Me too...

August 27, 2009 by Ed

Shortly before we started this new community website, I was laid off. As a matter of fact it's the other way around. I was fired and a few weeks later I started this initiative with my good old friend Giedo. Why? I was fired. Okay, shit happens... and even as it didn't happen unannounced and apart the fact that I was even glad to leave the boring institute, it nevertheless made me uncomfortable. Because I'm the sort of guy that wants to go on and do things that matter. I felt I had wasted enough time doing things that in fact didn't matter... Seen it, had it. So I took some time to think things over seriously avoiding jumping on conclusions and choosing the obvious and the safe. From now on I will only walk for the truly interesting and challenging projects that really matter, since there's no fun at all in composing your future by copying and pasting the days, months and years...

The world is changing. Rapidly. Not only the earth is warming up, but also social and business models heat up and are pretty close to explode. Old values and marketing principles perish. We had the telecoms crisis a few years ago. And here we are, in the middle of a financial one. Banks are about to crash. As car companies are about to vanish. Is this normal? Yes. Market corrections happen. Coal and steel had their era. Wind mills are booming business now. It even has a name: evolution. It's a challenge to survive in these turbulent times and circumstances as millions of men and women do fight their daily battle in an effort to keep their jobs. A lot of them unfortunately not too well prepared due to a dull and droll education system, too much emphasized on tradition and mediocrity...

I worked for six years at university colleges where I witnessed that the whole educational system despite it's good intentions, is facing the wrong way and heading the wrong direction. We ought to teach students how to survive, how to communicate and how to create new products, social networks, business models and yes, even new values! We should learn them to build and compose, not only to calculate and translate. In fact we are educating them out of creativity, a capacity each child is born with! Why do institutes, organizations and even companies keep on going the same way for many years, still believing it is the best and that there's no hurry to change? It is high time that giants learn to dance. Because if we had been thinking like that for centuries, we probably would still be living in caves, beating each other to dead for food and the neighbor's wife...

I believe in the power of history, the strength and the awareness of the successes and the mistakes of previous generations. But let's not overstate the past. Because it would be like driving a car by watching the rear-view mirror... We better focus on the future, as it's the part we will spend most of our time. And what's more: it's the only part of our life we can shape! We definitely need to look forward. Fast forward. Creativity, innovation and improvement have always been my drives, although non of my bosses ever appreciated them. Except for one with whom I had that open, honest and respectful relation which made us capable of tackling any problem we encountered and build the projects we thought to be crucial for the future. And I often ask myself: why can't his be the rule instead of the exception.

To be honest, people are not made to be supervised nor to supervise, as there will always be tension and friction where two persons go in a competitive relationship. Somewhere, very deep in our genes, we are still animals, remember... On the other side, there's a trend of increasing individualism and strive for personal freedom and independence. Growing statistics on divorces and singles as a reference. So I believe the old models are definitely outdated and new models emerge: the one of open organizations, transparent, based on shared responsibilities, mutual benefit and equality in shares, efforts and profits. In other words a flat hierarchy or none at all. Sharing and caring. Empowering each other. And that's where this initiative is all about. It's about  moving and never settling. About a new start. And don't try to be perfect, because it will make you unhappy. For the simple reason that perfection is like a horizon. Nice but intangible, unattainable and frustrating in endeavoring it. So rather than being perfect, be true, be original and remarkable! So don't me too...

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