Forget the heroes
The future is too complex for anyone to have a plan, we have to learn to do things differently.
We’re in a time where the future is hidden from us. There is such uncertainty, such complexity in every direction, that no-one can see how we are going to get through to somewhere a little less dark. In this swirl of potential apocalypses the desire to find a hero, to find a great leader with a plan, rises all around us. We’ve spent the last few years obsessed with super heroes, surely now is the time for one to rise up and save us?
Unfortunately, it’s not possible for anyone to have a plan. There is simply no way that any individual, any organization or even any culture, could come up with a sure-fire plan that could navigate the coming years. There are too many variables, too many unknowns. Surviving the next century will require knowledge and skill from every direction and every background. Only collaboration at a scale previously un-imagined can get us through.
In order to foster collaboration, we must abandon the idea of heroes. We need to forget about answers. Instead, we must learn to ask better questions. Learn to listen to many more voices. Forget about grand plans, and instead adopt constant experiments, testing, probing, finding the next step forward.
Perhaps one of the hardest things to let go of is going to be the idea that we need to agree on what to do before we start.
We just need to start.
And keep sharing what we find.
