An afternoon exploration of. . .

This past Thursday I had the opportunity, along with a small community of lynchpins, to have a very intimate, engaging and thoughtful day of conversation with Seth Godin here in DC.

It was his second leg of his Fight The Lizard Road Trip, which he'll be taking to select cities across the U.S.

What I loved about the day was that right off the bat Seth came on stage and said "ladies and gentlemen, we're in the midst of a revolution..." After that I knew it was on.

In no way, form of fashion will the sentences of this entry be able to truly translate the power in the ideas, the opinions or the arguments Seth made that day, but I would be remiss if I didn't try to put to words what I came away with. . . 

As I see it, there is rebellion and there is revolution. Rebellion is the release of pent up frustration feeding the visceral responses to unequal and unfair conditions. Revolution is a fundamental change in a system brought on by those believing in the possibility of a better way.   

Today, right now, we are in the midst of a revolution. It's real, not imagined. Just look around. The world is shifting. Yesterday's rules are changing into something we cannot yet see. New social network platforms, digital media, sustainable technology, and the networked economy are ubiquitous and demand that we rethink how we engage the world.  

Seth's talk (loosely based on his new book Lynchpin) engaged us about the "death of the factory" and how all the rules that governed that reality are now upside down. He went on to say that at this moment in time, a chance is being presented to significantly change our life for the better.  Not by doing something that's easy, or that we've been trained to do, but by understanding how the rules-of-the-game have fundamentally changed and by taking advantage of this moment to become someone the world believes is indispensable. 

There's two ways to understand this; to look at this emerging reality as a field of new opportunity or as a wave of imminent threat. Your ability to thrive depends on how, deep down inside, you truly perceive the two.

In life there are always choices and those choices will determine how our lives are lead. So when decisions are put before us, it may behoove us to choose wisely.

As Seth's time came to an end he wrapped up his discussion asking a straight forward question.

"As I leave you all today I ask only one question. The revolution is here. Are you in or are you out?"

Ladies and gentlemen the choice is yours.

Comments

[alison claire]

Really good post, Sha'ir...and applicable on so many levels. Makes me wonder if, in business or as individuals, a "revolution" (or a fundamental change/ major shift) is possible without some sort of painful impetus? We change because we HAVE to...because the discomfort of staying in that same place begins to outweigh the cost of taking the risk and moving into a new space? I don't know, but my guess is that most of us probably need that catalyst...which puts "problems" and "troubles" in a nice, new, energy-saving, soft white light.

[Rasul Sha'ir]

Hey Ali, thanks for the comment. I think you pose an excellent question. What causes us to change? Disaster forces us to change. The desire to not want to re-live a certain experience may serve as a catalyst. Others change for the simple fact that they are simply born as change-agents. Always wanting to seek the new and challenging because it's simply in their DNA. At the end of the day the simply fact is that the only thing that stays the same is change. The question becomes will you lead it or be dragged by it?