We’ve heard it before: The only thing constant is change, and the rate of change is constantly increasing. Moreover;
We won’t solve today’s challenges with the same mindset that created them.
What that means, that is often overlooked, is:
1. With every second, your ability to learn and unlearn becomes more and more valuable.
The models we were taught to memorize when we were young become obsolete as we discover more about our world and universe. Singularity University states that due to technological advances, the coming 100 years will be equivalent to 20,000 years of development. That’s about double the time since the last ice age, to glimpse the scale of radical change ahead.
2. We need to explore the societal structures and incentive systems that created the challenges in the first place.
In a world where “scale” and “profit” are the metrics of success in a finite world of resources, we are geared to compete with each other aggressively “capturing” market share – “annihilating” the competition. A zero-sum game – that inevitably results in greater inequality. What if we explored an alternative reality that extends beyond this fear-based narrative fueled by instant gratification? What if instead of “competing in markets”, we learn from nature and explore how to “contribute to an ecosystem” we can all thrive in?
We Must Go Beyond the Ability to Sustain a Business to Make A Difference
This time of unprecedented challenges holds the key to unlock unprecedented opportunities. Being locked in isolation can become the opportunity to open up and connect: Imagine if we were to use the current pandemic and the system collapses as a collective Creative Destruction of an education system that was built to prepare people to enter factories (listen to a manager and memorize facts) – and instead, channel the enormous potential – to crowdsource and co-create not only knowledge but cultivate the capacity (that is required) to go beyond the ability to sustain; creating organizations that – as they operate – inevitably make a difference. Business that would be fundamentally built with the core idea of,
It is not how you spend your money – but how you earn it.
Education’s Role is More than an Academic Exercise
So how do we cultivate this capacity? And in doing so – can we create an education system, a vehicle for learning, that causes a change in itself? We believe so. We are currently running a course with an alternative business school, HyperIsland – an incredible learning institute renowned for equipping students with the necessary skills and competencies for the future of work; creativity, teamwork, and self-development. They are the perfect partner and share our core learning principle: nothing should be done as an academic exercise. It is simply too much of a waste of two of the most important resources we have: time and the curious human brainpower.
Imagine if – just as a business model that by the operational nature makes a difference – every hour and moment spent in the education system would Make A Difference. Every exercise would explore potential approaches and prototypes solutions to the world’s toughest challenges. The learning experience would be driving real-world change. Education would collide with experience.
The Future of Learning: We need to build the business and societal models that mutate quicker than the virus…
