There is no health without mental health
In Australia’s reaction to COVID-19, our lives are being changed profoundly and our liberties curtailed. Without consultation, by federal, state and territory governments. Few have yet fully grasped the gravity of the effects on our wellbeing of this, and what is still to come.
Focusing on saving lives and livelihoods isn’t wrong. But there is no truly good health without good mental health, and given humans are social beings, for most people good mental health requires positive social interaction and hope. Our mobility, work, education, recreation, exercise and, most importantly, our interaction with others is being restricted by authorities. We have to follow the regulations or we face being punished for disobeying them. Right now, it feels as if our careers, dreams and futures are vanishing in front of our eyes.
We need an urgent taskforce to tackle the mental health pandemic sparked by Covid-19
Mental health charity Mind Medicine Australia (MMA) calls for and strongly supports all recommendations to form a Mental Health Innovation Taskforce to be immediately established. This must be established now to guide the government in planning the next steps to manage the increasing mental health pandemic triggered by Covid-19 and the recent bushfires tragedy.
We live in one of the wealthiest countries and we have one of the best medical systems in the World. Yet despite the high calibre of our medical practitioners, and the enormous associated system costs, we also have one of the highest rates of mental illness in the World. These rates are increasing exponentially now.
Experts warn that a long-term mental health pandemic is looming in Australia that will potentially surpass the physical health impacts of the coronavirus. Frontline charities are suggesting that the effects of the current pandemic on mental illness could be “seven times” worse than the spike in mental illness caused by the recent bushfires.
Positive Human Collisions
I work with many wonderful teams and organisations and am always amazed at how many leaders say, “But I am not creative.”
And recently, some futurists said that creativity has become the most endangered species of the 21st century. We have a broadband culture but not the creative, original thought to fill it.
A global study of 1,500 CEOs by IBM showed that in an increasingly complex and uncertain global environment the most important leadership attribute is creativity. We need to be ready to pivot in a rapidly changing world to manage increasing social and economic challenges.
Innovator Attributes
Over the next decade it is estimated that up to 40 per cent of companies on the Standard and Poors index will be disrupted by rapidly advancing technologies and the entrepreneurs adapting quickly to this new environment. According to international research, up to 60 percent of middle-class jobs will become redundant due to robotics and new technologies. And some jobs will continue to exist but will be performed in cheaper labour markets overseas.
We urgently need to train ourselves and emerging leaders to be entrepreneurs: makers and creators of the jobs of the future. We need to build a culture of creativity and innovation to sufficiently develop our capabilities to turn ideas into enterprises.
Below are 12 innovator attributes which we can learn and aspire to and nurture in others:
- Curious: Innovators actively explore the environment, challenge status quo and investigate new possibilities. Ask: “what if…?”
- Persistent: Innovators are never above a task, they are hardworking, persistent and willing to do “whatever-it-takes” to get things done. Never give up!
Inclusion and entrepreneurship the key to innovation
Australia has traditionally been a highly successful and prosperous nation. On almost every important business index, we are accelerating. The stakes – the financial, social, environmental and political consequences – similarly are rising. Being lucky is no longer enough
We lag well behind many other nations on innovation. We have to nurture our entrepreneurs and innovate faster in order keep up with the pace of growth. To compete globally we must welcome, include and empower the many diverse voices of our citizens, migrants and the refugees who are seeking a haven here.
Australia needs diversity to keep the creative juices flowing
Australia has traditionally been a highly successful and prosperous nation. On almost every important business index, we are accelerating. But the stakes – the financial, social, environmental and political consequences – are also rising. Being lucky is no longer enough.
We lag well behind many other nations on innovation. We have to nurture our entrepreneurs and innovate faster in order keep up with the pace of growth. To compete globally we must welcome, include and empower the many diverse voices of our citizens, migrants and the refugees who are seeking haven here.
AI: Artificial Intelligence, or Australia’s Inequality?
The robot revolution is inevitable.
In fact, you could comfortably say it’s already upon us.
As automation and artificial intelligence evolve at breakneck speed, our policies and institutions are frantically chasing their tails to keep pace.
This disruption presents one of the most pointed challenges to modern economies – and Australia is not immune. continue reading »
You Will Lose Your Job to a Robot—and Sooner Than You Think
I want to tell you straight off what this story is about: Sometime in the next 40 years, robots are going to take your job.
I don’t care what your job is. If you dig ditches, a robot will dig them better. If you’re a magazine writer, a robot will write your articles better. If you’re a doctor, IBM’s Watson will no longer “assist” you in finding the right diagnosis from its database of millions of case studies and journal articles. It will just be a better doctor than you.
Flirting With Ideas
Vienna. 1926 and Slawa Duldig was looking forward to a pleasant Sunday walk in the gardens of the Kunst Historisches Museum, a favourite haunt. Except that the prospect on this May morning with its ominous looking clouds was not so inviting – and so to prepare for the likely showers she took a heavy umbrella with her. She captured her frustration in her notebook – ‘Why on earth must I carry this utterly clumsy thing? They should invent a small foldable umbrella that could be easily put in a handbag’. A great idea – but ‘they’ hadn’t yet done it and so Slawa decided to remedy the situation. continue reading »
There Are 122 Million Reasons Why The Postal Plebiscite Makes No Sense
This convoluted mechanism is simply a poor tool for our elected representatives to use to avoid taking any real accountability.
Subject to a High Court challenge, a national postal ‘vote’ on same-sex marriage is going ahead. An opportunity existed for our government to truly act as leaders, as representatives of their electorates, and to progress Australia’s human rights agenda. Instead, a costly, voluntary, non-binding, postal opinion poll will waste a ridiculous amount of much needed public funds.The problems with the postal ‘vote’ are multifarious.
The problems with the postal ‘vote’ are multifarious.
