A many-sided monster or an Octagon of Virtue?

Ken Hickson reflects on the month of October:

 Strange isn’t it that the tenth month on the calendar most of the world relies on is actually a word built on the Greek and Latin “Octo”, meaning eight (octagon or octopus), and in chemical terms meaning “having eight atoms” (octavalent).

So a man of letters like me – “a person engaged in literary pursuits, especially as a professional writer” – obviously dabbles more in the literal than the numerical - or chemical – so cannot resist the temptation to play with words, particularly as October is the month of my birth 75 years ago.

How did this month-naming switch come about? According to our current most globally- reliable source, Wikipedia, October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus (c. 750 bc), October retained its name after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally been created by the Romans.

Then I came across “10 Surprising Facts of People Born in October”, which I think gets a little mixed up with the horoscope symbol for the month, Libra. So let’s see what’s special about Octoberians, according to Santosh in Worldblaze: https://www.worldblaze.in/10-surprising-facts-about-people-born-in-october/

“People born in this month have a balanced approach to life. They normally maintain consonance between parties with brilliant diplomatic skills. They are gifted with great minds which are logical and make them great thinkers. People born in October are good when it comes to analysing situations and in most cases, come up with solutions. They give intellect first priority. Octoberians rarely get into heated arguments and they are the ones who come out of a wild party easily. It is their resolve and their calm that makes them great thinkers in whatever situation they find”.

Here's the 10 to 1 countdown:

10. They Are Peace Loving

9. They Are Fair

8. Easily Get Offended

7. They Consider Family A Priority

6. They Possess Creative Minds

5. They Tend To Throw Personal Remarks

4. Business Oriented

3. Not Good In Decision Making

2. They Have A Strong Psychological Aptitude

1. Highly Competitive

In summary then, according to Santosh, we are “born with overflowing brains full of knowledge in their minds.” That apparently makes us very competitive and charismatic with “good looks and brains which are in a single package”. Supposedly we are “successful in life” and “make a place for themselves in this world”.

Admittedly, Octoberians find it hard to make decisions, but “with the right encouragement and motivation, they normally overcome their emotions easily”.

All that being said, Octoberians - or Librans for that matter - are a well-balanced lot of people. Having a set of scales as a symbol visually shows this.

This is based on the Scales of Justice held by Themis – another Greek reference – a personification of divine law and custom. She became the inspiration for modern depictions of Lady Justice. The ruling planet of Libra is Venus, making it the only zodiac constellation in the sky represented by an inanimate object. The other eleven signs are represented either as an animal or mythological characters throughout history.

So there! We believe in the rule of law, we are law-abiding and ethical it would seem. Additional characteristics aligned with the qualities of those born in the October.

Besides using the scale as a legal or ethical symbol, it is also represents balance. Work-life balance. Keeping things in balance.

Whether it is two sides to an argument or two sides of a sheet of paper, the two equal “weights” of the scales represent balance.

So multiples of two are very important to achieve balance.

A few years ago I came up with the four E’s of Sustainability: Energy, Environment, Economy and Ethics. (See “Race for Sustainability” World Scientific.) 

I argued that we cannot be sustainable as a business, a community, a city or a country, unless we make use of those four pillars or legs. I compared it to the “triple bottom line” - People, Planet and Profit – defined by John Elkington, which I’ve been a great advocate for over the years. But as I shared with its author – I have met and talked with the much acclaimed triple bottom liner - that a three legged stool is not as good for sustainability or stability, as a four legged table or chair.

So to take this further in the month of October, I decided to see my life’s work in Octagonal terms.

As my guide, I took The Octagon in the city centre of Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand as a reference point.

It is an eight-sided plaza with a circular one-way carriageway, bisected by the city's main street, and is also the central terminus of two other main thoroughfares. The Octagon is predominantly a pedestrian reserve, with grass and paved features, and is surmounted by a statue of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.

It was first laid out during Charles Kettle's surveying of the city in 1846. The Octagon was substantially renovated during the 1980s, and is now a centre of the city's cafe culture, with many al fresco dining areas. Another literary connection is the octagonal plaque (pictured) using some words of Robert Burns and New Zealand writers James Baxter.

I divided my current work up into eight more-or-less equally weighted one-word sectors. Very scientific for a literary man!

