Steve Pipe is an extraordinary business leader and Difference-Maker and I’m sure you’ll appreciate his A.B.C.D for living in lockdown, recorded on a recent Zoom call with guests from across the globe.
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Here is the transcript from the recording.
Kerrie Phipps
So Steve, would you like to share with us your framework that you’re finding useful right now?
Steve Pipe
Yeah, well, just to give you a little bit of context, you know, I’m I’m a 58 year old chartered accountant based here in Yorkshire. A few miles north of London, Leeds to be specific, we have my son. And he is was one of the authors of the book, one of the editors of the book, Better Business, Better Life, Better World that we co-wrote together, Kerrie. And he lives in the house with us with his, with his girlfriend, and she’s got serious asthma, so we have to be very protective. And she’s also crucially important to the food supply chain. She works as a buyer for one of the major supermarkets and we’ve got elderly relations as well. So we’re basically locked down even more than the most people are and sort of therefore, run the risk of feeling slightly powerless, which I guess many of us do feel powerless, the things that we used to be able to do, the places that we go, the, but more importantly, the hand of friendship that we used to be able to physically reach out and offer to people isn’t possible anymore, because we can’t actually go and give it to them. And for all of those reasons, and so there’s, there’s a, there’s a huge amount of fear and uncertainty around isn’t there.
Steve
But I’ve got this little framework which really helps me come to terms with that, but not just come to Because that’s just sort of neutralising it, but actually feel pretty good about it in many ways, and it’s, and I was thinking about it, and it kind of fits nicely in an ABC and then unconventionally, a D as well, not just ABC. So the A’s is accept, you know, we have to accept this situation, we don’t have a choice around it. But we don’t just have to accept the situation, I think we have to accept the reality that things will never be the same again. Now, when we come out the other end of this if, you know, if you’d have Donald Trump’s mindset at Easter or other people’s mindset in 12 months time or whatever timeframe it actually is, things will never be the same again the economy will not be the same again, society will not be the same again norms will not be the same again. Business will not be the same again. So nothing will be the same again. And we just have to accept that.
Steve
But I think the B then for me is that we have to believe that different and it will be different, that new normal, that that different can actually be better. We have to believe that it can and will be better I’ve already seen elements of that better already with this, this wave of kindness, which is spilling out all over the place people, you know, desperate to help other people in whatever ways they can. And there’s a headline into one of these newspapers haven’t got the newspaper, but I heard it on the radio where, you know, we have the the NHS National Health Service here. And the calling for is sort of a coordinated attempt at getting volunteers together, and they’re gonna, it’s loosely called the National Help Service, which I just think is an answer. We’ve got an alternative NHS, the National Help Service, rather than the health service. But it’s indicative, isn’t it of this wave of kindness, which we’re seeing this outpouring of it. And you and I have both been for many years through our businesses trying to generate more of this wave of kindness ourself and showing other businesses how to do that and trying to lead a little tiny bit by example, but we’re actually seeing it flowing, overflowing in every corner and I think that’s that’s usually exciting. You know, we’ve got the fact that the climate is getting better as a result of climate change and environmental damage is being lessened. We’re all going to, I think adapt to this new reality where we don’t expect to have so much stuff. We record we began to focus on the things that are really important and put those things first and then not possessions, it’s people. It’s love, it’s kindness, its relationships, its connection. And so I think that that new world, I genuinely believe that whilst it will be different, and we have to accept that it will be different, it will never be the same again, that new normal will be better.
