The refugees of a revolution
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We are makers.
We were born post-1980 and adopted the Millennials hashtag, or Generation Y, if you prefer. Just like the Syrians, Pakistanis, Croatians, Mexicans, Israelis and many other communities migrating in an effort to avoid a collapsing system, searching for opportunities to live in a better world, my generation navigates through an economy in turbulent transition. We fled from the Industrial Revolution model that taught us a great deal — including what we no longer want.
What we need now is not a great economic growth plan. We are making our very futures happen every day, with conversations that expand world views; prototypes that show the shortcomings of the usual road and make us swiftly correct our course; social movements, fun politics and environments that peacefully seek to contain deforestation and to feed thousands of the hungry; collective meditations that turn good vibes into an invisible global force; community banks that increase the resilience of neighborhoods and entire cities; alternative education models that teach how to learn; businesses that regenerate the environment as they generate profits.
“We fled from the Industrial Revolution model that taught us a great deal — including what we no longer want”
Organizations need to quickly reorganize in order to keep up with all this and to participate with what they can offer: potential for realization. Actively participating, instead of trying to compete against this obvious wave of makers, spreading the word of “nano-revolutions”; or every start-up invented in a garage, or a conference table, where a CEO decides to leave a legacy for the world rather than simply meeting quarterly targets. Many people already understand that lip service is different than doing the right thing, and are doing what they can to act quickly and coherently.
As refugees of a machine-made revolution, we are quickly navigating towards an organic evolution. We are humanizing ourselves as a species and recognizing ourselves as a race. The growth of a company can no longer be dissociated from the development of a community.
The profitability of a business must be linked to the cultural, environmental, political and even spiritual returns that it generates. The ability of a government to act collectively should be fluid as a network, where each part is an active cell that turns into a fertile and prosperous system.
“The growth of a company can no longer be dissociated from the development of a community”
We are a generation of refugees who search daily within ourselves for acceptance and creative force. We are already doing, but want to go even further. For our generation, the world has no boundaries. We want to positively transform the system — without new refugees.
By Igor Botelho
