Usually the statement “The Power of One” is a positive, but lately I’ve been experiencing the rather negative side of that rally cry. The power of one has kept great creative ideas from leaving the agency where I work due to clients’ lack of courage combined with a frightening amount of ignorance. They ask for breakthrough ideas but chicken out when they actually get it. Fair enough but then don’t complain when the campaign has weak results and there is no shift in brand perception. The annoying thing is that it’s usually down to one person who has just enough organisational power (middle management) or perceived power (the loud-mouth/bully) to keep everyone else from pushing back. Forget trying to reason with this person. They absolutely believe that their opinions are the gospel, much like the woman who keeps coming to my door touting Watchtower but that’s another post for another day.

The power of one is also flexing it’s nasty side in what students are allowed to read in certain U.S. school districts. Growing up in Jamaica I attended a Catholic girls’ school. The nuns were a funny bunch, pious and strict but never once allowing their religious beliefs to get in the way of giving students a well rounded education which included exposing us to the realities of life outside our cushy private school walls. There was never any debate about whether or not we should be allowed to read Catcher in the Rye, and Children of Sisyphus had been on the reading list years before I attended and still is, filled with raw sexuality and urban grit. Those were some progressive nuns and I appreciate them now more than ever.

As adults and parents we are responsible for keeping our children safe—don’t stick the paper clip in the power socket, don’t go off with a stranger to look for the lost puppy, let sleeping dogs lie, etc. Freaking out if your kid gets hold of dad’s stash of Playboy is no reason to ban them from the house. In my opinion it’s a great opportunity to have a really good discussion and guess what, you may actually raise a really smart kid in the process.

I strongly believe in the formula “crap in = crap out” so be careful what you choose to omit from your children’s life.