We can count the dough or kick a flow
Or chill out watching videos
Or actin really silly yo but really doe
All that can end
Whether at the bar with superstars
Or cruisin in the trooper car
I really don’t care who you are
All I really need is a friend.
By Blast Master KRS1
Sometimes all you really need is a friend. But in the fight against racism, you need more then that.
You need allies.
Today I visited my friends at the Martin James Group. As is usual I was greeted with warm hugs and smiles from some very dear friends and former colleagues. Its hard explain but the feeling you get when your amongst real friends is a feeling you feel in your heart. You just feel safe.
It took me back to my first encounter with Jim and Ayyab Cockburn in August 2020. I was had recently taken a sabbatical from my work within the child care sector and as such had taken the opportunity to formalise the anti-racism training that I had been delivering to residential teams for the past 20 years.
I had started my own company in 2017 and been successful in delivering support services to many residential services but during that time the anti-racism training was just part of the informal training that my tams had benefitted from. But in the summer of 2020 the world was very different as the world was becoming increasingly aware of the racial pandemic that sat alongside the viral pandemic.
As the world searched for answers, explanations and cures for the virus many leaders and professionals were searching just as diligently for answers as to why the world seemed to be no the verge of a race war.
As I began to receive more and more enquires for brave conversations about systemic racism that so often leads to tragic killings of men such as witnessed in the George Floyd murder, I recognised the need to formalise my theories and training.
However there was an small issue. Well actually I say small the issue was actually gargantuan. How do I deliver training to a newly conscious general public at a time when all and sundry have been instructed by the government to stay in their homes!
You see I am used to striding around training rooms with my considerably large frame and interacting with those on my training and was not particularly sure how to respond to the this global inconvenience.
It was at this point where fortune indeed smiled upon the brave.
During an of the cuff conversation with a close friend, Kofi who is a director of Kingston Noble recruitment agency he became very excited when I spoke to him about formalising the anti racism training I had been delivering.
Part way through my rambling he interrupted. Not rude. But assertive.
Cliff you must speak to Jim and Ayyab! He said. As happens in so many conversations wasn’t sure why he had said what he said and to be fair I kind of just skimmed past it with a oh yeah are they friends of yours? Fully intending to return to my point about the training programme.
I began again.
So Kofi the fact is that people are scared to talk about the real issues that surround racism and…
Kofi cut me off once more.
Cliff. Get of the phone.
What? I interjected.
Cliff give me five minutes. I’m calling Jim and Ayyab you have to meet them. I’ll call you back.
And with that he hung up.
It happened just like that. I was left standing in my garden holding the phone and quite confused as to what on earth my friend Kofi was on about and who the heck was Jim and Ayyab?
5 minutes passed and as promised the phone rang.
Hey Kofi.
Right Cliff I have just spoken to Jim and he and Ayyab have agreed to meet you in 2 days.
Kofi went on to explain exactly who Jim and his wife Ayyab were. Although I was given a lot of information that morning regarding Jim’s organisation the Martin James Group, one thing that Kofi said stood out.
The Martin James Group and the Martin James Foundation are a group of companies with a social conscious that are committed to using technology to improve society by bringing people together.
I was now very intrigued. They sounded like my kind of people.
So we met at the groups head offices in Edgebaston in Birmingham.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. I am used to senior managers who are unrelatable and generally only concerned with their own agenda. Stand offish dismissive and driven by anxiety.
What I found in that initial meeting was so wonderfully different it was truly inspiring.
Both welcomed me with smiles and excitement from the moment the door opened. Light hearted banter filled the room and I was welcomed in without a hint of reservation. This is something that does not often happen. As a black male I am all to familiar with walking on egg shell moment that accompanies many of my initial meeting as people battle with their own bias and fight to ignore the stereotypes that are trying to hijack their brain with though flooding from their hippocampus.
I was struck by how easy it was for me to be myself and how little code switching and assimilation was necessary. What’s more they attentively listened and took notes, pausing only to look at each other and nod in approval or prior to asking a question. Believe me it was like impressive to see. There was a real sense of telepathy between them.
Now bare in mind that at this point I am in this meeting with these wonderful people to just tell them about what I am doing as It may be of interest to them. But nothing more.
As the meeting drew to a close to my surprise Jim nodded at Ayyab once more prior to turning to back to me.
We think we can help you develop this.
I responded with my very profound response of, what?
Give me a couple of days Cliff and I’ll be in touch.
After a few more meetings I was officially in a partnership with the Jim and welcomed into the MJG.
There goal from the outset was to help me to develop my organisation as they truly understood the role that anti-racism training would have in creating a fearless race of people who were not afraid of talking about race and developing a diverse and equitable society for all.
During my weekly meetings with Jim and Ayyab they helped me develop the organisation to still be able to deliver training even though the entire planet was on lock down.
This is how the training was converted from a face to face course to a programme that could be delivered online. There was such a buzz about helping me push the boundaries of what was possible when delivering anti racism training that we began to think bigger in all aspects.
The training manual was now supported by incredible bespoke video footage and the resources we eagerly provided to develop the e-learning suite.
Along with this came the rebranding that saw us re introduced to the sector as AboutFace training.
Throughout this process what was notable was that there was such trust in our partnership and such a deep desire to see the training develop and begin influence the raining sector that I was asked to just create and innovate. There was little pressure but a huge amount of encouragement.
I had truly developed a great friendship with not only Jim and Ayyab but the entire MJG.
But this is what I want you to consider as a the main learning point in this blog.
As friends and business partners I received not only love kindness and respect along the journey in developing AboutFace but the MJG went further than simply offering me encouragement and pats on the back.
They invested time money and resources to help me. They promoted the training and even though I am no longer part of the MJG I am still supported by the group who are instrumental in promoting the work we do as well as being purchasers themselves.
They are the embodiment of what happens when friendships go a stage further and demonstrate acts of allyship. The Martin James Group are lead by Jim and Ayyab and hold fast to the own mission of building a fearless future by working with social conscious companies and empowering them to make significant contributions to improving the world.
I will be forever grateful to Kofi for the introduction and to Jim and Ayyab for the belief they showed in me during the early days of AboutFace.
Martin James Group:
Phenomenal friends.
Unbelievable Allies.
Cliff Faulder
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