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I was asked to write this in 2011 by friend and author Kyra Maya Phillips. It was part of a project to inaugurate the opening of Hub Westminster in London. I was excited to share my ideas on designing a present and future that we can be proud of. The fruit of that labor is below and it’s the first time it’s been published outside of the Hub. Hopefully there will be nuggets that can help shape and sharpen your passion. Enjoy and build.

The Manifesto of a Silo Smasher

Often when we are asked about “change” it is constructed as an abstract idea. Change is often viewed as something that happens to us rather than something we can create ourselves. What we have the power to change is also often an abstraction. Of course, we can change small things but what about the really big problems? World hunger? Income inequality? Genocide? Surely not. Those issues are too big and require the type of changes that no one person is capable of. If they are attempted better to be attempted by someone other than myself. Because, after all..who am I? I am only one person. But with a new manifesto with a new way of looking at the world you can realize that “one person” is the most important person there is.

My Manifesto is that of creating a new way of thinking personally and organizationally and it is designed for the “Non-Silo Generation”.

Definition: Silos – Silos exist both within us personally and the organizations that we work in. Silos or being “siloed” is a way of thinking that keeps us relegated to only certain paths or areas of expertise. Silos are boundaries to cross functional partnerships, relationships and thinking. Silos keep us grounded in only doing what is “expected of us” rather than branching out beyond it.

Credo: Dream. Inspire. Innovate

This is the credo of the Non-Silo Generation. A Non-Silo Generation is one that does not prescribe to the old ways of doing things and prefer to work more creatively across boundaries and cross functional areas. The Non-Silo Generation seeks to find nontraditional ways to solve problems and build relationships globally.

The principles of the Non-Silo Generation

• Ideation – Create a big idea. As big as you can. The future is changed by those who thought big and dared to challenge the status quo. Your idea should be born of your passion and enacted with love to make the world you live in a better place.
• Actualize – Ideas are just the beginning. Steps must be taken in order to take the idea out of the planning stage and make it real. Concrete action steps must be written down, realistic timelines must be followed and where necessary allies across functions should be enlisted to make your idea a reality.
• Engagement – Share your idea with the world. No one accomplishes anything in isolation. Fear of sharing your idea whether because you don’t trust or you’re afraid you won’t do it are self defeating thoughts. Ideas are enhanced by feedback and criticism. Only by engaging others will you know whether your idea has the necessary trial by fire to withstand the long journey to become an instrument of change.
• Commitment – Support your efforts and find others that will as well. Turn your moment into a movement.
• Scale – Make your idea and your vision bigger. No matter how big you believe you were thinking when you started once you go through the other stages your idea should have grown. Let it take you in new directions.
• De-mystify the process – anything can be learned and expertise in a particular discipline can always be acquired or borrowed. You do not have to know how to do everything especially when you can work with and engage others to fill those gaps. No process is too complicated to master if one merely takes the time and has the necessary focus. Processes are often made to be seemingly difficult because it keeps traditional organizations and gate keepers in power. Refuse to be mystified by their process. Instead either learn your way through it or create your own more efficient way to do the same thing. Circumvent the noise of the traditional.
• Present = Future – The future we choose to live in is much the same as the present that we should be working to construct. A move away from hyper capitalism, from meaningless exchanges and interactions and toward building a meaningful and sustainable community based on shared passion, creativity and love. The more we work together and communicate honestly and without bias the more likely we are to actively change the entrenched institutions that seek to control our present and future. One should always seek to understand the future by understanding the present. Our “future” is happening now. The present and the future are thereby linked and push against one another constantly. Seeing them as separate is a traditional way of thinking that leads us back to siloed thinking.

Illustration by  Robert Reed

New York, NY – I hear a lot of talk about the future. I can scarcely check my Facebook or Twitter feeds without reading a bold prediction about our collective future. I have no shortage’s of sources that are willing to tell me what service, what application, what trend, what movement is going to change everything and finally make life worth living. I am so enthralled about this not so distant utopian future I almost forgot about my nagging present. Yes, that’s right the present. Remember that thing that is happening right now, even as you read this, yes that is the present. The present doesn’t quite get the attention that the future does and when you think about it that might be where we are falling short. I am making a concerted effort to dedicate myself to the present and here are a couple of reasons.

We suck at predicting the future

There has been an explosion of so-called Futurist, who define themselves as having the ability to identify trends and use that to extrapolate information on the future. These observations or predictions are then sold to brands, marketers, agencies that are all seeking answers to better package and sell us stuff. Unfortunately, we suffer from several biases that make future prediction almost impossible. We usually do not process the correct variables in order to draw reasonable assumptions on the future. This happens all the time in predictive models i.e. we get the wrong output (the future) because we use the wrong input (perceived present). This can be disastrous, as proven by recent news highlighting flaws in the economic model that had been used to justify incredibly wrong-headed austerity policies throughout Europe. Incorrect inputs resulted in broken economic models and subsequently broken economic policy. The results of which are still being felt throughout the world.

