It was only a matter of time before someone applied the Slow label to housing. Calgary, the biggest city in my home province of Alberta, is booming at the moment. A forest of cranes looms over the sky-line and the construction industry can’t build homes fast enough to meet demand. But in all the hurry, and with everyone focussed on turning a quick profit, corners are being cut. Much of the new housing is of the one-size-fits-all variety found across North America, complete with large carbon footprint and low-grade materials. Many new neighbourhoods have very little character. But now the fightback has begun. A local architect named John Brown has launched a Slow Homes movement. He wants Calgarians to invest more time and thought in the way their homes are built and their neighbourhoods assembled. He wants to replace the high-turnover, homogenized model of house-building with something that is not only more sustainable and aesthetically pleasing but that also promotes stronger communities. Something slower, in other words. Sounds very sensible and timely to me. To find out more, clickHERE.
Category: Business and Work
Slowing down email
Email is wonderful but it’s getting out of hand. It’s so easy and fast that we end up hitting the Send button without even thinking – and we get hooked on being in contact. This year, the average corporate user fired off 27 percent more emails than in 2006. Many employees now check email every 90 seconds. How can you ever concentrate, think deeply or even relax in that kind of electronic bombardment? The answer is that you can’t, which is why the corporate world is clamping down. Big firms like Deloitte & Touche, Intel and U.S. Cellular are now imposing limits on how much email staff can send and when they can send it. The idea is to help staff relax and work better, and to encourage slower, more efficient forms of communication in the office, such as getting up off your rear-end and walking across the hall to talk face-to-face to a colleague. The email bans often face early resistance but eventually even the heaviest emailers come round.
Slow lunch
When was the last time you took a real lunch break? In workplaces around the world the mid-day meal has shrunk or vanished altogether. Never mind dining al fresco; these days you’re lucky to find time to dine al desko. What a waste. Stopping for lunch makes us more productive, more creative and less stressed. It allows us to enjoy our food, smell the roses and indulge in a little social time. That’s why there is a growing campaign to bring back lunch. Hilke Meyer, a student at London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, is doing her bit for the cause. She has just designed a range of nifty place mats and tea towels that not only look sharp and funky but also bear mini-essays on the joys and purpose of lunch. Find out more or upload your own thoughts at her websiteHERE.
Slow improv
I love improvisational comedy. It has a high-wire act quality that adds an extra edge and energy to the humour. It also seems like a very fast art: you have to come up with killer lines or movements in the blink of an eye. But now it seems that the Slow philosophy is making inroads in the world of improv. Apparently there is a Chicago school of improv that is more patient, less frenetic and built more around characters and ensemble work. Read an intriguing chat-room thread about itHERE. Meanwhile, Katie Goodman, a smart, funny and very thoughtful actress-director-writer is just finishing up a book on how to use the tools of improvisiational comedy in everyday life. One of the things she is exploring is how finding your inner tortoise off stage can allow you to be calmer, sharper and more creative when you’re actually in a fast-moving game of improv. You can find out more about by clickingHERE.
Slow blogging
Instant analysis and reaction from the front line. At every conference I go to there are always a few people in the audience, laptops open, screens glowing eerily in the half-darkness, blogging away in real-time while speakers strut their stuff on stage. I’m in two minds about this. On one hand, I love the energy and insights that come from an instant reaction. I’ve read these real-time blogs and the best ones are sharp and profound. But sometimes I wonder how much these nimble-fingered bloggers are really getting out of the speeches – are they picking up all the shades of meaning, the different layers of the message? Might they see, hear and understand more if they gave their full attention to the speech, and then blogged a few minutes, hours or even days afterwards? Maybe what we need is a blend of fast blogging and slow blogging. One blogger has already come to that conclusion. Her name is Michele Bowman and you can read her thoughts on slow blogging by clickingHERE.
Rational exuberance
I’ve just heard that Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, wrote 85% of his new book in the bathtub. Soaking in a hot bath is the ultimate form of slow. Greenspan says that he does his best writing, reading and thinking in the tub. I know the feeling. I love a slow bath at the end of the day. And a lot of my best ideas come while watching the children’s rubber ducks bob among the bubbles.
Slow prayer
I gave a talk over the weekend to some executives and afterwards one of them, a very affable Austrian called Thomas, told me about the time he went to close a big business deal with the Vatican. He arrived from Vienna with a full schedule of meetings but instead of hurrying to the first of them his priest-chaperone took him to a chapel to pray for 45 minutes. And they stopped for further prayers after every meeting through the busy day. At first Thomas was anxious and restless, but eventually he surrendered to the ritual and actually found the breaks quite soothing. He also found that the meetings were more relaxed and more efficient (faster, even!) because he’d had time to reflect, recharge and even plan a little. Maybe prayer is the ultimate form of slowness.
Best job in TV?
Last Friday I appeared on an Argentine TV show called Mañanas Informales. It’s one of my favourite shows for talking on. It manages to be noisy and dynamic without being stressful. One reason for this may be the Laughing Trio. In one corner of the studio, three rather scruffy young men sit in front of microphones sipping yerba mate and providing the show’s live laughter soundtrack. They whoop, whistle, make cheeky remarks and laugh with infectious gusto. I know they’re laughing to order but the effect is still the same: I find them hugely amusing and weirdly soothing. Certainly beats the hell out of the canned laughter that blights so many sitcoms. I even feel a bit envious: if you have to work in TV, then what better job could there be?
Slow music triumphs over PowerPoint
I’m in Copenhagen right now having just given a talk to a corporate audience. The first speaker was interrupted by a strange hiccup in the sound system: in the middle of his presentation, Norah Jones’ song Come Away With Me started playing through the speakers. It was hilarious. And strangely soothing. Suddenly, in the middle of a talk that demanded our attention, we were thrown a life-line, the chance to kick back, switch off and soak up some music. I felt a bit disappointed when the tech-guy pulled the plug on Norah. Still, it gave me an idea. Maybe I should work a brief musical interlude into my talk. Any suggestions welcome. I’m toying with the idea of slipping in a short blast of Slow Hand by the the Pointer Sisters during the sex section….
Slow Food Nation
Last night I gave a talk before a screening of Fast Food Nation at a cinema in Bristol, England. An odd movie. The book is an elegant and searing exposé of the fast food industry but something is lost in the jump from the printed page to the big screen. Trying to transform a work of non-fiction reportage into a Robert Altmanesque ensemble piece was never going to be easy, I suppose. It’s worth seeing but if you have to choose between the two then go with the book.