Starting on the 26th of October, The Business Mums network Blog Inspiration will provide a different topic each week.

Members post on their blogs according to their interpretation of the topic.

Members can promote the URL of their blog posts as a comment on each article, and on the forums.

There’s a possibility of prizes for the most creative posts!

For non-members, you can still visit and pick up on something you can post about on your own business blog.

From Germaine Greer to Judith Lucy, it was an eclectic mix of imaginings, left-of-centre concepts and entertainment.

Susan ponders over the disparate cultures of creative thought and football being celebrated on the same cold, rainy Sunday.

It’s a cold, wet wintry Rugby League grand final day in Sydney, but not all Sydneysiders are snuggling up in front of the television for the big event.

At the Sydney Opera House crowds are amassing, and the same electric atmosphere that is present in the football stadium also fills this iconic Sydney venue as hundreds of people gather at Sydney’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas to champion their intellectual heroes rather than their sporting ones.

Germaine Greer calls for freedom

As the rugby league players flex their brawn for today’s final battle, Germaine Greer flexes her grey matter for her continual battle for freedom; for her the most dangerous idea of all.

The large Concert Hall is filled to capacity and there is a tangible feeling of excitement in the air as we anticipate witnessing this self-confessed ‘living legend’.

I was not disappointed. We consider our fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and what this means in reality.

As Greer points out, romanticised ideas of the noble savage untainted by modernity are not something that ever existed in reality, but something that should be aspired to in the future.

Being an idealist more than a realist I reassure myself that just because we live in a world with many problems doesn’t mean that we must ‘get real’ and accept the way it is; we are free to change the way we think, the way we act, and what we aspire to.

I enjoyed every controversial minute of Greer’s hardcore but humorous presentation. Highly opinionated yet very personable, Germaine Greer packs a powerful punch.

Capitalism versus Socialism

The next dangerous idea was a critique of our capitalist society as we were asked whether people with flat screen TVs should be complaining about capitalism.

I knew this one would get me going, and it did. The two panel speakers were both pro-capitalism so I enjoyed myself find holes and counter arguments to their defence.

There was heavy use of the failed socialist system to make capitalism look good by comparison, and a lot of talk about the superior standards of living in a capitalist society.

This may be true if you equate luxury materialism and advanced technology with ‘better’ lives. We are certainly becoming more affluent, but are we any happier?

Or does the pressure to keep up on the treadmill of ever increasing production and consumption take over our lives, leaving little time for the things that are really important to us – relationships, personal goals, and our health?

It seems as though the structure which can make us rich enough to buy books doesn’t leave us any time to read them!

Taking the criminal side out of drug addiction

The ideas got more dangerous as the concept of legalising drugs was floated.

This is where I found the festival would do more than just ignite my passions and ideals, as I actually started to change some of my previously held beliefs, seeing things from a different perspective.

Tending toward a ‘no tolerance’ approach to the war on drugs, I was surprised to find my attitude changing as I learned more about the failure of this approach and the significant negative side effects that come with prohibition.

The idea to view the problem as a social/health issue rather than a criminal one seemed sensible to me, with education being the cornerstone of future strategies.

I would hope that by identifying why people take drugs and addressing this initially, a prevention rather than cure outcome would ensue, resulting in a better society all round.

 Utopian lives spent in a ‘soma-tose’ state

I’m now reminded that my ideas are often more utopian than dangerous, but found myself being just a little scared at the dangerous utopian ideas put forward by an Oxford University professor of ethics.

Apparently scientists have estimated that humanity has a 50% probability of extinction within the next century.

The failings of human nature such as un-cooperativeness and greedy self-interest have set us on a path towards our own self-destruction.

Our biological hard-wiring is still in the dark ages, whilst our intellectual capacity for technology has advanced with leaps and bounds, meaning we don’t always have the moral standards to reign in the potentialities, good and bad, that our new technologies present.

The case was put forward to change human behaviour by artificially manipulating our biology. Higher levels of surveillance and scientific intervention of individuals was promoted so we could ‘breed out’ undesirable genes.

It started to smell like 1984 to me, and I decided I would rather take my chances with the good, the bad, and the ugly that is our world, than live in a Brave New World where our utopian lives are spent in a ‘Soma-tose’ state.

Genetic modification of human beings and a Nazi-like desire to create a perfect race felt like a bad, and dangerous, idea to me.

Nude Jude bounded onstage

As you can imagine, a day filled with intense, radical, stimulating, and yes, even dangerous ideas needed to be finished on a lighter, less serious note.

And who could you take less seriously than our lovely comedian Judith Lucy, who gleefully bounded onto stage dressed in a flesh coloured bodysuit, her breasts accentuated with black outline and a bold triangle of pubic hair proudly textered onto the appropriate spot.

Hardly appropriate attire for one’s gig at the Opera House one might think, but oh so amusing. ‘Nude Jude’ and a line up of other entertainers brought some light relief to a crowd of thinkers happy to get out of their heads and enjoy a belly laugh instead.

Ideas and aspirations 

A Festival of Ideas – who would have thought we’d get such a huge, enthusiastic turnout? Particularly with the exorbitant ticket prices the Opera House was charging, and a rainy day to boot!

So there are people who cherish ideas and creativity, who are not prepared to accept the status quo, and who are committed to their ideals and values. I was encouraged.

As I departed Sydney Harbour after the event, I noticed rows of blue and yellow streamers, remnants of somebody’s different reality of this wet, wintry Sunday, and I made the comparison of the day’s two very different, yet very similar events.

Whilst I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying sport as a leisure pastime, I wonder if some of the significant time and energy that our culture invests in this might be well spent engaged in thinking. About our lives, our values, and what type of society we aspire to be in the future.

