Gone to ground 🦊

Years ago, a policeman knocked on our front door. I was out so Clare answered. There had been an attempted robbery round the corner and the policeman told her that the suspect had “gone to ground” apparently in our tiny garden. The phrase has always stuck with me as odd. Partly because I can only hear it in Clare’s Northern Irish accent and partly because it’s so peculiar to use a fox-hunting term about a human being.

I feel like going to ground at the moment. Tucking up under the covers and not coming out again until it’s safe. When will that be, I wonder?

In the meantime, maybe if I try hard enough I can imagine what it might feel like to be this guy snoozing in the sunshine.

I really feel for all the people who are having to lead teams at the moment. It’s tough work at the best of times. This article How to lead when your team is exhausted and you are too might be useful.

It feels like the whole world is tired. Even though the vaccine shines a light at the end of the tunnel, the home stretch will be long and perhaps take a greater toll on our professional and personal lives than we expect it to.

I’m always a bit grumpy about being too slow, too rubbish, and now far too old to make it onto any Top 30 Under 30 lists or even any Top 40 Under 40 lists so I enjoyed this podcast from Citations Needed which deftly challenges this framing of success as only being about wealth.

This excerpt from Emmanuel Macron’s entry in Fortune’s 40 under 40 in 2016 though 🙄

The boyish maverick sparked outrage by ­challenging France’s ruling Socialist government to ditch cherished welfare-state orthodoxies and embrace wealth creation.

I’m far more interested in real people in real life which is why I’m excited to be part of Pizza for Losers later this month. An afternoon of learning from and celebrating failure to inspire positive action, attitudes and innovation.

Join me and the other excellent losers!

Day of the Week 📆

It was good to see this tweet from Battersea firmly rejecting National Dress Up Your Pet Day when in a parallel universe they might have created a retail line of pet dressing up costumes.

What am I reading? 📚

Everyone who’s involved in campaigning and change-making needs to read Alicia Garza’s book, “The purpose of power - how we come together when we fall apart.”

Alicia Garza (along with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi) created the Black Lives Matter hashtag and led the 2015 Freedom Ride to Ferguson, Missouri following the death of Michael Brown.

Diversity is what happens when you have representation of various groups in a place. Representation is what happens when groups that haven’t previously been included are included. Intersectionality is what happens when we do everything through the lens of making sure that no one is left behind.

Exactly.

Joy-giving things 😍

The snowdrops are coming

Have a great weekend. Go and find some snowdrops!

Lots of love, Lucy

P.S. There was no one hiding in our garden.

If you like my newsletter, please tell your friends

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing progressive ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world.

Share it with your friends so they can read it too 📣

Thank you!

ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

If it’s your first time reading this newsletter, find out more here.