It is February and there seems to be a whiff of spring in the air. The spring flowers are in the shops but only shooting in my garden so far. The pigeons are getting a bit frisky and before you know where you are it will be Shrove Tuesday and half term!
What has been on our minds? I cannot have a conversation with anyone without us discussing Mr. Bates v the Post Office. We have all been moved by it. We cannot believe our eyes or that it has gone on so long; the years that people have been struggling to get it looked at properly, taken seriously, to have the chain of events scrutinized, to find the truth. We still flinch when someone says, “The story of the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history”. It reeks of the summary justice of the seventeenth century not the twenty first century. We are horrified by the cruelty of the Post Office managers and the total lack of honesty and responsibility at board level.
People are asking why the nation’s TV watchers have taken the whole issue to their hearts. The general public is making the powers that be focus on it. We created and signed a petition, so the House of Commons was forced to debate the issue. Questions are now being asked. Fujitsu has for the first time admitted they could access and alter postmasters’ accounts. The infallible, robust Horizon system was anything but and finally it has been admitted. Now there are even suspicions a previous IT system in the Post office was also faulty. Questions are being asked about who knew what and when. CBEs have been handed back and the Chairman is looking for a new job. Much is being talked about in terms of speeding things up to pay people compensation.
So why have we taken the postmasters to our hearts?
It was a brilliant script. The facts were portrayed in a completely accessible way. We know these people and entered into their stories: who they are, how they ended up in trouble and how they dealt with it in their own individual ways. They are everyday people just like us. We have had problems with helplines and been told we are wrong but not with such massive consequences. We felt their pain, the shock, the confusion, the fear and the shame. There was guilt at letting families down. There was humiliation at how communities suddenly saw them. There was hopelessness. There was self-blame. There was terrible mental illness and people so desperate their only way out was to take their own lives. We were there with them in it all.
The actors were brilliant. There were many well-known faces who inhabited the characters. I heard several of the real characters talk about how the actors portraying them really got it. Showing us the anguish. As well as the postmasters in agony their partners, parents, and tiny children all showed the pain. Who will forget those two small children bullied by their schoolmates and taunted by “your dad is a thief”. We know these people. We feel what they feel.
We were drawn into the stories. We could almost taste Jo’s cakes. We saw Alan always on the phone or the PC, never prepared to give up but always looking for a new angle to attack and forward the cause. Just when we thought we could take no more we had to take more.
What was it?
It was genuine and deep empathy. Sympathy is about feeling distress at a logical level. Empathy is much deeper than that. Our hearts and emotions are with the characters as they confront situations. We are drawn in so deeply that we know how it feels to be suddenly rocked to our very core whether it is shock that British justice just isn’t or the desperation of a mother with terminal cancer or feeling so ashamed we cannot go out and face anyone. We have so many feelings and I guess like me as you felt them you cried. Even some of the tough nuts like Bob Rutherford, cried.
The empathy grew deeper with each episode as we grew closer to the characters and the relentless persecution. It changed as situations changed. I know I went to bed after the first episode which ended with Alan saying, “None of us will be the only one ever again”, feeling lighter and with hope. It was strange roller coaster.
So why am I telling this story? I started because I think empathy is one of the most important talents for a successful businessperson. Really engaging in people’s lives, walking in their shoes, looking out at the world through their eyes is vital. Doing what the marketeers say we must, in building an avatar of our customers, identifying and feeling their pain and then offering a service or product that alleviates it. The better our empathy the better our service.
However, that feels a bit cheap. The empathy we feel for what might be as many as 3500 postmasters and their families, friends, and communities, must not go to waste. We need to do something with it. We have MPs, let’s write to them about getting people’s cases quashed and compensation paid. Let’s push them to investigate the Post Office, Fujitsu, and any in government – who knew and who should take responsibility. What action should be taken against them? It is election year, let’s question all our MP candidates about their commitment to getting these terrible cases reviewed. Let’s ask them what they will do if they get into power. Let’s hold people to account but not just now in February 2024 until the last case is resolved.
For those of you who might be new to my Thought, if my values are the same as yours, maybe we should talk about how I can help you in your world so please call me. However, whatever you think about me please do not forget the postmasters. Let’s take action to help them at the front of politicians’ minds until they receive the justice they deserve.