Nothing is fun when it is forced upon you. The same goes for one of these days most popular terms: change.

Last week I flew to Stockholm to join the ‘Own The Future’ conference hosted by Hyper Island and Hammer & Hanborg. It was a two day event for decision makers in large corporations and agencies focusing on change within Culture, Communication, Leadership, Talent and Tech.

Overall, the event was good and very well executed. However, I wasn’t a part of the intended target audience for the conference and thus the messages from most of the speakers didn’t change me in any way. Without sounding too cocky, I will go to the extend and say that every issue and challenge highlighted during the conference, we already address at The Pop Up Agency. And I actually believe, that most start-ups do.

The reason for that is point blank that we are born in a different generation that the decision makers in most companies and agencies. We are used to change — and if you are part of a start-up, you live for change. We know that consumers move faster than companies can think. Why? Because we are the consumers.

And this is where my main learning from the conference comes in. A learning that was worth the two days: Sometimes I think that what I, and we as an agency,see, everybody else sees too. A bit naive I know, but to me some things seem so obvious sometimes and I forget to reflect about the fact that most people don’t think like me. And you, probably (because you are reading this). So it was amazing to get new perspectives. The clients we get at The Pop Up Agency are already embracing change — otherwise they wouldn’t come to us. So our next job, is to reach the companies afraid of change. And more important, figuring out how to do so.

The fear of change makes sense, I think. If you’re on top of everything and driving the change, everything seems amazing — but if you are forced upon it, its most likely not as amazing. I can’t help thinking about our parents generation working more traditional jobs where technology could play a key role but where they hate it cause they feel forced to use it. I get it.

We need to think about companies the same way. Our generations, are used to an open source mindset, knowing that innovation comes from sharing and learning from each other. A lot of companies are embracing this. But more than so, a lot of companies are not. Our job is, to figure out how to facilitate change, so it seems like it is coming from within.

Until next time,
Abraham