Steve
So there’s the second component, my A, B, C, D model, and the C part of it is to cherish you know, cherish what we have, and cherish what we’ve had in the past as well. You know, because we are so blessed. We are so fortunate that, you know, to live in this time, even in this time, no 2021, let alone in 2020 when we’re even more blessed You could say but you know, we are so blessed to be where we are and have what we have and you know, in our relationships in our lives and, and love and kindness and, and connection and, and so on, and things and stuff and experiences and joy. So we really should take stock of that. And that helps us really begin to accept the situation and believe that things can be even better. Whilst they’ll be different. There’ll be better. And I came across a really interesting, a really lovely idea. Now I have to say I haven’t yet started doing it only came across it the other day, but I think it’s very simple and something that I intend to do, which is, you know, every day you have a jar, I actually have, this is my big jar that’s been next to my desk. For many years it currently has three marbles in, when my kids they’re now fully grown adults, but when they were children, I put a marble in this right up to there for every weekend before the oldest one will be 18 and therefore I assumed would grow up leave home. I’ve lose her, “lose her” in inverted commas. Every weekend on a Friday, I would take out a marble and throw it away. As a reminder to myself, I will never get this weekend again, we will never have this weekend again as a family with the kids. And therefore we ought to do something we ought to enjoy and appreciate and cherish that we can now. There’s now only three marbles left please just signifies the three children because we’ve got way past than being 18 they are 25 and, and 29. But, so I already have this jar. My intention with this jar now is every day to have a little pile of post it notes next to it. And whenever something happens, or I remember something or experience something that makes me happy, something I should be grateful for. Just write it on a little post it note and drop it in there. And then so every day you’re built and you’ve got it already. Well this is maybe it’s an idea I got from you. I don’t know where I got it from Kerrie, but it’s exactly the same idea, isn’t it? It’s this idea that we can cherish things which which are, which we already have, we’re already so there’s that there’s just a little practical thing that I’m going to start you’re obviously more of an action taker to me because you have already started. Is that something you’ve just been doing recently.
Kerrie
No. And I just was wondering it was the dates on it. I can see one from Lyndon 28th of the 4th 2016
Steve
All right. Oh, you have been doing it for a long time.
Kerrie
18th of the second 2016
Steve
That’s wonderful. So clearly you can’t rely on me in giving you any new ideas. You’ve been years ahead of me and then but nevertheless, it’s a great idea isn’t it and it’s part…
Kerrie
Absolutely!
Steve
Cherish thing so A is accept the situation because things will never be the same again. B is believe that you know that new normal which will be different but also will be better or certainly can be better. Cherish, C is the cherish what we’ve what we’ve got, what we’ve what we have what we’ve had, and maybe capture that through the gratitude bowl kind of thing and the D is do stuff actually do things that make make things better because each and every one of us has a responsibility to contribute to make, to be in the change, we want to see cause making sure that this new normal, this new this, the new world that we come out the other side of this in is actually better. Yeah, and we’ll all do that in our respective ways. And one of the ways in which you’re obviously doing that is these sessions, because they’re, they’re contributing to helping people to get through this and, and to come out the other side stronger and so on. And I’m in the process, and I’m very much hoping that you will be one of the speakers on it, pulling together a maybe weekly or maybe more frequent series of video broadcasts, which will be not about coronavirus, not about the world that we’re in, but about inspiring stories about how people achieved make achieved amazing things or life skills that that we can transfer. So for example, helping people speak to strangers is a brilliant life skill but will it enrich their lives forever and a day, another really practical thing that we might look at is, you know how you could sit down and write your life story. There are plenty of people, but all this time on their hands and often said, well, it wouldn’t be great if I captured my story so I can hand down to future generations, this is the time to do that. And with a little bit of guidance, a little bit of insight, it’s not quite frankly difficult to do. I mean, if it was difficult to write books, I wouldn’t have written seven or eight because I don’t do things that are difficult. And I’m not capable of doing things that are difficult. But with a little bit of insight we can, we can start doing things like that so that I’m looking to build this weekly broadcast be completely free world class speakers, sharing insights, sharing stories, sharing stuff, which is uplifting and positive and enriches life gives us something to smile about gives us something to to focus on and to keep ourselves busy and to stave off the demons, and so on.
