Author: Helen Martin

Hong Kong – Xianggang (fragrant harbour). One of my favorite cities of the world. A magnificent financial hub of towering skyscrapers and a 24/7 mentality. If you thought New York was the city that never sleeps…..think again.

I’ve been visiting Hong Kong for the past few weeks on vacation, which has been quite a different experience than purely attending business meetings, events and conferences. I’ve had time to get to know the lay of the land, walk the streets and even practice a little of my Mandarin Chinese.

Last night, I attended the Hong Kong Art Walk, an event which is held once a year. Art galleries open their doors to the public, showing special exhibitions and the evening is made quite festive by music, snacks and refreshments wherever you go.

One of the galleries I visited, served as my wake-up call. No matter how beautiful a city is at first glance and no matter how shiny the surface, there are always many dull cracks and crevices and an abundance of duct tape serving to hold it all together. 

I’ve experienced the enormous valley between rich and poor in many countries around the world, so I’m no longer naive. I understand that whilst wealthy business people enjoy the fruits of their hard labour, many less fortunate hard working people live a very different life.  

The Society for Community Organization drove the hard facts home by exhibiting photographs and film of marginalised groups, living in cage homes, cubicle apartments and roof-top flats. In Hong Kong 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. Whilst, I understand the challenges that the government is facing with respect to illegal immigrants, one can’t help but wonder how many of these people are actually of Hong Kong descent. 

I’m happy that something is being done to raise awareness; fighting for the rights of the elderly, health rights, the working poor, civil rights and education. I’m also happy to say that everyone who attended the Art Walk, supported the Society for Community Organization (even if they had no idea). I can only hope that the government may also take an example from more social states around the world. For more information visit the SoCo website, where you can also make a financial donation to this worthy cause.

In the past, volunteers and employees of NGO’s were often people that had difficulty ‘fitting in’. They were people on a mission to do good in the world. They choose to ‘solve world hunger before breakfast’, rather than working for a profit organisation that did little to fulfil their need to change the world. 

Fast forward to the present and many NGOs are analyzing their business plans, revisiting their strategies and ultimately, reorganizing. Dutch NGOs, in particular, are focused on 2015. The year in which many government subsidies will cease to exist. A year in which NGO’s will need to be self sufficient. The year in which non-profit meets profit! 

The unfortunate circumstance of this hard reality is that many people may no longer ‘fit’. Let’s face it, ‘do gooders’ will always be necessary. Those people that join NGOs to travel the world in order to teach, to  rebuild homes or makeshift shelter, to offer love and understanding, to save lives; the list goes on and on. The hard reality however, is that if the back office is not working effectively, the front office can’t go and get its hands dirty.

NGOs need to be far more commercial, than they may have been used to. They need to make themselves really attractive to third parties in order to raise funds. They need to review their business propositions and be more flexible than they’ve ever been. They need to focus on running a profitable business. 

‘Profit’ is a dirty word in the mouths of many hard core volunteers in the ‘front office’. What these people need to understand is that without profit, generated in the back office, the front office ceases to exist.

The coming 3 years will not be easy for many NGOs. But, it’s my opinion that when IQ and EQ converge, or should I say the worlds of profit and non-profit, that real change will start to happen in the world.

Let’s make sustainable waves!

During the past 7 months, I’ve met many professionals, who have chosen to ‘hand in’ their career’s with large organisations in order to ‘do good’ elsewhere. These accountants, lawyers, business analysts and branding experts, felt that they were trading success for happiness, but are they?

As a manager of a team of 35 young, ambitious branding, communications and social responsibility professionals, I understand some of the challenges that today’s managers face. How do you ensure your team’s happiness? That team members feel motivated and focused on the tasks at hand, whilst balancing their private lives and their careers.

I’ve always been convinced that the happier you are, the happier you can make other people and the more successful you can be. So, you can imagine the pleasure I had watching Shawn Achor’s presentation online at TEDx, pretty much confirming my ‘sunny’ point of view.

Happiness is on the opposite side of success. We often think, that we need success in order to be happy. Whereas, all we really need is the happiness advantage. The happier we are, the more successful we can become. Check out “The happy secret to better work” on Youtube, which I believe is 12 minutes well spent.

I live my own life by my own motto, “As soon as you start living yor dreams, your dreams evolve.” By being happy, you can achieve anything you want to, especially your dreams and when you’re happy, you can make everyone around you happy too.

So as a manager of 35 innovative and go-getting professionals, I selflessly start with myself. I ensure that I’m happy, and when that’s done, I ensure that my team members have the tools to make themselves happy. I guess, in my own way, I’m spreading the happiness advantage. And a little, goes a long way to achieving any company’s goals!

So, Soesma, Jeroen, et al, you haven’t traded success for happiness, you’re following you’re dreams. And, it’s only through happiness that you can truly find success!