 I can safely guess which event will get the most media coverage and general public discussion. At work this week will we all be talking about Sunday’s celebration of ‘brains’ or its celebration of ‘brawn’?

It’s true that many people keep an inspiration close to their hearts, but don’t take the steps necessary to follow through to a conclusion.

Why don’t people take those steps?

• Life gets in the way
• Other people say it can’t be done
• It’s too difficult to raise the capital
• Fear of failure
• Dislike of change
• The dream would take too many weeks, months or years to accomplish.
• People like me don’t do things like that
• I’m not smart enough
• The vision is too big, and therefore too frightening to think about
• The vision is too small, and therefore not worth it

Any of these things can be reasons for not following a passion.

But remember, every single one of the above reasons grows wobbly legs when looking at what others have achieved, even against seemingly impossible odds.

Getting help when needed

Some people have vision, but not a grasp on the practicalities of realising the vision– and become discouraged.

Some people are great at details and tasks, but have trouble gaining a view of the big picture.

If this is you, you can:

• ask yourself what you need to do to take things to the next step
• gain advice on taking things further
• partner with those people who have the abilities to propel your vision further
• do nothing, but repeat often “I’d really like to do that!”

All of these are valid choices, but of course the last one is unlikely to be satisfying in any way!

Cate Bolt and Project 18.

Many Australian business women who use Twitter will be familiar with Cate Bolt, a business owner and mother of a large family who is currently engaged in promoting and raising funds for a vision close to her heart. We published an article on Cate and her vision, project 18, in August.

This month, Cate was interviewed at Cherry Magazine. Cate continues to take matters on with both hands, forging new paths and inspiring a team of volunteers and professionals who can help bring Project 18 to fulfilment.

It’s this kind of passion that gets things done.

Sometime (probably often) passion comes to ‘push’.

It’s not easy to keep pushing yourself when things seem hopeless or when obstacles loom too large– or when you’re just plain exhausted!

That’s when surrounding yourself with like-minded people and supporters can help you through.

If you’re not following your heart, what are you following?

Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1014014

By age 24, Tania was inspired to start a new, deeply rewarding side to Jelli Beanz.

 
For the past eight years, I have devoted myself to improving the standards and services of childcare available to parents in Australia.

Launching my own childcare business Jelli Beanz at the age of 19 was a personal and professional challenge.

But today I lead a flagship of qualified childcare workers who not only provide high quality babysitting, nannying, au pair and respite care services throughout New South Wales and Western Australia, but also a not-for-profit arm to assist parents undergoing treatment for cancer.

Starting my own business was not an easy path

 After volunteering in orphanages and schools in Thailand in my late teens, my return to Australia filled me with a new passion and understanding about what it was that gave me satisfaction as well as ideas about how I could have a positive impact through my childcare endeavours on home soil.

Though I had much expertise working in the childcare industry, I’d had none as a small business owner and as great an accomplishment as it was, setting up my business Jelli Beanz proved no easy feat.

I am the first to admit that running your own business isn’t always the easiest of career paths but my passion and motivation for providing quality child care is unwavering.

All business plans were put on hold

However in 2007, I faced a professional and personal challenge.  We had been in negotiations to set up Jelli Beanz in Melbourne with my Godmother as my business partner.  My Godmother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and all business plans got put on hold.

While accompanying my Godmother to the hospital for her cancer treatments, I saw firsthand the need for parents undergoing cancer treatment to have access to compassionate child care services.

Encouraged and inspired by my Godmother, I founded the Jelli Beanz Community Volunteers and the Caring For Kids During Cancer service to provide free child care services and assistance for children of parents undergoing active cancer treatment. The service has been funded by the Cancer Council for the past two years and we are now actively seeking sponsorship in order to continue this vital service to the community.

My advice to all young, professional women: when you get lemons – make lemonade!

Pictured: Tania Menzies and her Godmother, Donna Goudie

Her decision to go Carbon Neutral is an Australian business environmental first.

My business, Daily Essence, is now the only beauty and lifestyle brand in Australia to be awarded CarbonNeutral® certification by reducing its carbon footprint to net zero. This means that our consumers can feel good in the knowledge that Daily Essence is leaving a significantly minimal carbon footprint.

I wanted to make a difference in my own way and where better to start than with my own business, Daily Essence? I knew it was going to be a personal and business challenge but it was also going to be rewarding in the knowledge that I had achieved something no other Australian beauty brand had done.

To achieve the CarbonNeutral® status, Daily Essence had to prove the positive action it is taking to tackle climate change by completing an assessment with The CarbonNeutral Company.

Our Green House emissions were measured

The Green House Gas emissions that were measured included: how staff travelled to and from work, the electricity used both in production of the goods and in the offices, the amount of waste, the amount of printing, and suppliers that were used, such as freight.

As you can imagine this was difficult and time-consuming but well worth the effort. Daily Essence was then accredited CarbonNeutral® status when the CO2 emissions had been reduced to net zero in accordance with an international standard, known as the CarbonNeutral® Protocol. This was a long process but one we all worked hard to achieve. I knew that if we could do it then it would help encourage other Australian businesses to do the same.

The latest scientific opinion is that to achieve a positive level of environmental sustainability, global Green House Gases reductions of 80% are necessary within the next 50 years. This is a very significant challenge, especially in the context of growing emissions from developing countries and the affect this has on the environment.

Around the world, people and businesses are taking voluntary steps to cut their Carbon Dioxide (CO2) gas emissions. To emphasise the importance of a reduction in CO2, state, national and international governments have set and agreed on binding Green House Gas reduction targets at numerous levels.