Mags 06.08.1978

You came into my life. You enjoy my CDs,
You teach me to seize opportunities.
I’ve watched you walk the plank and survive it evermore.
I’ve watched you never fear for closing doors.

You showed me that some people actually can be real,
You shared your love and you taught me how to heal.
You taught me to trust again and showed me so many precious things.
You taught me your own real meaning of being ‘best friends’.

So I’ve learnt…

Friends are friends who come over. Over to drink.
Drink to chat. Chat to clear the air.
Air that needs clearing. Clearing spaces in time, mind, heart and soul.
Soul that might be sad or angry. Angry because life isn’t always fair.
Fair enough, because who says it ever has to be?
Be open when you feel like this because you know.
Know this is the best way to reflect you.
You that knows, lives, hurts, cries and laughs.
Laughs from the inside out whenever given the chance.
Chances taken because your subconscious decided.
Decided this is how it would be.
Be ok because you have security in that.
That place you created when you were innocent and young.
Young enough not to care about any issues but being bold.
Bold enough to live without fear.
Fear of maybe never having, losing or being without friends.
Friends who come over.

I beg you not to change but know you never will,
Because your mantra is that life must know your drill.
You’re a breeze of fresh air and this is your fuel,
You are the most honest person because you are real.

You came into my life. You enjoy my CDs,
You teach me to seize opportunities.
You taught me to trust again and showed me so many precious things.
And taught me your own real meaning of being ‘best friends’.

Cutting room floor

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, there were two people who were very close, knew each other very well while each had very different lives. They were knowledgeable and could talk about anything; the news, the world, what to put on the braai, careers and experiences…

And then one day as they sat, shooting the breeze, the marvel of a business idea to bring their two bright minds together was had. This would combine the talents of this specialist duo, from compelling marketing to technical video expertise. Out of this blend – icandi COMMUNICATIONS was born; an agency full of promise, big on ambition and a commitment to delivery.

The journey ahead of them was a dynamic animal and not just an industry with a cut-and-dried blueprint for what services it required.

Challenged to investigate what the market wanted as well as what the market didn’t know it needed, Kim (the marketing sage) and Edgar (the video guru) set out creating a company that was defined only by its intentions – and not by the industry.

These ticking brains understood that employees are an organisation’s brand behaviour. They are its manners and its protocol. They are how it talks the talk, and walks the walk. That communication is not a phrase or expression, but a way of life, from the inside of your organisation out.

Advertising never looked so different. The berth of the message started including the people at desks, front of house positions, sales, management, support staff – anyone who held a position in the company. Because if your employees aren’t convinced… well, we know what happens then.

Their journey through a decade saw the duo impress an array of clients, meet some unique briefs and even tougher deadlines, and very importantly, allowed them to cross paths with another enthusiastic and passionate human being – a talented designer with hands that were made for bringing pictures to life.

These three smart people tackled their daily tasks by looking at internal communications – not as a paper pushing department – but an intelligent and intellectual hive of activity in an organisation that needs to remain happy, healthy and effective; much like a beating heart if you think about it. The heart of a business is no different to ours that keeps us alive… Without a strong heart to drive the business’ tour-de-force, achieving their goals would be an unimaginable task to do.

So Sacha (the design maharishi), Kim and Edgar set out to become company-heart specialists – and with a professional and pliable support team of production and creative boy-and-girl geniuses – the company worked on hearts of all different types … just like you get hearts for big people and small people, short people and tall people, thin people and fat people. The trick to giving each heart the best care is knowing that every heart is different and needs its own analysis.

And just as the diagnosis of a heart problem jolts a human patient into recovery mode – a changed diet and a changed way of life – so too does the icandi COMMUNICATIONS’ dose jolt an organisation into a revived business life with renewed gusto and a yen to want to stay healthy.

By strengthening the company-heart, icandi COMMUNICATIONS drives behaviour, effects action and becomes a way of work-life for people seeing the organisation from the inside – and rouses those looking at it from the outside.

Today, ten years later, the compelling beat of the icandi COMMUNICATIONS heart can be heard in the banking, food, confectionary, finance, audits, construction and government institution arenas. The creativity is affecting, the message is effective and the power of this format puts the people at the heart of those organisations – bolstering targets from the inside out.

Do you have CEO Fatigue? Is your message an uphill journey both ways? Are the numbers in the middle fighting with the ones at the bottom and not telling the ones at the top? We suggest a dose of icandi COMMUNICATIONS. Start with one meeting and icandi COMMUNICATIONS will call you in the morning.

