While working for International Computers Ltd (ICL), I was fortunate enough to be trained as a transformation coach and facilitator by the change guru Miki Walleczek.
At the time, ICL was undergoing extraordinary change, moving away from hardware manufacturing into systems and services and e-business technology.
Fuelled by beyond-clever boffins used to being at the cutting edge of what was possible, the transformation potential was spine-tinglingly exciting. Tapping into our collective knowledge and skills and using our pioneer pride and sense of corporate history and culture, we embarked on a challenging business transformation campaign.
Part of this was learning to adopt out of the box thinking to achieve non linear results. Results which would result in us jumping the normal trajectory of performance.
20 years on, I am still building on my Walleczek learnings and my subsequent years in Africa and back in UK corporate-land, putting transformation theory into practice. So when something is not going to plan, or we need to do something extraordinary, I know to get creative, to look around for alternatives, to start exploring.
So when it comes to healing and pain relief, when the conventional drugs are not working and the threat of yet more medical intervention looms large, I am open to acupuncture and cranial-sacral therapy. And these do work but perhaps I am impatient or my expectation is too great.
And then, through the magic of my alternative healing doctor, Gina, I find the restorative power of Russian science and technology, the SCENAR. A handheld device which emits electrotherapy waves through my body sending messages to my nerves and brain to repair my damaged tissue, to heal, to ease pain. I am delighted to feel the difference.
So how does it work? Well it looks a bit like a TV control and sounds like a metal detector. Its placed directly on my skin where it collects electromagnetic signals from my body.
These are then modulated according to its software programme and played back to my tissues. Essentially, SCENAR uses my own internal body signals, scanning and re-transmitting these many times a second. It ‘evolves’ a new signal pattern for the disordered tissues, the machine literally entering into an information dialogue with my body. During the treatment, new frequencies and energy patterns are established, which in turn become fresh input signals, to be further modified. When it is combed over my skin the damaged tissue shows up as being sticky. So it rests on the sticky skin, beeping and communicating with me using frequencies beyond layman’s comprehension.
I think it works. I don’t exactly know how but the power of belief is such that I will it to be so. As a result, I must sound confident when, during my monthly check up with the Consultant surgeon, I explain this treatment and what I believe it’s doing for me. We discuss my current issues with the ongoing pain in my jaw and left side of my face. He seems slightly perplexed as to the extent of the neuropathogical pain but then proposes a radical departure for what I know of him.
He decides to match my belief with his own. We agree I come off all meds and I rely solely on the SCENAR. A victory! Eastern belief over Western medicine.
Footnote: Perhaps I need more SCENAR treatment but things have not quite gone to plan. I ended up at the Doctor. Back on a revised course of the meds. So it’s not transformation but change management which is needed. Sometimes all it needs is time.

Founded in 1974 as a response to violent conflict in Irish society, Glencree was where all of the political parties from Ireland, North and South, and the main parties from Britain, participated in inclusive and multilateral dialogue workshops to bring about the Irish peace process. This learning and talking, which took patience, time and perseverance, was then built on and shared with the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the South African peace and reconciliation team, survivors of Rwandan genocide and many others from all over the world who are involved in, or victims of, acts of religiously motivated or political violence.
We would wrap ourselves in the knitted patchwork blankets, created by survivors of these many atrocities and share our stories, tell our tales, practice our learning and be reminded of our amazing lives and opportunities. And the love, fear, memories and hope bound into every stitch, enveloping me in every moment, turned out to be more powerful and transformative than any facilitation certificate. Although I did receive the certificate too!!
not at all like the chaotically colourful, soft, patchwork yarns of Glencree! Wrapped inside, I look like a larvae who has enjoyed his fill of plant life. My half head protruding from its layers, I lie quietly trying to empty my mind and not fall asleep.
The research being conducted into the potential damage to the brain by holding a mobile phone near the head is a great cause of concern to the execs of the mobile phone companies. And, increasingly, Doctors like Dr Erica Mallery-Blythe are publishing their
we are re-learning to connect without the constant glancing at phones, electronics and gadgets.