Matt hocking: leap media, goodfest, b corporation - cornwall
In order to effect change, it seems we need 5 crucial steps: Be willing to See and acknowledge the issue we need to change; Decide you are in fact going to Do something about it; Connect with others to gain support, new ideas and collective clout; Find ways to Sustainyour own energies to ensure you don't burn out; and use your experience and energy to Inspire others to take action so we make the change become exponential. On that basis, we asked Matt what he reckons ...
1 What issue do you see or come across that awakens the creative disruptor in you, and why does it matter to you the way it does?
Everything that is designed, be it a road, a loaf of bread, website, book, our human world is designed and design is a powerful tool for change, yet it’s not necessaryily empowered to take the lead/action. Everyone’s heard me say this but 80% of environmental impact is decided at the design stage. So from education through to profession we need more education and direction over what we do today and how it impacts tomorrow. My biggest individual area currently is around the eco movement being too fucking soft and huggable still and it’s maverick nature needs to be pushed (although you will see later I still hug) and with the gradual global financial system collapse, human migration we will see an ever increasing rise in homelessness (you’ve noticed haven’t you local, in cities around the UK, globally?) - how can we use design to create awareness and intervention of this ever increasing issue. Cornwall for instance has the highest per capita of homeless in the UK I believe.
2 What action are you actually taking to tackle this, and how do you feel about what you do?
I tackle everything with optimism, it’s my nature, the big stuff and the small stuff. Leap is my/our and our clients tool for creating change; as I creative/designer I feel incredibly grateful to have a skill that I perceive as being so useful and why would anyone not use their skills to make a difference. So how do I feel? I quote this a lot, from Blur’s Parklife: Change trousers to shorts, tea to water! The hightlighted red bit below is the key bit to how I feel. As to actions again our studio is the action, in 2017 we used 8.5% of our turnover to support social and environmental issues where clients may not have necessarily had the budget to achieve all they wanted with us, this allowed everything from Surfers Against Sewage Be the Change schools programme to happen in the best possible visual way to supporting other creatives by sharing our knowledge of eco design methods and materials.
With the homeless issue I wish to address which is around increased awareness and an alternative way to fundraise and invest I will again be using our creative skills for design and web to join up the people dots and show the issue to a wider yet more personal audience. Will it work? I don’t know but we’ve got to try and take ideas from our noggins into the real world.
I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea and
I think about leaving the house (parklife)
I feed the pigeons I sometimes feed the sparrows too it gives me
a sense of enormous wellbeing (parklife)
And then I'm happy for the rest of the day
safe in the knowledge there will always be
a bit of my heart devoted to it (parklife)
All the people
So many people
And they all go hand in hand
Hand in hand through their
Read more: Blur - Parklife Lyrics | MetroLyrics
3 How important do you think it is to reach out to and work with others as you work for this change, and how do you do it?
We have to, we have to share, embrace, learn/teach, be open, if we want a one planet future then the normal ways of doing things can’t apply. We are in this together, generation after generation, looking long not short but the future is now (yikes I am sounding like a right hippy/tol). My reaching is by showing and sharing in any way I can, facebook, twitter and especially Instagram ( @leapness ) where I share the Why, What and How at times with client projects so others are hopefully curious enough to try for themselves, to think to design differently to share themselves.
Collaboration is everything, we make start something acting alone but we need the community of other to be that greater change and sustain ourselves. It’s one of the biggest reasons I’m so frickin' proud that Leap is s a certified B Corporation, one of over 2500 (and growing) businesses in the world recognised for measuring what matters (our teams, our environment, our customers and our governance as well as our impacts) and using our business as a force for good. The combined community is worth over $16billion with $1billion of that from UK businesses (UK community began in 2015)
4 How do you keep that fire in your belly alight without it causing you to burn out? How do you sustain your energies and look after you, and crucially, what’s your advice to others?
People are my power source, I love team, I love the catalytic nature of a room of ideas and and actions. I’m actually quite an introvert as surprising as that might seem to people who see me as an extrovert. And although I may be in a room I may not be interacting. I love the people I’ve met along the way, clients that have become friends, confidants; they fire up my people based dynamos, some days I am so wired I’m surprised I’m not doing Thor impressions and playing with lightning bolts. Basically find your people, those that fire you up and those you can fire up so you can each fuel each other. We are/should be a collaborative species go collaborate.
5 Positive change is contagious. Sometimes all that's needed for someone to take action is to see someone else doing something about it. So … how do you use your experience to inspire others?
Just by trying to be the most authentic me, I have my doubt’s, I can be wrong, right, but ultimately I believe in doing, and with belief becomes a realness that will inspire some, or at least light them up enough to inspire themselves to do more. To be accessible, to share, to smile and at the end of the day be a nut, or be a follower either way to be be part of a one planet movement. We just need to dance more:
1 What issue do you see or come across that awakens the creative disruptor in you, and why does it matter to you the way it does?
Everything that is designed, be it a road, a loaf of bread, website, book, our human world is designed and design is a powerful tool for change, yet it’s not necessaryily empowered to take the lead/action. Everyone’s heard me say this but 80% of environmental impact is decided at the design stage. So from education through to profession we need more education and direction over what we do today and how it impacts tomorrow. My biggest individual area currently is around the eco movement being too fucking soft and huggable still and it’s maverick nature needs to be pushed (although you will see later I still hug) and with the gradual global financial system collapse, human migration we will see an ever increasing rise in homelessness (you’ve noticed haven’t you local, in cities around the UK, globally?) - how can we use design to create awareness and intervention of this ever increasing issue. Cornwall for instance has the highest per capita of homeless in the UK I believe.