Now a robust company with well oiled tactics and the capabilities to grasp, create and execute your message while delivering it to your recipients first hand – nothing will go amiss between what is said and what is sent. Delving into a business's unique strategy and producing a formula for the exploration of the message, company employees will no longer want to shoot the messenger.

The strategic and creative brainpower at icandi COMMUNICATIONS have learnt and honed their skills at being adept at inspection, examination and crafting an inventory of therapy for communication blockages. With the emphasis on intelligent, heartfelt, thorough solutions, the team continuously sweats the small stuff to guarantee value for money and deliver on prompt turnaround times.

And so it comes to be, because of happier and healthier company-hearts, icandi COMMUNICATIONS continues to live happily ever after. You too can get your staff motivated. Get them knowledgeable. Get them interested. And you too can live happily every after.

Get icandified.

Wandering from the light

Sometimes you wander from where the light was shining,
but find your way back fuelled by your darkened souls pining –
For the way you always thought your life would pan out,
and now that you’re back you have absolutely no doubt…

You did stupid things at all hours of the night,
and you made people angry and started many fights.
But only because they worried and truly care about you,
and no strangers you thought you knew, can ever truly know you…

Because it takes time and life to get inside someone’s head,
and understand what they love about life – and why they are scared of being dead.
What makes them cry while sad, laughing, depressed or happy,
and why it is that we never really get out of the nappy…

We all have a crutch and a way to exist,
while we pretend we are big with such vehement persist.
We do things for reactions for ones self or with others,
while forgetting so quickly that none of this matters.

That the shoes standing on your heart – are probably yours,
because you continue to shun reality and close the same old doors.
Only inside-your-head can understand why it-is-what-it-is,
and that is the funny part, that you actually dread.

Let go of insecurity and its best-friend the paranoia squirm,
it’s all in your own head, that nobody will confirm.
And when you see it like this you will see a new is-what-it-is.
Strength, fighting survival and real emotional happiness.

And you might wander again from where that light is shining,
but you will find your way back by your darkened souls pining –
Because you know the way you thought your life would pan out,
and you know that coming back, is the only undoing of doubt.



© Dylan Balkind 2009

Stellar Bright

Frogs croak and firecrackers abound,
all I need now is a dozen fireflies around -
to make life more like a fairy tale than ever before,
but I see that it is what it is, as I stare out from the stage door.

Lightning lights up the sky that I’m looking at once again,
I see my view has changed while I immersed myself within -
a joyful energy and an upbeat rhythm inside,
a louder drum beating, keeping this rhythm alive.

You know the one, we all do actually,
we are closer to our dreams not dwelling on reality.
You can make others see it too when you open your eyes,
when you step out of the shackles, and shake off the ties.

It is the very texture of people that makes us interesting...

So you write your secret on a postcard and you send it to Frank,
and when you do that, there is only one person to thank.
The person in the mirror who let go of something deep,
and started the uphill walk, not daunted by how steep.

Because sometimes life just is, uphill both ways,
it is your commitment to the journey that will change you in a way -
a way that will remind you just where it is that you came from,
while you realign your tempo to the rhythm of a new drum.

What's interesting is that we want to be big when we are small,
that no matter how big you are, you think you’re never quite tall –
tall enough for yourself or maybe a nagging voice within,
but never letting on, preserving only the outward grin.

You can go to school each day and be drowned within,
the gossip and the bullying and the unnecessary chagrin.
Some learned times and some very wasted times at that,
until it dawns on you that inside you’re quite phat…

One day you’ll stop whining and only write about this,
seeing the lessons from your past, ensuring that you grow from it.
And then they’ll stop gossiping because they can see who you are,
a beautiful and stellar bright – star among stars.

So if you don’t like me or what I write about here,
click to another site and go search elsewhere…
For fables about life you know you see yourself in,
and surprisingly acknowledge that on your face sits a grin.

I’m proud of my journey and the diary’s I keep,
on these pages, they’re me, both strong but still weak.
I can look back with humility and remember the old me,
while I listen to the storm that blows in through the trees.

Lightning lights up the sky that I’m looking at once again,
I sip on my wine and I hear the start of the rain.
Ah... I see your view has changed while you immersed yourself within,
and surprisingly you acknowledge that on your face sits a grin.

You look back with humility and remember the old you,
and make plans to fill yet another pair of original shoes.
It is now that you know that we are all the bees knees,
while you too listen, to the storm that blows in through the trees...



© Dylan Balkind 2009

I like this . . .

“For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.”

Little Gidding II