I have always thought that grey is an ultra-conservative, largely depressing and a frankly characterless colour that makes me think of battleships and getting old. It’s a fact that my hair is going grey, and very light grey in places, and that when I look in the mirror these days, I see an ageing chap sympathetically gazing back at me. Is grey therefore a colour worthy of dismissal and avoidance at all costs?
But, and I reflected upon this weighty matter on my way to work this morning (in the rain and the traffic); grey isn’t as bad as I have portrayed above. Grey is actually something that you can associate with experience and maturity, and these are good things! Here is some evidence of my latest, if slightly bizarre, thinking.
When I was a teenager, I saw everything in black and white (or right and wrong or good or bad, if you prefer). I had an opinion on most things and was prepared to share it. As I got older, I began to appreciate that black or white rather depended upon perspective and that when you were prepared to consider anything from an alternative perspective, shades of grey (or more encompassing thought) replaced black or white.
Having a very strong opinion on something is okay, don’t get me wrong, but before you share those opinions, it is worth being completely sure of your facts and it is worth considering how others might think because otherwise you run the risk of looking, and sounding like an idiot! In this context, grey is arguably a safe colour, the colour of balance.
This maturing of thought was important when I became a manager of people in the workplace. “My way or the highway”, which is black and white management thinking, is bad for morale and for developing your colleagues, and a more inclusive approach is necessary to get the best out of a team or achieve the best result for the business. In a spectrum of black to white, grey is therefore the colour of engagement.
This week has seen racism popping up in the news again (thanks to football) and this is another space where ‘grey’ is so much better than ‘black or white’ thinking! In this context grey is the colour of multicultural Britain.
And finally, this weekend Simon Hoggart wrote in the Guardian (14/07/12) about “Fifty Shades of Grey” the erotic trilogy of books by E. L. James. His comment, ‘porn for real people’, makes grey sound so very much more exciting. Mrs Baldwin has her copies and I’ll be looking forward to finding out how she gets on with them.
Grey can represent experience, maturity, perspective, engagement, multiculturalism, safety, excitement and balance. And that doesn’t feel dull at all.
I’ll admit that this piece is a bit whimsical, a random thought just popped into my head and I started writing as a result – just indulgent nonsense perhaps? Have you been engaged though? Would your answer be‘yes’ or ‘no’ (think black or white) or would it be ‘grey’?
My favourite colours are orange (God knows what I’d write about that), brown and then red, in that order, but from now onwards I’ll be more positively disposed towards grey! The hair, well it can go grey without the interference from ‘Just For Men’. From now on, it’s not so much about getting old; surely it’s more Zen like, and about achieving self-enlightenment? Or am I just kidding myself?
Grey is great – and you read it here first!
And for readers of the Fifty Shades series; please let me know if you agree.
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But, and I reflected upon this weighty matter on my way to work this morning (in the rain and the traffic); grey isn’t as bad as I have portrayed above. Grey is actually something that you can associate with experience and maturity, and these are good things! Here is some evidence of my latest, if slightly bizarre, thinking.
When I was a teenager, I saw everything in black and white (or right and wrong or good or bad, if you prefer). I had an opinion on most things and was prepared to share it. As I got older, I began to appreciate that black or white rather depended upon perspective and that when you were prepared to consider anything from an alternative perspective, shades of grey (or more encompassing thought) replaced black or white.
Having a very strong opinion on something is okay, don’t get me wrong, but before you share those opinions, it is worth being completely sure of your facts and it is worth considering how others might think because otherwise you run the risk of looking, and sounding like an idiot! In this context, grey is arguably a safe colour, the colour of balance.
This maturing of thought was important when I became a manager of people in the workplace. “My way or the highway”, which is black and white management thinking, is bad for morale and for developing your colleagues, and a more inclusive approach is necessary to get the best out of a team or achieve the best result for the business. In a spectrum of black to white, grey is therefore the colour of engagement.
This week has seen racism popping up in the news again (thanks to football) and this is another space where ‘grey’ is so much better than ‘black or white’ thinking! In this context grey is the colour of multicultural Britain.
And finally, this weekend Simon Hoggart wrote in the Guardian (14/07/12) about “Fifty Shades of Grey” the erotic trilogy of books by E. L. James. His comment, ‘porn for real people’, makes grey sound so very much more exciting. Mrs Baldwin has her copies and I’ll be looking forward to finding out how she gets on with them.
Grey can represent experience, maturity, perspective, engagement, multiculturalism, safety, excitement and balance. And that doesn’t feel dull at all.
I’ll admit that this piece is a bit whimsical, a random thought just popped into my head and I started writing as a result – just indulgent nonsense perhaps? Have you been engaged though? Would your answer be‘yes’ or ‘no’ (think black or white) or would it be ‘grey’?
My favourite colours are orange (God knows what I’d write about that), brown and then red, in that order, but from now onwards I’ll be more positively disposed towards grey! The hair, well it can go grey without the interference from ‘Just For Men’. From now on, it’s not so much about getting old; surely it’s more Zen like, and about achieving self-enlightenment? Or am I just kidding myself?
Grey is great – and you read it here first!
And for readers of the Fifty Shades series; please let me know if you agree.
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