2 What action are you actually taking to tackle this, and how do you feel about what you do?
I tackle everything with optimism, it’s my nature, the big stuff and the small stuff. Leap is my/our and our clients tool for creating change; as I creative/designer I feel incredibly grateful to have a skill that I perceive as being so useful and why would anyone not use their skills to make a difference. So how do I feel? I quote this a lot, from Blur’s Parklife: Change trousers to shorts, tea to water! The hightlighted red bit below is the key bit to how I feel. As to actions again our studio is the action, in 2017 we used 8.5% of our turnover to support social and environmental issues where clients may not have necessarily had the budget to achieve all they wanted with us, this allowed everything from Surfers Against Sewage Be the Change schools programme to happen in the best possible visual way to supporting other creatives by sharing our knowledge of eco design methods and materials.
With the homeless issue I wish to address which is around increased awareness and an alternative way to fundraise and invest I will again be using our creative skills for design and web to join up the people dots and show the issue to a wider yet more personal audience. Will it work? I don’t know but we’ve got to try and take ideas from our noggins into the real world.
I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea and
I think about leaving the house (parklife)
I feed the pigeons I sometimes feed the sparrows too it gives me
a sense of enormous wellbeing (parklife)
And then I'm happy for the rest of the day
safe in the knowledge there will always be
a bit of my heart devoted to it (parklife)
All the people
So many people
And they all go hand in hand
Hand in hand through their
Read more: Blur - Parklife Lyrics | MetroLyrics
3 How important do you think it is to reach out to and work with others as you work for this change, and how do you do it?
We have to, we have to share, embrace, learn/teach, be open, if we want a one planet future then the normal ways of doing things can’t apply. We are in this together, generation after generation, looking long not short but the future is now (yikes I am sounding like a right hippy/tol). My reaching is by showing and sharing in any way I can, facebook, twitter and especially Instagram ( @leapness ) where I share the Why, What and How at times with client projects so others are hopefully curious enough to try for themselves, to think to design differently to share themselves.
Collaboration is everything, we make start something acting alone but we need the community of other to be that greater change and sustain ourselves. It’s one of the biggest reasons I’m so frickin' proud that Leap is s a certified B Corporation, one of over 2500 (and growing) businesses in the world recognised for measuring what matters (our teams, our environment, our customers and our governance as well as our impacts) and using our business as a force for good. The combined community is worth over $16billion with $1billion of that from UK businesses (UK community began in 2015)
4 How do you keep that fire in your belly alight without it causing you to burn out? How do you sustain your energies and look after you, and crucially, what’s your advice to others?
People are my power source, I love team, I love the catalytic nature of a room of ideas and and actions. I’m actually quite an introvert as surprising as that might seem to people who see me as an extrovert. And although I may be in a room I may not be interacting. I love the people I’ve met along the way, clients that have become friends, confidants; they fire up my people based dynamos, some days I am so wired I’m surprised I’m not doing Thor impressions and playing with lightning bolts. Basically find your people, those that fire you up and those you can fire up so you can each fuel each other. We are/should be a collaborative species go collaborate.
5 Positive change is contagious. Sometimes all that's needed for someone to take action is to see someone else doing something about it. So … how do you use your experience to inspire others?
Just by trying to be the most authentic me, I have my doubt’s, I can be wrong, right, but ultimately I believe in doing, and with belief becomes a realness that will inspire some, or at least light them up enough to inspire themselves to do more. To be accessible, to share, to smile and at the end of the day be a nut, or be a follower either way to be be part of a one planet movement. We just need to dance more:
And finally … if someone came up to you in a pub or a cafe and said they were fed up/enfuriated/anxious about something they felt was wrong or needed to change...what would you say?
Change it, or find the change makers already on it and join forces, share the journey, you don’t have to do it alone. But you may need to be the spark that ignites or find that spark and you help it ignite. Sit down with me, let's break bread - or break a pint:) Well done on reaching out (especially if they didn’t know me), it just may be I can help connect some of your dots, or not. It’s the time of the doer, there is more activism than ever before and you aren’t alone, you are so very connected. Just stop thinking and start doing. Be that agent of change. And then I’d probably hug them….
How a Hug Changes Two Lives
If you give to a charity, you often experience feelings of pride and satisfaction: You’ve done something good and that makes you feel good. (Whether it really should or not is a different discussion.) However, when we see people in pain, most of us respond with a sense of empathy—we feel the wounded person’s pain as if we were in their shoes. When you feel empathy and, to a degree, experience someone else's pain, you might need a big hug as much as the wounded soul does.
Skin contact is essential for our overall well-being; research shows that “skin hunger” actually does exist. Stress causes our bodies to produce cortisol, which increases the likelihood that new social alliances or connections can develop. Oxytocin production amps up when we are touched by another caring human. Our bodies are made to provide and respond to physical comfort, so next time you see someone in pain or feel as if the world is crumbling around you, open yourself to a hug.
The healing process begins with a touch and embrace. It’s just that simple.