How will you celebrate New Year's Eve in 2099?

Alas I'm not expecting to stay alive long enough for that one, but Frank here stands a very good chance of doing just that. Frank and his dad Rob were with me on Thursday evening when I spoke to an audience of social entrepreneurs in Leeds for Business Link Yorks and Humber. Rob and I have known each other a while, both being passionate and vocal about social enterprise. We met up at Voice 10 and he let slip that he'd be bringing Frank along to meet me in Leeds later in the week. I think that mum was out as well that evening so Rob was babysitting.

I used this picture of Frank in my presentation to make the point that just because we would not be around in 2100, here's a guy who would. It's the way we behave now, in terms of enterprise and environment that will shape Frank's future. 

Furthermore he's growing up in a very different age to the one I was raised in. The 50 years that have passed since I was Frank's age have seen huge change; colossal growth in consumerism being just one of them. It strikes me that things I'd experienced at his age, central heating, a family car and 24/7 entertainment on demand are the very things hid generation might choose to do without. I'd never had them and he'll probably decide to get by without. Together, he and I bracket the consumerist age.

You can see what Rob Greenland, Frank's dad thought of all this by visiting his blog. It's well worth subscribing to.

 

2010's going to be a bouncy year

One of my current projects is to explore the opportunity for a GP Practice to set up a nursing home. The vision is for the nursing home to be community owned. By this I don't mean in a token sense, with regular open days and consultation. I mean set up as a community interest company with local people able to become shareholders.

This set me looking into how care homes are managed and that led me to Eden Alternative.  As much a philosophy as anything else, the Eden Alternative is a fresh and exciting way to care for the old and vulnerable. People are encouraged to stay active, involved and to care for others. It's simple yet clearly highly effective.

I'll be using this image in my presentation to the doctors next week. We only get new things if we challenge our perceptions and recognise that things don't always have to stay the same.