Who are we?
We are a group of humans who were given the challenge and a blank canvas to rethink how Swiss business decision-makers can be sensitised to sustainability. We decided to take a playful, rebellious and immature approach and challenge our usual patterns and behaviours when trying to find solutions to problems that humanity faces these days.
In this kick-off article I’m providing a taster of this journey and invite you to have a conversation with us over a coffee (maybe on Skype).
Who are you?
Let me start with how I got involved in this challenge. In January 2017 I received a very unusual invitation to show up in Switzerland on a ReTreat to share a hunch. ‘A hunch that is time to shift our thinking around sustainability.’ As I was reading the beautifully designed invitation I had a feeling that this gathering was going to be something different than I was used to. I was invited to leave my fears behind and step into the space of courage to try things radically unusual and to be open and willing to fail.
The very first ‘strange’ thing was already hidden in the invitation. I was asked to think about who I was and not what I did. This made me consider: who I really was if I didn’t want to define myself as an entrepreneur, as a facilitator or as an outdoor educator. Based on my earlier experiences on gatherings, I just couldn’t imagine how to approach the sustainability challenge by NOT talking about what I do in life. I didn’t understand why did it matter who I was in the mission of bringing the Sustainable Development Goals closer to businesses.
Once at the ReTreat I was sitting at the dinner table, I turned to the dude sitting next to me and naturally asked: ‘So, what do you do?’. He said: ‘Here we are not asking that question, we supposed to talk about the who’. He then turned back to his conversational partner to continue a seemingly more interesting conversation about life rather than work. I felt very bizarre and challenged. At that time I didn’t know the depth of liberation that the who questions was going to bring to my life.
Less judgement.
So I’ve decided to force myself to ask very different questions when I’m meeting someone. ‘Are you afraid of death? What does vulnerability mean to you? What is one thing you want to learn and why haven’t you started yet?’ Just to name a few. I found myself in deeper and more profound conversations with my peers on conferences, with my family at the Christmas dinner and even with my high-school friends whose field of interest are very different than mine.
I’ve learnt that life is treating us similarly and we are all sitting in the same boat regardless whether you are a lawyer or a factory worker. The very same things are making us, humans, happy or sad regardless of your status and background.
Of course I’ve been challenged many times on this approach. Some of my conversational partners have been pointing out that if someone’s work is his passion then we can actually learn quite a lot about the other person. I definitely agree with that, however I believe that if we choose to kickstart a conversation with the ‘what’, our mind builds a box around the other person. A box that limits us to think freely about the possibilities that we might bring to life together as equal human beings on this earth, all facing the exact same challenges.
No planning.
In that notion we have constantly challenged ourselves throughout this experiment to let go of any personal agendas. We chose not to have any expectations.
By consciously choosing not to set any goals at the very beginning of this project, we have managed to avoid putting an unnecessary pressure on ourselves that we need to get somewhere.
I must say that being in this mindset is not easy. We collectively needed to step into the space of unknown and embrace the only thing that is for sure these days: Everything is changing around us and the pace as is faster than ever before. We needed to learn how to listen to the things that wanted to emerge within us and around us. We realised that having no objectives is actually very helpful and freeing in keeping the creative juice flowing.
We have also challenged ourselves to let go of security. We are raised to avoid making mistakes and deliver ‘life’ in a perfect manner. We know and we feel that this mindset is holding us back from trying out new things. I myself experienced this while learning how to play the guitar.
The hardest part of this process is to convince my mind that it is okay to be imperfect in front of others.
Because ‘it is impossible to get better and look good at the same time’. And that is okay. So on this journey of exploration, we chose an approach of trying, failing fast and having the courage and energy to start over again.
Walking the talk.
I’m aware that we haven’t reinvented the wheel. In fact, our journey was deeply inspired by nature (first and foremost) and various amazing people, their stories, traditions and methodologies. However due to the generous gift of the ThinkPact challenge, we had the opportunity to fully embody and live these ideas and operate from a space of courage to fill a blank canvas.
I’m also aware that we haven’t solved the challenge of bringing businesses closer to sustainability. However, I feel very strongly that the approach we’ve chosen has the potential to look at these challenges from an unusual perspective in the midst of accelerated changes in the status quo, increasing segregation between people and inadequate human responsibility .
We are currently stepping into the second phase of our journey and starting to prototype various tools that helps human collaboration. With this blog and our Stigmergy page we invite you to read about our experiences, to co-learn and co-create with us and to share your thoughts and learnings with the larger community.
All in the favour of creating a healthier and more humanistic world. For all of us.
