Like most people, we had a number
of parties, family do’s and even a bit of a soiree this Christmas. It was
lovely to be able to see our children, grandchildren, friends, work colleagues,
and for the first time, our new neighbours. More on them later; but it was
interesting that, when they came round, one of the things they all enjoyed was
Billy providing some of the entertainment. Billy is our African grey parrot. I
bought him way back in 1986, he was just one year old then, so that makes him
at least 35 years old. He has a wonderful vocabulary, which I think (in part),
is what amused our guests. He has opinions, and will express them. He loves
music, particularly blues, which he will whistle along to. He will give me a
kiss, and does so with a beak that can easily crack open a walnut. Billy is
very much part of the family, and hopefully he will continue to be so for
another 35 years. Parrots are incredibly long living, and according to
researchers in the Max Planek Institute of Ornithology in Germany, they are
also altruistic.
Their experiments showed that
they were intrinsically motivated to help others, even where that individual
was neither known to them nor a ‘friend’. It’s a behaviour that is normally
only associated with humans. They found that African Grey parrots
voluntarily and spontaneously helped other parrots to achieve a goal without
any obvious benefits to themselves. Dr Desiree Brucks, who led the research,
tried the same experiments with other parrot species, but it was only the African
Greys that behaved in this way. It’s also sometimes true that not all humans
behave in this way too.
Last week, I met a group of healthcare
professionals at our local hospital and we talked about transcendental
leadership, something I strive to demonstrate in my organisational
relationships with others. As a leader, I have always tried to recognise the importance of the interrelated
elements of self, and self in relation to others and to the organisation and,
in our discussion, we focused on how to inspire the transcendent
motivation in colleagues. For me, this
has always involved seeing the well-being and development of others as being a
critical factor in unlocking this transcendent motivation. This is not
the place to fully explore what this means, but here is a good paper to get you
going if you are interested. However, an example of transcendent motivation would be that sense of altruism that makes people think of and/or help others in situations where there is no tangible or extrinsic reward for themselves.
As with all such ideas, there is
always a critical challenge. For example, the notion of psychological egoism
suggests that all of us are ultimately motivated by self-interest and even
selfishness. This would seem to apply even in what might be seen as acts of
altruism. The argument is that when people choose to help others, they do so
ultimately because of the personal benefits they expect to obtain, directly or
indirectly, from doing so. I know it’s a slightly contentious idea. But that said,
for many healthcare professionals, intrinsic rewards are likely to be just as
important as the more obvious extrinsic rewards, such as their salary – although
I have every sympathy for the nurses working in Northern Ireland who are
seeking ‘fair pay’ parity with nurses working in the other three Home nations.
Regular readers of this blog will
know that I was pretty ashamed that I had reached the advanced age of 64 and yet
had never given blood until just before Christmas last year. I have no excuse
for not becoming a blood donor earlier in my life. I should have done so years
ago. I think that giving blood is a great example of the
altruistic/psychological egoists dilemma. I gave blood without thinking
anything more about it than I thought I should. But last week, I had several
tweets and even an email or two from the NHS Blood and Transplant service urging
me and men like me to give blood. It was an illuminating experience, and made
me glad I had given blood, as I now felt good knowing what it could be used
for. For every 100 women who donated their blood last year only 70 men did. As
such, male blood is particularly valuable, which surprised me (and truth be
told, added to my sense of guilt). Some neonatal transfusions can only be done
from male donors; men can donate more often than women; men have fewer
antibodies in their blood, have higher levels of iron and have a higher
platelet count than women. How I didn’t know this, I simply don’t know. Now I
do know, I shall give more blood on the 6th March, which is the
earliest I can do so. Altruistic, I think not, I’m
pleased that I can do something that can help others – ‘quod erat
demonstrandum’.
Which takes me back to our
neighbours. At Christmas we had been living in our little house for some 10
months. We were on nodding terms with all our immediate neighbours, and even
knew some of the names. Christmas is a time to reach out to others, so I
knocked on folks’ doors and said it would be very helpful if they could tell me
their names, so we could send them a Christmas card. They did and we sent out
the cards, which felt good, but not that good to be honest. So, we decided to
send out a little note to each of our neighbours saying we were having an ‘open
house’, and please feel free to come.
On the day, we had eight couples
turn up around 4pm, and the last of them left at one o’clock the following
morning. It was a fabulous opportunity to get to know who our neighbours were.
And it was an infectious evening too. We have since been invited to a couple of
our neighbours’ houses for a drink and something to eat, and I have enjoyed a
lawn bowls lesson, and we have someone coming to give us a quote (mates rates)
for a new kitchen. Were we altruistic, I think maybe so, but in any event, I’m
pleased we could do something that helped others help others – probably still
‘quod erat demonstrandum’.
But the last words go to ‘Our Neighbours’ who last week said: ‘It’s now more important than ever that we reach out to the people around us. By doing your bit to
support people in your neighbourhood, you’ll help to rekindle neighbourly
spirit, reduce social isolation and even prevent illnesses such as dementia,
heart disease and depression’.
Ps – I so love the reflected
positivity of my blood donor card
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