Some of my friends would say this is an idle pretext to write about my recently discovered devotion to a particular Rugby Union team. Maybe it is. They are, after all, magnificent in every way and so thoroughly deserving of that trophy.
And somehow the name is so fitting, together with their tribal, primal haka ritual that precedes every match and creates such an atmosphere, calling the ancestors into the contest, connecting to sky and earth.
But it has also made me think about the colour black and where it sits in my Neon world. “Which colours are Neon colours?” I am sometimes asked. My answer is usually something along the lines of “It doesn’t really matter, so long as there is colour.” And while black for some denotes the absence of colour, I take a very different position. Black is a definite colour, a definite position, possibly not one that is often mainstream or even perhaps, one that is not always welcomed. But it is a definite colour. And for me, perhaps an even more important one for that.
The associations of the colour black have been interesting and at times provocative, if not political over the years, as it has become mixed up in debates on race. Even aside from that, is it a colour that is usually associated with negative things? Not according to the best rugby team ever seen, I’m sure. Sometimes it is perhaps associated with power and supremacy. And yes, perhaps sometimes conflict and threat. A polarising colour perhaps?
Even if we settle for that, one thing for me is clear — black counts! It has a place in the colour spectrum and it has a place in a Neon world. What would you associate with black in your organisational culture? With conflict perhaps? And is that avoided and feared, or embraced as a vehicle to diverse thinking and change? With negativity perhaps, and the frustation and disengagement of the workforce? Of conviction, passion and pride perhaps?
As the All Blacks leave the World Cup leaving a trail of respect and true class in their wake, I am left with a renewed sense of connection to the colour Black. Another gift to me from Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and their mighty teammates.