As much as we are future focused we routinely wrongly base predictions based on the belief that our present reality will remain static. This means that the way things are is the way they shall remain so we can make predictions based on that “sameness”. By assuming our present behavior will dominate in an uncertain future landscape is a sure fire way to miss the boat.

Finally, the future is not dictated, but rather it’s a metamorphosis of multiple variables. Very rarely is there a guru, top-down predictive nature to the future rather it bubbles up from the bottom. How many music sites and blogs were predicting the rise of Americana influenced folk rock bands like Mumford & Sons, The Lone Bellow and the Lumineers before it exploded commercially? It seems obvious now because of their ubiquitous success but in reality that was built in small venues, fan by fan before anyone mainstream even thought about it. What seems like an obvious shift toward “authentic musicianship” was really a movement from communities of fans who simply loved the music.

Being present is living

“It’s being here now that’s important. There’s no past and there’s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can’t relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don’t know if there is one.” ― George Harrison

This quote says it all. Our future obsession robs us of the mindshare it takes to appreciate, focus on and exploit our present. The present is where our relationships live. The present is where our passions are. The present is where our knowledge is built. We create a healthy and vibrant present by paying attention to these things instead of projecting them into an unknowable future. When we embrace our present we are truly living because we are getting the most from where we are at the moment. This is not to imply that the future is not important. The future is vitally important not only for us but for ensuring a healthy natural and psychological ecosystem for next generations. By self-actualizing our present we begin to take a responsible and empathetic worldview.  Each act in our present shapes the future we wish to see. Increasing our focus on the present ensures a more predictive future.

“For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. ” – Yoda

The present requires a mindfulness that can’t be achieved if one is perpetually looking forward. In fact, mindfulness and the present are linked together. Attention to detail, focus on becoming proficient at a skill or craft are all dependent on mindfulness. This is more of a challenge now than ever. We are one click away from constant distraction. We are often engaged in one way conversations describing what the future will look like and guaranteeing success if we merely listen to X, Y or Z. The reality is more complex and hence it requires our absolute attention and focus. If we care as deeply about our future as we claim then we need to do the heavy lifting with our mindfulness. It’s not as sexy to talk about the present but it’s a hell of a lot more necessary than the future.

New York, NY – A recent NYT article entitled “The Power of Negative Thinking” has been making the rounds recently as a confrontation to a rampant amount of positive thinking. The article cites the burns suffered by recent attendees of a Tony Robbins seminar as they attempted to walk across hot coals. Apparently the failure of these “fire-walkers” is proof that positive thinking does not work.

“To them, it’s all a matter of mind-set: cultivate the belief that success is guaranteed, and anything is possible. One singed but undeterred participant told The San Jose Mercury News: “I wasn’t at my peak state.” What if all this positivity is part of the problem? What if we’re trying too hard to think positive and might do better to reconsider our relationship to “negative” emotions and situations?”

The author goes on to discuss how allowing for negative or pessimistic thoughts actually prepares one for the possibility of failure.  Most of this is circumstantial at best but doesn’t get to the core of the issue. It’s natural to understand the pushback against a seeming parade of positive thinking and energy. We are drowned in these types of affirmations via media, “self help” books and of course self appointed gurus many of whom are peddlers of “positive snake oil”.  They tell us that by merely having positive thoughts we can overcome difficult situations and realize our dreams. This is positivity as a passive activity. Mere thinking is doing. This is the same thought process that afflicts activism as many people merely signing online petitions, liking cause and retweeting can lead to systemic change. In fact, positive thought is only meaningful if it active and that can be the hardest thing we do.

Much of the world is actually a negative or challenging place. We are confronted by personal battles, and depending on our engagement staggering global issues around poverty, war, income inequality and climate change. In the face of such insurmountable odds it can be easy to fall victim to negative thoughts about the universe and our place in it. To actively engage in optimism and more importantly to use that optimism to drive change requires hardwork, dedication and focus.  If not for those who chose to envision a better world, and work to create it how would we ever advance. Being positive does not mean you do not acknowledge failure it simply means you process failure in a different way.

“Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr

The above quote is a perfect example of positive thinking coupled by action. Failure and setback are inevitable but that is not the end of the road it is merely a detour. An optimistic view point is a powerful weapon against the type of cynicism that is all too common in the world already. If you ask me, we never have enough positive thinking, especially when coupled with positive action.

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