jan de man

We need more child labor...

...at least in Sweden. My good friend Richard Gatarski chocked me a little with this statement yesterday when we met for lunch. Actually, it is a theme for a book, he said. Then I got really interested.

If you meet Richard ask him to explain what he means. What he suggested to me was nothing short of a real shift of perspective. Hint: it has to do with adjusting to a modern learning environment for our kids. 

And I have to agree, we need to liberalize the rules around child labor.  

(This not said with any disrespect for the huge amount of children that really need to be protected from exploitation and guaranteed their rights to education and play.)

//jan

Trains + Twitter = awesome

Yesterday I was in south Sweden and about to take the train home to Stockholm. Standing at Lund's station I checked Twitter to see what was going on. One of the first things I saw was at tweet from @johanhedberg that his train just was coming in to the same station. We actually never have met in person and this was a very freaky chance to meet him. This didn't work out though. His train arrived at one platform and mine left from another within a few minutes. Still, a virtual wave was given and I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole thing.

I got on my train and enjoyed a meal. Roughly an hour later I get a message from @saltakvarn. "I just got on the train to Stockholm at Alvesta, which train are you on?". Turns out we are sitting 8 rows from each other in the same car. Wow. So Johan and I have an improvised Tweet-up and had a wonderfully inspiring conversation for an hour or so. 

Just as we were rounding off to go do some work, @matspertoft showed up. He had seen Johan's tweets. And Johan knew he was probably on the same train. I've met him earlier, but were not following each other on Twitter. So, the conversation expanded and continued for a while more. I obviously started to follow Mats and he now follows me. Also sent Mats the cool TED-video with Ken Robinson about creativity in school. Mats is the spokesperson for the Green Party in school issues and it turned out he had never seen Sir Ken.

So, as far as Twitter and train experiences goes this one was out there. A true intersection of people, ideas and events.

//jan

Why, oh why?

Why can't organizations be more humane?

Why are we humans unwilling to adapt to the feedback the planet is giving us?

Why do so many people accept to live without exploring their full potential?

Why is poverty so wide-spread when we have more than enough for everyone?

Why are greedy, self-centered managers allowed to be promoted?

Why is school so out of tune of the developments in the world?

Why do book publishers think so conservatively about their customers?

Why is service so bad in so many places?

Why is creativity genuinely not sought after in most organizations?

Why don't we ask why more often?

--

Asking why is a good way to find opportunity and new energy to create and change stuff.

//jan

En stads rykte

DN.se publicerade detta nyss. Ja, säga vad man vill, men Södertälje har inget avundsvärt rykte. Tvärtom verkar problemen vara så komplexa och sammanflätade att det är svårt att bryta den dåliga trenden. Och precis när det varit lugnt ett tag, så kommer det ny dålig publicitet.

Det måste vara jättefrustrerande att vara politiker i Södertälje. Mitt intryck är att de verkligen vill bryta mönstren och skapa en god förändring. Men frågan är om de kan innan det har blivit ännu mycket värre. Det är i sådana här lägen jag kan tycka det är synd att vi människor har så svårt att förändra saker i rätt tid. Det måste bli riktigt riktigt illa först.

Jag har varit en hel del i Södertälje. Det är en fantastisk liten stad. Med oerhörd potential. Och många som brinner för en annan framtid än den som just nu verkar vänta. 

Det vore häftigt om Södertälje kunde bli en beundrad stad om si så där tio år. Och att alla som kämpar har ork och idékapital nog att skapa en vändning.

//jan

PS. Apropå kommuner: åkte förbi Solna på E4:an idag. En stor dj-la skylt vid vägen proklamerar: "Welcome to Solna, The City of the Future." Nu har Solna helt annat rykte än Södertälje, men har kommunerna fortfarande inte lärt sig att sluta med tramsiga slogans..? Hoppas Södertälje ger Solna på tafsen och blir en riktig framtidsstad! DS.

Man kan undra...

...när det nu går att deklarera säkert på nätet, varför det inte går att rösta på nätet. Kan inte Valmyndigheten bara få Skatteverkets teknik och köra?

//jan

The new normal?

The last week has been rather bland in my opinion. I started to reflect on why and realized that the last week has been perfectly normal. It is the 20 weeks previous to the last that have been exceptional. I've been blessed by participating in so many exciting and challenging projects, so many interesting conversations and connecting with so many new exciting people that a perfectly normal week, like the one that just passed, stands out as odd.

Still, I hope next week returns to the new normal, with the energy, opportunity seeking and buzz of the last 20 weeks!

//jan

Drop everything!

A truly fabulous film with Sir Ken Robinson on his new book and what lies behind it. Take 39 minutes out of your busy life and indulge. Then ask yourself the tough question: are you in your element?

I'm not - but since half a year back definitely moving in the right direction.

//jan

Charts and diagrams in new ways

A witty and very telling film of life - in a compelling visualization.

//jan

Kevin Kelly - next 5000 days of the web

This is from September 2007. Some 500 days have passed since his talk. Pretty interesting.

//jan

Jessica Hagy

 

Yesterday I had the wonderful priviledge of listening to Jessica Hagy who runs the blog This is Indexed. 

She capitivated her 20 head audience for and hour and a half with a story of deconstruction. She actually deconstructed pretty much every "rule" of creativity and communication around. 

My own reflection after the session is that she really is a living example of what the new world of work can produce. 

Fun. Provocative. True.

Brilliant.

//jan