For a while now I have used a Honda advert in my work with clients – the one with the fluffy bunnies and the dirty diesel engine that becomes clean and environmentally friendly. It has a wonderfully catchy tune with the lyrics ‘Hate something, change something, make something better…’
It helps people to understand that both love and hate provide the fuel for change; the energy, inspiration and motivation required to make something happen. The power to make things better. ‘Love’ and ‘Hate’ are full of opportunity and potential.
It is indifference that is the problem. Indifference never made anything happen.
Often the people that hate things the most are the ones that you need to talk with to make things better. Passion fuels progress. That is why I love hate – and encourage managers to love it too. Find out what people hate – and help them to change it.
Today though I met an organisation based here in Leeds called ‘Stop Hate UK’. Their purpose is to stop hate crime, and their unique contribution is to make reporting of hate crime easier and to provide practical and relevant help to those who suffer it. Wow! No problem getting up in the morning to go and work on that!
In organisational life it is usually the object of hatred (the unethical practice, the flaky printer, the fussy customer) that provides the opportunity for change. But perhaps there are times when it is the hater that provides the real opportunity for progress rather then the hated?
If you would like to know about the work of STOP HATE UK then just click on the graphic to visit their website. And if you are a victim of a hate crime then give them a call.