Steve
And one of the other things which I’ve made a commitment to do is I don’t about you. But I’m suddenly finding that because I’m trapped in the house a whole host of things which, you know, I used to spend money on, I can no longer spend money and I can’t spend money on going out for meals or going to the theatre, or even my gym membership. They’re refunded my gym membership, you look at my waistline, I don’t go to the gym very often, but they get their refund in the money. The holiday that we had booked, we’re not going on, we lose a little bit of money, but mostly we weren’t. It’s canceled. The point is that, you know, in for some of us, not for everyone I appreciate for many people, it’s hurting economically, it’s hurting financially. And, but there are some of us who are on fixed incomes or retired or for whatever reason, you know, we our income stream hasn’t necessarily changed to any significant extent. But our spending has gone through the floor because there’s no way to go and spend it. And I’ve committed that I will use a chunk of that reduction in my spending to try and help make the world a better place. Now we’re both you know this but for the benefit of everyone else. You and I both are really passionate members of the B1G1 one business for good community which means we have, you know, access and an ability very easily to reach out and make a difference to people while sitting at our desks by supporting projects around the world and quite frankly, never have, you know, people in less fortunate positions in the homeless in Vietnam for example, you just imagine what my my three two of my three children we have a 29 year old junior doctor and 28, 26 year old twins. The two girls of the three were on a trip they were actually in Costa Rica and pretty much almost got stranded there with that without the hearts we managed to get them back with phenomenal effort on the part of our travel agent which was such a great relief and then now in quarantine here because they’ve gone through the the traveling thing and the risk of that but you know, our travel agent move mountains to move things around and get them on flights that kept getting canceled before countries were locked down and borders closed and flights canceled, but we got them home and massively grateful for that. One of the places that Laura and her husband would most looking forward to going to was Vietnam. Now in Vietnam, as in many places, there’s a terrible Street, kid culture, there’s a terrible homelessness problem. And my kids were lucky enough to be able to come home and have somewhere safe to ride out the storm as it were, but if you’re a homeless person in this country or indeed anywhere, if and if you’re if you don’t have a financial safety net, and you don’t have a health system, that’s the sort of standard that means our health systems can’t cope, let alone the health systems in other parts of the world.
Kerrie
Yeah.
Steve
How much more desperate is the situation for people like that? So we decided, for example, that we would reach out and every day of this year would go back to the beginning of the year that for every day of this year, we would do a number of things we would use the savings that we’ve made by not spending. Yeah, to plant at least one tree a day to try and tackle the underlying ongoing challenge that we have around climate and environment that will we’ll put a roof over a homeless person’s head and feed a homeless person every day we’ll give rabies vaccination to a street dog every day to stop to stop…
Kerrie
Yeah.
Steve
That being a problem will will um, will provide a vulnerable child in Cambodia with clean food or sorry with clean water, food library books. The use of bicycle I don’t know yet whether they can use the bicycle still to go to school or whether they’ll be locked down. But generally speaking, if you don’t have a bicycle, often you can’t physically get to school in the daylight hours and therefore basically you don’t get an education. We’ll provide it for every day we’ll provide a refugee with with medical care for that day. And a few other things The point is we can do all of those things that a few pushes of a button. I can’t go out and show the physical you know, hand reach out the physical hand of friendship because I’m locked down in a house in many cases from the from the homeless child in Vietnam, thousands And thousands of miles away a country that wouldn’t let me and even if I was able to go. But I can nevertheless, you know, we can adapt what we do to fit the new realities. And so I’m adapting my spending pattern to, to try and do something. So the D in my model D, my little anagram so acronym is you do stuff to make things better. And at this time more than ever before, I think we need to step up and help others in every in any way we can.
Kerrie
Yeah, that’s right. That’s beautiful stuff. So accept yeah, things are not going to be the same and, and, you know, there’s that accepting what we can’t do and considering what we can do, which which comes up. So you know, believe it will be better. And Karen has just said, you know, speaking of the environment, it has cleared up so much since the shutdown. For sure. Yes, there’s otters running around in Singapore, which I have had the privilege of seeing when I was staying at a hotel right on the river, and a very early morning walk we saw families of otters playing on the riverbank. It was just stunning. And you know, the waters have cleared up in Venice and there’s some beautiful things happening. So thanks for joining us, Mohammed. So he’s calling in from Egypt. We’ve got Steve from England, Karen from England, Lyndon, and Ethan and I from across Australia. So we’re just going through Steve ABCD. So believe believe it will be better and that love and kindness we’re seeing that in so many ways, and that’s really beautiful. And I’ve been talking about that a lot in the past week, because I can’t leave home. But what I can do because I’m in isolation from being overseas. What I can do is get online and encourage people I can open up my calendar, I can be having these conversations and so that’s been really great and cherish. I think that is beautiful. Steve, he called me an action taker and I was thinking this afternoon about what an incredible action taking you are like you are prolific you’re is doing something extraordinary. And going, Kerrie, can you check this website? Can you have a look at what I’m doing? And I’m like, ah, Steve, I can’t keep up with all the amazing things you’re doing. But yeah, I’m looking forward to doing stuff with you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
