is in the middle of water and mainly built on stilts: impossible to play football under such conditions.

But the dream became an obsession for the kids and driven by this “Deep Intent”, they built their pitch on water. If this wasn’t difficult enough, they had to face and endure the scepticism and mockery of the adults… But a “Deep Intent” is something that arms you against such “below the belt punches of life”… The kids kept on.

And one day… Watch the clip now as it is moving

I find remarkable that a Bank (TMB stand for Thai Military Bank) dug this story to illustrate its new 2011 brand campaign: “TMB: Make THE Difference”… A wonderful illustration of how a Superior Intent may help one challenging the self limiting orthodoxies and head for success…

Amsterdam twice this week, once to further challenge our own orthodoxies and further create disruptions in our industry with our friends of Executive Learning Partnership, another to resume work with a remarkable tax law firm there.

Have a great week all, unusually hot Sunday ahead here

Didier


[1] http://www.inspiringleadership.co.uk/

1 Comment

  1. Bob Devlin

    Hi Dids – I love this clip – it all begins with the boys knowing their passion and taking action on it … from there, they build something and go about their practice … as they stay with it, they find all manner of support that materializes and ultimately achieve remarkable success … not only does it enliven them, it also breathes life into the whole village.

    Their journey maps to a reflection in the Yellow Emperor’s Treatise on Internal Medicine – the Ancient Chinese Philosophical Text … start with your heart – the place where you connect to what’s important, within you and around you in the world… from this connection we begin to see ways forward and the more we stay with what’s in our hearts we begin to form our intent … as we cultivate this intention, our will emerges, giving us the focus and tenacity to push forward … early on, we aren’t terribly skillful (remember learning to ride a bicycle) but as we stay with with it, our skill and capability grows and we come to master what we need to in order to fully realize our intent in the outer world.

    Intention – Will – Skill … it’s that simple if we pay attention!

    Have a great Sunday! Bob

    Reply

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