Yet another blog about the Bupa Dental Conference (clearly had an effect).
At the start of the conference on Friday afternoon, Mark Allan, the general manager of Bupa Dental Care, gave a 45-minute presentation, which was, in my view, quite exceptional.
I have to be honest, I didn't expect great things, but I'm a cynical old bastard. However, his presentation to a group of 1200 Bupa employees and associates was outstanding.
One of the things he presented, though, was the philosophy that the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team have of paying things forward and thinking about the longer term and legacy, much more than perhaps other sports teams or sports people actually do.
It's not a coincidence that the parent Bupa company sponsor the All Blacks, and it's also worth mentioning that the All Blacks have had tough times when they have not adhered to this philosophy, and some of their players or former players have been called out for not being what they said they were, but that is by the by.
They have an extraordinary long-term legacy culture; everyone knows that about the All Blacks, and everyone admires it.
One of the philosophical approaches that underpin the All Blacks is whakapapa (which is actually pronounced Fakuhpapuh - careful not to get that wrong when you're drunk), but the philosophy itself is beautiful, and Friday was the first time I'd been introduced to it, at least introduced to a legacy philosophy like that was called that.
For anyone who follows what we do, you'll know how we talk about legacy and, how we talk about paying it forward, and how we talk about the fact that we're only here because of what people did before that allowed us to be here.
The All Blacks embody that no better than the Adidas advert, in which they have previous captains from decades ago pulling the shirt over their heads.
But the principle of whakapapa is 'Plant trees that you will never see'.
We all need to be reminded of this, and in fact, there are many, many people who believe this, but at times you feel you're entirely on your own when you see what seems to be the rest of humanity, living for tomorrow morning, and no further ahead, getting what they can when they can, grabbing things off the shelf in Covid or pushing people out the way to get to a bargain on Black Friday.
Don't despair, though; there are lots of people who subscribe to this; just go and find them and collaborate with them and then do great things.
Blog Post Number - 4059
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