Here goes:

1. Sustainability – or The Art of Sustainability - through my consulting business and advisory service, provided by Sustain Ability Showcase Asia (SASA), and through my speaking/lecturing/writing, most notably through case studies and profiles set out in my book “Race for Sustainability” (World Scientific 2013)  

2. Carbon – or more specifically “The ABC of Carbon”, which was the title of my 2009 book, sub-titled “The Issues and Opportunities in a global climate changed environment”. ABC Carbon started in Brisbane, Australia as a consulting business with my first website (www.abccarbon.com) in mid-2007 and led to the launch of the online newsletter – now a magazine - ABC Carbon Express in March 2008. Still going strong as an advocate for climate change action and a low carbon economy.

3. Media is a crucial sector and has at times accounted for more than one eighth share of my time and energy. As I started my working life as a newspaper journalist in Wellington, New Zealand in January 1962 – before than I was paper boy! – so my life in media adds up to at least 57 years. In the intervening period, I’ve worked in radio, television, print magazines and now devote most of my attention and energy to online and social media, including production of The Art of Travel, incorporating The Avenue for Creative Arts.

4. Communication is a sector that has at times been all consuming, particularly when I was engaged full time in running my own public relations consultancy and also when I was employed full-time in communications (PR/Media) positions. Now I’m still in demand as a communications specialist on projects and for clients. 

5. Contentment is really at the heart of The Hickson Team as we describe ourselves as a full service agency delivering “Contentment” as that’s what content is meant to provide.  We’re creating content in the form of books, case studies, opinion pieces, articles and even videos, directly for media organisations and for corporate clients or consultancies.                              

6. Management is a function that would normally take up more than an eighth of the time of a businessman. But for someone like me, who acts as Chairman and CEO of two companies, as well as Managing Editor of two online magazines, I’m a hands-on operator, who has always multi-tasked and managed to carry out projects as well as manage a support team.                                                                                                                                               

7. Promotion is what I do for worthy causes, for events and for funds. Some of this is pro bono, like the work done over the years for community, humanitarian or environmental organisations, like WWF, or the international charity Cycling Without Age. I have been engaged professionally to promote funds like Armstrong Asset Management’s Clean Energy Fund for Southeast Asia and more recently NGOs like PEFC – Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification.

 8. Mentoring takes an increasingly important place in the octagonal equation due to the experience, network, contacts and expertise I’ve amassed over the years. I get called on – or offer – to mentor younger, fitter and very capable people who feel they might be able gain “added value” from me. But to be effective as a mentor I must continue to network and maintain (and expand) my connections, whether in person by attending an endless stream of events or through membership of groups online, most gainfully through LinkedIn.  

Of course, not one of the eight sides of my Octagonal model is self-contained. They are connected to each other, just like all issues and opportunities we encourager in business or in dealing with global problems like climate change. No one answer. No single solution. Everything is connected as the UN makes very clear in coming up with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

I’ll never forget the excellent television series in the 1970s called Connections, a 10-episode series and 1978 book, created, written, and presented by science historian James Burke.

Everything is connected and while I’m not proposing my Octagon as the ultimate business model, it does clearly demonstrate that everything is connected. Just as manufacturers and suppliers in the world of business have to recognise and adopt the Circular Economy, an Octagonal approach might well work the same way, by doing away with silos or self-contained processes to show “there’s no end in sight”.

To end on a lighter note, it is pleasing to the eyes and the nose to recognise that the birth-flower for we Octoberians is Calendula, a genus of about 15–20 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the daisy family that are often known as marigolds.

I’ve learnt that the Calendula species have been used traditionally as culinary and medicinal herbs. The petals are edible and can be used fresh in salads or dried and used to colour cheese or as a replacement for saffron. A yellow dye has been extracted from the flowers.

But to the Romans and Greeks – here we go again! - they apparently used the golden calendula in many rituals and ceremonies, sometimes wearing crowns or garlands made from the flowers. One of its nicknames is "Mary's Gold," referring to the flowers' use in early Catholic events in some countries. Calendula flowers are sacred flowers in India and have been used to decorate the statues of Hindu deities since early times.

Didn’t intend to bring religious into it, but it just goes to show how all-encompassing is the month October. From Octo to the Libra symbol of the “ethical” scales. From seeing life and work in an eight sided Octagon to valuing the multipurpose, sweet smelling Marigold as our birth flower.

All that’s left is for us is to extend the circle of life – or the well-connected and virtuous Octagon – to turn this Octoberian into an Octogenarian.

It also makes me want to change the age-old Shakespearian quote from “As you like it”:

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. 

Just as our Octagon has eight sides and we’ve shown eight very well-connected sectors, we can definitely see at least Eight Ages of Man – and women of course, who are mostly outliving the male of the species.

Octo rules. Eight times over.