Three linkybrains walked into a bar…
// If you haven’t yet come across Linkybrains, it was a term I first heard coined by Alex Dunsdon and a movement pioneered by Doug Scott and Chris Tottman. //
Following my first call with the global linkybrain community Guillaume, it’s time for China’s first linkybrain confession.
As a pre-warning: this is a stream of consciousness of both my own and messages that resonated from other linkybrainers to contribute towards shedding light on my take of the ‘linkyweb’ — the slightly chaotic, but hyper-connected ‘interweb’ of linkybrainers thoughts.
If you search Linkybrains on LinkedIn you’ll see a series of posts from linkybrainers which should add context and will make this make more sense…maybe.
—
Imposter syndrome.
When Doug First messaged me and suggested I add ‘Underboss at Linkbrains’, I took a few days to think about it - and then did the very British thing of laughing it off and avoiding it.
Me? A linkybrain underboss? Despite not knowing what it was, I felt I was underqualified. Even when I did, I still initially left off underboss. After reading so many linkybrains imposter syndrome confessions I realised why, and suddenly felt (more) at home.
The beauty of connections (& linkys)
// Inspired by ~ Emily De Groot, Linkybrains //
“I believe in people, communities, collaboration, connections, empathy, kindness, the power of we. People can transform things.”
“p.s. I want to use my brain to mix for good +for profit to create a better world.”
“I connect the dots by structure and seeing things as networks/links. If that makes any sense to anyone?”
It was like reading a stream from my own consciousness. For those of you who know me, our side project, and the fascination with communities, social impact and a world of relationship networks .
Within all this thinking, there is a firm belief we hold close:
With the right people, we can solve any problem.
Whether through data, technology or even just through people — we’re right now focused on working out how we can find those right people and help link them together.
Life and work
I often live life in spectrums of extremes — but the strangest part is both sides feel completely normal.
Whether leaving afive-star hotels in LA to instead stay in a couchsurfers house (which as it turns out resulted in experiencing what was an ‘interesting’ few days which I thought might be the last…).
Being equally comfortable hitchhiking across Europe, as I would be in a first class flight with BA.
Or even leaving my job in Mergers & Acquisitions in London, to join a no-name startup with only squat-hole toilets in Guangzhou, China.
In some strange way, by living on both extremes I try and maintain balance.
Hidden Manifestation of words
The words we use reveal a lot about ourselves and how we define ourselves.
As an observation, I find it utterly bizarre that recently people have started to refer to people as ‘humans’ so that we can delineate between ourselves and machines. We’re building a strange world.
There’s a lot of hidden meaning manifesting in the words we use — the story of Tesco’s ‘Punters’ to ‘Customers’ comes to mind.
In a sense, those who come forward and define themselves as part of the linkybrain movement in itself also means something — but only time will tell.
Linkybrain Logic
For some reason, many years ago I thought moving to China, India, Singapore (to get exposure to Indonesia) or Hong Kong would be a (linkybrain) sensible thing to do. In the end, I chose China.
It was the same sense that told me to invest into Tencent, JD, Youku in 2014.
And it also told me to back the entrepreneurs behind Aire.io (London), Purple.AI (Manchester) and Pathao (Bangladesh) amongst a few others.
It’s the same ‘logic’ that makes me have a huge appreciation for creatives and art (despite having no tangible creative skills) and always found it inspires a new way perspective on problems in other domains like finance and technology, like a new tool in the toolbox.
But despite these activities being seemingly unrelated, for me seem incredibly intertwined. They have each taught me so much (and yet so much more to learn) all towards the same but much larger purpose of life.
Le(a)pers — heretics of traditional thinking
Chris Tottman and Alex Dunsdon referred to the ‘Leap’, which I guess would make me a Le(a)per.
1. There are tons of smart, creative, dot-connecting leap making people out there.
// There’s a small but active community and we are in constant search of others that share the same view, we just need better ways of identifying them (or unlocking them in others).//
2. We know they can feel isolated, misunderstood and the world often doesn’t recognise their value
// Whilst maybe isolated in thinking, we’re thankfully not alone. We’ve also been blessed with the patience of linkybrain sympathisers (potentially closet linkybrains) to whom, I atleast, owe alot. //
3. That the world and its institutions (Corporates / financiers etc) are not built to get the most out of them. In fact they dampen and nullify them.
// When we think about the dynamics of why institutions exist, it might be worth considering whether the assumptions still remain true?
With technology today, is the cost of communication inside an organisation more efficient than between those outside?
Do the advantages of economies of scale still exist vs the aggregation of the collective? (“Marriott wants to offer 30,000 more rooms this year. We will add them in two weeks” ~ Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO Jan 2014)
In time of change when trust in institutions has faltered, is there a better mode of distributed cooperation as a collective? There might be an opportunity to redefine the enterprise…//
4. They don’t have a huge voice yet humanity advances because of them. It needs their linky, exponential leaps.
// Do we need a loud voice if we have the whispers, hearts and minds of many? Introverts are a silent army of the wise. //
5. We know environment matters. You can take a 2 out of 10er and, with the right stage they become a 10/10er.
//
Sharing Energy
“My real passions on earth: connecting myself with new people, sharing energy, helping when I can help and connecting people between them.”
// Well said. //
Learning
I was told by a wise man (hat tip: Charlie Hung) to listen to podcasts & books on 2.5x speed.
I’ve never looked back — it’s a game changer.
What I don’t understand yet is why more people haven’t followed suit.
Most of my learning otherwise comes through surrounding myself (both digitally and physically) with interesting people.
There’s something to be learned from everyone, especially where people have strange overweighted strengths in one area.
My dream team is like the Oceans 11 eclectic gang of misfits with their own special ability (in addition to being incessantly curious & socially conscious leaders).
The art of the possible
Whats exciting is that with this motley crew, this future might just happen.
One last thing…
Whilst so many possibilities exist, there is only future that will be realised.
I hope the future we choose to build, is the one that we really want — not just for us, but the generations after us.
I hope we can rebalance the economics of what’s rewarded and what’s valuable.
Bring better equality, with a sacrifice that doesn’t feel like compromise.
Where we can build a sense of belonging for all and form communities around a shared purpose.
Let’s Link(y)brains and come together as one.
Wish to connect? Ping me on Mahdi@Guanxi.AI
