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Wednesday 28 December 2011

I heard it on the radio

One of the delights of living with depression is that one's self-esteem is never accepted as a given. Whilst some people appear to have endless levels of confidence, mine has to be built from scratch each morning.

So I should have been delighted to hear a former colleague interviewed on BBC Radio Four's 'You and Yours' the other day.At the age of 73, he'd led a community group that has successfully re-opened a closed village pub. He's set up a CIC, won £20k in grants from the Council and very ably inspired his neighbours.

I'm not surprised. Bryan was when we worked together 30yrs ago a very able marketer. He's also a Christian and so understands the need to put people first. But he's also done what others pay me to do for them - overcome the obstacles and make stuff happen.


There are many people out there like Bryan although not all quite as capable of making the social enterprise journey on their own. He could, if he chose, now go out and help other groups as they struggle to save their former village pub. Although many benefit from outside help, all have some amazing qualities that overshadow any knowledge gap they may have.

Listening to Bryan forced me to remember and helped me to understand. The fact that he has succeeded does not make me more likely to fail - it's not like that. In fact the more folk like Bryan succeed, the greater the demand for my services, working with others seeking to emulate the success they've seen.

Others need the confidence to start the journey, people like me need the confidence to act as expert staging posts along the way.