Series Description
Conversations with Dr. Annalee C. Babb
In this age of extraordinary global transformation, many yearn to connect with people and ideas that inspire us to dare, dream, evolve, and prosper. This series brings you conversations with remarkable, everyday people who are breaking new ground and forging new pathways that call us to be our best selves for such a time as this … The Season of Wisdoms’ Return.
In this conversation, Mark Elliott, currrently Programme Director at CivTech Scotland, and previously CEO of DigitalCity, Tees Valley, England, shares his thoughts on Barbados, the challenges it faces, and its chances of realising the grand socio-economic transformation many governments have championed since Independence.
He makes the point that in order to be successful today, we have to do things differently. We can’t do what everyone else is currently doing and expect to leap ahead. That’s why in building DigitalCity, his team took lessons from the pirates that once ruled the Barbary Coast of Northern Africa.
“One of the things we understood,” he explains, “is that SMEs have to work in different ways to large companies. They have to be fleet of foot. They have to move fast. If they’re going to steal a march on large companies, they have to do it by stealth more than anything else. And I realised that actually if you looked at the old pirate traditions of the Barbary Coast … these ships were much smaller, they were rather egalitarian by the standards of the day. They didn’t care what religion you were. They didn’t care what gender you were. If you were prepared to work on the ships you got a gig on them. They were much more equal. Nobody was a slave on the ships and even the midship boys would have a cut of the profits. But they realised that they couldn’t overwhelm these big galleons full of gold … by sheer firepower. … They did it by stealth and speed and ingenuity, and being better navigators. … Small creative companies tend to be very good in terms of distributing wealth amongst themselves, they move fast, they have to use guile. They’re like pirates. So we did this amazing poster … and it said, ‘think like a pirate’.”
Perhaps there’s a lesson here for Barbados and the small islands of the Caribbean.
We can’t continue to manage our affairs like we did at Independence. Today, the emerging technologies of the 21st century are changing the rules of the game in fundamental ways.
If we are to thrive in a complex, ever-changing world, we not only have to change our thinking, we have to change what we do, and how we do it.
Advisors to governments, corporations and other institutions have met with varying levels of success championing the importance of principles or values in shaping organisational culture and behaviour. Some clients are quick to get on board. Some are convinced values don’t matter, they’re just talking points or marketing ploys. Others agree to governing principles and then breach them before the proverbial ink is dry on their commitments.
In the first episode of Wisdoms – conversations with inspirational people who embody a sense of belonging – retired Barbadian educator and pastor the Rev. G. Yvonne Babb provides a fascinating cultural take on the idea of principles and why they’re so important.
“When I was young,” she says, ”we … used to refer to the principles in a building … if you had a bridge or any other building, you had to be sure that the principles were of the correct [material] and that they were placed where they should be placed. … the principles … help to support the building … they carry a lot of load. … so if they are compromised, it means that lives are at stake. … it’s the same thing in life. If we breach the principles that are universal laws, or we ignore them, or we feel that we have developed so that we don’t need them, we are in trouble.”
Barbados and many islands in the English-speaking Caribbean are facing perhaps their most consequential socio-economic and cultural shift since Independence. The principles governing the present and emerging technological age require a corresponding shift in how countries are governed and how leaders lead.
