This video always gets to me. I can watch it a thousand times, and yet it always touches me, giving me goose bumps.
The video shows how groups of individuals, working together, can resolve problems.
The fact is it makes me think, what society and businesses would be like, with a generation who liked to help other people, who enjoyed spontaneous, collaboration, just like in the video.
Gary Hamel wrote an interesting article, in which he talks about Generation Y’s characteristics, and how this clashes with a strict and traditional workplace culture.
One of Generation Y’s characteristics is the fact that it likes to contribute. To them, the willingness and ability to contribute often deserves more respect than a prestigious “boss” or “managing director” job title. It’s easy to verify this online. See who has the most twitter followers or Blog followers. It’s not necessarily the big bosses in businesses. No, it’s the people that the group wants to follow. They are the people who are open to sharing knowledge, questions, and thoughts.
What’s more, there is no hierarchy online. The concept of respect is simply defined by online users. Also respect is earned by those who contribute, and not those who give orders.
In traditional business structures, respect is directed to those who give orders.
How will this new generation coexist within a reality that is so different from theirs?
Hamel observes that online, all ideas compete on a level playing field. There are no predefined solutions that bosses pass on to their team. Everybody can give an idea, and ideas are “voted” on. Nobody has the power to kill a revolutionary idea. There aren’t any politics interfering with the adoption of a solution.
Hamel does recognize that leaders do exist online, to serve the broader community. They constantly give ideas, and in turn help others to come up with their own ideas.
Yet, these leaders don’t have the power to punish others. It’s true that, thinkers, artists, or well-known authors, can commit fatal errors and be subject to ridicule on the Internet, which makes them lose their credibility. This doesn’t happen in a traditional business organization. The boss simply orders, and that is the law.
In the cyber world, resources organize themselves. Everybody follows who they want to follow, and everybody helps who they want to help.
There is a really interesting site, where people translate texts into English, free of charge (http://adoteumparagrafo.pbworks.com/). This truly defines the current spirit of collaboration. Get to know it, it’s called “Adote um Paragrafo” (Adopt a paragraph.)
People translate only if they want to, when they want to, and for the simple pleasure of translating and helping out. I was really impressed by this site. It shows the maturity of the web and of its participants. There is respect for these “volunteer translators,” and for their capacity to give.
The Internet is an environment in which you diffuse knowledge and information. This is the only way you gain respect. You gain respect through your ability to ask and answer questions, to argue, and to receive criticism.
I’ve read several books on the topic of the collaborative capacity of this generation. The book, “Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky illustrate the birth of this new society. The book “Crowdsourcing” by Jeff Howe, talks about the power of a team, and how teams can change the world.
I really believe that young people are conscious of the power they have when they unite. They are ready to assume roles in groups and to change concepts and the present reality.
So I wonder, what will business organizations look like in the future?
How will the collision between pre-established business values, and the new generation’s values play out?
In this video, the little boy, a symbolic image, finds a solution. He depends on everybody. By himself, he can’t accomplish his task. Yet, he knows that with the help of a team, he can meet his goal.
What society could be better than that? That is where I want to spend the rest of my life! In the future!
