It's time for some revolution through individual behaviours

I am preparing to travel on business to China this weekend for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic hit. I will travelling to, and working in, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. Delivering the keynote at two events, conducting five round table meetings with C-level leaders, and visiting a number of companies. I am so excited to try to help my company’s clients there, and also learn from them. Learn what opportunities and issues they see, what their priorities are, how they are operating, how they see the world. To see some awesome innovations. I am also super excited to see friends and colleagues that I haven’t seen in person for ages. Meanwhile, I am very well aware of the backdrop of geopolitical tensions, which makes me really sad. Sad because I don’t like the feeling of these tensions existing between “my side” and “my friends’ side”. Sad because I know that the world is a better, safer, more fun, more productive place when we cooperate.  Sad because there seems to be so much geopolitical tension, and so much suffering, around the world at the moment. I am lucky enough not to be too directly affected, but it really makes me sad. I read a book called “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” in 1985, and it remains one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. The author, Robert Pirsig, talks us through the history of philosophy as he goes on a motorcycle journey with his son to repair their relationship. He has many very singular ideas and positions. One of them is that any kind of mass movement, like a war or a revolution, rarely ends up in anything good. It reminds me of the song “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, which contains the lyric: “A thousand people in the street. Singing songs and carrying signs. Mostly saying ‘hooray for our side’.” Pirsig argues that the only kind of reliably helpful action in the long-term is through individual behaviours. We change the world by behaving in the ways we think are best personally. By engaging with others in the ways we think best. By demonstrating how we wish everyone would behave. This seems like small potatoes compared to what big, powerful governments, politicians and corporates can do. But it is directly under our control. And there are billions of us individuals. (I am reminded of another song: “Five to One” by The Doors, which includes the line “They’ve got the guns, but we’ve got the numbers.”) Let’s all challenge the entropy that seems to be rising around the world, through our individual behaviours. #unthink #unask #unlearn #geopolitics